Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: SKULDUGGERY (09/01/16)
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TITLE: Beneath the Surface | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
09/04/16 -
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The déjà vu took me below the surface of my own changing world in university. My face might have been as humorous as Kimberley’s if someone was watching when my biology professor tried to explain evolution to me again. I’ll admit, I went into the class watching for trickery and deception. I’d been warned to pay attention.
It didn’t take long before the hulking form in the lab coat struck a nerve. “Computer simulations are constantly fine tuning the complexities of how artificial life-forms reproduce, grow and change over long periods of time.” Professor Stilhurtz shook his head as I furrowed my brows. The twitch in his right eye picked up the gait of a Kentucky Derby race horse heading for the finish line. “You probably all watched the documentary on this last week.”
“Aren’t those computer simulations pre-programmed by people with their own algorithms,” I asked. “Aren’t we using intelligence to try and prove there was no intelligence as natural selection progressed?”
The professor’s index finger pushed at the center of his glasses as he glared at me. “If you’ve read the assigned chapters you will have seen how homologous structures show evolution’s fingerprints on our common ancestors.”
I stood to my feet. “Isn’t it possible that similar structures in life forms might be evidence for a common designer?”
Professor Stilhurtz made a calming motion as several students around me snickered. “It’s clear not everyone noticed the chart of the clear transitional fossils which our paleontologists have worked so hard to put together.” He pointed to a large poster to the side of the room.
I sat to ease the tension but raised my hand. “Isn’t it true that no kind has ever been observed changing into another kind? Yes, as Darwin noted, there are micro changes within species as they adjust through generations, but no one has seen kinds evolve into other kinds.”
The professor walked toward the side windows and pointed outside toward the mountains. “Young man, if you think some Creator and some Flood explains science as we have it then you’re in the wrong place. You need to go back to Sunday School.”
I nodded. “All I want is to know the truth.”
Finally, a nod from the learned doctor of science. “Now, we can begin,” he said. “Science shows us that there is over a 98% similarity between the DNA of humans and chimpanzees. This proves our common ancestry millions of years ago.”
Charles, a football linemen in front of me, shouted out, “I knew there was something going on with my uncle. Maybe he’s the mything link.” Everyone laughed.
A young blond to the side of the room raised her hand and said, “I saw a documentary which debunked the drawings of fossil apes to man that you have on the wall. It’s no wonder Simon is confused. Everyone seems to be saying that everyone else is wrong.”
The professor nodded. “Science is always changing its understanding of what is and what was. That’s the beauty of learning.” He returned to his stool and perched on it. “Through science we’ve eliminated the need for a Creator. Life is too filled with imperfect designs, mutations, vestigial organs, and leftover DNA to be molded by some divine mind.”
Another football player spoke up. “My momma said I was an accident. Now I know why.” More laughter.
Professor Stilhurtz had turned to me and asked, “Have you learned anything yet?”
I nodded as I stood. “Just because I dug a skull and labelled it a million years old doesn’t mean I’m not practicing skulduggery.”
He wasn’t amused and we both agreed that perhaps I needed to naturally select another option for my studies.
This time with my niece, Kimberley, reminds me how fearfully and wonderfully we are all made. We’ve been designed with minds that have created rockets which can reach beyond the moon, skyscrapers which can withstand an earthquake, and love poems which can bring tears to the loneliest heart.
I don’t want this little wondering mind to be deceived. Real snuggles are a wonderful way to teach that.
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I liked how the pace steadily moved along using the students who continually threw themselves into the mix.
Good choice to use the little niece to illustrate how the way we view our world is constantly updating through technology, yet if there is a contradiction between science and the Bible, one of these has been misinterpreted. I believe as you do, that all true science confirms creation.