Introduction
We are taught in school that the fossil record is evidence for evolution. We are then taught millions and billions of years and small changes over a long period of time result in miraculous change from simple to complex organisms. However, is this the best explanation for what we see? If we remove the underlying assumptions of modern scientists and then look at the data with an open mind, we find that a very different story emerges. It turns out that the Biblical account fits the evidence far better than narrative woven by evolutionists.
The Great Flood Account – Best Explanation?
It turns out that the flood account does a much better job of explaining what we see in the fossil record than evolution does. There are various flood accounts from a large percentage of ancient cultures all over the world. There are also various stories of a god creating the first humans, “Adam and Eve” type figures, throughout ancient cultures all over the world. It’s evident that these stories likely developed out of the original creation account when all people were together and spoke a common language (Gen. 11:1).
What Does the Bible Say?
“Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore, I am going to destroy them along with the earth.” (Genesis 6:13, CSB)
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood…” (Genesis 6:14a, CSB)
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the vast watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” (Genesis 7:11-12, CSB)
Notice, unlike our childhood stories, the flood was not caused by rain alone. It says that the great fountains of the deep “burst open” or “burst forth” in some translations. In verses 17-19 it says that the water “increased greatly” and it said that it “surged” again and again. This is not a peaceful flood but a massive global disaster that reshaped the earth’s surface. It’s possible that it moved and reshaped continents and ocean basins. It would have been exceeding tumultuous creating the conditions to suspend, sort by gravity according to density, and eventually lay down layer after layer of sediment all over the world, which is exactly what we see.
Fossil and sedimentary layer problems with evolution
The Cambrian Explosion is the name that scientist give to the sudden appearance of a massive number of fossils in the record. Scientists often reference this event as part of the evolutionary process. However, this event upends the whole apple cart. Evolutionary theory depends on random small changes over an enormous amount of time.
The Cambrian explosion is too fast, too diverse, and too widespread to support this. It is best described as an explosion of death rather than an explosion of life. It’s much better explained by a global geological event that instantly buried massive numbers of living creatures. This global disaster systematically buried from smaller to larger ecosystems in water-borne sediment as the flood progressed.
Petrified Tree Evidence
The fossil sedimentary layers are said to have formed over very long periods of time, hundreds of thousands, and millions of years. Yet we find these layers all over the world with petrified (fossilized) trees running through all the layers. This isn’t possible if these layers were laid down over a long period of time because the tree would decay away before it could be fully buried and petrified. A more realistic explanation is a large-scale geological event where a lot of material was suspended in water, sorted into layers according to density, and dumped on the tree in a short period of time.
Additionally, the petrification process couldn’t take millions of years to complete. Petrification (fossilization) occurs when something is buried, and the cell walls of the organism is systematically replaced by minerals in a solution of water. This process must complete before the item decays in order to maintain the original form. Scientists have created synthetic fossils virtually identical to those found in nature within the span of a single day. Rapid burial and quick fossilization better explain the footprints and soft-bodied animals that have been found in the fossil record.
Dinosaur Soft Tissue
Dinosaur and other fossilized bones are said to be millions of years old. However, these bones have been found to have soft tissue with intact cell membranes and red blood cells still in them. Mary Schweitzer made the discovery in her laboratory in 2005. She did something that scientists typically don’t do because it destroys the sample. She dissolved the fossilized bone in acid. When she returned to the sample that was stripped of the fossilized bone, she was surprised to discover soft, spongy tissue left behind. Upon closer inspection she found intact cell membranes.
We have no known mechanism by which these could survive hundreds of thousands of years, let alone millions of years. This has been repeated by Schweitzer and many others several times since then with all having the same result. It’s likely that all fossilized dinosaur bones have these intact blood vessels and membranes in them. Scientists are now trying to invent ways to explain this phenomenon rather than re-evaluate their worldview in light of new evidence.
Radiometric Dating Irregularities
Radiometric dating can be wildly inaccurate – These dating systems have been shown time and time again to be of limited use in dating items considered to be very old. For example, some live animals and recently dead animals have been dated to be hundreds of thousands or millions of years old. Additionally, items assumed to be millions of years old, like diamonds and dinosaur bones, frequently still contain Carbon-14 despite its half-life of roughly 5000 years. This means that it can only be used to date items a maximum of 50,000 years old. The Carbon-14 in samples millions of years old should have decayed away and disappear millions of years ago.
Finally, recently observed volcanic eruptions have produced rocks that date back hundreds of thousands or millions of years instead of to the recent eruption date that created them. These radiometric dates require specific assumptions be met about the original sample composition and about consistent isotope decay rates in order to be of any value.
Canyon Formation
Canyons have long been thought to be formed by erosion from rivers over very long periods of time. However, there is little evidence for this. First, it would be difficult to maintain well defined, high-walled canyons over millions of years without them eroding away into rolling hills. Second, we see the layering of sedimentary rock that appears in canyons, like the Grand Canyon, all over the United States and throughout the world. These sedimentary zones have little to no erosion between layers. They are laid one on top of another like flat pancakes over very large areas.
Grand Canyon Layers
Two of the adjacent layers in the Grand Canyon called the Coconino Sandstone and Hermit Formation have no erosion between them. Yet 70 miles away in Sedona, AZ we find these same two layers with another 800-1000ft layer between them called the Schnebly Hill Formation.
If this layer took hundreds of thousands or millions of years to lay down, as evolutionary theorists assert, you would see considerable erosion evidence of the lower Hermit Formation layer back in the Grand Canyon.
This is because it would have been exposed to the elements and other geologic occurrences for all that time. However, we don’t see this. Instead, we find little to no erosion between the canyon layers. It makes more sense to consider an enormous catastrophic geological event that suspended and sorted the sediment by density in water and laid down all these layer in rapid succession.
Rapid Canyon Formation
We have witnessed the process of sedimentary layers being laid down and then carved quickly into a canyon on a much smaller scale. One notable example of this is at Mount Saint Helens. The eruption in 1980 and subsequent rock and mud slide mixed with melted snow moved down the mountain like a fluid and laid down a massive amount of layered sediment over a considerable area. Seismic activity two years later resulted in a giant mud flow that carved Engineers Canyon in a matter of hours complete with a river flowing through the bottom. It’s like a mini–Grand Canyon formed over the course of just a couple of years.
We have witnessed these processes on relatively small scales but there are currently no geological processes capable of doing this on a worldwide scale. It appears, then, that the best explanation for the worldwide sedimentary layering and carvings of canyons would be a one-time catastrophic extinction-level event that submerged the globe in watery sediment.
Conclusion
Christian theology and the Word of God do not have to take a back seat to science. Nor does science and our faith need to be in conflict. Remember, science doesn’t tell us anything, scientists do. What conclusions we arrive at depends on what assumptions we start with and how we interpret the data. It turns out if you set aside the popular narrative and just look at the evidence the Genesis account does the best job of explaining what we observe.
So, we can be confident in our faith that God created the universe and everything in it, including what we measure and observe through science. All that He created, including man, was made in accordance with His will and fulfilled His purpose. It was good.
Blessings
1 thought on “Creation Series – The Fossil Record”
We went to providence canyon in South Georgia. About 6 hour drive. Pretty cool to walk through the canyon done in the late 1800’s. https://gastateparks.org/ProvidenceCanyon