Spring renewal in the northern latitudes and the acts of creation described in Genesis manifest a few similarities. Both describe new life. Springtime is a renewal of previously existing viability from the previous warm season. Contrastingly, acts of creation in Genesis are initial appearances of entirely new life on Earth. Prior to the creation of humans, millions of species appeared on this planet. When springtime blesses the earth with renewed life, our thoughts may naturally drift toward the initial appearance of millions of species of new life on earth in eons past. For this reason the appearance of local plants and animals, especially during seasonal renewal, trigger thoughts of many divine creation events sprinkled throughout geological history.
The creation scenario described above is not embraced by the majority of biologists. They see the naturalistic process of evolution driving the appearance of millions of species of earth life, including the very recent appearance of modern man. Descent with modification and belief in LUCA, the last universal common ancestor, is the ruling paradigm to account for the diversity of Earth life. According to a common internet answer site, evolutionists insist the statement “The basic biochemical processes of all organisms is very similar, despite the apparently arbitrary nature of many of these processes” is a paramount support pillar of their evolutionary belief. They view the similarity of organisms as affirmation of belief in naturalistic evolutionary descent. An equally logical conclusion that the omnipotent and omniscient Creator would repeatedly use an identical genetic template is not even considered.
An unguarded “family secret” of the evolutionary community is the tacit admission that the fossil record of earth life reveals exceedingly long periods of changelessness (stasis), followed by the sudden appearance of new species, with no intervening transitional forms. Gradualism does not characterize the fossil record. One of the best apologists for numerous sudden “creation” scenarios for past life on earth is a very famous and popular evolutionist. The late Stephen J. Gould (1941-2002) surprised the scientific world with frequent, candid admissions of an unexpected mystery in evolutionary theory. This 6-14-11 post repeats many ideas Gould used to illustrate his idea of “punctuated equilibrium” (PE):
One example of Gould’s candor is “…a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and “fully formed.” Many apologists for evolution deny such phenomena offer any problem for belief in evolution. Personally, I have discussed this issue with staunch supporters of evolution. It appears that vigorous presentations for evolution are sometimes able to “defeat” poorly crafted presentations for creationism.
In February startling news broke about additional fossil discoveries in British Columbia at Marble Canyon, 26 miles from the original Burgess Shale Walcott quarry. These discoveries overshadowed previously discovered Burgess Shale fossils discovered over a century earlier. There are over fifteen new species just found which preserve the animals’s soft parts in even more stunning detail. Retinas, corneas, neural tissue, guts, and even a possible heart and liver were found. Stephen C. Meyer, author of Darwin’s Doubt, says all of the fossils, including the newest ones, fit into existing Cambrian phyla. “No transitional intermediates have been found.” All the newly discovered animals arose suddenly in the “blink of an eye” geologically. These events could be viewed as creation events. The fossil record tells the same story many times.
Dr. Hugh Ross led a group in August 2013 to the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. I was privileged to be part of that group. Dr. Ross is currently guest on The John Ankerberg Show with a new set of programs “Step by Step through Creation.” Ross has just produced a new book entitled “Navigating Genesis.” We recommend the volume as an invaluable resource for your library of books combining sound science supporting creation as well as sound theology.
Following is a link to the first of seven posts written in conjunction with last summer’s tour to the Canadian Rockies Burgess Shale Adventure guided by Dr. Ross:
