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17. Convergent Evolution or Intelligent Design?
When the same complex capability is found in unrelated organisms but not in their alleged evolutionary ancestors, evolutionists say that a common need caused identical complexities to evolve. They call this convergent evolution.
For example, wings and flight occur in some birds, insects, and mammals (bats). Pterosaurs, an extinct reptile, also had wings and could fly. These capabilities have not been found in any of their alleged common ancestors. Other examples of convergent evolution are the three tiny bones in the ears of mammals: the stapes, incus, and malleus. Their complex arrangement and precise fit give mammals the unique ability to hear a wide range of sounds. Evolutionists say that those bones evolved from bones in a reptile’s jaw. If so, the process must have occurred at least twicea—but left no known transitional fossils. How did the transitional organisms between reptiles and mammals hear during those millions of years?b Without the ability to hear, survival—and reptile-to-mammal evolution—would cease.
Concluding that a miracle—or any extremely unlikely event—happened once requires strong evidence or faith; claiming that a similar “miracle” happened repeatedly requires either incredible blind faith or a cause common to each event, such as a common designer.
Furthermore, it is illogical to maintain that similarities between different forms of life always imply a common ancestor;c such similarities may imply a common designer and show efficient design. In fact, where similar structures are known to be controlled by different genesd or are developed from different parts of embryos,e a common designer is a much more likely explanation than evolution.