Re: Glenn's faith in catfish

Glenn Morton (grmorton@gnn.com)
Tue, 07 Jan 1997 21:08:32

Jim,
In the following response to Randy you reject evolution between fish and
amphibians without a single mention of any of the fossil evidence. Most
apologetical books take this approach. There is no discussion of the tail
similarities, the skull similarities, the existence or lack of gills, etc. It
is as if the fossil evidence is not important to this issue at all. The
conclusion is already determined and all we have to do is state the conclusion
often enough and it becomes true. All you offer is that the story is hard to
swallow. If that becomes the standard of truth, then there are problems. The
most difficult thing of all to believe is that God, the Creator of the
universe, loves me--a sinner.

>Randy wrote:
>
><<I was wondering if you could explain to me how fish which had gills and no
>lungs could develop lungs loose their gills and still survive.>>
>
>That's the $64,000 question!
>
>To buy the evolution story, you have to believe:
>
>"The evolution of air-breathing organs occurred several times [!!] within
>different lines of bony fishes. These organs include vascularized swim
>bladders, parts of the digestive tract, specialized compartments to the gill
>chamber, and in dipnoans, lungs." [Kardong, Vertebrates, pg. 435]
>
>This is hard to, er, swallow, so the official story is that lungs were
>"pre-adaptive." That is, they did not evolve in anticipation of life on land,
>but as supplements to gills when oxygen in water became inadequate.Then, when
>the little fellas were ready to go onto dry land looking for worms, voila!
>They had lungs all ready for them!
>
>Convenient, eh?
>
>And remember, it is not just the lungs. It is a host of adaptive changes
> that have to be accounted for:
>
>"The major problems with life on land relate to weight and structural support
>as much as to the physiology of breathing air. A fish is buoyed up by the
>water and its body weight may be effectively zero. On land, however, the body

>as to be held up by some form of limbs, and the skeleton as all the internal
>organs have to become structurally modified in order to cope with the new
>downward pull of gravity. The backbone of a fish is adapted for the stresses
>of lateral stretching and bending during swimming, but the main forces to
>which a tetrapod is subject are caused by gravity. The vertebrae and the
>muscles around the backbone have to become modified to prevent the body from
>sagging between the limbs. The mode of locomotion of a tetrapod on land is
>generally different from that of a fish in water." [Benton, Vertebrate
>Palaeontology, Chapman & Hall 1990, pp. 46-47]
>
>Once again, a whole host of changes had to occur simultaneously. Like a
>protective pectoral girdle and new skin. And bone! This is a real corker:
>
>"It is obvious that the creation of bone required not one but a whole burst
>of mutations, all integrated to a single end--an incredible thing to happen
>by >chance even if nothing else had been going on." [Taylor, The Great
> Evolution Mystery, pg. 56]
>
>So in answer to your question, Randy, no one can explain it.
>
>Jim
>
>
>

glenn

Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm