What Do The Earth Sciences Say About Creation?

1. What Do The Earth Sciences Say About Creation? Frog + time (instantaneous) -> Prince = Fairy Tale Frog + time (300 million yrs.) -> Prince = Science Dr. Gish, ICR Dr. Heinz Lycklama heinz@osta.com www.osta.com “What I see convinces me God exists. What I cannot see, confirms it.” Albert Einstein

2. Science • “Operational” Science • Postulate theory -> make observations -> prove/falsify theory • Using the Scientific Method • “Origins” Science • Were you there at the beginning? • Model of Creation • Model of Evolution • Which model fits the observed facts best? • “Forensic” science

3. Scientific Methodology • Make observations • Develop a hypothesis ortheory that explains the observations • Conduct experiments to test accuracy and predictions made by the theory • Draw conclusions • Repeat experiments to verify results and eliminate sources of inaccuracy

4. Theory Criteria • To apply scientific methodology, the theory must meet these criteria: • Must be falsifiable or verifiable • Must make quantifiable predictions • Experimental results must be repeatable • Must be as simplistic as possible with no unnecessary components (Occam’s Razor) • Adherence to the methodology allows for self-correction and increases confidence in the assumptions made by scientific philosophy

5. Origins - Evolution or Creation? • “Science is the search for truth” • Fact, Law, Theory, Hypothesis, Model? • Fact – proven to be true • Law – no known exception • Theory – testable, falsifiable, based on empirical findings • Hypothesis – provisionally explains some fact • Model – simplified representation of reality • Which is Evolution? Creation? • A model – let’s see why …

6. Models of Origins • We can neither observe nor repeat “origins” • Origins “theories” cannot be tested or proven • We have two models (not theories) of origins • Creation and evolution • Models can be compared as to their respective capacities for correlating observable data • Evolutionists regard evolution as “a proven fact.” • They believe that evolutionism is science and that creationism is religion • Evolutionists are unable to prove evolution • Thousands of scientists believe in creation

7. Evolution Model • Cannot be proved: • It operates too slowly to be measurable (if it is taking place) • The scientific method cannot be used to measure it • Small variations in organisms, observed today, are not relevant (can’t be used to distinguish between creation and evolution) Dr. Heribert-Nilsson, Director of the Botanical Institute at Lund University, Sweden, said “My attempt to demonstrate evolution by an experiment carried on for more than 40 years has completely failed. … The idea of an evolution rests on pure belief.” (Synthetische Artbildung, 1953).

8. Evolution Model - 2 • Explains origin, development and meaning of all things in terms of natural laws and processes which operate today as they have in the past • No extraneous processes requiring an external agent (i.e. a Creator) are permitted • The universe in all respects evolves itself into higher levels of order (particles to people), elements -> complex chemicals -> simple living systems -> complex life -> man

9. Creation Model • Cannot be proved: • Creation is not happening now, so far as can be observed • The scientific method cannot repeat creation • Cannot ascertain whether creation took place (except through divine revelation)

10. Creation Model - 2 • Involves a process of special creation in the beginning • All the basic laws and categories of nature brought into existence by special creative processes which are no longer in operation today • Distinct kinds exist today as they have existed in the past • Processes of creation replaced by processes of conservation

11. Which Model Best Fits The Facts? • Creation and Evolution are the only two models of origins • Both models should be considered as equal alternatives and evaluated objectively in terms of their relative abilities to correlate and explain scientific data • The model that incorporates the most data and has the smallest number of unresolved issues is the most likely to be true

12. Looking At The Scientific Evidence • Origin of matter, energy and natural law • Origin of the solar system • Teleology – study of evidences of design in nature, e.g. Anthropic Principle • Classification of biological organisms • Natural selection and mutations (vestigal organs)

13. The Scientific Evidence - 2 • Origin of man • Origin of life – probability • The fossil record • Geologic ages – Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism • Age of the world (earth/universe)

14. The Origin of Man • Evolution model predicts: • Molecules -> man • Man evolved from an ape • Creation model predicts: • Man’s appearance has remained largely the same

15. Ape To Man? • In a Science Digest article written by Lyall Watson, he states that: • “The fossils that decorate our family tree are so scarce that there are still more scientists than specimens. The remarkable fact is that all the physical evidence we have for human evolution can still be placed, with room to spare, inside a single coffin.” • David Pilbeam and Steven Gould (two evolutionists) report that: • “Unfortunately, the fossil record of pongids (apes) is nonexistent, making a glaring deficiency in the whole story.”

