Fossils are remnants or traces of organisms from the past, such as bones or leaf imprints, which are embedded and preserved in the earth's crust.  Almost all fossils on earth are found buried in sedimentary rock (sandstone, limestone, and shale), which are found in stratified beds.  Many of these layers of rock have been named and are frequently diagrammed as a cross-section known as the geological column.

The earth is completely covered by massive layers of sedimentary rock that were deposited under flood conditions. The formations in which fossils are found are horizontally indefinite or laterally continuous. They can be traced across the entire continents, and correlated with layer in other countries.  Except where erosion and uplift has removed these layers, there is not once square inch on the planet not covered in hundreds of feet, and in places kilometers of sediment. This is a widely known fact, and would quickly be interpreted as the result of a single major catastrophe but for the presence of modern animals whose existence atop of these sedimentary must also be explained naturally.

The fossil record is truly a recording of history captured in rock layers. Perhaps the most significant contention between the creation and evolution camps is the interpretation of the history that created these deposits. The evolutionist believes the fossil record accumulated over millions of years. On the other hand, the creationist typically assumes that virtually all fossiliferous rock was formed during the Flood of Noah. The Biblical flood was in fact a long-standing interpretation of geologic formations until modern geologists such as Charles Lyell began arguing in the 1830s that the earth had been shaped by slow and gradual forces working over a vast timescale.

Given the depth and distribution of the layers of sediment that cover the earth, it is a foregone conclusion that no terrestrial animal could have been survived their deposition if formed during a single event. Likewise, if the flood occurred as described in the Bible, animals could not have survived without God's supernatural intervention. God told Noah there was going to be a flood, gave him instructions on how to survive the event, and had them board the ark before the flood began. The evidence from a historic scenario like Noah's flood could simply not be interpreted by a naturalist. The only possible naturalistic interpretation is that these lifeforms were able to survive the deposition naturally. They must believe the fossil record accumulated at a slow and gradual rate over millions of years for the many fragile organisms alive today to avoid extinction.

Today fossilization is a rare event and is simply not expected to occur on a global scale. Decomposition is instead the rule following death unless the matter is buried rapidly and to a depth that would prevent microbial digestion and oxidation. Hard shelled animals that burrow into sediment are somewhat expected to be  fossilized, along with large and heavy bones through chance circumstances. However, every kind of animal alive today is found in the fossil record, many are completely intact, and some specimens show literally no signs of decomposition. Other evidence such as the fact that, marine fossils are found throughout the geological column points strongly to a flood-based interpretation of the fossil formation. It should also be noted that many of the animals alive today are virtually identical to their fossilized ancestors arguing against million of years separating their fossils from today.

The secular interpretation of earth history assumes there were repeated floods and other global catastrophes which caused the extinction of many animals, but were unable to destroy all terrestrial life. The Bible however, says there was a single event that no terrestrial animal or human could survive without divine intervention, and indeed an event capable of depositing the entire geological column during the course of a year would not be survivable. It is certainly a fact that cataclysms have occurred in the past, and the layers of sediment which testify to these disasters can be globally correlated. The fossils, and the sedimentary deposits they were entombed within, have simply been misinterpreted by the scientific community The fossil record is instead a recording of a devastating global scale flood.

In modern times, supernatural explanations offered from the Biblical text are no longer acceptable as explanations for the nature of our world. Our scientific community is an overwhelmingly atheistic entity, and will only accept naturalistic theory. If the flood occurred as described in the Bible, the scientific community could never draw that conclusion because so many animals found fossilized are alive today. They must instead prove that slow and survivable rates of deposition occurred, and due to these theoretically required rates, the proposed age of our planet has been greatly exaggerated. If you believe you Bible, then accept a secular interpretation of the fossil record with great hesitancy because even the geologic record offers a testament to divine intervention in our history, but only to those not blinded by atheism.

Fossil Quote

"In virtually all cases a new taxon appears for the first time in the fossil record with most definitive features already present, and practically no known stem-group forms." - Fossils and Evolution, Dr TS Kemp - Curator of Zoological Collections, Oxford University, Oxford Uni Press, p246, 1999

"[There is not] enough evidence from fossil material to take theorising out of the realms of fantasy." New Scientist August 1972 p 25

Additional Reading

• Anomalously Occurring Fossils
• Living Fossils
• Fossil Sorting
• Dinosaur Fossils
• Human Fossils
• Fossils on the CreationWiki

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