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Evolutionary Change

Evolution Says .....

All living things show from the fossil record that they have evolved, changing from simple to more complex.

The Facts Are .....

(1) A factual summary of the reality of the fossil record is as follows:- (i) life-forms show little or no change during their fossil history; (ii) most fossil types are virtually identical to their living descendants; & (iii) fossil types appear in the fossil record without ancestral lineages. (summary)

(2) The best examples used to 'prove' Darwinian evolution - the nautiloids and oysters - are considered today to be just examples of quite trivial change. The fossil record shows that they have not changed in any appreciable way, except for a small fluctuation in morphology. Their fossils appear fully formed, with no evidence of having evolved. Paleobiology, Vol. 3, June/July 1977 p:115-151

(3) Steven Stanley (John Hopkins University, USA) has published some examples of the unchanging nature of living things. He cites the elephant family - regular elephants, mammoths and mastodons - as a prime example. Each was slightly different, but they all appeared suddenly in the fossil record fully formed, the latter two disappeared just as suddenly. This example of Stanley's was the same one that was once used to 'prove' evolution. Science, August 1981

(4) There are many examples of modern organisms which are identical to their fossil counterparts, showing that there has been no evolution over multiple millions of years.

For example:- (i) Termite (30 million years). Discover, August, 1993 p:52 (ii) Coelacanth fish [60-80 million years). Nature, December 22/29, 1988 p:727-732; National Geographic, January, 1989 (iii) Ant, Nothomyrmecia macrops (100 million years). Australasian Post, July 15, 1989 p:48 (iv) Tuatara lizard (200 million years). David Attenborough "The Living Planet", Guild Publishing: London, 1984 p:261 (v) Crayfish (220 million years). Discover, January, 1995 p:84; National Geographic, Vol. 187, No. 6, 1995 (Geographica) (vi) Ciliate protozoa, sheathed bacteria, algae, fungal spores and plant pollen (230 million years). Science, Vol. 259, January 8, 1993 p:222-224 (vii) Tadpole shrimp, Lepidurus apus (250 million years). Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 16 No. 3, 1994 p: 51 (viii) Hagfish (300 million years). Nature, Vol. 354, November 14, 1991 p:108 (ix) Cockroach (300 million years). The Billings Gazette, June 8, 1991 p:9-A (x) Ctenophore (400 million years). Science News, Vol. 124, July 9, 1983 (xi) Onychophore (500 million years). Scientific American, September, 1988 p:70 (xii) Chitons (550-600 million years). New Scientist, December 21-28, 1991 p:10 (xiii) Bacteria (billions of years). Science News, March 12, 1994 p:168-169

(5) Five hundred fossils, dated by evolutionary methods in the range of 15-50 million years old, have identical counterparts living today. They show no significant observable evolutionary change. Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1993 p:14-19

(6) One thing the fossil record does show, is the gross imbalance between the many forms of life in the so-called Cambrian period (500 million years ago) and those following the great Permian extinction (200 million years ago). All existing types were present as fossils in Cambrian rock, and no new ones followed the Permian extinction. So, no new animal body plans evolved over that enormous period of 300 million year. Science Frontiers, November-December, 1988 p:2; Science, Vol. 241, 1988 p:20

(7) The conclusion of the 1980 Chicago conference was 'SPECIES STASIS'. That is, everything is staying the same. Evolution therefore defies the facts