I went to a very interesting Answers in Genesis Conference. This is one I would recommend to everyone regardless of belief. Carl Kerby was the speaker for AIG and he was terrific. He's not a Scientist but is someone very dedicated to the subject matter, on the board at AIG and has been studying this for years. He goes all over the world giving these talks and is very frank, approachable and struck me as one who really is down to earth in every which way . I was very impressed with not only what he had to say but how he said it. He seemed very objective, even saying things Christians may not necessarily like to hear. His talk was all about searching for truth no matter what.
He started off first saying we all have bias. All of us including him. He's absolutely 100% biased when it comes to this subject having a biblical world view. It's all about interpretating the evidence in light of that world view. Face it, what you believe and where you come from impacts your life tremendously.
So he started with Fossils the first night we met for this Seminar. He said that 50-80% of young people are leaving the church today. He read a quote from someone I missed being able to give the credit to saying that TV is the new God and that television is the major Satanic influence used today. Later on that.
He said if the bible is true, then the fossil record should be our best friend. It is. He read the following scripture and asked us, "who was Paul speaking of?"
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Tim 4:2
Of course we answered correctly...... Christians.
Then he went on with the next two verses:
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Christ said himself:
"If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
So what we have here are Christians even believing the lie. Christians believing men over what the word of God tells us. Evolution is the biggest fable in our world today. Christians are even saying...."ok God we know what you wrote, let me tell you what you meant" as they follow the Evolutionists away from the truth.
When we dig up Fossils are we digging up the past or the present? When you hold that piece of skull in your hands and later see the interpretation of it in a later museum piece or a picuture can you see how they came up with that conclusion? The label underneath detailing all about a Fossil find is only an opinion or an interpretation of that tiny fragment you once held in your hands. Most of what we see today is nothing more than reconstructions of what they think it should be. Fossils are fickle and can sing any song you want to hear.
Facts are not the problem. Interpretation is. If the bible is true then the fossil record should be our best friend. It is. What I see in the bible does confirm what the bible says is true.
Don't give me fancy artwork and little labels of opinion underneath in these fancy dancy museums. Give me the evidence. Remember Wendy's slogan? Where's The Beef? Critical thinking skills are needed in our church today in regards to Evolution vs True Science.
A while back Discover Magazine (not Christian) came up with this story about a pile of bones. Different Scientists came up with their own interpretations about these piles of bones. One said it was a bird, another said it was some sort of transitional fossil and yet another said reptile.....all from one pile of bones.
Earth Magazine reported at one time they found the missing link with the first worm that grew legs. They found this worm fossil and Kerby, as he was showing us the article, put up the quoted material by a Scientist named Valentine. I don't have the exact quote but what we zoomed in on was "Valentine thinks" (catch the fact?) and said to make sure we don't skip the parts of these articles that say "Scientist believe or Scientist thinks" before we determine if it's fact or belief.
How do we get a fish fossil? What happens to fish when they die? They float, disenegrate or get eaten and cause smelly water. The only way we can get a fish fossil is when a catastrophe happens suddenly. Petrification can take days instead of millions of years. Mt St. Helens proved that one. He showed us a fish fossil that had another fish inside it. That's got to be a rapid catastrophe since the fish didn't even digest his dinner yet. This is all consistent with the Biblical World View.
Kerby put up a paper of a Dinosaur Fossil Tree from 1960 that said "Fossils Prove Evolution" It was this huge graph of collected fossils and in the very tiny print that he had to enlarge for us it said...."tinted areas indicate solid fossil evidence." As we looked at this paper it was clear to see that the fossil record says all the fossils found as solid evidence stayed in the same species. There were none that were transitional at all.
The NY Times had come out with this report finding one fish that was discovered that made humans possible. Really? After millions and millions of years they finally found one? Ever hear of Tikaalik? Give Science time to catch up to reality and this too will eventually disappear, usually does.
Over the years many have looked at different species as our very important ancestor. Apes, rats (you dirty rat), Aardvarks, snakes, sponges (Sponge Bob?) and even dog DNA (man's best friend) could reveal man's missing link.
How about Apes? Remember seeing the very famous pics of Apes slowly becoming man in succession? All the good evidence we have in the fossil evidence in Africa alone could be placed in the hand. Kerby quoted someone who said, "A person kicks over a stone in Africa and textbooks have to be re-written."
How about whales? He showed us a movie of a whale evolving. Started out as a land creature and then went into the water and changed a half dozen times. Fact or Belief? Where's the Beef? What we have of whales in the fossil record are consistent with the word of God.
So what do we find in the fossil record?
Salamanders have always been salamanders. ants are always ants, snakes are always snakes, spiders are always spiders, etc.
Given the FACT of Evolution one would expect to see changes in the fossil record that would indicate this. It always stays the same. Man stays man, whale stays whale. We DO see extinction and that also is consistent with the Word of God.
Can I explain fossil records in light of Evolution? Sure, but I'll need to rely on dashes, question marks and fables to do so from the Evolutionary World View. Can I explain the same record using God's word? Yes.
If you're looking for a really good resource....one of the best on the Fossil record from a Christian POV you might want to look into a book called, "Evolution, The Great Experiment" by Dr. Carl Weiner. He went all over the world talking to Evolutionary experts in Paleontology. They had no idea he was a Christian. Had they known, they never would have spoken to him. But this doctor was able to use in his book what the Evolutionists think in their very own words about what we have in the Fossil record.
Guess what? It's very consistent with the Biblical World View.
"The vast majority of Christians do not live differently because they do not think differently and they do not think differently because we have never trained them, equipped them or held them accountable to do so. "George Barna