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The Dessert Cart Paradox — A “Gaping Hole in Evolutionary Theory”

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Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
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There’s a problem with evolution by “natural selection” that’s indicated in the very words themselves. As biologist Doug Axe points out, selection in ordinary language means choosing something already in existence. Darwinian evolution is supposed to be a theory of how wonderful biological inventions come into being, yet the “coming into being” part is what it avoids addressing, instead skipping right to the “selection” part.

A Fatal Weakness

Dr. Axe, Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University, has launched a new 40-part DiscoveryU course — “Douglas Axe Investigates Molecular Biology and Intelligent Design” — that is impressively accessible. In a sample lecture below, he hits what he calls the “gaping hole in evolutionary theory,” namely this irksome question of how the things that are selected got there in the first place. He gives the paradoxical illustration of a dessert cart at a fancy restaurant. Normally, the diner is invited to select a dessert on the cart. Now imagine an empty cart is wheeled past us and the waiter invites us to “select” from it, as if the selecting itself caused the apple strudel to come into existence. We would think he was either crazy or playing a practical joke.

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Professor Axe, the author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed, explains in about five minutes why this is a fatal weakness in Darwinism. Consider signing up for the full course now, at a 30 percent discount that’s good through April 30, 2021, only. Use the code axesubscriber30 at checkout. Look here for more free previews and a full outline of the curriculum, with three units covering “Proteins and Genes,” “Evolution,” and “Intelligent Design.” Each lecture is brief, easy to understand, and trenchant. This is a great opportunity for homeschoolers, adult learners, and anyone with an open mind about origins.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Science and Culture Today
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He is the author of seven books including Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome and The Lord Will Gather Me In: My Journey to Jewish Orthodoxy. A former senior editor at National Review, he has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received an A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. Born in Santa Monica, CA, he lives on Mercer Island, WA.
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