The Fantastically Fun and Frustrating Fossil Record
Ryan Cox • April 23, 2021
Throughout the past school year, Matt Miles and I have been blessed to teach science class every couple of weeks for a Christian school in Oklahoma. Recently, we covered earth sciences with applications from the Global Flood (Genesis 6-9). As Matt taught about earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks, and minerals, he shared how the Flood laid down massive amounts of sediment around the world. Large deposits and formations of sedimentary rock span entire continents and could only have been deposited by the Global Flood.(1)
This session set up what I would cover in the following lesson – FOSSILS! Needless to say, the students and I thoroughly enjoyed studying the different types of fossils (petrified, preserved, carbonized, molded or cast, & trace fossils), all of which CTF was able to provide several examples for the students to hold or examine. This brought us to what has been discovered in the fossil record.
The fossil record is the cumulative knowledge of documented fossils. Excellent examples would be the data collected and provided by the Paleobiology Database and the Neotoma Paleoecology Database. These resources show the locations of documented fossil discoveries that have been submitted by contributors. The fossils span the globe with new discoveries constantly being added to these databases.
Now, as we taught the students, for a plant or animal to turn into a fossil, there needs to be (1) lots of mud brought by (2) lots of water (3) very quickly. If the specimen is not buried quickly in the sediment, it will be scavenged or decay.
Hmmm. Let’s see now: we have fossils found around the entire world on every continent, and they all had to be buried very quickly with lots of mud and water. Is there any explanation as to how every part of the planet at some point must have been covered by mud and water to produce fossils? The Global Flood.
Not only does the fossil record testify of the Global Flood, it does great disservice to the myth of biological evolution.
Dr. Mark Ridley, professor of zoology and evolutionary biology at Oxford University and whose doctoral advisor was Richard Dawkins, admitted in New Scientist, “In any case, no real evolutionist, whether gradualist or punctuationist, uses the fossil record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution as opposed to special creation”.(12)
This session set up what I would cover in the following lesson – FOSSILS! Needless to say, the students and I thoroughly enjoyed studying the different types of fossils (petrified, preserved, carbonized, molded or cast, & trace fossils), all of which CTF was able to provide several examples for the students to hold or examine. This brought us to what has been discovered in the fossil record.
The fossil record is the cumulative knowledge of documented fossils. Excellent examples would be the data collected and provided by the Paleobiology Database and the Neotoma Paleoecology Database. These resources show the locations of documented fossil discoveries that have been submitted by contributors. The fossils span the globe with new discoveries constantly being added to these databases.
Now, as we taught the students, for a plant or animal to turn into a fossil, there needs to be (1) lots of mud brought by (2) lots of water (3) very quickly. If the specimen is not buried quickly in the sediment, it will be scavenged or decay.
Hmmm. Let’s see now: we have fossils found around the entire world on every continent, and they all had to be buried very quickly with lots of mud and water. Is there any explanation as to how every part of the planet at some point must have been covered by mud and water to produce fossils? The Global Flood.
Not only does the fossil record testify of the Global Flood, it does great disservice to the myth of biological evolution.
- Each and every animal or plant that appears in the fossil record is fully formed, showing no signs of any evolutionary processes.(2,3)
- Once something appears, it remains it stasis – it never shows any evolutionary change.(4)
- Numerous animals, plants, etc. in the fossil record believed to be millions of years old in the evolutionary scheme are found alive today having gone through no evolutionary change (i.e., coelacanths, gar fish, bowfin fish, tuatara, etc.).(5)
- Animals are routinely found out of evolutionary order (i.e., mammals and birds found with dinosaurs).(6,7)
- Fossils are frequently found in marine sediments(8) and/or buried with marine fossils (i.e., T. rex fossils buried with 5 species of shark and 14 species of fish in eastern Montana).(9)
- The continued discovery of preserved biomaterial in fossils consistently invalidates any possibility of millions of years as the materials could only have survived for thousands of years at best.(10)
Dr. Mark Ridley, professor of zoology and evolutionary biology at Oxford University and whose doctoral advisor was Richard Dawkins, admitted in New Scientist, “In any case, no real evolutionist, whether gradualist or punctuationist, uses the fossil record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution as opposed to special creation”.(12)
Though the fossil record may be extremely frustrating and detrimental to the tenets of evolution, it is a consistent and faithful witness to Creation and the divine judgement of the great Global Flood.