16. Famous “Hominid” Fossils • Neanderthal Man – 1856 • Java Man – 1891 • Piltdown Man – 1908 • Nebraska Man – 1922 • Ramapithecus – 1930 • Lucy - 1974

17. Neanderthal Man • Fossil fragments first found in France – 1856 • Skull cap and some limb bones • Diagnosed as human with deformed vertebrae • Neanderthal Man’s Site in Krapina, 1899-1999 • Another almost complete skeleton found in 1908 • Reconstructed by Marcelle Boule to look ape-like • Based on pre-conceived evolutionary notions • Faulty reconstruction recognized in 1957 • Neanderthal is now known to be fully human with a bone deformity • School textbooks still portray as man’s ancestor

18. Java Man • Discovered by Eugene Dubois in 1891 • Ape-like skull cap, and 3 teeth later on • Brain size of 900 cc (2/3 of ave. man) • Human-like thigh bone found 50 feet away one year later • Assumed they went together • Fossils dated at 500,000 years (guesswork based on assumed evolutionary model) • In 1940 Dubois admitted • He found two human skulls in same area as the human thigh bone – 30 years later • Java Man now regarded as an artificial construct • Still in textbooks as support for evolution

19. Piltdown Man • Fossil fragments found in 1908 • Part of a human skull and part of a lower ape-like jaw • Estimated to be 500,000 years old • Discovered to be a fraud in 1953 • Lower jaw and tooth were from orangutan • Tooth had been filed • Parts of lower jaw broken to hide the fact that it did not fit with the skull • Skull was dated at ~620 years old and dyed to appear old

20. Nebraska Man • Discovered in 1922 • Dated to be one million years old • Fossil was only a single tooth • Complete model of Nebraska Man, his family and environment was constructed • Tooth discovered to be pig’s tooth in 1928 • Still cited as evidence for evolution in the 1940’s

21. Ramapithecus • Found in India in 1930’s • Considered a human ancestor • Based on some jaw fragments and a few teeth • More fossil evidence found in 1970’s • Baboons in Ethiopia have same teeth structure as Ramapithecus • Now discarded as a possible “missing link” • Had been published as factual evidence of human evolution worldwide

22. Lucy • Discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson • 40% complete skeleton • Dated at 3.5 million years old • Evidence: • Arm/leg ratio of 83.9 % • Hip/pelvis – walked upright • Knee joint – walked upright

23. Lucy - 2 • Digging deeper, we find that: • Leg bone broken in two places and one end was crushed -> this invalidates the ratio • Hip/pelvis was incomplete, and thus reshaped to make it look as if it walked upright • Knee joint was found over one mile away and 200 feet deeper in strata from rest of bones • Fossil remains of two different creatures fitted to form a make-believe creature

24. Summary of “Hominid” Fossils • Neanderthal Man – accepted as homo sapiens • Java Man – artificial construct • Piltdown Man – proven to be a hoax • Nebraska Man – an extinct pig • Ramapithecus – an orangutan • Lucy – make-believe creature Another one for the Creation Model!

25. Lord Zuckerman Chimes In • “For example, no scientist could logically dispute the proposition that man, without having been involved in any act of divine creation, evolved from some ape-like creature in a very short space of time – speaking in geological terms – without leaving any fossil traces of the steps of the transformation.” Zuckerman, Solly. 1971. Beyond the ivory tower: The frontiers of public and private science. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company. p. 64.

26. Keeping Score

27. The Fossil Record • The theory of evolution is based on two major suppositions: • Mutations and natural selection supposedly provided the mechanism • The fossil record allegedly proved the “fact” of evolution • Fossils should “prove” evolution since the fossil record has long been considered as the main evidence for evolution • The creation model predicts that organisms preserved as fossils will correspond to the same classification system as applicable to present-day plants and animals

28. The Fossil Record - 2 • Evolution model predicts: • Many preliminary forms • Many transitional forms • Randomly distributed gaps between present kinds and transitional forms • Basic taxonomic categories should have been evolving • Creation model predicts: • No preliminary forms • No transitional forms • Clear gaps between types • Same taxonomic categories as at present

29. The Fossil Record - 3 “Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things. Organisms either appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did not they must have developed from preexisting species by some process of modification. If they did appear in fully formed state, they must have been created by some omnipotent intelligence.” D. J. Futuyma, Science on Trial, 1983

30. The Fossil Record - 4 • Darwin admitted in 1859: • “Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain.” • Paul Moody wrote in a standard textbook: • “So far as we can judge from the geologic record, large changes seem usually to have arisen suddenly. ... fossil forms, intermediate between large subdivisions of classification, such as orders and classes, are seldom [read never] found.”

31. The Fossil Record - 5 • Evolutionists say we should find transitional forms: • Single cell to multi-cell creatures • Invertebrate to vertebrate • Fish to reptile • Reptile to bird • Ape to man • To date no true transitional fossil forms have been discovered

32. The Fossil Record - 6 “I fully agree with your comments on the lack of direct illustration of evolutionary transitions in my book. If I knew of any, fossil or living, I would certainly have included them. . .I will lay it on the line, There is not one such fossil for which one might make a watertight argument.” -- Dr. Colin Patterson, senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History 140 years after Darwin, and still no credible transition form!

