Does creation explain world population better than evolution?
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
15 March 2009
From the outset, Daniel Mbugua declares that he is a born-again Christian, then he continues: “…could you kindly highlight which of these two theories is mathematically accurate!
“First the Creation Model: assuming the Flood of Noah took place 4,500 years ago and starting from 3 couples i.e. Shem, Ham and Japheth and an average of children per couple or around 3 percent growth rate of population would this result in the present world population of about 6.5Billion?
“Evolution Model: Evolutionists are divided on the date of first ape men but let’s give them around 500,000 years ago. Assuming the same growth rate of 3% wont this result in a ridiculous number which doesn't match the present global population?”
Yes I agree! Using the assumptions that you have made, the result of the evolution model would be ridiculous. Starting with only one couple 500,000 years ago, the population of the world today would be the number 4 followed by 6,418 zeros!
I don’t know what to call such a number, but let me give you an idea of how large it is: This article is 500 words long and it contains about 2,700 characters. Thus if I were to write that number here, the zeros would go on for about two and a half weeks! It is huge! So there is something wrong – either with the theory or the assumptions made.
First, let’s check the theory by comparing it with the alternative given by Daniel. Starting with three couples (six people) and assuming a three percent growth rate for 4,500 years, the world population today would be the number 4 followed by 58 zeros. Not as large as the evolution prediction, but equally ridiculous!
Therefore, the problem is in the assumptions. The world population growth rate has never reached three percent per year in history! In fact the highest increment ever recorded was 2.2 percent in the year 1963. At present it is growing at about 1.2 percent.
In ancient times, the growth rate was much less than what it is today.
The reason is that, without proper medical care, death rates were very
high compared to the present case. In the mid 1700s, for example, 75
percent of all people living in the city of
Indeed, it is estimated that 2,000 years ago the average life expectancy was only about 30 years…thus it was not unusual for Jesus to die at the age of 33! The popular belief that people used to live much longer than as is not true.
Still, that does not answer the suggested question of which of the two theories is more correct. Both evolution and creation have valid arguments and shortcomings, therefore the jury is still out.
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