Best Free Book About God "Fossils Prove Evolution?" Pt 2 Ch 3

III

FOSSILS PROVE EVOLUTION?

 

The Lie: The fossil record reveals an upward progression of complexity in life systems

One of the last evolutionary strongholds is built around the fossil record of the geological column.  Why?  It is because evolution of one “kind” into another “kind” cannot be, and has not been observed by any scientist of any generation.  The evolutionist claims that the reason for not being able to witness evolution is because the process takes millions and billions of years.  Therefore, the only “proof” that the evolutionist can offer to support this theory is the historical record provided by the vast number of fossils throughout the geologic column.  The evolutionist claims that the fossils show an evolutionary progression of simpler types of animals advancing toward more complex types.  Let us briefly consider how substantial this proof really is.

Fossil Formation

 

The first consideration pertains to how a fossil is actually formed - what has to take place before an animal or plant can become fossilized?  The first thing necessary for fossilization is rapid burial with the proper types and amounts of sediment or else the organism will merely deteriorate from natural processes before fossilization can ever occur.  There must also be a certain amount of pressure and the presence of cementing chemicals in the water to insure fossilization.  The initial and most important stage of fossilization is not a slow process but a sudden burial from some type of catastrophic event.¹

The fossil record contains literally billions upon billions of fossilized plants and animals whose remains were suddenly preserved in sedimentary rock all over the world.  Now, if evolution and uniformitarianism is correct, this phenomenal process should still be occurring on the same grand scale that it has in the past.  However, this is not the case because relatively few fossils are ever formed in today’s world.  Consider the millions of buffalo that once roamed the plains of America.  These great animals died by the millions, yet there is not a single fossil to be found anywhere.

The “Monterey Shale” of California contains the fossils of more than one billion herring in four square miles of ocean bottom.² What could possibly account for the annihilation and subsequent fossilization of this many fish except for a great catastrophic event unlike anything modern man has ever witnessed.  Certain evolutionists have stated that a “red tide” could produce this type of catastrophic annihilation but what they usually fail to mention is that a “red tide” does not produce fossilization.  Sea creatures which perish as a result of a “red tide” simply float to the top of the water where their remains soon disappear.

There are great fossil graveyards of many different types of animals all over the world which cannot be sufficiently explained by any process known today.  The only sufficient explanation is a worldwide catastrophic flood.  For example, there are enormous dinosaur graveyards in Wyoming, New Mexico, Canada, Belgium and other places throughout the world.  These graveyards contain thousands upon thousands of dinosaur bones and in many cases, the bones are all interlaced and piled on top of each other as though they were washed away and subsequently buried together.  Some scientists have made reference to the fact that these bones are often piled up like “logs in a jam.”³ The graveyard in Belgium contains dinosaur bones that are piled on top of each other to a depth of more than 100 feet.⁴ So, what kind of local catastrophe could account for the sudden destruction and burial of such a large quantity of these huge magnificent beasts?

The great mammoth graveyards present even a greater problem for evolutionists.  The frozen wastelands of Alaska and Siberia contain the remains of an estimated five million mammoth elephants.  Some of these huge creatures were 15 feet tall and had tusks up to 13 feet long.⁵  In the northern parts of these regions, many of the mammoths have been completely preserved in the perpetually frozen ground while their hair and skin have remained intact and in some cases, with food still in their stomachs and mouths.  The plants that these great beasts were eating were of those types which grow in sub-tropical climates and are completely foreign to that cold region.⁶ There is no way possible that the current vegetation of these regions could ever have sustained such a quantity of these gigantic beasts because the mammoths needed to consume an estimated 500 to 600 pounds of food each day in order to maintain their bodies.⁷  This presents a real difficulty because plants in these regions are relatively scarce and seldom grow over a few inches tall in the peak of  the summer growing season.  This strange phenomenon represents further evidence that the pre-flood world contained a uniform worldwide climate.

Another interesting finding was made by scientists who determined that the frozen mammoths must have died by drowning because their heads contained a concentrated amount of blood.⁸  This observation was made in spite of the fact that the elephant is a very good swimmer. Examinations of these animals around the Polar Regions further revealed that they had to have somehow been “quick frozen” by temperatures as low as -150° F. and possibly lower.⁹ There is no known process today that can account for such a drastically low temperature - one which had to have been reached very suddenly.

