Living Fossils

出典: くみこみックス

The claim by young earth creationists is that these living fossils are proof that the earth is young. The reasoning is that considering that all organisms had been alive only four,300 years ago, prior to the time that they date the Flood of Noah, then it is sensible to assume that they are st...

No doubt you have heard the claims from young earth creationists about living fossils. A "living fossil" is an organism that is believed to have been extinct, and then it shows up alive on planet earth.

The claim by young earth creationists is that these living fossils are proof that the earth is young. The reasoning is that because all organisms had been alive only four,300 years ago, ahead of the time that they date the Flood of Noah, then it is reasonable to assume that they are nonetheless alive today.

I'm confident every person is conscious of the most popular living fossil, the coelacanth, the fish believed to be extinct 65 million years ago. In 1938, a specimen was caught off the coast of South Africa, and considering that then numerous a lot more have been caught and examined. Besides the coelacanth, Answers in Genesis provides many examples in the articles linked above.

Determining an Organism's Life Span

How is a fossil's life range is determined? When an organism is located in the fossil record, paleontologists look for the oldest and youngest specimen to decide it is life range. For instance, if the oldest specimen of a species of dinosaur is in a rock formation dated throughout the Berrasian Age of the early Cretaceous, then the earliest this dinosaur existed is about 140 million years ago (140 Ma). If the youngest instance of this very same species is from the Turonian Age of the Late Cretaceous, then it died out about 90 million years ago. Thus, the dinosaur is mentioned to have lived from 140 to 90 Ma.

After this date range is published, an additional sample of this dinosaur is unearthed in a rock bed dated to the Santonian Age of the Late Cretaceous. Does this mean the earlier dates were incorrect...obviously. But the wrong dates were not based on guesswork, but on a lack of full evidence. Now, this dinosaur's lifespan is mentioned to be from 140 to 84 Ma.

Scientists make this kind of adjustment all the time. New fossils are located, extending the known lifespan of the organism because of earth dog new fossil discoveries.

There is no trick or deception on the element of the scientist...he/she is merely interpreting the accessible evidence to reach a conclusion.

What occurs when a fossil species is discovered to be alive, such as the coelacanth? It really is recognized lifespan is extended...that's it! It doesn't' imply the earth is young, it does not even provide excellent evidence for a young earth. For the coelacanth, its lifespan was extended from 400-65 million years ago to 400 Ma to the present. earth dog Nothing at all additional can be implied from this data.

In the situation of our dinosaur, if it was discovered alive right earth dog now, naturally the young earth creationists would claim it is a living fossil. The genuine scientific world would merely adjust its lifespan to 140 Ma to the present. There would be no panic in the scientific planet...they would not wonder if the earth genuinely is only 6,000 years old. The rest of the evidence clearly indicates an old earth, and one living dino would not contradict that.

The presence of a living fossil in no way is evidence for a young earth. Yes, there are fossils that sometimes turn up living, but there are millions much more which are long gone, which went extinct millions of years ago, and there is no evidence they are alive right now. As a result, we have millions of extinct species, and a handful of so-called "living fossils" which have a gap of millions of years in the fossil record. The evidence strongly supports millions of years of extinction, and an old earth.

When a "living fossil" is located, YECs naturally jump on it and proclaim it as proof of a young earth. However, when they grasp at this one straw and bring interest to it, they are ignoring the 50 foot tall haystack from exactly where it came from.