Macroevolution vs. Microevolution
Our children have heard us say that evolution isn't true, yet we often aren't sure how to explain why or in what way that is so. The simple concept of microevolution versus macroevolution is a great place to begin. As the author of Apologia's creation science curriculum, I believe it's crucial our children and we are able to articulate the difference between microevolution and macroevolution. If you aren't sure what the difference is yourself, read on.
Macro means big. Micro means small. Evolution simply means the gradual development or change of something. Microevolution refers to small changes. Another word for microevolution is natural selection and speciation.
Scientists use the word evolution to refer to changes in nature. Most scientists also use this word to explain their belief in macro or enormous changes from simple life to more complex life. However, the only kind of evolution that has been observed and proven is microevolution or speciation—a process where little changes take place over time within a species to develop unique characteristics that separate that species from others in the family or order. These changes have been observed and recorded in nature, the fossil record, and in the lab. On the other hand, macroevolution refers to the idea that, given enough time, one kind of living thing can turn into a totally different kind of creature. This kind of evolution has never been observed, recorded, or proven in any way—not in nature, not in the fossil record, nor in the lab.
Microevolution occurs when one feature of an animal, like a beak, changes over time, causing the animals to look different from their ancestors. The animal’s body part doesn’t become something else—it can only develop features that were within its DNA. A beak doesn’t become a jaw with teeth; a bird’s foot doesn’t become a paw with claws.
Let’s take a look at an example. We’ll base this example on a real occurrence Darwin himself observed. Imagine there are birds living in a tropical location that have long bills and enjoy eating nectar from flowers. Every bird is born with a long bill. However, a few are born with a bill that is a few centimeters longer than the others. Those particular birds are able to get more nectar from the flowers with particularly long necks, the kind of flowers that grow readily in tropical areas. Those birds become healthier, lay more eggs, and prefer to breed with one another. Slowly, the birds with shorter bills will not be as abundant. When short-billed birds mate with long-billed birds, the young that develop with longer bills will have more young than the ones that have a shorter bill.
Soon, the birds with longer beaks are more abundant, eventually becoming the dominant species of bird in that area. This can go and on with longer and longer beaks becoming prevalent, as long as their DNA has the coding to produce such a beak. The longer beak—which is better for their survival—is naturally selected as the preferred beak. This is natural selection and how species develop.
This process can take a very short period of time. In fact, scientists have actually observed new species of wallabies develop within a twelve year span in Australia. New species are developing all the time. People breed and grow new species every day. This is microevolution.
If one goes back to the original species, we find their DNA has coding for many variations. As species develop more and more specific features, often their DNA loses the information it originally had to produce the earlier variations. It loses the ability to produce a creature like the original. A wolf could eventually produce a chihuahua, but a chihuahua could never produce a wolf. This is why it is conceivable that God selected one kind of animal with the most variations in their genetic code from each order of animal to enter the ark. And this would explain why we have so many different species today from each order.
Microevolution is valid. You can believe in microevolution because we find evidence for it.
However, evolutionists make a giant leap and say that if a bird’s beak size or shape can change over time, then a fish can change into a man, or a dinosaur can change into a bird. This is like observing a small mound with ants living inside, which we call an anthill, and then concluding that similar creatures made giant mountains. Macroevolution is the name given to this giant leap from truth to a lie. Macroevolution refers to impossibly big changes for which there is no evidence.
Often, in public and private school textbooks, microevolution is explained, and all the evidence supporting it is given. After the students come to understand how microevolution works, the textbook then states this is how evolution works and how we evolved from monkeys and monkeys evolved from fish. Because the students understand how small changes occur, they assume the textbook is right about big changes. And many, many people, without even thinking, simply accept this faulty thinking as fact.
If, as evolutionists say, macroevolution were true, the fossil record should show animals in transition from one kind of animal to another. However, no transitional creatures have ever been found for any animal kind. Though millions of fossils have been unearthed, none show a halfway or changing body from one creature to another. The physical evidence does not support macroevolution.
You are probably wondering why some believe in macroevolution when the evidence does not confirm their beliefs. Well, if you didn’t believe in God and you were a scientist, you would need some explanation for how we got here. This is called origins. From where did we originate? What are the origins of man? Scientists who don't believe in God want to believe in macroevolution. And when someone wants to believe something, it’s really hard to change their mind. Once they have fully accepted the belief, it’s hard to convince them otherwise.
Adolf Hitler said,
“If you tell a lie often enough and loud enough, the people will believe it. And the greater the lie, the more they will believe it.”
Once a belief system (drilled into a person as fact from an early age) is firmly in place, it's difficult to change it. They have developed a set of assumptions. An assumption is a thing that is accepted as true without proof. Everyone makes assumptions.
Assumptions aren’t bad things. They come in all different shapes and sizes. I have them and so do you. When one studies science, they apply their assumptions to whatever it is they see. If something doesn’t make sense, most people simply write it off as a mystery. However, as you will see in upcoming posts, there are so many “mysteries” in science that can be easily explained by looking at God’s account of origins in the Bible.
Some Christians have a hard time believing the Bible's explanation of origins. It’s no wonder. Since childhood, they have been taught the unproven belief that macroevolution is the way we originated. However, if one can approach the subject with an open mind and look at the actual evidence that exists today, they will see that it weighs heavily on the side of creationism.