Austin Robbins
Austin Robbins, DDS, recently retired from private practice in New Jersey. He was previously on the faculties of Georgetown University School of Dentistry, Temple University Dental School, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Robbins is a member of the Board of Directors of the Associates for Biblical Research.
Few people are aware of the true nature of the fossil record. Most think it demonstrates slow, step-by-step changes from simple to more complex forms of life. While it is true that fossils are usually found in successive layers of rock with smaller, mostly marine creatures in the underlying layers, this is by no means always the case. Missing layers of sedimentary rock frequently create great gaps in the arrangement of fossil sequences. Reversals of the “proper” order of the rock layers are common.
The most striking feature of the fossils, however, is the lack of change. Most fossils are similar to or exactly like their living counterparts. Fossilized clams, jellyfish and sea urchins, for instance, look just like those today. Bats, long fossilized, are indistinguishable from modern ones. Practically every creature alive today has its counterpart somewhere in the fossil-bearing rocks.
A second striking observation is the fact of extinction. Many more lifeforms died and were fossilized than are presently alive. Extinction is the rule. For every creature now alive, many more have become extinct.
Another observation, confirmed by paleontologists themselves, is the absence of transitions between groups of plants and animals. Creatures appear suddenly in the rocks with no apparent ancestors. In the lowest layer of fossil-bearing rocks, the Cambrian, every major group (phylum) of animals has been found. This includes both animals without backbones (invertebrates) and those with backbones (vertebrates). The sudden appearance of these fossilized animals in the Cambrian layer, with no ancestors, has been termed the “Cambrian explosion of life.” Dr. Nils Eldredge of the American Museum of Natural History is quoted as saying,
there is still a tremendous problem with the sudden diversification of multi-cellular life (Sunderland 1984: 45).
Breaks always exist between the larger groups of plants and animals. No continuous sequence leads from one to another. Leading paleontologists, such as Dr. Colin Patterson of the British Museum of Natural History, Dr. David Raup at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and Dr. David Pilbeam of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, acknowledge this. For instance, the transition between invertebrates and vertebrates is a mystery. Fish found in Cambrian deposits in Wyoming have no other fossils leading up to them. No real evidence exists for an ancestor of these fish.
BSP 10:1 (Winter 1997) p. 2
Another major dilemma is the fish to amphibian transition. Paleontologists who work with fish fossils have repeatedly stated that they know of no transitional forms. There are no examples of fish sprouting legs and feet. No evidence has been found of an intermediate between fish and amphibians.
What about the amphibian to reptile transition? Again, there is much speculation, but no hard evidence. In fact, Dr. Stephen J. Gould of Harvard wrote as far back as 1977,
The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change… (1977: 22).
This lack of intermediates is so well established that some paleontologists have abandoned hope of finding any. Attempting to explain this lack, Eldredge and Gould have proposed a theory called “punctuated equilibria.” It explains away the absence of transitional forms by postulating, without evidence, that evolution proceeded so rapidly at times that it left no trace.
Eldredge and Gould have correctly seen a major problem for evolution. But rather than logically concluding that the basic theory of evolution has been disproved, they sidestep the issue. Their theory merely gives an excuse for the absence of intermediates. It argues not from evidence, but from the absence of evidence.
One might compare this to the situation when an empty tomb had to be explained. The disciples of Jesus declared that He had risen from the dead. All the opposition had to do to disprove the resurrection was to produce the body. Instead they sidestepped the issue. They claimed, without evidence and contrary to the well known rigidity of Roman Army discipline, that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body while the soldiers slept. This was an ingenious theory, but it defies logic, basic human nature, and the facts of history. Why would those disciples, fearful, hiding from the authorities, steal the body and then proclaim Jesus had risen from the dead? That they went to their deaths rejoicing in His resurrection is ample proof that they surely did NOT steal the body!
We should apply the same reasoning to the punctuated equilibria theory. The basic theory of evolution has been destroyed by evidence abundant in the fossil record. It is fantasy to think that fossils support evolution. The great similarity of living forms to those fossilized in rocks says loud and clear, “there has been no change.” If evolution were true there should be more life forms now than in the past. The lack of transitional types strongly supports special creation.
God made each group of plants and animals reproducing “after its kind” (Gn 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25). This is what the fossils proclaim. Each group appeared suddenly with only one ancestor, God Himself, who “spoke and it was done” (Ps 33:9).
Bibliography
Gould, S. J.
1977 The Return of the Hopeful Monsters. Natural History 86: 22–30.
Sunderland, L. D.
1984 Darwin’s Enigma. San Diego CA: Master Book Publishers.