The modern era has been filled with notions and theories routinely conflicting with the Bible, often in the attempt to confound believers, and diminish or even belittle their faith.
Perhaps none has been more intellectually promiscuous and effective than the theory of evolution, ostensibly laden with unquestionable proof of its authenticity.
One of the greatest refutations of the supposedly unassailable theory came in the form of the pioneering volume Why Do Men Believe Evolution Against All Odds? by Dr. Carl Baugh. And now, nearly a quarter-century after its original release, Beacon Street Press, the publishing division of Southwest Radio Church Ministries, is reissuing the book which, as one observer said, “took the world by storm.”
In the early 1980s, Baugh and his archaeological team unearthed a set of very old human footprints. What made them extraordinary was that they were right next to much larger ones, made by dinosaurs.
“It changed the entire paradigm, and proved that humans and dinosaurs did coexist,” Baugh said, remembering the discovery that “changed my entire life. I didn’t sleep for four days and nights…”
The author’s reputation soared during the intervening years. Baugh established the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas, near the location of his first-of-its-kind archaeological find. Armed with fresh knowledge, eagerness to learn and freedom to research, he set out on the course that would become the cause of his life, following the facts wherever they led. Against All Odds was one of many notable accomplishments resulting from that incredible journey.
During a multi-part interview on SWRC’s venerated Watchman on the Wall radio series, Baugh talked about producing genuinely indisputable proof of the contravening “theory” called Creation—that the Lord God created the heavens and the Earth, and then made man in His image.
“We are barraged by propaganda at every turn. The common propagandistic theory is that the evidence for evolution is overwhelming,” Baugh said. “It’s about time we fortified the believers and those honest skeptics with information showing that evolution simply will not work.
“Then why do men believe evolution against all odds? This book is published to expose the fallacies of evolution by quoting the leading scientific journals and leading scientific researchers themselves, in their admissions that their area has no scientific proof, but they’re depending on another area.”
With his learned presentation and mellifluous voice, Baugh calmly laid out the sturdy, straightforward arguments contradicting the foundations of the belief system that led to evolutionary thinking – which he emphasized cannot explain either the origin of the cosmos, or of life itself.
The life and work of Charles Darwin figures prominently in Against All Odds. If not the originator, Darwin was one of the earliest and leading proponents of the theory of evolution. His 1859 book On the Origin of Species achieved seminal status, yet in the introduction to a recent republication of the book, a prominent British biologist wrote, “The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology. And biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an unproved theory.”
Baugh said close examination of Darwin’s physical and mental health and his mindset, especially following disabilities which ultimately struck him, along with numerous little-known comments he made about the theory he had proposed yields innumerable contradictions. “Darwin never intended to come to a final conclusion on facts. He intended for the discord to reign supreme in his own mind,” Baugh said.
A world-renowned astrophysicist—with the prerequisite background in physics, math, chemistry and biology—“held to the concept that not only did life arise by evolutionary means—that is inorganic material producing organic material that increased in complexity and ultimately produced man—but given time anywhere in the universe, it would happen again,” Baugh said.
In cooperation with a fellow scholar, he spent more than a decade researching. “Their work was finally published in a major journal – which I quote in the first chapter of the book: ‘The likelihood that the formation of life from inanimate matter is one in a number with 40,000 zeros after it.’ The astrophysicist went on to say, ‘It’s big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution.’”
Baugh said science has now reached a point to which many people assumed it would never arrive.
“We are living at a time when science has made tremendous strides, and technology governs most aspects of our lives… (and) is realizing that at the basic structure of living systems, they are so intricately and interdependently interrelated that there is no explanation for their origin outside design.
“In the days that Charles Darwin lived, they assumed that the cell, the basic structure of life, was a blob of protoplasm. But now, world-class scientists have brought to the attention of a global community the fact that the design structure within the living cell is so interdependent and so intricate in its organization that Darwinian evolution or naturalism cannot explain it,” Baugh said.
The author happily described some of the numerous illustrations, in the hope that they alone are “worth the price of the book.” One double-panel illustration explains the “Big Bang Theory,” along with the timeline of the universe, showing where, in the theory of evolution, “supposedly atoms form from the energy of light – and atoms can form from the energy of light, as is depicted in the creation model,” Baugh said.
“But then, while beginning with the truth, evolutionary theory departs from a solid foundation of physics. In fact, it introduces concepts that are so bizarre they have never been observed and are not possible. I quote from leading scholars who show that these supposed evolutionary interpretations are not possible from universal physics, so they have to assume a universe in which the laws of physics operated differently from what we observe them to be today. That is absolute speculation, inventing a theory, justifying it for reasons outside those of scientific investigation.
“So the illustration of the Big Bang Theory begins with atoms being formed from the energy of light. No problem there. But then the very next statement is they are later to be cooked to heavier elements in the stars, ultimately to provide the material out of which life would arise. That’s where error is stated boldly.”
The book and its illustrations help readers “be acquainted with the reason men believe evolution against all odds,” Baugh said. The theory is illustrated “on a cosmological scale, beginning with a moment of infinite temperature and energy, a time of inflation, and the introduction of the four basic laws of physics known as gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force.
“And then we have a time of radiation and microwave background (showing) that the galaxies form according to evolutionary theory. Finally, this theory gives the current chaotic universe as becoming self-realizing in the mind of man,” Baugh said.
“And the bizarre concept that this universe in the chaos that we find in exploding galaxies and novating stars, that this current universe in its chaos self-realizes in the mind of chaotic man. That really is disharmonious man becoming harmonic with a chaotic universe. That is asking for a continuation of disharmony, peril, turmoil that refuses to turn to redemption in Jesus Christ.”