The evolutionist’s theory that these mammoths must have been overtaken by a slow moving ice age is ridiculous, especially since tropical food was found in their mouths and stomachs.  And, in addition to the tropical food, seed bearing plants were also found in full-growth as well as an elderberry tree that was full of ripe berries.¹⁰ Why don’t we witness the grand scale fossilization of giant beasts accompanied by sudden radical changes in climate and terrain in today’s world?  Because there is only one event in recorded history that can account for such phenomenon and that event is the Noahic Flood.

Evolutionists have had to alter their uniformitarian views as time continues to unfold more and more evidence of Global catastrophe.  However, the more recent evolutionary claims that fossils may have been produced from local catastrophes and flooding are not really sufficient to account for the billions of fossils that are preserved around the world.  Remember, most local catastrophes in our modern world fail to produce any fossils and whenever a fossil is produced, it is an extremely rare event.  By contrast, the fossil record of the ancient world is filled with many incidents of mass burial.  Fossils have been found on the tops of the Rocky Mountains and other great mountain ranges.  Now, the question is what type of local flooding or other known process today can achieve such phenomenon?  The answer is none!

Petrified Wood

 

Petrified wood is another type of fossil that presents some real difficulties for evolutionists.  Petrified wood is a fossil in which the organic molecular structure of wood has been replaced by the inorganic mineral content of water.  There are actual forests of petrified trees found all over the world.  Of course, most of these trees have been broken into short segments but some logs have measured up to 125 feet long and seven feet in diameter.¹¹ In some instances complete trees have been found with their foliage stripped from their branches yet with their bark still intact.  It is interesting to note that these trees are usually found in a random scattered position as though they had been washed away and then became trapped and buried.  But, the real significance of petrified wood is that the process of petrifaction is nowhere occurring in the world today on any grand scale.¹²  Uniforinitarian processes, including local catastrophic events, have never been able to produce these forests of petrified wood.  When a tree falls, or is washed away, it simply rots and decomposes.

Petrified wood obviously was not produced by any slow, drawn out evolutionary process since the bark is still intact on many of these petrified trees.  Only a flood of worldwide proportions could have ever been capable of producing petrified wood on such a massive scale.

Coal

 

The formation of coal presents yet another problem for evolution.  The evolutionist believes that coal was formed over a period of millions of years from the peat produced from rotting plants.  This peat was then covered with certain sediments until coal was finally produced by gradual compression over a period of millions of years.

The creationist also believes that coal was formed from plants, but, in a much different fashion.  Remember, the pre-flood world would have been lushly vegetated due to the tropical type climate and healthy atmosphere.  Therefore, as a result of the flood, some trees were actually fossilized, but the vast majority of the uprooted vegetation could have been used to produce our coal seams.

It takes approximately 20 vertical feet of vegetation to produce one vertical foot of coal by compression (without any heat loss).¹³  Therefore, it would have required enormous amounts of vegetation to produce our vast quantities of coal.  Sure, some coal seams are only a few inches thick but others are several hundred feet thick.¹⁴ And, in some cases, these coal seams are repeated dozens of times in a single vertical section of strata.

The creationist believes that these coal seams could have only been formed by the Noahic flood which would have uprooted the vast quantities of vegetation needed to produce such great coal seams.  This vegetation would have eventually become water soaked and would have settled to the bottom depths of the flood waters where it would have been buried by sediments in various layers and then subjected to extreme pressures - in some areas, of more than a two mile depth of water.

How long does it take to form coal?  Laboratory tests have shown that coal can be produced from wood pulp in just seven days under extreme pressures and temperatures.¹⁵ Indeed, there are several indications that our coal seams were formed rather rapidly instead of gradually over millions of years.  One such indication is that fossilized trees have been found which extend vertically through multiple layers of coal seams.¹⁶ if each seam took millions of years to produce, how could trees have lived for millions of years while these coal seams were being formed around their trunks?  These coal seams are found from the bottoms to the tops of these trees - trees which did not even have a chance to decompose before the coal was formed.  Fossils of marine animals have also been found right in the middle of coal seams.¹⁷ Certainly it would not have taken millions of years for these animals to decompose while coal was slowly being formed around them.

If uniformitarian evolution is correct, we should be able to find someplace where coal is in the process of being formed today.  However, this is not the case, because there is not a single place in the world today where coal is being made or is in the process of being made.¹⁸ There has never been a peat bog discovered anywhere in which the bottom depths are in the process of forming coal.  Even the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia has only been able to produce an average depth of seven feet of peat.¹⁹ This peat (if it were possible) would only be capable of producing a coal seam of a few inches thick; therefore, how could it be possible to form coal seams hundreds of feet thick by today’s natural processes.

Oil

 

The classic evolutionist also believes that oil was formed from animal matter by the same slow processes that produced coal.  Conversely the creationist believes that the sudden catastrophic annihilation of animal life would have been the only way possible to produce the huge oil reservoirs of the world.  It is now known that great epochs of time are not necessary for oil production because scientists have been able to manufacture oil from common garbage in the laboratory in just twenty minutes.²⁰ It is also a fact that oil is not being produced anywhere in the world today by natural processes²¹ except for in limited quantities under the ocean.

Something is Missing

 

There is no modern process or local catastrophe known, that can sufficiently account for the production of oil, coal, petrified wood, and the billions of fossils contained in the earth’s crust.  In spite of this, evolutionists still maintain that the fossil record offers the best “proof” for the theory of evolution because it shows an upward progression of life from “simple” forms on the bottom layers of sedimentary rock to highly complex forms in the upper layers.  Therefore, evolutionists have devised a specific order or framework from the fossil record which supposedly demonstrates the various stages of evolution over the past few billion years.

One of the problems with this evolutionary framework is that it doesn’t exactly fit the fossil record.  In fact, there is not a single geographic location in the world where these fossils are found in this exact order.²² Often times there are many layers of sedimentary rock as well as many intermediate species that are missing between “lower forms” and “higher forms” of life.  In the fossil record the evolutionist claims that the strata is missing because of erosion or due to a shifting of the earth’s crust.  However, the problem with this theory lies in the fact that the layer above and the layer below the missing strata are often found resting one on top of the other like two flat books with a straight plane between them.  These layers show no signs of erosion, no hills or valleys, and no irregular surfaces.  If faulting of the earth’s crust were responsible, there would at least be found layers of ground up rock called fault breccia.²²

The Grand Canyon offers a prime example of how the various layers of sedimentary rock form the geologic column.  Many of these layers are very distinctive and rest quite evenly one upon the other, yet 50% of the geological column is missing in more than one-half of the canyon.²⁴

Upside Down

 

Not only are there many examples of missing strata, there are also many places in which the fossilized species are out of order - where “older” fossils are found resting on top of ‘younger’ fossils.  There are even some places where the order of fossils is almost completely reversed from the evolutionary framework.  At these locations, the stages of development are found in backwards order with “lower forms” on top and “higher forms” on the bottom.²⁵

The Lewis “Over thrust” of Montana and Alberta is an area that is 350 miles wide.  In this area, there is a 35 to 40 mile strip of pre-Cambrian limestone that is found resting on top of crustaceous rock that is presumed to be 500 million years younger than the limestone because of the fossils contained therein.  In many places this enormous mass of Precambrian rock is resting quite naturally on top of the “younger” crustaceous rock without showing any signs of disturbance.  Therefore, in order to explain this great discrepancy, the evolutionist says that there was an over thrust of the earth’s crust which pushed the immense pre-Cambrian rock mass up and over the top of the crustaceous rock for a distance of forty miles.

How plausible is this contention?  Consider this:  Whenever over thrusts occur, they leave evidence of the grinding action that takes place when one layer pushes across another.  This evidence is lacking at the Lewis “Over thrust” and furthermore, it is inconceivable to think that the present forces of nature could ever achieve such a phenomenon.²⁷ Why? because the pre-Cambrian rock mass has been calculated to weigh 800 thousand billion tons and the forces necessary to move the solid rock mass upward and then laterally for 35 miles would have caused the mass to crumble and thus would have prevented it from being transported in a coherent block.²⁸

There are many other places throughout the world where huge layers of “older” rock are found resting neatly on top of much “younger” rock.  Many of these supposed “over thrusts” are thousands of feet thick yet they somehow managed to move up and over great distances with no evidence of such catastrophic movement.  There is one area in Scandinavia of 85,000 square miles where this phenomenon occurs²⁹ and there is another huge section in north China that is 500 miles long.³⁰ Even the Swiss Alps are full of fossils in this upside down order so geologists have claimed that the Alps were pushed from Africa into Europe.  If this is so, it must have somehow occurred without causing a violent disturbance upon the earth’s crust because any real evidence of this incredible journey is forever missing.³¹

The energy mechanisms that would be needed to cause such incredible over thrusts are nowhere observed in our modern world.  The Only recorded historical event that would have been capable of triggering such catastrophic disarrangement would have been the universal Noahic flood.

