Variability, or Constancy of Created Species?
Vol. 1 - Chapter 2.5 - Orthodox Teachings on Creation and the Theory of Evolution
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Orthodox Teachings on Creation and the Theory of Evolution
Chapter 2.5 — Variability, or Constancy of Created Species?
The theory of evolution asserts that some kinds of animals and plants transform into others, that some kinds precede others, that some kinds in their development give rise to other kinds.
Modern mass consciousness, saturated with evolutionist pseudo-scientific ideas, seems not to question this supposedly “proven fact” (though it is unclear how and by whom it has been “proven”). One “Orthodox apologist” writes about the “indisputable fact of the evolution of life on earth” [51, p. 54].
Another “Orthodox” evolutionist philosopher writes:
“New species arise through mutation… The emerged species are perfected and transformed through internal volitional activity in connection with the environment and living conditions (functional teleologism)” [56, p. 153].
Other authors manage to see a picture of evolutionary development of life in Holy Scripture:
“The Bible, long before the emergence of modern science, revealed to man the mystery of the formation of the Cosmos and that evolutionary ladder of development of life forms on Earth, which science discovered only in the last century” [52, p. 27].
“Only one thing is certain: that life arose on the basis of processes of development of material forms, as is also spoken of in Revelation” [ibid., p. 102].
In the theological treatises of “Orthodox evolutionists,” one can find lengthy and intricate descriptions of the processes of variability of created kinds:
“That day, when the first tiny living creatures appeared in the warm waters of the primordial ocean, became the moment of the invasion into the world of a new, hitherto unseen creative energy. The life impulse that arose in the stream of natural forces made matter capable of evolution of a new type. And it began to create, as if languishing in birth pangs, obeying a powerful call drawing it forward. From the primary creatures stretched threads to the innumerable species that populated the sea, land, and air. Not a few beautiful and monstrous forms were generated by the rampant force of life: across the marshes moved dragons crowned with horns, spikes, gigantic crests; into the sky soared giant lizards. They were replaced by ever new and new creations. In the workshop of life, work was boiling. Impenetrable tropical jungles rose, full of aromas, sounds, and dazzling colors; across the savannahs raced boundless herds of elephants, antelopes, wild horses… But as in the works of an artist, one always feels the main theme, the main direction and meaning of his creativity, so in the creation of the world we can distinguish a central trunk, a pillar road. All species that adapted to a certain way of life moved away from the central trunk, entering a dead end in their development. This process is easy to trace at least in the example of the evolution of the limbs of vertebrates. The first vertebrate animals that set foot on land possessed five-fingered limbs with an opposable thumb. In swimmers, these limbs turned into flippers (marine lizards, seals, cetaceans); in predators—into paws with claws; in bats—into wings; in herbivores—into hooves. And only creatures that throughout all geological epochs retained the original structure of the limbs avoided narrow specialization. They laid the foundation for that chain of animals which gave rise to the bodily form of man” [98, pp. 94–95].
Another evolutionist writes:
“All creation, obeying the word of its Creator, multiplied, changing… They multiplied not only quantitatively but into diverse kinds” [90, pp. 47–48].
“From one kind of bird, chicks were born with their own peculiarities, which gave rise to a new kind of bird, from which, in turn, in due time, when it was blessed by God, chicks appeared, not entirely like them” [ibid., p. 48].
However, in reality, Orthodox doctrine is fundamentally different.
Holy Scripture points to the impossibility of the transformation of one kind into another. In the Bible, it is stated quite definitely that all representatives of living creatures were created “after their kind.” This was so with plants: “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.’” (Genesis 1:11)
Thus the Creator also ordained for the creatures from the water: “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind.” (Genesis 1:21) Likewise, God made “the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind” (Genesis 1:25). Not a single kind appeared from another through “evolution.” Although life (fauna) appeared first in water and then on land, fish did not mutate into a frog or a beast.
It is known to all that the offspring of each kind of animals and plants resemble their parents. A tree of one kind never bears fruit of another kind, as is also testified in the Gospel: “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). On this obvious natural fact is based the commandment of Christ to judge “by their fruits”: “by their fruits ye shall know them” (ibid.).
Many Holy Fathers spoke about the constancy and immutability over time of all kinds that were created by God.
St. Athanasius the Great: “Each created thing according to its kind, in its own essence, as it was created, such it is and remains” [8, p. 287].
St. Basil the Great: “The nature of beings, set in motion by a single command, uniformly passes through both the emerging and decaying creation, preserving the sequence of kinds through likeness, until it reaches the very end; for it makes a horse the successor of a horse, a lion—of a lion, an eagle—of an eagle, and each animal, preserved in successive generations, continues until the end of the universe. No time damages or destroys the properties of animals” [18, p. 139].
“The shoot of a reed does not produce an olive tree; on the contrary, from a reed comes another reed, and from sown seeds grows what is akin to them. And thus, what at the first creation arose from the earth, is observed even to this day” [18, p. 70].
