subject: Evolution Versus Biblical Creation Controversy [print this page] In the early eighteen hundreds, the French naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck proposed the hypothesis of the "inheritance of acquired characteristics," in which it was suggested that animals could (by exercise, diet, grooming, etc.) develop certain traits in their bodily structures, which as a result would then be passed on to their offspring.
Lamarck gave as an example, the giraffe, which supposedly stretched its neck upward to get food, and after many generations of stretching this resulted in offspring which were born with longer necks.
This hypothesis has since been proven incorrect, because the body cells (somatic cells) in an animal do not pass on any such developmental changes to the sexual reproductive cells (germ cells; sperm and eggs). We now know that it is the germ cells which pass on the inherited characteristics to the offspring, including any potential to develop under various conditions.
It is thus quite fascinating, that in the thirtieth chapter of the book of Genesis (v.37-42) we find that Jacob held a wrong view which was similar to that of Lamarck, that is: Jacob was trying to produce striped and spotted goats by putting a pattern of white and dark streaked branches in front of the eyes of the animals while they were breeding, because Jacob thought that the striped and spotted pattern being viewed by the animals during breeding would result in offspring with that spotted pattern in their coats.
However, in contrast to Jacob's false (Lamarck-type) notion of "acquired characteristics," God revealed to Jacob in a dream the actual (and genetically precise) reason that the baby goats were being born with striped and spotted coats as in Genesis 31:10-12 Jacob said: "In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the male goats that were mating with the flock were striped, spotted and mottled.
Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'here I am!' And he said, 'Lift up your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating with the flock are striped, spotted and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you." With this statement, God makes it clear in Genesis that it is not what the parent might see while mating, but it is the genetically produced appearance of the coat of the parent which affects the appearance of the coats of the offspring even though spotted goats were previously removed (which Laban did in order to "double-cross" Jacob), the genetics of the spotted males (who actually did the mating) is passed on to the young. Although this accurate assessment of the situation was revealed to Jacob in about fifteen hundred BC, these genetic laws were not understood by scientists until thousands of years later.
Vision of Birds of Prey
It had long been thought by generations of scientists that birds of prey (such as eagles and falcons) found their prey by means of an acute sense of smell, however it has since then been found that such birds actually have a very poor sense of smell.
Instead, ornithologists have determined that such birds have remarkable vision capabilities. In fact, it has been found that while some such birds are diving to catch their prey, the shape of the cornea varies during the descent, enabling it to maintain a perfect focus.
In about fifteen hundred, Job 28:7 makes note of the falcon's excellent vision, and in Job 39:27-29 it states that the eagle looks down from an inaccessible cliff, and spies out its prey "from afar."
The Hydrologic Cycle
In a good brief description of world wide air movements and the hydrologic water cycles of the weather, we read, "The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again" (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7).
In same manner, Job 36:27-28 says, "He (God) draws up the drops of water, which distill into rain from the vapor; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind," which is a statement from fifteen hundred B.C. It was not until data and measurements were taken all over entire hemispheres of the globe in our modern era that such an understanding of the hydrologic cycle and world air currents was achieved, and then once again, the Bible is confirmed as accurate.
