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Secular scientists believe that most of the fossil record across the earth was created over millions of years. This is called geological evolution. From a historical perspective, this is a relatively new idea that began being promoted by James Hutton and Charles Lyell in the late 1700s and early 1800s. They were precursors to Charles Darwin.
As a result, many point to the fossils in the fossil record as evidence for biological evolution that is built on geological evolution (millions of years). But what they miss is that rapid fossilization by a massive worldwide catastrophe by watery sediment is not only a much better explanation to the fossil record, but also is evidence that confirms the biblical account of the Flood.
The Bible teaches that death and decay did not enter the world until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). That means that the fossil record was formed after their sin, not millions of years before.
Thankfully, physical evidence appears to back up the Bible instead of evolution.
Fossil Record Supports Rapid Fossilization—Not Millions of Years
Fossils don’t have to take millions of years to form. Instead, scientists have discovered that rock can form very quickly, especially during a catastrophe. Even many evolutionists now agree that the fossil record is primarily a record of catastrophes—both local and regional, although they usually rule out global because it completely destroys the idea of millions of years.
As Christians, we know that at one point a Flood covered the entire earth, quickly burying living organisms—which makes them a candidate for fossilization by sealing out the oxygen. This leads to rapid fossilization. The global Flood dissolved both rock and soil, transporting those fragments and depositing them as sediments full of dead plants and animals. Those sediments then hardened into sedimentary rock layers, and the dead organisms decomposed or were turned into fossils.
Consider that it doesn’t take millions of years to make many things we’ve been indoctrinated to believe takes millions of years. A chart by Bodie Hodge1 shows many scientific process do no need long ages:
|
Evidence |
Time to form (observed) |
Scientific evidence for millions of years |
|
Diamonds (vapor deposition) |
A few days2 |
No |
|
Diamonds (pressure and temperature method) |
3-4 days3 |
No |
|
Diamonds (from loved ones and pets ashes) |
Three months4 |
No |
|
Coal |
Months5 |
No |
|
Oil from Sewage |
Days6 |
No |
|
Oil from Animal waste |
Days7 |
No |
|
Oil from Brown Coal |
2-5 Days8 |
No |
|
Oil from Algae |
30 minutes9 - 60 minutes10 |
No |
|
Petrified Wood (heat and chemical method) |
Days11 |
No |
|
Petrified Wood (chemical method) |
Hours12 |
No |
|
Petrified Wood (natural elements) |
Less than 360 years13 |
No |
|
Opals |
Weeks14 |
No |
|
Gemstones (volcanic origin) |
Upon eruption15 |
No |
|
Gemstones (lab origins, synthetic) |
Days16 with Flame Fusion, Melt Process, Solution Process |
No |
|
Fossils |
Less than 24 hours17 |
No |
|
Stalactites |
Days18, less than 100 years19 |
No |
|
Stalagmites |
In one summer20 |
No |
|
Rock |
Less than 150 years, Bell encased in rock21 Less than 125 years, Tawawera Items22 Less than 50 years, Petrified Hat23 3 months, Yorkshire Bears24 |
No |
|
Rock layers (Catastrophes) |
Mt. St. Helens (hours, days) |
No |
|
Rock layer lamina (lab; Air + Water) |
Almost immediately25 |
No |
|
Canyons |
Days, Canyon Lake Gorge26 Days, Little Grand Canyon27 Six days, Burlingame Canyon28 Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon29 |
No |
Fossils of Sea Creatures Discovered Above Sea Level
A global Flood is the best way to describe how scientists have found fossils of sea creatures far above sea level. For example, in the Grand Canyon, we find marine fossils, including in the Kaibab Limestone—the topmost layer at 7,000-8,000 feet above sea level.
Some of the sea-creature fossils found in rock layers above sea level are brachiopods (similar to clams), corals, sea lilies, bivalves (another type of clam), cephalopods (such as squid and octopi), and even fish teeth!
Sea creature fossils are found on top of Mt Everest as well as the high Andes Mountains of South America.
Photo: Sea fossils found in the Andes Mountains in Peru. Courtesy of Bodie Hodge.
These incredible fossils are evidence that, at one point, water covered those rock layers (Genesis 7:19-20)—such as the global Flood and those mountains have been uplifted since that time (e.g., Psalm 104:8-9).
“Living Fossils” Throw a Wrench in Evolutionary Thinking
According to evolutionists, many of the fossils in the fossil record show animals that have been extinct for millions of years. Those animals, they say, have evolved into other animals we see today.
Yet some creatures still alive today are no different than the animals in the fossil record. How can evolutionists explain why some creatures have supposedly changed drastically while others haven’t changed at all? For instance, a huntsman spider was found fossilized in amber and was said to be millions of years old. Yet that huntsman spider is virtually the same as huntsman spiders we have today.
To make matters even more interesting, some animals that have supposedly gone extinct have been found to still exist today. For example, evolutionists said the Coelacanth, a fossilized fish, had been extinct for 65 to 70 million years. Part of the reason scientists say this is that no Coelacanth fossil has been found in the same layer as human fossils or even in the rock record since “the time of the dinosaurs.”
