Article #393
by Bill Nugent
There’s an amazing small organism that dwells on the Great Barrier reef of Australia that has the most complex vision system known to science. This animal is none other than the mantis shrimp.
The eyes of the mantis shrimp can distinguish different types of polarized light and can see a much broader range of light spectrum than humans. The shrimp can see twelve colors, humans just three. The shrimp can see from near ultraviolet all the way over to infrared light.
That’s not all. Light sensitive cells can rotate the oscillations or polarization of a light wave as it passes through. The shrimp has the ability to convert linearly polarized light to circularily polarized light and this is more sophisticated than quarter wave plates in DVD players. This gives the shrimp greatly enhanced vision.
Mantis Shrimp Eyes are More Complex than Human Eyes
The eyes of the mantis shrimp raise some important questions to be answered by those who proclaim Darwinian evolution as the origin of species. Shouldn’t it be that human eyes are the most complex and sophisticated Vision systems known to science? Aren’t human beings the epitome of evolution? Aren’t human beings at the top of the evolutionary order?
These complex eyes are an example of ultrasensitive fine-tuned engineering. Evolutionists are hard pressed to come up with a plausible Darwinian, step-by-step, genetic mutation sorting process to produce such eyes. Creationists maintain that this is ultra-sophisticated engineering that could only be produced by the intelligent designer of life, the creator God.
DNA of Body Parts Contains Millions of Base Pairs
Evolutionists put out a good story line on paper on how evolution could could proceed by mutations to DNA. However, DNA contains millions of nucleotide base pairs that have to be sequenced in precise order.
Genetic mutations are rare. All scientists agree that the overwhelming majority of genetic mutations are disadvantageous. They are destructive. Mutations are destructive errors to the DNA. Mutations scramble the sequence of base pairs. Mutations don’t add new base pairs to cause a more complex body part. Mutations occasionally cause duplication of genes but this is not adding NEW base pairs.
Genetic mutations are the result of replication errors in the DNA. DNA is replicated in a cell undergoing cell division. Toxic chemicals and radiation interfere with the DNA as it is copied. This causes a rearrangement of base pairs in the DNA. Toxic chemicals and radiation don’t add new base pairs to DNA that would cause a new body part to form in the offspring.
Scientists claim that many mutations are neutral. A mutation that’s neutral is alleged to have no disadvantageous or advantageous effect on the organism. However, whenever you’re changing a DNA molecule and it though doesn’t seem to have immediate impact, be aware that accumulation of neutral mutations can have a cumulative effect over time and be highly dangerous.
The sophisticated Vision system of the mantis shrimp would have to be the result of accumulation of extremely rare advantageous mutations according to the evolutionists. Such mutations would have to add millions of properly sequenced base pairs. This is implausible. A mutation properly sequencing millions of base pairs would be so improbable as to essentially never happen.
Microbiologist Harold Morowitz has done extensive probability analysis showing the extreme improbability of life forming by unguided random processes.
Over 5,000 Diseases Caused by Genetic Mutations
There are over 5,000 human diseases (birth defects) caused by DNA mutations being studied and treated by modern medicine. Think of Spina Bifida and Cystic Fibrosis. There are only a few dozen alleged advantageous mutations in human beings now being studied. With a lopsided record like that, it’s a wonder that any serious scientist would consider mutations to be a mechanism for uphill change in evolution.
Why do I slam evolution? My articles defend the Christian faith. I’ve taken up the subject of evolution many times. This is because the theory of evolution is the central doctrine of secularism that attempts to deny God as creator. Evolution is a hell-damning deception.
Evolution is the foundation stone of secularism. Evolution is the central doctrine of agnosticism and atheism that seeks to deny God as creator.
Complexity of Living Things Disproves Evolution
The central problem with evolution is the extreme complexity of even the simplest life forms. A simple cell such as a bacterium is more complex than a smartphone. The DNA of a simple bacterium, such as E coli, contains upwards of 1 million nucleotide base pairs all properly sequenced.
To say that this formed by chance and was fine-tuned and came to life by mere random collisions of atoms in the primordial Earth is absurd. Many PhD scientists have come out publicly in acknowledgment of the extreme complexity of life and that it could not have happened by random chemical sorting processes.
