February 14, 1998 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following article is from The Sword & Trowel, 1997 No. 4. Copyright 1997. Used by permission. Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant & Castle, London SE1 6SD, England. 0171-735-7076 (voice), 0171-735-7989 (fax), Bookshop@MetropolitanTabernacle.org (e-mail). We offer the article for information purposes only. For our part, we need nothing other than the testimony of Scripture and our own observations of life to know that evolution is nonsense. It is only by faith in God’s Word that we can know the truth of origins (Hebrews 11:1-3). It is interesting, though, to see the dilemma of evolutionary science today.

BEHE’S BAD NEWS FOR DARWINISTS
Sword & Trowel, 1997 No. 4

Darwin said: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down."

Prof. Michael Behe of Lehigh University, USA, issued last year, to a flood of animated reviews, his book showing many mechanisms revealed by modern molecular biology, that do not appear to have been gradually formed (Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, The Free Press, Simon & Schuster, August 1, 1996, 307 pages).

A DNA specialist, this 44-year-old biochemist has caused the greatest stir in many years about the origin of life. His book has already been reprinted numerous times, while even the most hostile reviewers have been unable to supply evolutionary explanations for his example cases.

Behe (pronounced beehee) poses the question, "What type of biological system could not be formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications? Well, for starters, a system that has a quality that I call irreducible complexity."

Described by the New York Times reviewer as "delightfully whimsical" in writing style, and full of "deft analogies," Prof. Behe now addresses numerous scientific audiences. Notwithstanding his easy manner and "impish grin," his arguments have caused mayhem among the defenders of the Darwinian faith. Not a few of the hostile reviewers (including those of leading Darwinists) employ vituperation and scorn rather than any serious engagement with the material, among them Britisher Richard Dawkins, who tartly charged Behe with being too lazy to research and find evolutionary explanations for his difficult cases. (Dawkins responded with typical insulting atheistic prejudice.)

Prof. Phillip Johnson (author of Darwin on Trial) has pointed out that criticisms of Behe's book do not challenge the truth of what he writes. They only reveal the unhappiness of Darwinists on seeing "the scientific evidence and their materialist philosophy going in opposite directions."

Prof. Behe also highlights the deafening silence over several decades of the Darwinian establishment in providing explanations for these complex systems. Research papers, he points out, leave well alone. "Not one scientist has published any detailed proposal or explanation of the possible evolution of any such complex biochemical system. And when a science does not publish, it ought to perish."

Darwin's Black Box is both credible to scientists, and understandable to non-specialists. Technical reasoning is cordoned off chapter by chapter, so that the non-specialist can recognise the portions he cannot cope with.

Prof. Behe is not an evangelical Christian. Father of seven children, he uses family incidents to clarify many points, along with many other brilliant illustrations.

Michael Behe was first shocked into the realisation that evolution should be questioned, on reading Michael Denton's work -- Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. (He describes the effect as being analogous to electroconvulsive therapy.)

He soon formulated a lecture course in which he contrasted evidence and claims for and against evolution.

Philosopher David Berlinski commented that through this book, a stirring of revolutionary air has suddenly encompassed Darwinism. He said: "No one in the evolutionary camp can propose to defend Darwin without meeting the challenges that Behe has set out in his book."

Darwin's Black Box (subtitled, "The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution"), is available from Tabernacle Bookshop, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant & Castle, London SE1 6SD, England. 0171-735-7076 (voice), 0171-735-7989 (fax), Bookshop@MetropolitanTabernacle.org (e-mail).

All three books mentioned in this article -- Darwin’s Black Box by Behe, Darwin on Trial by Johnson, and Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Denton -- are available from Amazon.com -- http://www.amazon.com/.