LUCA Archives – Rational Faith

Fujianvenator Prodigiosus – New Dino find puts Evolutionary Storytelling on Display

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Duane Caldwell

Fujianvenator Prodigiosus (artist impression) Credit: Chuang Zhao

The prestigious science magazine Nature featured[1] a curious newly discovered dinosaur called Fujianvenator Prodigiosus which is causing a stir concerning their ludicrous theory that certain therapod dinosaurs evolved into birds. They’re quite serious about that story though and the fact that they don’t quite know where to place this dinosaur into that fictional setting is causing problems forcing a “rethink of bird evolution” as the title puts it. But it does make a good case study for our purposes to see how evolutionists weave their tales of fiction by misconstruing the evidence by building on their previous lines of fiction.

Dawkins Joins Ranks of Evolutionists who Disprove Evolution

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Duane Caldwell

Richard Dawkins and Darwin’s Tree of Life

From its inception Darwinian evolution had embedded in its very definition the seeds of its own destruction. There are actually a number of these seeds and Darwin himself recognized one of the more obvious ones that disprove evolution that was clear even in his day. But let me come back to Darwin since his refutation, which he himself acknowledged, has been pointed out many times. Instead let me start with Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist and evolutionist who, as pointed out in the title, has joined Charles Darwin in the ranks of evolutionists who, in their efforts to validate evolution, have actually decisively proven it false.

Following are four evolutionists, including Richard Dawkins, who have provided criteria by which to disprove evolution, showing it to be false. So, according to their own criteria, evolution is demonstrably false. Continue Reading

Question Evolution Day 2023 – The Platypus and Coelacanth

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Duane Caldwell

Question Evolution Day 2023

Here we are at another February 12th, Question Evolution Day, where instead of presenting evidence for creation, we offer creation skeptics an opportunity to check their intellectual freedom and integrity. This is an opportunity to see if they are slaves to the evolutionary dogma or if they have the intellectual freedom and integrity to seriously consider the many challenges to Darwinian Evolution. It is an opportunity to observe that Darwinian evolution is not only internally inconsistent but the evidence does not support it. The evidence supports creation. Continue Reading

15 Reasons:Why Evolution has never happened-Part 2

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Duane Caldwell

DNA Mutation

In the first installment of this series, I stated that Darwinian Evolution and its modern counterpart Neo-Darwinism, (the theory whose supporters want you to believe that non-living particles can become living people by undirected natural processes and large amounts of time), is an irrational belief kept alive by those unwilling to accept the truth. In support of that statement I proffered 15 reasons why evolution is not and could never be true. Since it could never be true, it follows it has never happened. In part one, I gave the first five reasons. Here are the next five reasons.

15 Reasons why Evolution is impossible and never happened (Part 2)

6. Limitations of Natural Selection

Neo-Darwinian theory posits that all species – all of them – are the result of natural selection acting on random mutations from an original common ancestor – often called the “last universal common ancestor” or LUCA. But even a cursory examination of the theory shows it to be fatally flawed in its conception. Continue Reading

Evolution falsified – Again

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Duane Caldwell

The irreducibly complex bacterial flagellum

Darwinian evolution has been falsified many times. With the recent bacterial find, it’s been falsified again.

A recent bacterial discovery once again demonstrates that evolution is false, and that adherents believe it on a faith basis, not an evidentiary, scientific basis. To fully appreciate that point one must understand how faith is expressed. As a Christian, there are certain things that I believe that you will not change my mind on. For instance, I hold the following as true:

God exists
God is good
God is love
Jesus is the image of the invisible God

I have good reasons to believe all these things¹, which makes my belief a rational one. (More on that here.) But the fact that regardless of what you show me, I will still believe them indicates that they are un-falsifiable statements, which make them statements of faith, not of science.

That is precisely how faith is supposed to work. Care must be taken that you place your faith in an object worthy of faith. Such as Jesus and the Bible. Once that requirement is met, you continue to have faith in revealed truth because your object of faith (God) has presented evidence of the truthfulness of what you believe. More importantly he knows more than you do about things you now question, like why or how did __x___ (fill in the blank) happen. God will at some future date resolve your questions and make sense of apparent contradictions, but that which he has made clear – like the fact of his existence²
– he expects us to continue to believe regardless of the nonsense and lies unbelievers present.

