{"id":355376,"date":"2025-08-18T23:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T23:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355376\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T23:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T23:41:14","slug":"the-reality-of-genetic-entropy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355376\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reality of Genetic Entropy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nIn Parts 1<\/a> and 2<\/a>, we discussed what scientists call genetic load in relation to biblical history, demonstrating that in the past, close intermarriage would not have been problematic in a scientific or medical context. This is because the genetic degradation we see in DNA today would not have been anywhere near what it is now. Also, God\u2019s Word indicates that laws against close intermarriage were not enacted until approximately 2,500 years after the creation and fall of humanity.<\/p>\n

This understanding helped us unpack biblical answers to common questions such as, \u201cWhere did Cain get his wife?\u201d and \u201cHow could only eight people (Noah\u2019s family) after the flood account for the genetic viability and diversity of the population we have today?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, in Part 3, we\u2019ll look at objections to these explanations centered around the biblical creation<\/a> model. This model posits that God<\/a> created our two original parents frontloaded with maximum genetic diversity and that the human genome contained no errors. But since then, the human genome has gradually degraded over time because it has accumulated negative effects of genetic mutations over the past 6,000 years (approximately).<\/p>\n

Genetic Load<\/p>\n

Many scientists\u2014experts in the field of genetics\u2014are reaching the very real conclusion that humanity is, in fact, destabilizing on a genomic level through what they describe as genetic load. And we\u2019ll be examining some documented proof from peer-reviewed secular sources to demonstrate that.<\/p>\n

To begin, let\u2019s get a definition of genetic load from a recent article from Current Biology.<\/p>\n

Genetic load is defined as the reduction in the mean fitness of a given population relative to a population composed entirely of individuals with optimal genotypes devoid of deleterious alleles. In practical terms, harmful genetic variants in populations lead to genetic load. Decades of population genetics, including experiments and empirical studies that estimate the distribution of fitness effects, have shown that most novel mutations, which are changes to the DNA due to copying errors, are slightly deleterious (harmful). These mutations lead to lowered fitness (called \u2018mutation load\u2019).1<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As you can see, that description fits well with our biblical argument. And if deleterious mutations were accumulating increasingly and fairly rapidly\u2014and can make individuals less fit because of it\u2014this could lead to reduced survival rates and eventual extinction over a relatively short period of time. Are such results being observed and reported in mainstream academia by credible, peer-reviewed journals? Why, yes, they are.<\/p>\n

Genomic Collapse Is Real<\/p>\n

In 2016, an article was published in Genetics titled \u201cMutation and Human Exceptionalism: Our Future Genetic Load,\u201d from researcher Michael Lynch. Lynch works at Indiana University Bloomington as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology and is an adjunct professor of physics. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he believes wholeheartedly in the story of evolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In his study, Lynch argues that because of our modern, more protective lifestyle (e.g., we take our meds and have armies and police forces, better food and homes, and heat and in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer), humans aren\u2019t experiencing natural selection\u2019s effects like we would have in our past. And this \u201csoft living\u201d means the weaker among us (in context, meaning those who have weak genes and a lot of genetic load) aren\u2019t being eliminated from the population before we reproduce, like we presumably would have in the past.<\/p>\n

Why is he positing this? Because of what he is observing in the human genome\u2014a concerning and continuous accumulation of deleterious genetic mutations in people, which, if it continues, will likely have disastrous results for us. The abstract to his paper states it this way:<\/p>\n

The long-term consequence of such effects is an expected genetic deterioration in the baseline human condition, potentially measurable on the timescale of a few generations in westernized societies, and because the brain is a particularly large mutational target, this is of particular concern.2<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Death Spiral of DNA Degradation<\/p>\n

Again\u2014should you take the time to look through his paper\u2014note that Lynch believes our accumulation of genome-degrading mutations is because natural selection isn\u2019t eliminating people who have them from the population fast enough, the way he believes happened before we got our cozy, comfy, modern-day lives. So what is his long-term prognosis?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Summing up to this point, our current knowledge of the rate and likely effects of mutation in humans suggests a 1% or so decline in the baseline performance of physical and mental attributes in populations.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

.\u00a0.\u00a0. It remains difficult to escape the conclusion that numerous physical and psychological attributes are likely to slowly deteriorate\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. with notable changes\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. expected on a timescale of a few generations, i.e., 100 years.3<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here, he\u2019s saying that his research indicates if each generation continues the downward genetic spiral that we are currently on, human beings really don\u2019t have a long future, and we\u2019re going to experience serious physical and mental challenges within a very short time. And he also mentions that these conclusions aren\u2019t simply his, but have been reported by other researchers before him, citing other studies that were done much earlier than his.<\/p>\n

A similar conclusion was arrived at previously in a less quantitative way at a time where today\u2019s grand vision of personalized and precision medicine could hardly have been imagined (Muller 1950; Crow 1997).4<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cognitive Collapse<\/p>\n

Indeed, as mentioned, one aspect he points to specifically (that has become a point of contention with some in the world of genetic study) is that of cognitive decline in the human population. Lynch states,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Most prior work on the effects of mutations has focused on simple measures of survival and reproduction.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Observational work may substantially underestimate the mutational vulnerability of the world\u2019s most complex organ, the human brain. Because human brain function is governed by the expression of thousands of genes, the germline mutation rate to psychological disorders may be unusually high.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

