Individual mutations and combined breeding.
Mutations generally aren't beneficial; more often than not, they are detrimental and result in physical disabilities.
But if evolution was guided by God we would be.
Why is there such a need to jibe evolution and creationism, which by definition are contradictory? It's like trying to combine oil and water; it just doesn't work. The fact that you would need God to make evolution work shows just how infallible it is. This is besides the fact that Scripture itself doesn't even hint that is how God created things.
You're trying to make it compatible with science, which is infallible in itself. Textbooks have to be revised every year for a reason; they're always correcting erroneous information. Science once believed the universe was eternal; now they believe it had a beginning. Science is always in flux and therefore capable of being wrong. Modern science especially is biased if not hostile toward alternate explanations, especially creationism. They're automatically going to rule out any evidence or presuppositions that contradict their paradigm.
This would fly about forty years ago.....dating is much more accurate now.
Sure, dating is more accurate, but it still can be thrown off by contamination, volcanic eruptions (above ground and in the ocean), etc. There are many variables that can affect the dating. My original argument still stands; we simply don't know if the rate of decay has been constant throughout the ages. At the end of the day, we have no way to actually go back in time and confirm whether those dates are accurate, so it remains speculative.