Baugh said one question which persistently lingers is, “Why do good men believe bad science?” He insists that he has no interest in condemning those who believe in evolution. “I believe in being kind to evolutionists… I believe we should be considerate and compassionate to individuals.” In fact, he admits that “in the past, I have believed in evolution, to my chagrin.”
At the time of his stunning discoveries, Baugh had been a pastor for nearly three decades and had established a Bible college, though “I was still teaching the GAP theory, which promotes the idea of a span of time – a gap – between the existence of the species, and on which the theory of evolution has been largely based.”
The preserved footprints, along with several relics from early eras, powerfully separated scientific theory from reality for those who would listen and learn. The first casualty was the long-accepted delineation of time periods.
“According to evolutionary theory, Permian rock is supposed to be over 250 million years old,” Baugh said. “So what’s a human footprint doing in it if it’s 250 million years in age?”
Also, on display at the museum is “a sophisticated hammer that was found in Cretaceous rock, which means that certain dinosaurs were around at that time. Well, what’s a manmade hammer doing in it if that rock is 110 to 140 million years old? The simple fact is that it’s not that old at all. These were deposited in Noah’s flood,” Baugh said.
“Now we know from scientific investigation universal history does not involve hundreds of millions of years. It involves only a few thousand years. We give scientific justification for interpreting universal history and earth history in thousands of years.”
In Against All Odds, “we look into the literature and find where leading scholars admit, ‘Well, really there’s no proof in our area of investigation, no proof of evolutionary origin or evolutionary interpretation. We just approach it with that mindset.’ They say, ‘however, there’s another area that does have that proof.
“So we go to the other area, and examine the various disciplines and find that leading evolutionary scholars in each of these evolutionary disciplines admit that evolution has not been proved in their area of expertise. Putting it all together, we come to the conclusion that evolution is not based in science,” Baugh said.
Then comes perhaps the most important point of all – the search for evolution’s “imaginary road to life.”
Baugh declares “creation is an awesome contemplation… Can evolution explain the development from amoeba through lower primates, ultimately developing into man himself? No, evolution cannot explain that.”
Pointing to a researcher’s assimilation of amino acids in the laboratory, Baugh said the problem was that “leading scholars admit that this won’t work. In order to get those amino acids to form in the first place, you have to manipulate this system beyond any capacity of any model of planet Earth, and then those amino acids deteriorate as soon as they’re formed. Yet this is celebrated as one of the great breakthroughs in illustrating how life originated to begin with. All of this is a refusal to accept a creator’s design.
“Now, with an inheritance derived from the origin of this creation, we individuals are endowed with a preoccupation to ask four questions. In fact, geneticists are now realizing that all people ask these four questions to such a specific degree that they must be genetically programmed into our very nature. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have different races, people of different climes and national status at all ages asking the very same questions. We’re preoccupied with these. They are: Who am I, where did I come from, what’s my purpose here, and where am I going after this is over? All people ask these questions, and we need answers to these,” Baugh said.
“Many consider evolution just as another thought process, but it actually is a religious dogma entrenched in the thought process of many individuals and particularly academicians. Evolution is religious in nature. It continues to be a religious preoccupation without scientific merit.”
And, contrary to the beliefs of many theologians, “naturalistic evolution cannot be harmonized with special creation. I’ve heard individuals – well-intentioned Christians – say, ‘Well, God could use any method He wanted to create the universe and to create living systems. Therefore, if He used evolution to do it, that’s His business.’
“Well, now, at first that sounds plausible, until you realize that God said He did it specifically by direct special creation in increments that were specific in six literal days. And if God didn’t do it like He said, then God lied to us. God never lied to us,” Baugh said.
“It is the considered opinion of veteran scholars that we either arrived by a naturalistic process called evolution or a designed procedure called creation. There is no third alternative.
“Internationally recognized scholastic evolutionist D.J. Futuyma stated succinctly: ‘Creation and evolution between them exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things. Organisms either appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did not, they must have developed from pre-existing species by some process of modification. If they did appear in fully developed state, they must indeed have been created by some omnipotent intelligence.’”
Still, those who have questioned the validity of evolution – either because of religious belief or scientific doubt – have often felt the sting of condemnation for not “trusting the science,” and accusations of “misinformation” or “disinformation.”
Demeaning personal attacks are inappropriate, and Baugh said such parochialism should not be allowed to influence any scientific discussions.
The National Academy of Sciences issued a declaration called “An Affirmation of Freedom of Inquiry and Expression,” which states:
The search for knowledge and understanding of the physical universe and of the living things that inhabit it should be conducted under conditions of intellectual freedom, without religious, political, or ideological restrictions… without political censorship and without fear of retribution in consequence of unpopularity of their conclusions. …Those who challenge existing theories must be protected from retaliatory reactions.
“No matter how you approach it, there is no ultimate personal hope for mankind that can be accommodated in evolutionary theory,” Baugh said. “Naturalistic evolution concerns itself with no meaningful dignity or future accountability. Naturalistic evolution cannot reconcile present events with future destiny, and reflects on no meaningful, lasting accomplishments in this life. No wonder, then, that evolutionists will not tolerate any alternative view.
“In the book, I offer what hopefully will be a far better approach. That is that life was designed, maintained by and ultimately totally accommodated by a marvelous Creator who Himself cares about all His creation.”
Against All Odds by Jon Ruetz — from Watchman on the Wall interviews with author Dr. Carl Baugh.
