A POSITION PAPER CALLED “IT IS NOT DIVINE

CREATION, IT IS EVOLUTION”
Composed by Johnryl C. Araos

11-Gold

Science is fact, while the religion is faith. Different points and different beliefs exist. We all have
different beliefs about the creation and evolution of the earth, of humans, and of all the living species on
the earth. The divine creation and evolution but I believe in evolution. I respect other people who believe
in divine creation. In this case, I would rely on facts and have strong evidence. The evidence of evolution.
Evolution is the process by which species change over time in response to their changing environment. It
involves changes in the characteristics of a species over several generations, and these changes are
heritable. Based on my own understanding, evolution simply means the changing and development of the
characteristics of a group of living species or population for them to survive in the environment. Evolution
takes a long period of time; it is not only a year, but something that might require a million years to
happen. Today, when we think of evolution, we are likely to link this idea with one specific person: the
British naturalist Charles Darwin. In the 1850s, Darwin wrote an influential and controversial book called
"On the Origin of Species" (Khanacademy.org). He proposed that species evolve and that all living things
can trace their descent to a common ancestor.

There is a lot of evidence for evolution that has been found. and that's the reason I believe in
evolution. The first one, and I think it is the best discovery for evolution, is the fossil record. Fossils provide
concrete evidence of what extinct and dead organisms looked like and how they lived. The most familiar
and tangible fossils remain hard, resistant structures such as teeth, shells, and bones. Scientists found out
that certain layers in the sedimentary rock formation contain fossils that lived for a particular period. One
of the strongest pieces of evidence comes from the fossil record. Fossils provide a record of a life on earth
that spans millions of years. By studying the characteristics of different fossils, scientists can see how
species have changed and evolved over time. Because of the fossil record of a dead organism, the scientist
will know the difference between the characteristics of the dead species and the current species, and
once they have found out the difference between the two, they can conclude that evolution is true
because the species have changed generation by generation. One example of the fossil record is the
historical giant human skeleton. The tallest human at that time was about 36 feet, but now humans have
evolved and become smaller. We can clearly tell that the fossil record is one of the pieces of evidence that
evolution is true.
 The next piece of evidence of evolution is the geographic distribution. It is how the organisms
evolved in their natural environment. The evolution of the beaks of the Galapagos finches is the best
example of this evidence. Galapagos finches evolved based on different food sources. Long, pointed beaks
served well for snatching insects, while broad, blunt beaks worked best for cracking seeds and nuts, and
the Galapagos' longest beak belongs to the cactus eaters; they use their long beaks to eat cactus so they
won't be thorn by cactus. These organisms evolved because of what they ate to survive, just as the plants
evolved because of what they needed to survive in the environment. The cacti have thorns as their
defense mechanism against the predators that are trying to eat them but some cacti have leaves, and
they also have a larger vacuole compared to other plants because almost all of the cacti are in the desert.
We all know that dessert doesn't have enough water. The only source of water for a cactus is the rain, and
because of their large vacuoles, they can store a lot of water. Cactus can therefore survive Even in the
desert, it's all because of evolution.

Another piece of evidence for evolution that scientists have discovered is homologous
structures. Homologous structures are organs or skeletal elements of animals and organisms that, by
virtue of their similarity, suggest their connection to a common ancestor. These structures do not have to
look exactly the same or have the same function. The most important part, as hinted at by their names, is
that they are structurally similar. Some animals and even humans have similarities in their structure, but
they have different uses. For instance, the human hand, cat foot, whale fin, and bat wings all have the
same structure: humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges. But they have differences in
terms of their functions and uses. The human hand is used to grab things; the cat foot is for faster running;
the whale fin is for swimming; and the bat wing is for flying. Some scientist concludes because of
homologous evolution that they might have connected their ancestors to each other, and they just
evolved. Some organisms possess structures with no apparent function that appear to be residual parts
from a past ancestor; this is called vestigial structures. Some organisms have an organ that doesn't have
any function or use at all, or they are not sure about the possible function, but they believe that our
ancestors had this kind of structure and it had a function, for example, the tailbone for humans. Because
of that, they believed that we had a tail before, and other examples are our wisdom teeth, appendix, and
wings for a bird that can't fly like an ostrich.

Biological evolution is the change in inherited traits over successive generations in populations
of organisms. Adaptation is a key evolutionary process in which variation in the fitness of traits and species
is adjusted by natural selection to become better suited for survival in specific ecological habitats.
phenomenon that populations of organisms change from generation to generation. As a result of
evolution, organisms may become more successful at survival and reproduction. Populations become
better adapted to the environment in which they live. Biological processes are often studied in model
organisms. A model organism is a species that is studied extensively in the laboratory with the anticipation
that the results can be applied to biological phenomena in general. Cave animals can serve as excellent
models to study the relationships between the environment, evolution, adaptation, and development.
Troglomorphic (cave-related) traits, including elongated appendages, lowered metabolism, specialized
sensory systems, and loss of eyes and pigmentation, have evolved as a response to the effects of perpetual
darkness. In this article, we describe the characid fish Astyanax mexicanus as a vertebrate model system
for studying the developmental basis of evolution and adaptation to the cave environment (Jeffery, 2012).
In my understanding of biological evolution, the organisms that are most adaptable to change will survive
because they can easily adapt to their environment, like in cold climates where the animals have thicker
fur than other animals because they can adapt to their environment for them to survive.

I believe in the evolution of humans too—that we just came from apes and just evolved. The
fossil record is enough for me to believe that we just evolved from apes and became humans, and we
have also shared up to 98 percent of our genes with apes. Fossil records, geographic distribution,
homologous structures, biological evolution, and vestigial structure are only some of the evidences that
can prove that a species is just evolving. The theory of evolution has valid evidence that we are just
evolving, adapting, and developing based on our environment and on what we need to survive. I believe
that the only thing permanent in this world is evolution and development. Charles Darwin and his
controversial book called "On the Origin of Species" are about natural selection and have enough evidence
that all living things evolved and we have a common ancestor. This discovery has a huge role to play in
proving that what we see today has just evolved; it is not creation, it is evolution.