Download April 2008 PDF - Institute for Creation Research
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of no t h i n g<br />
any <strong>for</strong>m, was regularly made and preserved by<br />
a public office or agency, evidence in the <strong>for</strong>m<br />
of a certification in accordance with rule 902,<br />
if necessary, or testimony, that diligent search<br />
failed to disclose the record, report, statement, or<br />
data compilation, or entry. [emphasis added]<br />
Evidence Rule 803(7) is similar, but it applies<br />
to admitting as trial evidence the fact that regularly<br />
recorded “business records” have a relevant “absence”<br />
of an entry, as well as where and when a documentary<br />
“nothing” is <strong>for</strong>ensically important. 5<br />
Origins and the Evidence of Nothing<br />
So how does the evidence of nothing demonstrated<br />
by this particular Medicare fraud scheme<br />
relate to the question of origins? The comparison can<br />
be illustrated by applying the Evidence Rules that<br />
govern “nothing, when there should be something”<br />
to the problem of “missing links.” This evidentiary<br />
insight may be unusual, but it is certainly not new. 6<br />
When examining the quixotic quest <strong>for</strong> missing<br />
links, it is like déjà vu—literally nothing, when<br />
there should have been something. To use the logic<br />
of Rule 803(10), a diligent search <strong>for</strong> these so-called<br />
transitional <strong>for</strong>m fossils over a period of 150 years<br />
has failed to disclose them. What kind of empirical<br />
evidence is that, regarding the origin of earth’s life<br />
<strong>for</strong>ms? The years of diligent search indicate a glaring<br />
absence of molecules-to-man evolutionary phylogeny<br />
in the fossil record. In other words, the empirical<br />
data of earth’s fossils, if analyzed <strong>for</strong>ensically, show<br />
that evolutionary phylogeny notions are just empty<br />
imaginings, refuted by the evidence of nothing.<br />
Dr. John Morris has recently summarized<br />
what the global fossil record contains, and (more importantly)<br />
what it does not contain.<br />
Evolutionists often speak of missing links. They<br />
say that the bridge between man and the apes is<br />
the “missing link,” the hypothetical ape-like ancestor<br />
of both. But there are supposed missing<br />
links all over the evolutionary tree. For instance,<br />
dogs and bears are thought to be evolutionary<br />
cousins, related to each other through a missing<br />
link. The same could be said <strong>for</strong> every other stop<br />
on the tree. All of the animal types are thought<br />
to have arisen by the trans<strong>for</strong>mation of some<br />
other animal type, and at each branching node<br />
is a missing link, and between the node and the<br />
modern <strong>for</strong>m are many more. If you still don’t<br />
know what a missing link is, don’t worry. No<br />
one knows what a missing link is, because they<br />
are missing! We’ve never seen one. 7<br />
This argument from silence is an absence in the<br />
evidentiary record—a “nothing, where there should<br />
be something” if evolutionary theory were true. But<br />
evolutionary theory is not true, so the real world’s fossil<br />
record has been providing irrefutable evidence, by<br />
the absence of missing links, <strong>for</strong> a long, long time now<br />
(see the articles noted below 8 <strong>for</strong> several thorough<br />
analyses of the fossil record’s evidence).<br />
Conclusion<br />
Some may say that the above analysis is “much<br />
ado about nothing.” However, there is so much “science<br />
falsely so called” involved 9 that it is imperative<br />
that we use the greatest care and the highest standards<br />
in our quest to uncover the true history of our<br />
world. And sometimes, “nothing” is itself evidence <strong>for</strong><br />
the truth.<br />
References<br />
1. The Federal Rules of Evidence have been cloned, with only<br />
small modifications, by the 50 states. According to Rule 102,<br />
the Federal Rules of Evidence are supposed to be applied “to<br />
the end that the truth may be ascertained and proceedings<br />
justly determined.” This article focuses mainly on Evidence<br />
Rules 803(7) and 803(10), which respectively govern the<br />
admissibility as evidence of an absence of in<strong>for</strong>mation that<br />
could have been (but was not) entered into a regular business<br />
record or an official government record.<br />
2. See page 41 of The Testimony of the Evangelists: The Gospels<br />
Examined by the Rules of Evidence by Simon Greenleaf, originally<br />
published in 1874, reprinted in 1995 (Grand Rapids,<br />
MI: Kregel).<br />
3. Trial in federal district court began in September 2002. One<br />
appellate ruling was published as United States v. Akpan, 407<br />
F.3d 360 (5th Cir. 2005), and a later appellate ruling appears<br />
at United States v. Okoro, 213 Fed. Appx. 348, 2007 WL 98804<br />
(5th Cir. 2007) (non-precedent).<br />
4. Quoting from United States v. Akpan, 407 F.3d at 364-365.<br />
5. The same <strong>for</strong>ensic principle can be applied to critiquing historical<br />
data. See, e.g., page 146 in Bill Cooper’s After the Flood<br />
(Chichester, UK: New Wine Press, 1995).<br />
6. Greenleaf, The Testimony of the Evangelists, 41.<br />
7. Morris, J. 2006. What’s a Missing Link? Acts & Facts. 35 (4).<br />
8. Gish, D. 1983. Creating the Missing Link: A Tale about a<br />
Whale. Acts & Facts. 12 (9); Morris, H. 2001. Evolution Is<br />
Religion—Not Science. Acts & Facts. 30 (2); Sherwin, F. 2007.<br />
Follow the Evidence! Acts & Facts. 36 (4); Gish, D. 1984. Evolution:<br />
The Changing Scene. Acts & Facts. 13 (10); Parker, G.<br />
1980. <strong>Creation</strong>, Selection, and Variation. Acts & Facts. 9 (10);<br />
Morris, H. 1979. Revolutionary<br />
Evolutionism. Acts & Facts. 8<br />
(11); Parker, G. 1981. Origin<br />
of Mankind. Acts & Facts. 10<br />
(11); Gish, D. 1981. Summary<br />
of Scientific Evidence<br />
<strong>for</strong> <strong>Creation</strong>, Part I & II. Acts<br />
& Facts. 10 (5).<br />
9. 1 Timothy 6:20 (KJV).<br />
Dr. Johnson is Special Counsel<br />
at ICR.<br />
APRIL <strong>2008</strong> • ACTS&FACTS<br />
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