On the other hand, science is not supposed to work that way. Continue Reading

The Waning, Great Scientific Hope

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Duane Caldwell

	New data from remote telescope Kepler and a yet to be deployed star shade has put blinders on scientists so they can’t see that the great scientific hope – the discovery of life on other planets – is quickly fading.
Depicted: a star shade deployed in front of a remote robotic telescope to provide a man made eclipse to make viewing exoplanets possible.

With a new year comes renewed hope in many endeavors. 2015 is no different. Among materialist scientists (those adhering to philosophical materialism – thus rejecting anything exists beyond the material world), hopes are high that researchers will find an earth like “exoplanet” – a planet that orbits a sun other than our own. As space.com’s Mike Wall¹ reports:

This week, astronomers announced that NASA’s Kepler space telescope had discovered eight more relatively small planets that may be capable of hosting life as we know it, describing two of the new finds as the most Earth-like alien worlds known.

Mission scientists also announced 554 new unconfirmed Kepler “planet candidates” on Tuesday (Jan. 6); six of these potential worlds orbit sunlike stars, are close to Earth-size and are possibly habitable. [10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]

The excitement is heightened as researchers prepare to launch a sun shade – a man made device to eclipse a star in front of a remote telescope like Kepler in the next decade – allowing it, and them, to see faint planets that would otherwise be invisible due to the glare coming from the star. But why the excitement? And why the insatiable desire to find earth like planets? Simply put, scientists are rushing head long to find the Great Scientific Hope.

The Great Scientific Hope

For materialist scientists, there is no greater hope than Continue Reading

GULO and other Irrational Atheist Arguments – Part 1

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Duane Caldwell

7 Popular, but Fallacious Arguments used by Atheists

Evolutionists believe glowing eyes evolved multiple times independently.

Arguments that are demonstrably wrong yet still believed demonstrate the irrational nature of atheist and evolutionist belief.

The Biblical book of Acts recounts an event where a demon possessed girl who made a business for her masters from telling fortunes took to following around the Apostle Paul, shouting:

“…These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.¹

For those wondering why the apostle cast out a demon providing free advertisement for him, the answer is simple: God’s people are forbidden from having anything to do with demons² – even if what they do is initially helpful. The amazing thing to Christians is that Paul put up so long with it. I mention it because I likewise feel troubled by the recurring contention of Atheists that the pseudo-gene known as GULO or GLO proves common descent. So let me
cast out this demon and be done with this irrational contention once and for all. And while I’m at at it I’ll address 6 other irrational atheist arguments as well. (I use irrational in the sense that these arguments are easily demonstrated to be fallacious.) So following are 7 arguments used by evolutionists and atheists alike which are logically fallacious – and thus those who continue to use them – having read this – are showing themselves to be irrational in their anti-Christian beliefs.

To understand the atheists’ and evolutionists’ contention for these first two items that they present as evidence – GULO and LUCA – one must first understand one of the core theories of evolution – common descent. I say one component because according to the well respected late evolutionist Ernst Mayr, there are 5 basic components that make up the theory of evolution.³ The theory of Common Descent states that all creatures – from the worm in the ground to your cat and dog to you and your family are all descendant from a single common ancestor. That’s why they talk of the evolutionary “tree of life.” The common ancestor is at the trunk of the tree, and all other species make up the limbs and leaves. This concept is key to the next two items.

1. “GULO proves Evolution”

What is GULO and how does it supposedly prove evolution?

GULO and the implications for evolution

L-gulonolactone oxidase – commonly known as GULO – is a gene designed to synthesize vitamin C from glucose or galactose, but in some groups of animals, the GULO gene does function in that manner, and so it is given the label of “pseudogene.”⁴

Additionally, the gene is “broken” reportedly in the same place in multiple species resulting in a loss of the ability to synthesize vitamin C. Humans are not able to synthesize vitamin C. Neither are guinea pigs, chimpanzees and several species of monkeys along with some species of birds, bats and fish. Evolutionists look at these facts and conclude that the only way the gene could have broken in the sample place is if the gene of a common ancestor became broken, and that same broken gene was then inherited by subsequent descendants. Thus to their way of thinking the only way this broken gene would show up in multiple species is if it started in a common ancestor.

Recent evidence refutes this conclusion, and the attempts by evolutionists to salvage their conclusion makes matters worse – Continue Reading