Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Fossil Facts That Shatter Evolutionary Claims

 
 
"Your brother is a Christian, but he has come to believe in progressive creationism, in part because of the fossil record. Prepare a discussion sheet you can share with him that lists the facts regarding the geological formation of fossils, the faulty interpretations of the fossil record, and the missing transitional forms that call into question not only evolution, but the idea that a loving, omnipotent God would choose an eons-long cycle of death to form His world."
 
This was the assignment for an exam I had this week in my ICR Creationist Worldview course, and I thought I would share the essay I put together with y'all.
 

How Fossils Are Formed

Very few fossils are forming today. The ones we do see forming now are in due to rapid burial by water. An example: what happens to a fish when it dies? It either floats to the surface or sinks to the bottom where it decays and is eaten by scavengers. Yet many fish fossils are so exquisitely preserved that even the scales and organs are preserved. Obviously there was no time for decay and bacterial action. We can certainly say that something extraordinary happened to form the fossils. Fossils are usually found in rock formed from sedimentary layers deposited by water. Fossils require rapid burial in unusual circumstances.
 
Processes of fossilization include:
 
- Mineralization
- Carbonization
- Impressions
- Ephemeral markings
- Hard parts
- Soft parts
- Frozen parts
 

Where Fossils Are Found
 
  • The majority of fossils are marine invertebrates.
  • Lots of sedimentary rocks contain no recognizable fossils.
  • The sedimentary rocks in which fossils are found give evidence of rapid catastrophic deposition.
  • Marine fossils are found in rock layers that cover vast areas, almost always on continents.
  • The fossils require extraordinary circumstances of a rapid and catastrophic nature, such as those in the Flood.