.\u00a0.\u00a0. It has been suggested that there has been a slow decline in intelligence in the United States and the United Kingdom over the past century.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. The key point here is that the one truly exceptional human attribute, brain function, may be particularly responsive to mutation accumulation, possibly exhibiting a response to relaxed selection greater than the 1% benchmark suggested above.5<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, the studies Lynch is pointing to here, regarding the drop in intelligence being reported due to mutations, have come under fire by some. However, we\u2019ll see shortly how they are largely based on evolutionary assumptions, not the facts we observe in the field of genetics. But first, let\u2019s take a look at the conclusions reached from some of this research.<\/p>\n

Science Supports Biblical History<\/p>\n

One of these studies Lynch cited was released in two papers published in Trends in Genetics by the Stanford geneticist Dr. Gerald Crabtree. In the abstract of the second (titled \u201cOur Fragile Intellect\u201d), he says,<\/p>\n

Analysis of human mutation rates and the number of genes required for human intellectual and emotional fitness indicates that we are almost certainly losing these abilities. If so, how did we get them in the first place, and when did things begin to change?6<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crabtree\u2019s research demonstrates an overall loss of intelligence in the human population over the past 100 years, and it is interesting to read his questions surrounding his findings, as you can see him struggling to make it fit with the evolutionary timeline he holds to. He expresses the challenge even more clearly in this quote from a popular-level article discussing his research.<\/p>\n

All of which leads to the conclusion that humans reached our intellectual height in the dim and distant past. \u201cWe, as a species, are surprisingly intellectually fragile and perhaps reached a peak 2,000 to 6,000 years ago,\u201d Crabtree writes. \u201cIf selection is only slightly relaxed, one would still conclude that nearly all of us are compromised compared to our ancient ancestors of 3,000 to 6,000 years ago.\u201d7<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What he is observing in his cutting-edge research fits exactly with what the biblical creation model\u2014based on biblical history\u2014predicts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Incredible, isn\u2019t it? What he is observing in his cutting-edge research fits exactly with what the biblical creation model\u2014based on biblical history\u2014predicts. He is saying that he believes human beings were at peak intelligence about 6,000 years ago (maximum), and we\u2019ve all degraded from that peak since then and are continuing to do so. Does that sound familiar?<\/p>\n

His biggest question as to how to make all the data fit together comes from his former quote where he asks, \u201cHow did we get them in the first place, and when did things begin to change?\u201d He\u2019s asking this because in his mind, presumably, modern humans developed some 300,000 years ago as our more apelike ancestors gradually became smarter and smarter through incremental changes brought about by random mutations, which were sorted by natural selection. The very same types of random mutations that are corrupting our cognitive ability\u2014and our entire genome\u2014that natural selection can\u2019t weed out!<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical\u201d Thinking<\/p>\n

Conundrums like this are why some evolutionists are criticizing these types of findings\u2014they don\u2019t fit the plan, so to speak. But again, these conclusions are not disputed because they conflict with the factual scientific observations being made\u2014what they conflict with is the unobserved story of evolution.<\/p>\n

A perfect example of this comes from a Berkely PhD graduate and geneticist Dr. Kevin Mitchell. In a review of Crabtree\u2019s work, he touts the typical objections to genetic entropy we debunked in our last article (such as how natural selection could supposedly deal with mutational load, which it can\u2019t), but he says the following as his primary reason for disagreeing:<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely, a priori, that these mechanisms play an important role. First, it would seem bizarre that evolution would go to such lengths to craft a finely honed human genome over millions of years only to let all hell break loose.8<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you see what he\u2019s saying? \u201cA priori\u201d (i.e., before we even examine the data being referenced) we \u201cknow\u201d that the incredibly designed human genome was put together by evolutionary processes (like random genetic mutations) over millions of years, so how could those same processes be the cause of everything breaking down and eventually bringing about our extinction?<\/p>\n

A Concerning Conclusion<\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t an argument\u2014it\u2019s simply a conclusion based on an assumption. He\u2019s assuming the story of evolution is true in order to say observational research, such as Professor Lynch has done, is wrong. I can sympathize with this and understand why to a certain degree\u2014the long-term (and even short-term) conclusion that can be drawn from this research is concerning indeed. And if I weren\u2019t a Christian<\/a> trusting in Christ\u2019s eventual return and a fully restored new heavens and new earth, it would be absolutely terrifying to think about. Lynch summarizes it this way:<\/p>\n

There is no obvious technological fix for the uniquely human goal of intentionally ameliorating the effects of mutation.9<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the bottom line: This observational science is affirming to believers in once again confirming biblical history and the authority of God\u2019s Word, but mutational meltdown is real, and there is no known way of stopping it. We aren\u2019t evolving\u2014we are de-evolving, so to speak, at a rapid and relentless rate.<\/p>\n

The Blessed Hope of the Believer<\/p>\n

We see that repeatable, operational science\u2014far from disagreeing with a plain reading of God\u2019s Word\u2014does in fact line up perfectly with what we\u2019d expect to see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We must understand the fall of man was not simply a spiritual fall, but a corruption that imbued itself at a foundational level, even in our ability to reproduce. And once again, we see that repeatable, operational science\u2014far from disagreeing with a plain reading of God\u2019s Word\u2014does in fact line up perfectly with what we\u2019d expect to see.<\/p>\n

Scripture speaks to the corrupted nature of the entire cosmos, and especially to that of God\u2019s most precious creation: us. It is indeed a frightful thing to not have hope in the Savior of the world, Jesus<\/a>, when you observe what Scripture clearly teaches in Isaiah 51:6 and elsewhere. We, like everything else on the planet, are wearing out.<\/p>\n

The earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, for those who put their faith and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, it goes on to remind us this:<\/p>\n

But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. (Isaiah 51:6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that is the blessed hope of the believer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Parts 1 and 2, we discussed what scientists call genetic load in relation to biblical history, demonstrating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[267,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-355376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115052418480999417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}