The Math Problem That Breaks Evolutions' Timeline

FYI

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: The Math Problem That Breaks Evolution’s Timeline
To: Grant

Grant, 

I have been hearing similar arguments for at least 40 years, going back to my biology student days in the early 1980s. During my education, my position went from being unsure about evolution to being convinced that it is correct.

I think that people misunderstand both entropy, which applies to a closed system and not to the Earth as a whole, and evolution.

According to Google, every human child typically receives about 50 to 90 new mutations that were not present in either parent's DNA. I view every biological organism as a new genetic experiment. The changes in one generation might not be significant, but these changes accumulate over time and combine with changes from other individuals.

It is unlikely for organisms to remain exactly the same over long periods of time. There are a few exceptions where organisms have been so successful that they have remained essentially the same for tens of millions of years. However, I think it is unlikely that humans will be the same tens of thousands of years from now, given that humans have changed somewhat over the last few tens of thousands of years.

I prefer a more traditional view of God, in which He is the creator of the laws of physics and not constrained by them.

The simpler explanation for the origin of species is not that they came from other worlds or that some form of magic created them. The simpler explanation is that they arose naturally through the laws of nature as evidenced by the clear observations we have made.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 2:27 AM Grant wrote:

John,

When I was young I would have agreed with you completely.  In Jr High, my math teacher, Dr Edwin Hershey, believed Darwinism but also believed in scripture and God as the creator.  Personally I had spiritual experiences testifying of a loving Father, but I accepted science without significant questioning.  More recently, a geological engineer friend lent me a book by the head of the geology department at the U of U who likewise believed in God but accepted Darwinism as one of His tools and didn't see a conflict.  They held that God directs nature but didn't create the laws, a little like my wife creating and maintaining our garden but not making the plants from nothing.  I.E. from youth I was taught that God did not create the laws of nature but rather mastered them including laws we do not yet know or comprehend.  He also has somehow mastered time or else how could the prophets correctly foretell the future, such as Isaiah, Daniel, David and Book of Mormon prophets detailing events of Christ's birth, ministry, crucifiction and resurrection, plus foretelling events of our day, including the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, the Civil War starting in South Carolina (JS) and world wars and earthquakes coupled with signs in the heavens such as our numerous solar and lunar eclipses including the moon turning to blood which many will shortly witness.  Natural disasters aren't new, but the apparent increased frequency and severity are consistent with prophecy. As I studied more science (e.g. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) and engineering this whole creation process would require even more time than timelines suggest, which is what this author is saying about whales and implying in more general terms.  

In the scriptural and scientific observation, simpler organisms came before more complex ones, and plants had to prepare the way for the animal kingdom.  My personal conclusion (not doctrine) is that perhaps evolution, according to updated Darwinism, could have resulted in all the life forms we have but they were generally developed elsewhere over much more time on other worlds.  God then followed the creative sequence from Genesis which per my interpretation matches the order from textbooks where plants largely preceded animals (in order to have oxygen for the animal kingdom) and protected sea life came before birds (dinosaurs) and mammals and finally man.  Under this scenario, God placed on earth a variety of life in the sea and then placed seeds upon the earth for grasses, trees etc. and then later placed various species of mammals, culminating in anthropoids and hominids.  There were destructive periods as well and he finally placed Adam and Eve in a garden in Eden. Were they the culmination of evolution or created from scratch?  I don't think it matters, but they were grand beings who were expelled from Eden for sin and entered the already "lone and dreary world" where creatures had been dying for millions of years as evidenced by fossils, coal and limestone formed in the depths of the oceans.  Personal belief: We are principally descendents from Adam and Eve, corresponding to written histories, and most of the hominids died out with the mammoths, saber tooth tigers and giant land sloths at the last ice age and from subsequent wars; however, Adam's posterity gave us written records and greater civilization, but there were a few men already in the world, so Cane, for instance, had no problem finding a wife after he killed Abel and was forced to leave.  

Summary:  My scientific/mathematical concern is that more time is required to create all the coordinated extremely complex diversity than is allocated by geologists and anthropologists.  My engineering training says "don't reinvent the wheel", meaning if there is a god or gods (including alien theories), planting seeds and placing animals on earth is much easier and less time consuming than waiting for them to evolve and stay on the right productive path, which is statistically virtually impossible per the principle of entropy, without a divine overseer.