| No Change Suggests No Evolution by Warren Krug (January-February, 1997) |
According to Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, the word “evolution” means “a gradual process in
which something changes into a different and usually better or more complex form.” What are we to make then
of the numerous discoveries in the world of biology where fossilized creatures said to be thousands or millions of
years old look just about identical to their modern day counterparts?
On the opposite page, for example, an item from the British Creation Research Trust mentions the fossil of a
frog dated at “190 million years” which has a skeleton very similar to modern day frogs. Conclusion: no change
in “190 million years”.
Other news items recently have carried the same message.
Last year an 89-foot-long trackway of footprints was discovered in Tanzania. They were left by “hominid” beings
who lived “3.6 million years ago.”
Before being covered over in order to preserve them, the footprints were viewed by 83-year-old Mary Leakey,
the widow of famed paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Her reaction? “They look startlingly like our own,” she
said of the prints. Conclusion: not much if any change in “3.6 million years”.
Creation magazine recently reported on the discovery of the fossil remains of a new species of “ancient turtle” in
North West Queensland, Australia. At the time the turtle was believed to have gone extinct in the Pleistocene, as
long as “50,000 years ago.”
Not long after this discovery, about 56 miles away, divers came upon a new living turtle species (Lavarackorum
elseya). It turned out to be identical to the above-mentioned “extinct” fossilized turtle.
Conclusion: in this species of turtle, no change in “50,000 years.”
A remarkable fossil of an “100-million-year-old” bird was recently discovered in central Spain. The fossil sports a
tuft of feathers known as an alula that helped it stay aloft at slow speeds, an important feature for smooth
landings and takeoffs.
Similar devices, known as leading-edge flaps, keep airplanes from losing lift as they slow down. So it can be said
that this bird beat modern aeronautical engineers to an ingenious design by “100 million years.”
It would seem then that the ability of birds to fly has seen no improvement in a hundred million years.
We would grant that in theory it might be possible for some members of a group to experience dramatic changes
while others change not at all. But it would seem that the burden of proof should lie with those who propose such
changes from one species to another completely different one. Meanwhile, we are content in our faith that God
designed all living creatures to reproduce “according to their kinds.” LSI
which something changes into a different and usually better or more complex form.” What are we to make then
of the numerous discoveries in the world of biology where fossilized creatures said to be thousands or millions of
years old look just about identical to their modern day counterparts?
On the opposite page, for example, an item from the British Creation Research Trust mentions the fossil of a
frog dated at “190 million years” which has a skeleton very similar to modern day frogs. Conclusion: no change
in “190 million years”.
Other news items recently have carried the same message.
Last year an 89-foot-long trackway of footprints was discovered in Tanzania. They were left by “hominid” beings
who lived “3.6 million years ago.”
Before being covered over in order to preserve them, the footprints were viewed by 83-year-old Mary Leakey,
the widow of famed paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Her reaction? “They look startlingly like our own,” she
said of the prints. Conclusion: not much if any change in “3.6 million years”.
Creation magazine recently reported on the discovery of the fossil remains of a new species of “ancient turtle” in
North West Queensland, Australia. At the time the turtle was believed to have gone extinct in the Pleistocene, as
long as “50,000 years ago.”
Not long after this discovery, about 56 miles away, divers came upon a new living turtle species (Lavarackorum
elseya). It turned out to be identical to the above-mentioned “extinct” fossilized turtle.
Conclusion: in this species of turtle, no change in “50,000 years.”
A remarkable fossil of an “100-million-year-old” bird was recently discovered in central Spain. The fossil sports a
tuft of feathers known as an alula that helped it stay aloft at slow speeds, an important feature for smooth
landings and takeoffs.
Similar devices, known as leading-edge flaps, keep airplanes from losing lift as they slow down. So it can be said
that this bird beat modern aeronautical engineers to an ingenious design by “100 million years.”
It would seem then that the ability of birds to fly has seen no improvement in a hundred million years.
We would grant that in theory it might be possible for some members of a group to experience dramatic changes
while others change not at all. But it would seem that the burden of proof should lie with those who propose such
changes from one species to another completely different one. Meanwhile, we are content in our faith that God
designed all living creatures to reproduce “according to their kinds.” LSI
