Lesson 6
FOSSILS
You can't have an apologetics discussion without including fossils! For years, scientists have used the fossil record to try to support evolution and a long age for the earth. They tell us that it takes millions of years for fossils to develop and for the layers in the earth around them to form. Is that true?
• What do you think the fossil record shows?
Conventional secular ideas teach that fossils are created with slow and gradual processes in calm water, but fossils are almost never formed in the sea. Life abounds in the sea but fossils do not. The fossils of sea creatures are found on land. In reality, fossils have to be formed by rapidly depositing the material. If dead animals or plants are left out in the open air, they are eaten by scavengers or decompose or are washed or worn away by erosion. The preservation of so many fossils all over the world show that these plants and animals were buried rapidly, away from scavengers, oxygen, and bacteria.
• Is this consistent with what you have heard? What other methods of fossilization have you heard about?
One evidence of rapid fossil formation is fossilized clams: millions of clam fossils have been found. The muscles that connect a clam's halves relax at death. The dead clams open up and scavengers eat the insides. Most clam fossils are found “clammed up”. This is how a clam protects itself from danger. Also they are usually found in clusters, which is not how they grow naturally. Something must have caused them to be buried quickly and in a group.
• How long does it take for something to fossilize?
A miner's hat was found in an abandoned mine, petrified in less than a lifetime. In another place, they found a partially buried, 200 year-old portion of a fence line, with wooden posts. The portion of the post below ground petrified, but the tops had rotted away. In California, a whale fossil was found, which also spanned several rock layers. These layers had to have been deposited faster that it would take for the whale carcass to decompose.
Coal seams: Scientists teach that coal forms over millions of years, as remains of plant materials and peat in swamps get submerged and covered with sediment, with heat and pressure added, making coal. Then the entire layer would raise up from the water receive more peat and the cycle is repeated over millions of years. The fact is, however, that coal seams are often found between layers of flat stone, in striped layers that show no evidence of erosion, indicating rapid formation. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens has validated rapid deposits of material forming coal.
Scientists look to the rock layers all over the world to “prove” the evolutionary time line. These layers are laid out in a pattern that supposedly demarcate millions of years. The same layers are found worldwide, and they are laid out in flat lines with little to no evidence of erosion between or within the layers. If they took long ages to form, they would not be straight and flat. They would be eroded away and in many areas there would be no way to differentiate one layer from the next. In addition, trees have been found all over the world, upright, extending through layers supposedly millions of years apart! The process was explained when Mt. St. Helens erupted, as trees blown down by the blast into Spirit lake became heavy and sank, root down. They stood upright as layers formed around trees in a short amount of time, not over millions of years.
• Which version makes sense (evidence is the same): rapid formation, or formation slowly, over millions of years?
Evolution: the Colorado river formed the Grand Canyon. You can see the river and the canyon. You can observe erosion, therefore, the river carved the canyon over a long period of time.
Creation: Mt. St. Helens erupted quickly and carved a canyon 1/40th the scale of the Grand canyon (100 ft. deep) in 1 day. Catastrophe can cause major change in a short time. Catastrophe, such as a world-wide flood, caused the Grand Canyon.
• If the Bible description of the flood in Genesis 6 – 8 is true, what evidence would we expect to find?
Billions of dead animals and plants are buried in layers of mud all across the globe. Dissolved soil and rock appears to have been transported and redeposited far from the source. Fossils of sea creatures have been found on high mountains. Marine and land animals are found buried together. This is exactly what we would have expected. Fossilized peat beds have even been found in Antarctica.
The biggest argument in the fossil record against evolution is that there are no missing links, as we have previously discussed. We should expect lots of “in-between” fossils if evolution were true. The “Cambrian explosion” is used by evolutionists to explain that simple organisms “exploded” into a vast array of new species. It actually shows that all animal groups appear separately, fully formed, and at the same time. There are no precursors to fish, bats, birds, or even trilobites. They all show up fully formed and at the same time!
In addition, evolutionists use the age of the rock to prove the age of the fossils found in the rock. Then they use the age of the fossils to prove the age of the rock!