 
Fossil Facts that Disprove Evolution

·         The fossil record shows no transitional forms. Many fossilized creatures appear strikingly alike to modern life forms with few if any physical changes.
·         Phenomenon such as ‘Lazarus bacteria’. Lazarus bacteria is revived from salt inclusions supposedly 250 million years old. This suggests the salt is not millions of years old.
·         Molecules such as proteins, pigments, and DNA—as well as intact cells and, in some cases, cells still grouped together in tissues—have been found in fossils that are supposedly millions of years old. Whole organisms are sealed in amber deposits, and over a thousand still-living kinds of microbes have been extracted from them. Obviously if the fossil was millions of years old, it wouldn’t have such molecules still present. This is excellent evidence for a young earth.
·         A newly discovered ten-foot-long mosasaur fossil in South Dakota not only had soft tissues of its own, but also remnants of what it last ate. Other fossilized animals have been found in the process of eating, some with their prey not even completely swallowed. This demonstrates rapid burial, signifying a catastrophic event such as the biblical Flood.
  • Polystrate fossils—tree trunks in coal (Araucaria spp. king billy pines, celery top pines, in southern hemisphere coal) indicate a rapid burial. There are also polystrate tree trunks in the Yellowstone fossilized forests, Joggins, Nova Scotia and in many other places.  
·         Evolutionary history holds that collagen-containing cartilage is supposedly 80 million years old and yet laboratory experiments demonstrate that collagen locked in bone should not be older than 30,000.
·         Experiments show that with conditions mimicking natural forces, coal forms quickly; in weeks for brown coal to months for black coal. It does not need millions of years. Furthermore, long time periods could be an impediment to coal formation because of the increased likelihood of the permineralization of the wood, which would hinder coalification.
·         Many people today, including scientists, have the idea that oil and natural gas must take a long time to form, even millions of years. Such is the strong mental bias that has been generated by the prevailing evolutionary mindset of the scientific community. However, laboratory research has shown that petroleum hydrocarbons (oil and gas) can be made from natural materials in short time-spans. Long time spans are once again no longer required!
·         Clastic dykes and pipes (intrusion of sediment through overlying sedimentary rock) show that the overlying rock strata were still soft when they formed. This drastically compresses the time scale for the deposition of the penetrated rock strata.
·         Many fossil bones ‘dated’ at many millions of years old are hardly mineralized, if at all. This contradicts the widely believed old age of the earth.
·         Many creatures exist that are known as ‘living fossils’ - jellyfish, graptolites, coelacanth, stromatolites, Wollemi pine and hundreds more. The fact that tis phenomenal amount of different species could remain so unchanged, for even up to ‘billions’ of years in the case of stromatolites, speaks against the millions and billions of years being real. Once again – where are the transitional forms that are declared to be present?
·         Discontinuous fossil sequences. E.g. Coelacanth, Wollemi pine and various ‘index’ fossils, which are present in supposedly ancient strata, are missing in strata representing many millions of years since - but still living today. Such discontinuities speak against the interpretation of the rock formations as vast geological ages—how could Coelacanths have avoided being fossilized for 65 million years, for example?
·         In 2009, UK paleontologists found ink sacs intact within squid fossils. What makes this an interesting hint to a young age of the earth is the presence of eumelanin, in the ink. Eumelanin—a biochemical with a complicated structure—is an abundant pigment that serves many purposes in animals and other organisms, including darkening a mammal's skin and hair. It is also notoriously difficult to work with in the lab since it refuses to dissolve in common solvents. However, because all systems tend to become disordered over time, no knowledgeable chemist or physicist would expect eumelanin's complicated structure to have persisted for 160 million years—the age assignment given to the rock formations containing the fossil ink sacs. The eumelanin found in the ink sacs was chemically intact. This should not be so, if the fossil were as old as it’s claimed to be.
·         Scientists recently found blood remnants in a mosquito fossil trapped in a supposed 46-million-year-old rock. Publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers reported that they detected iron three times inside the fossil mosquito's abdomen, which strongly suggests the presence of still-fresh hemoglobin. No scientific evidence supports the assertion that heme groups can last, even under circumstances that would maximize their preservation, for one million, let alone tens of millions of years. In fact, all longevity studies of biomolecules like hemoglobin, DNA, and collagen show decay rates in ranges that demonstrate total sample disintegration in a matter of months to a maximum of several hundred thousand years—assuming reasonable Earth surface temperatures.
·         Fossilized human and dinosaur footprints have been found alongside eachother in several locations across the globe, throwing into question the notion that man evolved millions years after the dinosaurs.
·         Fossils are found on all levels of rock strata. The earth is covered with layers of sedimentary rock, much of it containing microscopic fossils such as plankton, pollen, and spores. Marine invertebrates are some of the most commonly found in the fossil record; yet the majority of these fossils are not found in the deep ocean basins, as would be expected, but on the continents. There is no great variation between the rock layers of fossil complexity. Fossils on the bottom levels are no less complex than those on the top layers. This disproves the claim of macro evolution.

These are only a few examples. You can find more on sites like ICR.org, creation.com and the Answers in Genesis website.
In conclusion – geology clearly demonstrates signs of a young earth, and a global flood. Between the two theories – Biblical creationism, and naturalistic evolutionism, I believe the fossils align best with the former.
Occam's Razor is the principle that says, when several theories are present to solve a common problem, to always go with the simplest. Which is simpler - and more reasonable? An all-powerful Godhead calls to creation every structure in the universe, in merely six, literal 24-hour days. Or, all the matter in the universe created itself out of virtually nothing, and life stemmed from non-life?
 
God’s Word states that the He, the Maker is not a God of chaos.  (1 Cor. 14:33) Some Christians argue that since He is so powerful He could do whatever he pleased, even if that included using evolution and naturalistic processes that are pushed by humanists and evolutionists.
I, however, disagree adamantly with this line of thought.  Yes, God is all-powerful, but He cannot create imperfection. He is the author of every good and perfect thing and it’s impossible for Him to mess up!
Why, when He is capable of creating beauty, order and peace, would He opt to go with something so preposterous as the evolutionary framework?
From what I have read and studied in His very Word, such an action would not align with His character. He is a God of love, peace and brilliant order! Why would He purposely allow His creation to warp and suffer through millions of years of pain and death - exactly what evolution requires?
Search the Scriptures – and the fossil record – and surely you will be forced to agree.
YHWH, Jesus Christ, the Almighty Creator and Savior, is not an evolutionistic being.
Nor could He possibly initiate such a process.

Geology information taken from the Institute for Creation Research and Creation Ministries International.

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