Common descent

Pastor Chui - Do Endogenous Retroviruses (ERVs) Support Common Ancestry?-2

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• published: 30 Dec 2015
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“Where Did ERVs Come From? “Evolutionists will say that shared ERVs prove evolution to be true because of common ancestry and that common ancestry assumes that there will be shared ERVs. Making such a claim is silly because this kind of circular reasoning is unsupported by any outside information. In fact, there are several characteristics of ERVs that strongly support a biblical worldview. “1. ERVs Are Not Junk “The fact that any ERVs . . . exist among primates at all strongly argues against common ancestry by itself. “But why should so-called junk DNA be conserved for millions (even billions) of years of evolution when it supposedly has no purpose? The argument of junk DNA simply perpetuates the problems with the vestigial organs argument, but at the molecular level. If the genome has no purpose for such elements by evolutionists’ reasoning, then it should have been eliminated millions of years ago. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. “2. Saying “ERV” Does Not Prove Evolution “Another problem with the idea that ERVs support common ancestry is the logical fallacy known as the “argument from ignorance.” Simply finding ERVs in a genome is not sufficient proof common ancestry occurred. ERVs do not come with a birth or death certificate. Therefore, there is no way to know beyond a shadow of a doubt (as many evolutionists claim) that this somehow proves evolution. Moreover, evolutionists are not willing to imbibe arguments suggesting alternative explanations for why we find ERVs where we do. Surely some evolutionists could retort saying that we are holding to a “God of the gaps” to rescue our position, but that simply is not the case. For one, evolutionists have their own version of a “God of the gaps.” It’s called “Evolution of the Gaps.” “3. ERVs Are Strong Support for Design, Not Evolution “Perhaps the strongest argument against ERVs proving common ancestry is the idea of “plagiarized mistakes” presented by Dr. David DeWitt. In his book Unraveling the Origins Controversy (2015), he states, “’When a teacher has two tests submitted that are the same, it suggests that the two students cheated. However, if the students both got 100%, the fact that they are the same does not mean that they cheated. However, if the students both got 60% and had identical incorrect (original emphasis) responses, then this would be convincing evidence that the students did in fact cheat. . . . “4. ERV Identities and Similarities Are Not One and the Same “An idea related to “plagiarized mistakes” is the basis on which it is built: percent similarities. Evolutionists often hide behind the idea of percent similarity at the DNA level on a number of issues (ERVs are no exception). However, biologists often use the word similarity in a very different way than the general public perceives it. “One last problem associated with citing ERVs as proof of evolution is that no one can provide a naturalistic selective mechanism for how they “jump” in DNA from generation to generation. The movements are said to be random, and how can anyone describe a random event? While we know the parts to the molecular puzzle, we are missing the big picture (natural selection acting on DNA) of why each piece fits where it does (or moves where it does from generation to generation). “A Biblical View of ERVs “It is relatively easy to see that ERVs are poor evidence for common ancestry. With arguments such as these presented here, one can easily shoot down critics and silence the opposition. “Unknowingly, Roca is affirming the biblical concept of genomic entropy in arguing that the original genome was more gene rich and is losing information over time. It is not unreasonable to presume that all ERVs for a given organism were probably part of its original genome (in this particular case, the Koala genome) before they began to “jump” to other locations within the genome and into a retroviral form. “In the example of the koala, the ERVs are now beneficial to the koala; however, as Dr. Roca stated, this may not always have been the case. At first the ERVs may not have helped the host. Rather than asking how ERVs support common ancestry, perhaps the better question to ask is this: why do so many ERVs exist in the first place? Upon closer examination, ERVs strongly support a biblical worldview of an originally perfect world marred by the effects of sin.” Thank God for the contribution of Dr. Fabich.