Adventures in Young Earth Creationist Logic…Ken Ham and “impossibility” of evolution (but let’s not consider his own claims!)

Today, Ken Ham posted a short article on his blog, entitled “It’s Confirmed: A Snake is a Snake!” The gist of the article is simple: scientists have studied the fossilized remains of a supposedly 10 million year old snake. After 10 million years, a snake is still a snake, therefore evolution isn’t true…because a snake is still a snake, even after supposedly 10 million years.

Ham then basically says, “You see? Rock layers don’t show millions of years. All that stuff is the remains of Noah’s flood–all those fossils are the dead things that got buried in the flood!”

That’s it–end of article.

Hold Up There, Speedy Gonzalez!
Wait a second, let’s consider something, namely Ham’s own claims. He claims that from an original 1,000 “kinds” of animals that came off of Noah’s ark a mere 4,000 years ago, those original 1,000 “kinds” changed and (let’s just say it) essentially evolved into the over 500,000 different kinds of species of land animals we have today. And so…

…for the sake of argument, let’s assume what Ken Ham says in this article is true, and that evolution is suspect because organisms haven’t changed all that much over millions of years.

If that’s the case–if organisms haven’t changed much over 10 million years–then how can Ham claim that 1,000 original “kinds” from Noah’s ark were able to transform and change into the current 500,000 species of land animals over the course of a mere 4,000 years? To put Ham’s claim into perspective, here’s what would need to happen for that kind of  “hyper-evolution on anabolic steroids” to take place:

The original “dog kind” would have to breed so much, so fast, that within the first seven years after coming off the ark, that original “dog kind” would have to produce so many generations, that there would be enough genetic mutations to cause the emergence of beagles. And then those beagles would have to breed so much, so fast, that those beagles would have to produce so many generations that there would be enough genetic mutations to cause the emergence of, let’s say, foxes. And then those foxes would have to breed so much, so fast…well, you get the idea…coyotes, dingos, poodles, Siberian Huskies–any and all varieties of what Ham considers part of “dog kind.”

That kind of “hyper-evolution on anabolic steroids” would have to have constantly happened for 4,000 years straight, up to the present day, in order for those supposedly “original 1,000 kind” to have produced the current 500,000 species of land animals we have today.

So Basically, Here’s Your Problem, Mr. Ham
Ken Ham’s conundrum should be obvious: if he is correct in claiming (and that is a big “if”) that (a) since a snake is still a snake after supposedly 10 million years, then (b) evolution isn’t true because organisms don’t change…

…then how can he turn around and claim that organisms do indeed change–quite drastically, even–over the span of a mere 4,000 years, despite absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support his claims of “hyper-evolution on anabolic steroids”?

He can’t have it both ways: he can’t claim “evolution isn’t true because organisms don’t change, even after 10 million years,” and then turn around and say, “But 1,000 kinds came out of Noah’s ark and totally transformed and changed drastically over the past 4,000 years!”

Think about that if you go and visit Ham’s “Ark Encounter” and see all the fanciful “kinds” of animals that he has put in his exhibit: animals that have never existed, but that Ham assumed might have been like, if indeed there were an “original 1,000 kinds” of land animals from which the current 500,000 species of land animals descended over the past 4,000 years.

It’s totally alright to question evolutionary theory. If you’re not convinced, that’s fine. But let’s be honest, Ken Ham’s claims of “animal kinds” and drastic change over 4,000 years aren’t just not convincing, they are outright impossible…complete fiction…not true…yes, the equivalent to believing mythical beasts actually exist.