MiloCast

The topic of evolution is a big deal in the news these days. In spite of the fact that we have known about the fact of evolution for generations, surprisingly few people seem to know a very basic piece of this story. So I’ll tell you something most people seem to never have heard. Evolution is proven. That is a known fact, as much as anything can be said to be a proven fact. We know that things have evolved, we have plenty of evidence, and no evidence has ever appeared which contradicts those facts. However, there is also the “theory of evolution.” This is different than the fact. The theory of evolution is the model of understanding developed by biologists to explain how evolution takes place. It describes the actual process that happens within the DNA, and explains how mutations, over time, change one species into something very different. If you wanted, you could say it’s our “best explanation so far.” Thus the use of the word “theory.”

It may seem confusing that we have both the fact of evolution and the theory of evolution, but the same thing applies to so many things we use each day. For example, did you know that to turn a motorcycle to the right, you have to steer to the left? Steering the front wheel toward the left causes the bike to lean to the right, so the bike goes right. It’s just a fact. Now, I’m sure there is some scientific theory which explains exactly how that works. I don’t understand it myself, but I don’t really need to in order to ride a motorcycle. The same goes for evolution. We look at things and see very clearly that one thing has evolved from another. We look at DNA in a human and a frog and see that the similarity is amazing. We look at human DNA and primate DNA, and we can see where they separate, just as we can look at the lineage of great danes and poodles and see how they came from the same ancestors and how long ago they stopped interbreeding.

So, people who claim that evolution is “only a theory” are either ignorant of some basic facts, or they’re covering them up in order to push their own agenda. And in either case, they are misrepresenting what the definition of “theory” is in scientific terms. It does not mean guess. You’ve all heard of Einstein’s “theory of relativity,” right? I never hear religious people dismissing it as “only a theory.” Just look it up on Google, and you’ll soon learn the definition of “theory” when it is used in science.

Remember, some words have multiple meanings, some ideas are confusing, and some facts are not self-evident. Truth is not always obvious. Keep this in mind, question what you “think” before you say you “know” it, and you’ll be well ahead of the game.