Explanation of Question #12
In my most recent letter to the Watchtower Society, I made the claim that the teaching of a global flood necessitates rates of evolution some 16,000 times faster than what is claimed evolutionists. I arrived at this number in this way:
- Conservative estimates put the number of mammal species at 4,000. [1]- According to the scientific community, an asteroid stuck the earth 65
- 70 million years ago. This cataclysmic event, dubbed the K-T event (K-T boundary in some sources), happened after mammals had already come into existence. Its effects led to the extinction of dinosaurs and allowed the surviving mammals to “fill freshly vacant niches”. [2] Though the number of mammalian species at the time of the K-T event was higher, for the sake of argument, my calculations were performed assuming there was only one species of mammal at this time. It should be noted that choosing a higher (and more likely) number of species would tip the argument further in favor of the evolution model.
- According to the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society, the Noachian Deluge occurred in the year 2370 B.C., giving a total time-elapse of 4,376 years from the start of the Deluge until the time of my letter. [3]
-The Watchtower Society teaches “just 43 kinds of mammals…could have produced the great variety of species of the creatures that are known today”. [4]
Taking these four bits of data, then, shows that believers in evolution accept that the number of mammal species has increased from 2 to 4,000 during the last 65,000,000 years. Meanwhile, believers in a literal, earth-wide Noachian Deluge must accept that the number of mammal species has increased from 43 to 4,000 during the last 4,376 years. This means that while, on the one hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses resolutely reject evolution, they simultaneously subscribe to the notion that since the flood, mammals have evolved at a rate some 16,000 times more rapidly than is taught in traditional science textbooks.
To get a clearer idea of the rate at which mammals have diversified, take a look at the graph, below.
The red line shows the average rate of evolution that literal, earth-wide Flood believers (including Jehovah's Witnesses) must accept (whether they realize it or not).
Since the Watchtower Society claims that each species was created “according to their kind”, we can conclude there was no change in the number of species prior to the Flood. [5] From the time of the Flood, until now, the number of mammals must have increased by 3,957. This works out to one new species, on average, every 404 days (~one every 13 months).
The blue line shows the average rate of evolution taught by most textbooks. Though it may look like a straight line, it is not; the number of species of mammals has increased by exactly one during the last 5,000 years. So the line does increase from 3,999 to 4,000 as it travels to the right of the graph.
The pink line rises some 16,000 times faster than the blue line.
Interestingly, reptile models would display an even greater disparity. The Watchtower Society teaches that a mere 10 kinds of reptiles account for the over 8,200 reptile species today, [6] while science teaches that these reptiles have evolved over a period greater than 300,000,000 years. [7] Thus, the Watchtower Society expects its adherents to accept the belief that reptiles diversified from 10 to 8,200 kinds in the 4,376 years from the flood even though that would require speciation some 69,000 times faster than popular theories on speciation, which they expect their members to reject as “serving the purposes of Satan”. [8]References:
1. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Edited by Dr. David MacDonald. ©1999. Published by Barnes and Noble, Inc. Page xii.
2. Origins. Written by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. ©2004. Published by W.W. Norton and Company. Page 28.
3. Insight on the Scriptures, volume I. Compilation. ©1988. Published by the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society. Page 609.
4. Ibid. Page 327.
5. Reasoning from the Scriptures. Compilation. ©1984. Published by the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society. Page 87.
6. Insight on the Scriptures, volume I. Compilation. ©1988. Published by the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society. Page 327.
7. Wikipedia.org. Evolution, heading: "Evolution of Life"
8. Life – How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? Written by Harry Peloyan. ©1984. Published by the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society. Page 248.