St. Ambrose of Milan: “At the creation of the world, every creature is penetrated by the Word of God, so that suddenly from the earth, by God’s command, all kinds of living beings are born, and in the future, according to the law, produce for themselves similar ones of their kind, succeeding one another: a lion gives birth to a lion, a tiger—a tiger, an ox—an ox, a swan—a swan, an eagle—an eagle. What was once prescribed is forever fixed in nature, and therefore the earth does not cease to bring forth the gifts of its service, so that the former kinds of living beings, preserved through the succession of birth, continue to exist in new times” [cited from: 9, p. 31].
“There is no threat that God’s commandment, to which nature has become accustomed, could become invalid in the future due to the cessation of reproduction, since even now the integrity of the kind is still preserved in the seeds” [cited from: 134, p. 64].
Blessed Augustine: “Is it not therefore said of animals after their kind that they appeared in order that from them might be born and successively retain the original form others, i.e.,—for the multiplication of offspring, for the preservation of which they were created?” [1, p. 218].
St. Gregory of Nyssa: “In the beginning of the creation of the world, as we learn from Scripture, first, as the Word says, ‘the earth brought forth grass’ (Genesis 1:12), then from the sprout came seed, from which, when it fell to the ground, sprang up again the same kind that had grown initially” [Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection, cited from: 9, p. 32].
Not only Church teachers in antiquity paid attention to this fundamental natural fact, but also Holy Fathers familiar with Darwin’s evolutionary theory of the origin of species argue against it as well.
St. John of Kronstadt: “The Creator in the beginning created only the beginnings of fish and birds, their kinds, and entrusted their multiplication to themselves, under His protection, similar to the multiplication of the human race. And to this day all kinds of fish and birds, having multiplied to infinity, preserve exactly the appearance, manners, and customs of their kinds, not mixing in the least with others. Every fish and bird and every creeping thing, as they were several thousand years ago, such they remain now with those properties which they received from the Creator in the beginning” [65, p. 79].
St. Luke of Crimea (Voino-Yasenetsky): “The evolutionary hypothesis is recognized as contradicting not only the Bible but also nature itself, which zealously strives to preserve the purity of each species, and knows no transition even from a sparrow to a swallow” [88, p. 40].
The main idea of evolutionism is completely opposed to Church teaching. Evolutionists consider that some kinds, changing, give rise to the emergence of other kinds. However, the cited testimony of Holy Scripture and the unanimous opinion of the Holy Fathers do not admit in principle the possibility of such an evolutionary transition from one kind to another.
It should be especially emphasized that science has not reliably observed or described a single case of the transformation of any kind of flora or fauna into another kind. Fruit flies (Drosophila) over many generations of artificial mutation have not turned into dragonflies, butterflies, or any new kind, but have remained Drosophila flies. The assumptions of evolutionists about the possibility of such transitions are not facts, but merely fantastic dreams.
Thus, it is not possible to speak of the theory of evolution as a scientific and reliable doctrine based on objective facts.
Also untenable is the hypothesis sometimes encountered about the appearance of new kinds through the crossing of pre-existing ones. Nature knows no such mixing. Neither wind-pollinated plants nor fish spawning in the same body of water ever lose the purity of their kind. Thus nature produces no hybrids.
The Holy Fathers also paid attention to this.
St. Ambrose of Milan: “And then—how pure and non-violent is the continuation of the kind! So that living beings unite not haphazardly, but only with their own kind… Animals do not know adulterous union with partners of another kind, similar to how donkeys do, coupling with mares and, with the diligent assistance of people, producing joint offspring, or, conversely, like a stallion that unites with a she-ass. Truly, both possess an adulterous nature; and what they commit as defilement in relation to nature is even worse than an insult to the individual. And you, man, are guilty of this, encouraging bestial adultery and considering that animal better which is more adulterous than the one faithful to its kind. You yourself unite different kinds, and mix different seeds, and often against their will involve them in forbidden connections, and call this agricultural art” [cited from: 9, p. 32].
In the modern world, man has already become accustomed to the fact that many of the food products we consume are not only “hybrid” but also “genetically modified.” The use of these plant and animal products and, even more, their production, from the point of view of God’s Law, is a sin. Indeed, the mixing of the gene pool of various kinds created by God is contrary to the commandment of the Creator: “Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed” (Leviticus 19:19)
Thus, in the artificial mixing of kinds lies a sin against God, who established limits for each of His creations according to their kind.
The preservation of the stability of God’s creations, and the absence of spontaneous crossbreeding of different kinds in nature, should be considered a scientific fact confirming the truth of Orthodox doctrine. This fundamental law of nature, noted by many Holy Fathers, refutes the hypothesis of evolutionism.
On this issue, natural science apologetics convincingly testifies not in favor of evolutionism, but confirms the biblical teaching on the constancy of the original kinds created by God.
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