*Darwin actually wrote an apology in his book “On the Origin of the Species.” He spent 2 chapters explaining that there were “gaps” in the fossil record that would eventually provide evidence of the transitional forms of animal groups, ie: invertebrates to fish, fish to amphibians, reptiles to birds. He argued that the process of natural selection was correct despite the fact that the fossil record does not support this theory. “The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on earth, (must) be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.” (p. 292).
Since Darwin's time, millions of fossils have been found. Fossils of soft-bodied organisms like worms and jellies, as well as insects, plants, vertebrates and invertebrates, even difficult to fossilize bacteria and embryos, fish eggs, and soft-petaled flowers have been discovered. The missing links are not missing...they simply don't exist! Jellyfish graveyards abound, when they should have dried up and decomposed or have been eaten. Fossilized fish have been found buried in life poses, eating other fish and even giving birth, which proves this must have happened very quickly.
In 2006, scientists found soft proteins in a T Rex fossil. This was an amazing discovery. For us, this is one more proof that it couldn't be millions of years old, so initially scientists said it must have been a contaminant. But lots of soft proteins, blood, skin, etc. have now been found.
• Were these soft proteins all contaminants? Or are they not millions of years old? • Discussion: Why does it matter whether fossils form rapidly or if they took millions of years to form?
This is the problem: If mankind only recently appeared, and life existed for millions of years prior, then there were millions of years of disease and death before sin! The fossil record shows fish eating other fish, animals eating other animals, even diseases like cancer. There are thorns in thistles in fossils supposedly 400 million years old. The Bible teaches that sin is a result of mankind's rebellion against God. The penalty of sin is death. Jesus died on the cross to pay that penalty. If death occurred before mankind, and before sin, then the whole salvation story would be pointless.
See also:
https://creation.com/where-are-all-the-human-fossils
https://www.icr.org/article/scientists-late-recognize-human-giant/
https://www.beyondsciencetv.com/2017/11/29/modern-man-actually-600-million-years-old-according-to-footprint-in-trilobite-fossil/
https://creation.com/did-angkor-really-see-a-dinosaur
FOSSILS
You can't have an apologetics discussion without including fossils! For years, scientists have used the fossil record to try to support evolution and a long age for the earth. They tell us that it takes millions of years for fossils to develop and for the layers in the earth around them to form. Is that true?
• What do you think the fossil record shows?
Conventional secular ideas teach that fossils are created with slow and gradual processes in calm water, but fossils are almost never formed in the sea. Life abounds in the sea but fossils do not. The fossils of sea creatures are found on land. In reality, fossils have to be formed by rapidly depositing the material. If dead animals or plants are left out in the open air, they are eaten by scavengers or decompose or are washed or worn away by erosion. The preservation of so many fossils all over the world show that these plants and animals were buried rapidly, away from scavengers, oxygen, and bacteria.
• Is this consistent with what you have heard? What other methods of fossilization have you heard about?
One evidence of rapid fossil formation is fossilized clams: millions of clam fossils have been found. The muscles that connect a clam's halves relax at death. The dead clams open up and scavengers eat the insides. Most clam fossils are found “clammed up”. This is how a clam protects itself from danger. Also they are usually found in clusters, which is not how they grow naturally. Something must have caused them to be buried quickly and in a group.
• How long does it take for something to fossilize?
A miner's hat was found in an abandoned mine, petrified in less than a lifetime. In another place, they found a partially buried, 200 year-old portion of a fence line, with wooden posts. The portion of the post below ground petrified, but the tops had rotted away. In California, a whale fossil was found, which also spanned several rock layers. These layers had to have been deposited faster that it would take for the whale carcass to decompose.
Coal seams: Scientists teach that coal forms over millions of years, as remains of plant materials and peat in swamps get submerged and covered with sediment, with heat and pressure added, making coal. Then the entire layer would raise up from the water receive more peat and the cycle is repeated over millions of years. The fact is, however, that coal seams are often found between layers of flat stone, in striped layers that show no evidence of erosion, indicating rapid formation. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens has validated rapid deposits of material forming coal.