33. Coelacanth – A “Living Fossil” • Coelacanth fish • Known by paleontologists of 19th and20th centuries from the fossil record • “Extinct” about 70 million years ago • Possible forerunner to first land animals • Living specimens • Found off west coast of Madagascar in 1938 • More found later • No longer considered a link in evolutionary chain • Another evolution “theory” debunked!

34. Fully Formed “It is considered likely that all the animal phyla became distinct before or during the Cambrian, for they all appear fully formed, without intermediates connecting one phylum to another.” Futuyma, Douglas J. 1986. Evolutionary biology. 2d ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc. p. 325.

35. The Fossil Record Summarized • Missing links are still missing • Different types of “living fossils” found • Sudden appearance of fully formedfossils in the “Cambrian Explosion” • The same “kinds” still appear today • Some species are now extinct • No new kinds evolved • Supports the Creation Model!

36. Source: Dr. Duane Gish, ICR

37. Keeping Score

38. Geologic Record • Evolution model predicts: • Uniformitarianism • Sediment layers deposited gradually • More complex fossils in higher layers • Creation model predicts: • Catastrophism • Evidence for global flood • Sudden appearance of fully formed fossils

39. 0 Human fossils Cenozoic Mesozoic Last dinosaur fossils 500 First reptile fossils Paleozoic First land plant fossils 1,000 1,500 Precambrian 2,000 Millions of Years BP 2,500 3,000 3,500 Origin of life 4,000 4,500 Conventional History Of The Earth -First multicellular animal fossils -First eukaryotic fossils -Atmospheric Oxygen accumulation (from cyanobacteria) -First fossil prokaryotes -Crust forms -Formation of the earth

40. Cenozoic Miocene Oligocene Tertiary Eocene Paleocene Extinction of dinosaurs and many families Mesozoic Cretaceous Mammals, cycads, conifers, angiosperms 100 - Jurassic Dinosaurs 200 - Phanerozoic Triassic Conifers, more reptiles and amphibians Paleozoic Permian Many crinoids, amphibia and reptiles 300 - Carboniferous Coal “forests” many primitive land plants Millions of Years Before Present 400 - Devonian “The age of fish” small land plants Silurian Jawless fish, strange land plants Ordovician Many marine organisms including bryozoa 500 - Cambrian Many fossils, all modern phyla ex. bryozoa Proterozoic Few fossils Ediacarian fauna (odd marine organisms) Precambrian Archean Very few fossils, maybe none Many pseudo fossils The Geological Column

41. Geologic Time Scale [with fossils]

42. Geologic Column Chart

43. Geologic Column [some more details]

44. Geologic Column Theory • Cambrian rocks began to form ~ 600My ago • [now believed to be 520-530My ago] • Cambrian period estimated to be ~ 80My • [now believed to be 5-10My] • Precambrian rocks laid down during the prior hundreds of millions of years • Should contain fossils of evolutionary ancestors of the complex vertebrates • Should contain fossils of transitional forms linking the complex vertebrates to common ancestors

45. What Do We Find? • Fossils of microscopic, soft-bodied, single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and algae in Precambrian rocks • No fossilized ancestors for any Cambrian invertebrate • No trace of transitional forms between the various kinds of invertebrates, e.g. • No linking sponges with jellyfish • No linking snails with trilobites • Fossils of a vast array of complex invertebrates abruptly appear fully formed in the Cambrian rocks

46. The Geologic Column • The “column” is not the column that textbooks describe: • It rarely exists in its entirety in one location • The Grand Canyon shows ~ 50% of “text book” column • “Complete” geologic column only found in textbooks! • All types of rocks, minerals, metals are found in all ages and strata • A progression of fossils through the ages “documents” evolution: • That’s errant, “circular reasoning”: i.e. fossils date rocks, yet the rocks date the fossils (evolution is assumed)

47. The Geologic Column • The creation / abrupt appearance column is the result of a world wide flood: • Sorting action of water (smaller fossils end up going to bottom) • Ordered destruction of different habitats • The geologic column illustrates a superficially valid “successional tendency”, but it represents a very fast time sequence, not slow • Mt. St. Helens created a “mini Grand Canyon” in days, and petrified wood in less than ten years!

48. What Does Richard Dawkins Say? “The Cambrian strata of rocks, vintage about 600 million years, are the oldest in which we find most of the major invertebrate groups. And we find many of them already in an advanced state of evolution, the very first time they appear. It is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history. Needless to say, this appearance of sudden planting has delighted creationists.” Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker. 1987.

49. What Does Douglas Futuyma Say? “It is considered likely that all the animal phyla became distinct before or during the Cambrian, for they all appear fully formed, without intermediates connecting one form to another.” Douglas Futuyma, Evolutionary Biology, 2nd Ed. 1986

50. What We Find In The Fossils • Same gaps in fossils records as in the organisms found today • All kingdoms and subkingdoms are represented in the geologic record from the Cambrian onward • All phyla of the animal kingdom are represented from the Cambrian onward • All orders and families (as well as kingdoms, phyla, and classes) appear suddenly in the fossil record, with no indication of transitional forms from earlier types