The Devil is Not in the Details

Several weeks before the DEMA Convention, I noted the “first annual” DEMA prayer breakfast was to be held, sponsored by a long time dive industry professional, Tec Clark, who has reinvented himself as the founder of Reef Ministries, after “being transformed into a true believer in the Spring of 2007,” he says on his website (www.reefministries.com).

I emailed Tec to get a rundown of his beliefs and learned that he is a creationist and believes the universe was created 8,000 to 12,000 years ago, or thereabouts. He has found a unique niche in the evangelical world, praising God’s creation of the underwater world and leading dive trips for people who were to have a first hand look.

He has posted ten articles on his website, all of which I read, but one entitled Cleaner Fish and Shrimp, An Evolutionary Stumbling Block struck me as worth passing on. Essentially, he says that:

“One of the greatest phenomena witnessed in God’s underwater world is that of ‘cleaning stations’. These are where predatory fish such as groupers and moray eels go to have their mouths and even gills cleaned by small wrasses, gobies and/or shrimp. This is a type of symbiotic relationship called mutualism where both parties benefit; the cleaner derives nutrition and the cleaned has food debris and parasites removed.

“The big question is how did this relationship originate? Evolutionists subscribing to Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ maintain this relationship evolved from time, struggle and chance. Dr. Gary Parker, a former evolutionary professor turned creation scientist, claims that this cleaning symbiosis is from plan, purpose, and special acts of creation. Dr. Parker writes in his book, Creation Facts of Life:

“The major problem is using Darwinian fitness to explain traits with many interdependent parts when none of the separate parts has any survival value. There’s certainly no survival value in a small fish swimming into a large fish’s mouth on the hope that the big fish has somehow evolved the desire to let it back out!’”

“ . . . . God’s creation. . . is purposeful and by design. . . . To subscribe to the belief that struggle and chance mixed together with some magic potion called time will ultimately lead to this symbiotic relationship, denies the infallibility, brilliance and sanctity of the Word of God.”

Tec invited me to his breakfast and I might have done so had I attended the convention, though I might have been the only Darwinist in room. I have no quarrel with a prayer breakfast, nor prayer rugs, for that matter. However, I’m one of those guys who believes in the separation of church and scuba. State, too.

– Ben Davison