The Mobility Factor

 

Although the geologic column contains many drastic exceptions to the evolutionary sequence of fossils there is, nevertheless, a broad general sequence in which many fossils are found.  For example, the smaller, denser type of sea animals are usually in the lowest strata; amphibians and reptiles are generally in the middle layers and birds and mammals usually occupy the upper layers of sedimentary rock.

The creationist believes that the Noahic flood was responsible for forming the various layers of sedimentary rock, as well as creating a general order of animal burial and fossilization.  Consider this:  As the great “fountains of the deep” opened up, volcanic activity increased and sediment saturated waters began pouring into the oceans from rivers and other channels.  The oceans began to swell, became increasingly turbulent, and finally overflowed their basins; carving out even more sediments.  Many, but not all marine organisms soon became trapped by sudden sediment burial.  The smallest, less mobile creatures were, in most cases, the first to be buried while the larger, more complex sea animals were able to escape burial for awhile longer until finally being overcome by the violence of the water action.  Therefore, these larger, more complex marine organisms were buried in layers of sediment above the smaller, less mobile creatures.  In addition to this, the agitation of the water would also cause a sorting action to occur in which animals of similar sizes, shapes, and specific gravity would be sorted out at different levels in the sediments.  In the field of hydrology, this phenomenon is known as hydrodynamic sorting.  Because of this principle, animals which had the most streamline or spherical shapes would have a tendency to settle out first because they would have less hydraulic drag.³²

 

The Community Factor

 

There are still other factors which could account for a general order of the species in the fossil record.  One such factor is that animals have a tendency to live together in their own communities at different elevations and ecological zones.  They often move in herds, especially when any type of danger approaches, which means that many of these animal groups and communities would be overtaken by flood waters and consequently buried together.  Therefore, we would not expect to find many instances where man was buried with saber-toothed tigers or dinosaurs because man would have lived in a totally different community.

The fossil record contains a wealth of evidence that indicates a vast number of species were, in fact, buried together in large groups of their own kind.  A prime example of this is found in the previously mentioned dinosaur and mammoth graveyards.  Usually if one dinosaur bone is discovered in a certain geographical location, it isn’t long before hundreds and even thousands more are discovered in the same area.

The Anatomical Factor

 

There is yet another important factor which can account for a general order of fossils.  Consider this:  As the oceans began to swell above their shore lines and water channels became increasingly large, all types of animals would obviously attempt to escape impending disaster by seeking higher ground.  Since sea animals would tend to be buried in the lowest layers of sediment, many of the amphibians would be the next in line for burial since they occupy those land areas that directly encompass the bodies of water.  Because of this, certain amphibians would perish near the shorelines of flooded waterways and others would soon be destroyed because of limited mobility and height.  As the waters continued to swell all animal species would continue to seek higher ground in order to escape disaster.  However, the strongest and most mobile animals would be the last to be destroyed and would eventually become buried by the mud and sediments in the upper strata.

The Intellectual Factor

 

Since man is the most intelligent of all earthly creatures, it is conceivable that in most cases he would have been able to escape disaster longer than others.  He would have climbed mountains, built rafts, and utilized floating debris.  Of course he would eventually perish; but, in most cases, would not be subjected to sediment burial if he had been able to escape the initial stages of the flood.  Therefore, the fossil record should have few human fossils and, if there were any, they should normally be found in the uppermost strata of the geologic column.

Is this the case?  Indeed it is because in spite of the abundance of fossilized remains of an enormous variety of animal species, there are relatively few human fossils to be found in the world.  There is also a lack of bird fossils, possibly because birds would have likewise been among the very last creatures to be destroyed by the flood.

