However, the important issue here is that we have today three very popular and influential organizations that teach Young Earth Creationism:
Institute for Creation Research
Answers in Genesis
Creation Ministries International
These three organizations, along with some smaller ones, make up a billion dollar industry that has proven repeatedly that they are willing to do
anything to protect and promote their theological beliefs—and that
anything includes willful and deliberate misrepresentations of the facts to their donors. A good example of those misrepresentations is found in their teaching regarding the animals on the ark of Genesis 6-8. Answers in Genesis and Creation Ministries International unashamedly teach that the word “kind” (Hebrew, מִין) in
Genesis 1:11;
6:19; etc, designates what we call a genus, and that one pair of animals belonging to each genus was aboard the ark. They further teach that the very many species that we have today in each genus
evolved from one “parent kind.” However, they substitute the word “descended” for the word
evolved even though the word “descended” does NOT express the concept of change. (Lions and tigers did not descend from one “parent kind,” they evolved.)
The Institute for Creation Research uses the expression “came from” instead of “descended from” to express the same process—but what was that process?
About 10.8 million years ago, the cat family began to split off into 8 Lineages consisting of 2 subfamilies, 14 genera, and 41 species. (Kitchener et al. 2017. (
A revised taxonomy of the Felidae). The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group.) The relationship of these groups to each other and the relative time of their splitting off has been learned and very well documented by comparing DNA sequences of all 41 species of cats. The actual time of the splitting off is learned from fossil records which young earth creationist believe to be radically misinterpreted.
Leopards (Panthera pardus) and ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are phenotypically similar to each other, but genotypically dissimilar to each other. This is called convergent evolution and is due to the two genetically very different species having adapted to similar environments. Leopards belong to the Panthera Lineage that includes the leopards and six other species, but ocelots belong to the Leopardus lineage that includes the ocelots and seven other species. Both of these lineages descended (evolved) from the same Felid ancestor rather than one of them from the other. Therefore, it would have been absolutely necessary for one pair of cats (cats are ‘unclean animals—Leviticus 11)) from
both lineages to have been aboard the ark. Moreover, as has been proven from DNA sequences, all seven of the species in the Panthera Lineage descended (evolved) independently from each other, and therefore, it would have been absolutely necessary for a pair of cats from
all seven of the species in the Panthera Lineage to have been aboard the ark. Furthermore, the same would have been true of the other seven lineages and
all of their species—for a total of not just 2, but 82 cats!
All 41 species of cats are carnivores, and none of them hibernate. All 40 species of cats spray their very caustic urine all over everything that they wish to claim as their own. A male lion in captivity requires 8 pounds of food per day—that is 2,920 pounds of food that a male lion on board the ark would have needed to eat during its stay on board the ark—and its mate would have required 2,190 pounds of food. The total food requirement for the 82 cats would have been approximately 90,000 pounds of meat—90,000 pounds of meat that would have to have been fed to the cats by Noah and his family. And we are still talking about just the cats! And we have not yet gotten to their excrement!
We have today several hundred thousands of genetically discreet populations of animals that would necessarily have been aboard the ark 4,373 years ago, and during that time, thousands of genetically discreet populations of animals, including about 600 kinds of dinosaurs (
How Could All the Animals Get On Board Noah's Ark?) have become extinct, but would necessarily have been aboard the ark. DNA sequences do not lie, but the big three Young Earth Creationism organizations make a habit of it!
