When Is a Butterfly Not a Butterfly?

Anyone familiar with the ministry of Answers in Genesis will know that we’ve said many times before that what you believe about the past influences how you interpret the observational evidence we see in the present.

This concept is so important that it’s addressed in the first exhibit inside our Creation Museum. It explains why creationists and evolutionists can look at the same evidence about origins and reach completely different conclusions. So if you start with the belief of slow and gradual change over millions of years, that’s how you will interpret the evidence we can study in the present. But if you start with God’s Word, then you see and interpret the evidence through the lens of Scripture and what it teaches us about history. And you know what? What we see in the present confirms what we read in God’s Word, not man’s made-up evolutionary story about the past.

“Butterfly-Like” Fossil Found

Well, a recent, popular news item provides a vivid reminder of this important principle. This news piece was reporting on Smithsonian scientists’ study of some well-preserved insect fossils. Supposedly, according to the evolution story, these “large butterfly-like insects known as Kalligrammatid lacewings” have been extinct for 120 million years and lived during the so-called Mesozoic Era.

Now, by closely observing these fossils, Smithsonian scientists discovered that these insects had elongated, tubular mouthparts “strikingly similar” to the proboscis of modern butterflies. Based on the presence of carbon in this “food tube,” the scientists concluded that they feasted on “sugary pollen drops” and served as pollinators. These insects also had eyespot patterns that might have contained melanin (pigment) and possibly bright colors and patterns—just like modern butterflies. And they even have fine scales on their wings—just like butterflies do. In fact, these insects seem so similar to butterflies that the researchers concluded that all of these butterfly features evolved twice due to so-called “convergent evolution.” This means that the researchers believe that “two distinct groups of organisms evolve similar traits as they interact to similar features in their environments.”

Evolutionists Refuse to Admit a Butterfly Is a Butterfly

So if they have mouths, feeding tubes, wings, scales, and maybe even pigment just like butterflies, why not call them butterflies? Well, these researchers can’t do that because butterflies supposedly didn’t evolve for another 50 million years! And, according to the evolutionists’ worldview, the plants that butterflies feed from also hadn’t evolved yet. So instead of interpreting these fossils as butterfly fossils and questioning their presuppositions about the evolutionary timeline for butterflies, the scientists call them something entirely different and say that evolution just evolved the same body design and features in strikingly similar ways twice. The verse 2 Peter 3:5 really sums up these scientists: they are “willingly ignorant.”

During my debate with Bill Nye “The Science Guy” two years ago, he implied that there aren’t any fossils out of place in the evolutionary tree and said that, “If you can find just one fossil that has swum between the layers, bring it on! You could change the world!” Well, there are plenty of examples—like these butterfly fossils! But instead of recognizing that they’ve discovered a fossil totally out of order within the evolutionary timeline, the evolutionists either adjust the timeline to make it fit, or they create a whole new species or kind of animal to explain the fossil!

So, it’s not about the evidence—it’s about an interpretation of the evidence! Evolution is just a story, and evolutionists will change the story to fit whatever they find! By the way, God’s Word never changes!

It’s a Worldview Debate

The origins debate isn’t science vs. religion as so many people think it is. It’s one worldview vs. a different worldview; man’s word about the past vs. God’s Word about history. It’s all about an interpretation of the evidence and what you believe about the past, because your belief about the past influences how you interpret the evidence in the present. As Christians, we need to start with God’s Word as we interpret the past. God does not lie (Titus 1:2), and His Word will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.