 

Strata Formation

 

It is difficult to account for the formations of the great layers of sedimentary rock on the basis of today’s natural processes.  However, the formation of the great strata would be quite possible in the event of a universal flood, because sedimentary rock covers most of the surface of the earth and was formed by the deposition of various sediments that were once suspended in water and subsequently cemented together to form rock.³³

Dr. John C. Whitcomb Jr., in his book, “The World that Perished” gives the following pertinent information which he obtained from Dr. Henry Morris who is an internationally recognized authority in the fields of hydrology and hydraulics.  He says: “Dr. Morris has pointed out that according to the law of hydrodynamic selectivity a flood of the magnitude described in Genesis, with its unbelievably vast complex of sediment saturated currents, would of necessity produce horizontal, superimposed layers of materials that were selected and sorted by the moving waters according to their specific gravity and sphericity.  As each current of water slowed down and deposited its load, another current would come from perhaps a different direction, carrying somewhat different types of materials, depositing them on top of the first layer without disturbing it.  Thus, as various currents moved across the earth during the months of the flood, a great series of sedimentary strata would be formed in various parts of the earth; in some cases to depths of many thousands of feet.*

The formation of strata and the general order of billions of fossils can be better explained by considering the effects of a global flood instead of a slow evolutionary process.  The only way an evolutionist can account for discrepancies in the order and formation of fossils and strata is to incorporate many secondary assumptions and theories which, in many cases, amount to nothing more than “poor excuses.”  However, the creationist does not have to come up with “excuses” to explain fossil formation and order because a great water cataclysm would have had certain predictable effects that would account for their formation and order. There would, of course, also be many exceptions to the general rules because of the flood’s catastrophic nature.  Therefore, we would expect to find cases where fossils are “out of order” and do not fit into the general framework.

Major Gaps

 

The most devastating obstacle for the evolutionist is that there are great systematic gaps in the fossil record between the various classes, orders, and families of animals.  If evolution is true, the fossil record should show evidence of transition from one “kind” of animal into another.  For example, if invertebrates became vertebrates, there should be many fossils that show the intermediate changes from one group into the next.  If fish gave rise to amphibians, there should be numerous fossils which show the slow development of the fin into feet and legs.  If reptiles were ancestors of birds, there would be many fossils which demonstrate the gradual change of the fore limb into wings and from scales into feathers.

The evolutionist has a real problem here because there are absolutely no transitional forms to be found anywhere in the fossil record.³⁴ The fossil record contains the same distinct and separate groups of plants and animals that are found in today’s kingdoms.  Some of the fossil species are now extinct but they still had their own separate characteristics which allow them to be classified under a Linnaean-type classification system.  If evolution were a fact, it would be practically impossible to have a distinct classification system because there would be an endless cycle of gradual development without these clear-cut categories.

The theory of evolution encounters this gap problem right from the beginning stages of life.  Evolutionists claim that one-celled micro-organisms have been found in pre-Cambrian rock.  It is very questionable as to whether or not these microscopic specks in the pre-Cambrian rock were really one-celled animals or not.  Even if they were, the fact remains that the next “stage” in the fossil record is an incredible abundance of complex, multi-cellular organisms such as trilobites, brachiopods, sponges, snails and jellyfish.  These Cambrian organisms are found in unbelievably large quantities yet there is not one fossil anywhere which shows the developmental stages between “simple” one-celled animals and these highly complex multi-cellular organisms.³⁵  This gap problem continues with as great, and even greater, intervals between different “kinds,” all the way through the fossil record.³⁶

“Reptile Birds”

 

The evolutionary textbooks always indicate that there are a few species which “prove” that evolution occurred from one kind into another.  One of the most famous and most frequently used examples is the case of the great “reptile bird” called archaeopteryx.  Archaeopteryx had teeth and its wings had claws; therefore, evolutionists claimed that it was a link between birds and reptiles.  However, the fact is, that archaeopteryx has since been classified as being l00% bird because it is now known that it was warm blooded and was covered with feathers.³⁷

It is interesting to note that there is a modern bird living in South America, called the hoactzin, which has claws on its wings and is also considered to be l00% bird.³⁸ The presence of claws on the modern hoactzin’s wings certainly does not mean that this bird is in the process of evolution from another “kind.”  It is true that there are no modern birds with teeth like archaeopteryx but this does not preclude the existence of a 100% bird with teeth that lived before the flood but is now extinct.  In the other major animals groups there are species with teeth and without teeth.  This is true among mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the Creator who made these animal types with and without teeth, might have also made some birds with teeth that, for some reason, became extinct.