Yet several living Coelacanths have been found in recent decades, including off the coast of Madagascar. This goes to show that evolutionists’ dating methods for fossils aren’t necessarily accurate nor is their understanding of the fossil layers. Just because a creature is not buried in a rock layer doesn’t mean it didn’t exist when that layer was formed. Furthermore, just because certain fossils are not found in the same rock layers as other more “modern” animals does not mean those fossils are millions of years old. Rapid fossilization, again, provides a much better answer.
More Fascinating Teachings on Fossils at Answers.tv
Dr. Andrew Snelling shows how fossils form rapidly, not over millions of years. In his videos on Answers.tv, he teaches how the fossil record is proof of rapid fossilization—and of the biblical account of the Flood.
Watch Evidence of Rapid Fossilization to learn more!
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Footnotes:
1 https://answersingenesis.org/is-god-real/final-proof-gods-nonexistence/?fbclid=IwAR30s6WjEKX30o3sGbLWXG7n5GI5uq_pUjWPwpKGNObR66hRFzpVhXcdlXs
2 Greg Hunter and Andrew Paparella, “Lab-Made Diamonds Just Like Natural Ones,” September 9, 2015, ABC News Internet Ventures, produced for Good Morning America, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=124787.
3 Ibid.
4 Rae Ellen Bichell, “From Ashes To Ashes To Diamonds: A Way To Treasure The Dead,” NPR, January 19, 2014, http://www.npr.org/2014/01/19/263128098/swiss-company-compresses-cremation-ashes-into-diamonds.
5 R. Hayatsu, R.L. McBeth, R.G. Scott, R.E. Botto, R.E. Winans, Organic Geochemistry, vol. 6 (1984), p. 463–471.
6 Australian Stock Exchange Release, Environmental Solutions International Ltd, Osborne Park, Western Australia, Oct. 25, 1996. Media Statement, Minister for Water Resources, Western Australia, October 25, 1996.
7 Dr. Andrew Snelling, “The Origin of Oil,” Answers 2, no. 1, p. 74–77, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n1/origin-of-oil.
8 Ibid.
9 Christopher Helman, Green Oil: Scientists Turn Algae Into Petroleum In 30 Minutes, Forbes.com, 12/23/2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/12/23/green-oil-scientists-turn-algae-into-petroleum-in-30-minutes/.
10 B. Thomas, “One-Hour Oil Production,” ICR, January 13, 2014, https://www.icr.org/article/7874/.
11 Editors, “Instant Petrified Wood,” Physics.org, January 25, 2005, http://phys.org/news/2005-01-petrified-wood-days.html.
12 Hamilton Hicks, Sodium silicate composition, United States Patent Number 4,612,050, September 16,1986, http://www.google.com/patents/US4612050.
13 Andrew Snelling, “ ‘Instant’ Petrified Wood,” Creation, vol. 17, no. 4, September 1995, p. 38-40, online September 1, 1995, https://answersingenesis.org/fossils/how-are-fossils-formed/instant-petrified-wood/.
14 Dr. Andrew Snelling, “Creating Opals,” Creation ex nihilo 17, no. 1, Dec. 1994: 14–17.
15 Editors, Mount St. Helens Gift Shop Website, http://www.mt-st-helens.com/obsidianite.html, downloaded April 7, 2014; Editors, “How Gemstones Are Formed,” GemSelect, accessed August 18, 2015, http://www.gemselect.com/other-info/gemstone-formation.php.
16 Synthetic Ruby http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Synthetic-Ruby.html.
17 Ben Coxworth, Lab-made fossils cram 1000s of years into 24 hours, New Atlas, July 25, 2018, https://newatlas.com/lab-made-fossils/55619/.
18 Marilyn Taylor, Descent, Arizona Highways, January, 1993, p. 11.
19 Emil Silvestru, The Cave Book, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008, p. 46.
20 Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge, A Flood of Evidence, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2016, p. 125.
21 Bell-ieve It: Rapid Rock Formation Rings True, Creation, vol. 20, no. 2, March 1998: 6, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/catastrophism/bell-ieve-it-rapid-rock-formation-rings-true/.
22 Renton Maclachlan, “Tarawera’s Night of Terror,” Creation, vol. 18, no. 1, December 1995: 16–19, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/catastrophism/taraweras-night-of-terror/.
23 John Mackay, “Fossil Bolts and Fossil Hats,” Creation Ex Nihilo, vol. 8, Nov., 1986, p. 10.
24 M. White, “The Amazing Stone Bears of Yorkshire,” Answers in Genesis, June 1, 2002, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v24/n3/stone-bears.
25 Guy Berthault, Experiments on Lamination of Sediments, Creation, Vol. 3, No. 1, April, 1998, pp. 25-29, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/sedimentation/experiments-on-lamination-of-sediments/.
26 Michael P. Lamb and Mark A. Fonstad, “Rapid Formation of a Modern Bedrock Canyon by a Single Flood Event, Nature Geoscience, June 20, 2010, p. 4, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO894.
27 John Morris and Steven A. Austin, Footprints in Ash, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2003, p. 70-75.
28 John Morris, “A Canyon in Six Days,” September 1, 2002, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/natural-features/a-canyon-in-six-days/.
29 Rebecca Gibson, “Canyon Creation,” September, 1, 2000, https://answersingenesis.org/geology/natural-features/canyon-creation/.