Scientists look to the rock layers all over the world to “prove” the evolutionary time line. These layers are laid out in a pattern that supposedly demarcate millions of years. The same layers are found worldwide, and they are laid out in flat lines with little to no evidence of erosion between or within the layers. If they took long ages to form, they would not be straight and flat. They would be eroded away and in many areas there would be no way to differentiate one layer from the next. In addition, trees have been found all over the world, upright, extending through layers supposedly millions of years apart! The process was explained when Mt. St. Helens erupted, as trees blown down by the blast into Spirit lake became heavy and sank, root down. They stood upright as layers formed around trees in a short amount of time, not over millions of years.
• Which version makes sense (evidence is the same): rapid formation, or formation slowly, over millions of years?
Evolution: the Colorado river formed the Grand Canyon. You can see the river and the canyon. You can observe erosion, therefore, the river carved the canyon over a long period of time.
Creation: Mt. St. Helens erupted quickly and carved a canyon 1/40th the scale of the Grand canyon (100 ft. deep) in 1 day. Catastrophe can cause major change in a short time. Catastrophe, such as a world-wide flood, caused the Grand Canyon.
• If the Bible description of the flood in Genesis 6 – 8 is true, what evidence would we expect to find?
Billions of dead animals and plants are buried in layers of mud all across the globe. Dissolved soil and rock appears to have been transported and redeposited far from the source. Fossils of sea creatures have been found on high mountains. Marine and land animals are found buried together. This is exactly what we would have expected. Fossilized peat beds have even been found in Antarctica.
The biggest argument in the fossil record against evolution is that there are no missing links, as we have previously discussed. We should expect lots of “in-between” fossils if evolution were true. The “Cambrian explosion” is used by evolutionists to explain that simple organisms “exploded” into a vast array of new species. It actually shows that all animal groups appear separately, fully formed, and at the same time. There are no precursors to fish, bats, birds, or even trilobites. They all show up fully formed and at the same time!
In addition, evolutionists use the age of the rock to prove the age of the fossils found in the rock. Then they use the age of the fossils to prove the age of the rock!
*Darwin actually wrote an apology in his book “On the Origin of the Species.” He spent 2 chapters explaining that there were “gaps” in the fossil record that would eventually provide evidence of the transitional forms of animal groups, ie: invertebrates to fish, fish to amphibians, reptiles to birds. He argued that the process of natural selection was correct despite the fact that the fossil record does not support this theory. “The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on earth, (must) be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.” (p. 292).
Since Darwin's time, millions of fossils have been found. Fossils of soft-bodied organisms like worms and jellies, as well as insects, plants, vertebrates and invertebrates, even difficult to fossilize bacteria and embryos, fish eggs, and soft-petaled flowers have been discovered. The missing links are not missing...they simply don't exist! Jellyfish graveyards abound, when they should have dried up and decomposed or have been eaten. Fossilized fish have been found buried in life poses, eating other fish and even giving birth, which proves this must have happened very quickly.
In 2006, scientists found soft proteins in a T Rex fossil. This was an amazing discovery. For us, this is one more proof that it couldn't be millions of years old, so initially scientists said it must have been a contaminant. But lots of soft proteins, blood, skin, etc. have now been found.
• Were these soft proteins all contaminants? Or are they not millions of years old? • Discussion: Why does it matter whether fossils form rapidly or if they took millions of years to form?
This is the problem: If mankind only recently appeared, and life existed for millions of years prior, then there were millions of years of disease and death before sin! The fossil record shows fish eating other fish, animals eating other animals, even diseases like cancer. There are thorns in thistles in fossils supposedly 400 million years old. The Bible teaches that sin is a result of mankind's rebellion against God. The penalty of sin is death. Jesus died on the cross to pay that penalty. If death occurred before mankind, and before sin, then the whole salvation story would be pointless.
See also:
https://creation.com/where-are-all-the-human-fossils
https://www.icr.org/article/scientists-late-recognize-human-giant/
https://www.beyondsciencetv.com/2017/11/29/modern-man-actually-600-million-years-old-according-to-footprint-in-trilobite-fossil/
https://creation.com/did-angkor-really-see-a-dinosaur