Archaeopteryx is far from being “proof” of evolution.  The question must be raised again; where are the transitional forms that show the forelimb of the reptile changing into a wing?  Where are the wings with half scales and half feathers?  Just imagine the “pre-bird” dragging its wings (or wing) around before developing the mechanisms for flight.  What would be the chances of survival for such a creature? The fossil record should be full of these transitional type creatures because they certainly wouldn’t have been able to escape from even the smallest of local disasters.

Bats

 

The bat is a mammal that is capable of flight.  Now, just because a bat has wings like a bird does not mean that it is a product of evolution in which one kind of creature has slowly acquired the characteristics of another kind.  We know this because bats first appear in the fossil record as fully developed bats.  Once again, there are no incipient or transitional stages of development to be found.³⁹

The Miniature Horse

 

The evolutionary textbooks will site another example that most evolutionists consider to be the very best “proof” of evolution in the fossil record.  This “proof” is discovered by examining the fossils of horses - particularly a very small horse called “eohippus.”  “Eohippus” was about the size of a fox and had four toes on its front feet and two toes on its hind feet.  However, the fossil record contains a few other variations in the feet of this small animal.  Some of these creatures had three toes on each foot while others had feet that were similar to those of our modern horses.

Some experts believe that eohippus may not have been a horse at all but was a possible relative of the modern hyrax because of some similar characteristics between the two.⁴⁰ In any event, whether eohippus was truly an ancient horse or not is irrelevant because this type of variation within a species can hardly be considered “proof” of evolution.  Remember, the creationist believes that God provided certain mechanisms that allow for change and variation to occur within a particular kind of species enabling the creature to better adapt to its environment.  However, these changes have strict genetic limits that can never allow the development of one “kind” into a different kind.

Great variations exist among modern horses, nevertheless, each of these is still considered to be a bona fide member of the horse “kind.”  There are, for example, midget horses living today that are not much larger than eohippus, yet, they are still considered to be 100% horse.  The fossil record also contains various types and sizes of horses.  Some of the fossilized horses seem to be identical in size and appearance to our modern horses.  Others have slight variations in the feet and still others were even larger than our modern horse.

Eohippus appears in the fossil record as a fully developed creature with no evidence of any incipient or transitional changes from a previous ancestor.  Any changes which do appear in the fossil record only demonstrate slight variation and by no means indicate that eohippus ever evolved from, or into, another kind of creature.  If eohippus was truly a member of the horse family, the sudden loss of one or two toes and the subsequent development of a single toe or hoof would seem to indicate that the changes were actually mutations which did not result in a superior development of the foot but rather an inferior deterioration of the foot.  This type of downhill change could have resulted from the radical changes in the post-flood environment.

 

The Latest Absurdity

 

The systematic gaps in the fossil record are so large, so obvious and so frequent, that many evolutionists have changed their Darwinian views about a slow progressive evolution of one kind into another kind.  Many are now stating that the gaps represent sudden drastic changes that occurred because of cosmic radiation and other conditions.  In essence, what these evolutionists are now trying to say is that we still can’t observe evolution in today’s world because it is a slow process that takes millions of years; and yet, at the same time, state  that there are great gaps in the fossil record because evolution occurred too fast in the past.  By applying this type of evolutionary reasoning, we must assume that at some time in the past, a reptile must have laid an egg and a bird hatched out of it.

 

Better or Worse?

 

People are often under the impression that the creatures of the fossil world were quite different from our modern animals.  This is simply not true because most of our modern life forms are found within the fossil record.  One of the differences that does exist between many of our modern animals and those of the fossil world is that our modern animals, especially mammals, are often degenerate rather than superior to fossilized species.  The ancient animals such as elephants, tigers, wolves, lions, rhinos, and a host of others were much larger and stronger than those of the present world.⁴¹ So why have these species degenerated if evolution moves toward superiority?

It is true that certain species of the fossilized animals are now extinct; but, this was probably due to the many and sudden adversities of the post-flood era.  The disappearance of certain species does not infer that evolution must have occurred.  Since recorded history man has witnessed the extinction of many animals and it is a phenomenon that is still occurring in our modern world.

Living Fossils 

 

If evolution is an ongoing universal process, why are there so many species living today that have apparently gone for millions of years without changing from their original forms as they appear in the fossil record?  A real irony is that certain animals of the fossil world, that were once declared to have been extinct for hundreds of millions of years, were surprisingly discovered as still being alive and well in our modern world.  This has been somewhat of an embarrassment for evolutionists, especially since some of these “living fossils” were previously used as index fossils for dating rocks. 

