With each new catastrophe: earthquake or eruption, flood or famine; a crack is created in the dam holding back the placid lake of uniformitarian thinking. Climate change is playing a big role in the increase of these catastrophes. Climate change is also showing us the falsity of the idea that natural selection is linear and results in evolution as we witness the reversal of supposed speciation. Both of these pillars of evolutionary thinking: uniformitarianism which provides the geologic time necessary, and natural selection which provides the biological mechanism; are crumbling ideas as the earth wears out as a garment (Isaiah 51:6). Evolutionary thinking is at the mercy of human experience and is doomed as we observe these changes that are occurring with ever increasing frequency and severity.

Born and raised in the bliss and scientific simplicity of 150 years ago, the idea of evolution has been greatly weakened by recent catastrophic events. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 brought about a renaissance in research into catastrophic processes. Events of this magnitude while less frequent, and while providing a great field of study for scientists, do not impact the common person’s life as much as other catastrophes have. The earthquake leading to a tsunami that killed over 200,000 people in 2004 in Indonesia was far more impactful to the thinking of many people. All over the world earthquakes in various places (Matthew 24:7) are causing dams to crumble with the resultant flooding providing small-scale examples of geologic processes. Seeing these catastrophes happen in their own home towns, people can visualize how greater catastrophic events can form larger features like the Grand Canyon. These observations strip away the power of uniformitarian thinking: that bliss of ignorance. While some of these are natural disasters, others are driven by climate change.

Climate change, and warming oceans in particular, are driving increasing precipitation in some areas and drought and famines in others as weather patterns change. Flooding from storm events has altered the course of rivers, carved canyons, caused mudslides, and other geologic processes that we can witness occurring catastrophically and rapidly. In addition to impacting uniformitarian thinking, climate change is also impacting what we thought we understood about natural selection. Natural selection, as commonly understood, simply described a way of causing a specie to adapt to changes in its environment resulting in a linear evolution into a new specie. What we are seeing now is that natural selection is much more fluid and reversable.

This reversibility is very poignantly demonstrated by the puzzling Pizzly Bear. As the earth warms, and the artic region warms at about double the rate, the Polar Bears natural habitat out on the ice flows is diminishing. The Polar Bear was well adapted to an icy environment with its pigment-free fur and other adaptations. The historic view of natural selection would say that the Polar Bear has evolved into a separate species in order to survive. However, now we are seeing Pizzly Bears in areas that have historically been icy Polar Bear habitats. These white-brown mottled crosses between Grizzlies and Polar Bears are clear evidence of inter-breed-ability. These two bears do not represent separately evolved species, but rather one Pizzly specie that has been able to adapt to different environments fluidly and reversibly. As climate patterns change and oceans warm and rise, even Darwin’s famous Galapagos Finches will be affected. Changes in an animal specie is one thing, but like Mt. St. Helens, these changes do not impact the common person as much as something like disease.

We see a similar fluidity and adaptation of diseases in response to vaccines. One of the greatest triumphs of the 20th century was the near eradication of several severe infectious diseases through the use of vaccines. Today however, we are seeing a resurgence in these same infectious diseases from vaccine-resistant strains. These strains have always been present in the total population of these viruses, but were in the minority. The use of vaccines suppressed the more common strains allowing the old minority to become the new, vaccine-resistant majority. What will people be thinking when their bodies are once again covered by loathsome sores (Revelation 16:2)?

Is it possible to conclude that the idea of evolution to will not be able to remain in the minds of those who are experiencing the crumbling pillars of uniformitarianism and natural selection in the world around them? How can uniformitarian scientists continue to justify their position in the face of such coming catastrophes? I posit that while some may stubbornly cling to these ideas, for the majority of the population they will come to a new reality. In the face of these catastrophes, people often turn to a power higher than themselves. A paradigm shift will occur in the population as a whole, which never fully bought into evolutionary theory anyway. In a way, the idea of evolution was setup to fail from the beginning. As the apex of evolution, humans would have the right to harvest the earth’s resources any way chosen, regardless of the consequences. Along with the growing acceptance of the idea of evolution came the industrialization and consumerism that has resulted in the climate change we are now experiencing. Today, climate change appears to be leading us toward the extinction of the idea of evolution.