These are scientists that are not necessarily religious people or creationists. They simply are examining the evidence and going where the evidence takes them. See the dissentfromdarwin.org website.
Some scientists have offered bizarre explanations for the origins of life on earth including the theory called “directed panspermia,” saying that aliens from outer space brought the first life to earth. Of course that doesn’t solve the problem of how the alien life originated on some distant planet.
Theory of Evolution Upside Down
There are many other phenomena that evolution cannot explain. Not the least of which is that the evolutionary family tree is upside down in places. We’ve seen in this article that the most complex Vision system known to science resides in a mere shrimp, a crustacean which is supposed to be at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.
Not only is the evolutionary “family tree” upside down but also the fossil record is upside down in places. Paleontologists have unearthed many modern looking bird skeletons alongside dinosaur fossils. Also, small mammal skeletons are in the dinosaur layers. Dinosaurs are supposed to be over 65 million years old.
Modern birds and mammals are supposed to have evolved millions of years later. Evolution can’t explain how modern looking birds and mammals could be in these supposedly 65 million year old layers from the Cretaceous period. (See book: Living Fossils Vol. 2, 162-171, Dr. Carl Werner, New Leaf Press, 2008.)
Epistemology and Metaphysics
To explain the phenomenon of life we must go to the philosophy of epistemology. Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge. Epistemology is the study of what we know and how we can be certain of what we know.
We know with a certainty that all living things are extremely complex. We must, from an epistemological standpoint, answer the question of how did these living things come into existence in the first place. Evolution does not explain it. Materialistic, physical dimension forces alone could not bring life into existence.
This brings us to that other branch of philosophy called metaphysics. Don’t be put off by the fancy words. Metaphysics simply means that which is other than physical, i.e. non-material.
The metaphysical dimensions are dimensions to which we do not have direct access. This is the realm of spirit, the spirit world. The Bible teaches us that God created the things that are visible out of things that do not appear. In other words God was working from the invisible, spiritual, metaphysical dimensions.
“The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3). This verse doesn’t say things were made out of nothing, but were made out of things that don’t appear in the physical dimensions.
How do we know this? Getting back to epistemology we must look at the evidence that there is a supernatural and that the Bible is the holy book that best explains it. God has provided evidence for the truth of the Bible and evidence for His existence as creator.
Supernatural Evidence of the Divine Origin of the Bible
The evidence is supernatural miracles. Christianity has the best and most profound miracles of any religion or philosophy.
The evidence is supernatural miracles consisting of miraculous healings in front of eyewitnesses and fulfillment of predictive prophecies that are written in the Bible.
Jesus came in fulfillment of over 300 Messianic prophecies written in the Old Testament centuries before his birth. Jesus worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses which were recorded in the gospels of the New Testament.
Miracles continued to happen by the hands of the apostles who followed Christ and miracles continue to happen even to this day. A miracle of healing occurred under my own hands in answer to prayer. So I’m an eyewitness to a miracle myself.
Countering the Evolution Deception
I slam evolution because it’s the single biggest deception in the world today. It has led billions of people astray, causing them to reject God and reject his offer of forgiveness of sins.
When I was a boy and studied evolution in the fifth grade of public school I quickly became an atheist for a period of time. I know what the evolution deception can do to people. It causes people to reject God as creator and Redeemer. It leads people to cast off divine constraints. I think this is behind the rise in crime and family breakdown in our culture.
The Revelation of Redemption
The Bible says “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Notice that the verse says that the invisible things of God are clearly seen because of the physical creation. The physical reveals the metaphysical. The mantis shrimp shows a a masterful complexity beyond human technology and this clearly shows that God is the intelligent designer of life.
If God is intelligent He must be a person. If God is a person he must also have emotion. If God created the universe, He owns the universe. If God owns the universe, He has the right to give laws to the universe. If God is a person and has emotion and has love, it is reasonable to assume that He would speak to humanity. God spoke to humanity through the Bible which reveals not only his love for humanity but also the way of redemption and forgiveness of sins.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and be raised from the dead. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:24 NASB).
I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.
(c) Copyright 2025, Permission granted to email or republish for use in Christian outreach.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
Prayer to receive salvation:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!