Among these “once extinct but now living” fossils is the crossopterygian fish which was supposed to have been extinct for seventy million years.  This is very interesting because the crossopterygian fish has been considered to be one of the closest links in the fossil record between fish and amphibians.  This brilliant deduction was arrived at because of certain “limb-like” features noted in its fins.  Surprisingly enough these “limb-like” fins still provide excellent locomotion and maneuvering for the crossopterygian and what really is remarkable is that today’s crossopterygian fish is exactly like its earliest ancestor of the fossil record in every detail.⁴² (Oh well, maybe in another 70 million years we will be able to detect some sort of narrowing of that great gap that still exists between a fish’s fin and an amphibian’s limb.)

Another similar embarrassment for the evolutionist is the fact that the very same one-celled organisms that were involved in the initial stages of evolution have also been discovered alive and well.⁴³ Once again, if evolution is an ongoing universal process, why are there so many species living today that have apparently gone for millions of years without changing from their original forms as they appear in the fossil record?  This fact is sometimes written off as an “evolutionary mystery.”  However, it would seem that the total number of diverse obstacles in the fossil record would constitute too many “mysteries” for the theory of evolution to be so widely accepted as “fact.”

Dinosaur Tracks 

 

Some of the most intriguing animals that ever roamed the face of the earth were the dinosaurs.  According to the theory of evolution, the dinosaurs became extinct about 70 million years ago (which is about 68 to 69 million years before man supposedly “evolved”).  Because of this, dinosaur bones are often used as index fossils for dating purposes. The creationist, on the contrary, believes that man and dinosaur both inhabited the earth from the time of creation until shortly after the universal flood.  The evolutionist vigorously opposes this assertion that man and dinosaur lived contemporaneously because such an assumption is extremely detrimental to the theory of evolution. 

With these two opposing viewpoints in mind, consider the following:  At the Paluxy River near Glenrose, Texas, some very important discoveries have been made that have since been ignored by most of the scientific community.  Many dinosaur tracks have been discovered in this river bed over the past century. However, on one occasion, after a local flood in 1911, one of the nearby residents discovered some extremely large human footprints in the freshly exposed limestone of the river bed.  These prints were reported to be 16 inches long and 9 inches wide; at a stride of 6 feet, that later changed to 9 feet - almost as though this giant person had started running from something⁴⁴ (possibly an ensuing flood?).  In any event, the man who made this discovery was not a scientist and because the river has since eroded the limestone in the area of this reported finding, its validity can no longer be proven.  However, it is interesting to note that other human tracks have since been discovered along this river bed.  Most of them have been normal footprints, but one print was taken that was actually 16 inches long and 9 inches across like those that were seen in 1911.⁴⁵  

Some of the local residents of this area soon realized that dinosaur tracks were a popular and marketable item, so they began cutting them out of the river bed and selling them for profit.  However, since there was a limited supply of tracks, some people decided to cut out sections of river bed and carve out their own “dinosaur” footprints by hand.  Unfortunately, because this practice did indeed occur, evolutionists have claimed that any previous human footprints that were taken from the river must have also been carved out by hand because dinosaurs became extinct almost 70 million years before man evolved.

In an attempt to resolve the issue of whether or not human tracks were found with dinosaur tracks, a research team conducted an extensive investigation into the matter.  The team traced a set of human footprints across the river bed to the edge of the river bank.  They wanted to see if the tracks continued in the limestone under the river bank, so they removed the undisturbed soil of the bank that was resting on top of the limestone.

The team discovered several perfect human footprints under the bank, one of which crossed the path of a three-toed dinosaur.  This discovery diminished the possibility of “hand carved” footprints because they were found eight feet below the surface of the river bank.⁴⁶

There have been many other human and dinosaur tracks discovered by competent research teams near the Paluxy River.  In several cases the human and dinosaur tracks have crossed paths and there are two instances in which the two types of prints actually overlap each other.⁴⁷

The evolutionary scientists have chosen to either ignore the evidence of these discoveries or explain them away with absurdities.  Dr. Henry Morris sites one example in his book, Scientific Creationism, in which a Ph.D. geologist looked at the actual tracks and then stated that the prints must have been made by an “unknown two-legged creature with feet just like a human!”⁴⁸

UPDATE: After 1986, several of these discoveries along the Paluxy River have been called into question. Some (maybe not all) of the “human footprints” were apparently made by a portion of a dinosaur footprint. This does not negate other evidence around the world in which “human-like” and dinosaur footprints (as well as horse hoof prints) have been found together.⁴⁹ There have also been reports from educated people (some scientists) who testify that they saw dinosaurs in remote swamp areas of the Congo.⁵⁰

Cultural Dinosaur Tracks

 

Apart from the geological evidence that man and dinosaur lived contemporaneously, there are some other factors that indicate this same possibility.  Paintings have been discovered in caves and on canyon walls that portray dinosaurs. Certain caves in Rhodesia; that were inhabited by Bushmen until 1500 B.C., have wall paintings that depict the great brontosaurus dinosaur.⁵¹ The Bushmen are known to have only painted from reality.  Therefore, they would have actually had to observe a brontosaurus before painting it.

Other indications are found in ancient writings.  For example, in the book of Job (which is one of the oldest books in the Bible) the fortieth chapter describes an incredible beast called “behemoth.”  The exact identity of this creature has been somewhat of a mystery to many theologians who have attempted to associate the Biblical description of this beast with creatures of our modern world.  In doing so, many of these sincere men have deduced that behemoth must have been an elephant.  However, an honest evaluation of these verses in the book of Job will negate any application to an animal of our modern world.  Consider this description:  “Behold now behemoth, which I made as well as you; he eats grass like an ox.  Behold now his strength is in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.  He bends his tail like a cedar.  The sinews of his thighs are knit together.  His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron.  He is the first of the ways of God.” (Job 40:15-l9).

Could God really be describing an elephant in these verses?  Can the puny little tail of an elephant be represented as being anything like a great cedar tree?  A more appropriate candidate for this description would be one of the great dinosaurs, such as brontosaurus or tyrannosaurus who had tails like cedars and powerful muscles of the stomach and thighs.

A further indication that man and dinosaur lived contemporaneously is found in the fact that some of the ancient cultures of the world had myths and legends about great creatures that are known to us as “dragons.”  These legends were usually laced with obvious fantasy but they may have been initially based upon observation of dinosaurs by early ancestors who verbally transmitted the descriptions of these magnificent beasts to their offspring.  If this were not the case, it would be difficult to account for the descriptive similarities between diverse cultures since “dragons” are portrayed universally as having physical features which are similar to those of certain dinosaurs.

The Only Conclusion

 

The creationist is convinced that man lived contemporaneously with dinosaurs and all of the animals of the fossil world, regardless of their supposed evolutionary age.  This assumption is further supported by various fossil formations.  For example, the trilobite is considered to be one of the oldest forms of marine life; yet, one man accidentally discovered the footprint of a human wearing a sandal in the ancient trilobite beds of Antelope Springs, Utah.⁵² In this particular case, trilobites were found within the footprint itself.  And, since this discovery scientists have found other human footprints in ancient trilobite beds.  This is quite remarkable when one considers that trilobites were supposed to have existed from 300 to 600 million years ago.        

Unfortunately, whenever geological evidence is discovered that drastically contradicts the framework of evolution, it is difficult to arouse any sincere interest or unbiased observation within the general scientific community.  The “scientific” attitude is like that of a person who says, “I know I’m right so don’t confuse me with the facts.” (By Robert Linkey)

 

The Truth:

 

“Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens. God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good…. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so…. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1: 21, 24, 25)

 

“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.”

Is the Bible Truth or Myth?       Is Jesus God, Man or Both?         Is Jesus Dead or Alive?
Is Jesus Coming Back Again?      Is God Cruel or Loving?             Is the Gospel even Real?
Is Heaven Attained by Works?   Many Pathways to Heaven?      Is the Bible Against Science?
Evolution Improves with Time?    Fossils Prove Evolution?           Missing Link Ape-Men?
Origin of Life by Chance?           Reference & Note Section     Bible Truth or Myth? Synopsis
Jesus God Man Both? Synopsis  Jesus Dead or Alive? Synopsis  Jesus Coming Again? Synopsis
Is God Cruel or Loving? Synopsis    Is the Gospel Real? Synopsis  Heaven by Works? Synopsis
Many Paths to Heaven? Synopsis Bible v Science? Synopsis Evolution Improves Life?Synopsis
Fossils Prove Evolution? Synopsis  Missing Link Ape-Men? Synopsis Life by Chance? Synopsis

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