(1)Tim Clarey, Ph.D. 2020. Carved in Stone: Geologic Evidence of the Worldwide Flood. ICR: Dallas, TX, pp. 378-399.
(2)E.V. Koonin. 2007. “The Biological Big Bang model for the major transitions in evolution”, Biology Direct, 2:21.
(3)S.J. Gould. 1977. “Evolution’s Erratic Pace”, Natural History, 86 (6).
(4)Ibid.
(5)John Morris, Ph.D. & Frank Sherwin. 2010. The Fossil Record. ICR: Dallas, TX, 6th printing 2020, pp. 113-4.
(6)National Science Foundation. 2014. “Scientists discover fossil of bizarre groundhog-like mammal on Madagascar: Newly discovered fossil alters thinking on evolution of early mammals”. Nov. 5, 2014 News Release, <https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133092>
(7)Dr. Carl Werner. “What Museums Aren’t Showing You”, Real Science Radio, updated list maintained by Bob Enyart, <https://kgov.com/434-mammal-species-in-dinosaur-layers#mammals-ate-dinosaurs>
(8)Tim Clarey, Ph.D. 2017. “Dinosaur Fossils Found in Marine Rocks… Again”, 25 May 2017, <https://www.icr.org/article/dinosaur-fossils-found-marine-rocksagain>
(9)Tim Clarey, Ph.D. 2015. “Dinosaurs in Marine Sediments: A Worldwide Phenomenon”, Acts & Facts. 44 (6).
(10)Brian Thomas, Ph.D. & Bob Enyart. List of Biomaterial Fossil Papers (maintained), <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1eXtKzjWP2B1FMDVrsJ_992ITFK8H3LXfPFNM1ll-Yiw/htmlview>
(11)Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D. “Where Are All the Human Fossils?’, Creation14, no 1 (Dec. 1990): 28-33.
(12)Mark Ridley Ph.D. "Who Doubts Evolution?", New Scientist, Vol. 90; June 25, 1981, p. 831.
(2)E.V. Koonin. 2007. “The Biological Big Bang model for the major transitions in evolution”, Biology Direct, 2:21.
(3)S.J. Gould. 1977. “Evolution’s Erratic Pace”, Natural History, 86 (6).
(4)Ibid.
(5)John Morris, Ph.D. & Frank Sherwin. 2010. The Fossil Record. ICR: Dallas, TX, 6th printing 2020, pp. 113-4.
(6)National Science Foundation. 2014. “Scientists discover fossil of bizarre groundhog-like mammal on Madagascar: Newly discovered fossil alters thinking on evolution of early mammals”. Nov. 5, 2014 News Release, <https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133092>
(7)Dr. Carl Werner. “What Museums Aren’t Showing You”, Real Science Radio, updated list maintained by Bob Enyart, <https://kgov.com/434-mammal-species-in-dinosaur-layers#mammals-ate-dinosaurs>
(8)Tim Clarey, Ph.D. 2017. “Dinosaur Fossils Found in Marine Rocks… Again”, 25 May 2017, <https://www.icr.org/article/dinosaur-fossils-found-marine-rocksagain>
(9)Tim Clarey, Ph.D. 2015. “Dinosaurs in Marine Sediments: A Worldwide Phenomenon”, Acts & Facts. 44 (6).
(10)Brian Thomas, Ph.D. & Bob Enyart. List of Biomaterial Fossil Papers (maintained), <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1eXtKzjWP2B1FMDVrsJ_992ITFK8H3LXfPFNM1ll-Yiw/htmlview>
(11)Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D. “Where Are All the Human Fossils?’, Creation14, no 1 (Dec. 1990): 28-33.
(12)Mark Ridley Ph.D. "Who Doubts Evolution?", New Scientist, Vol. 90; June 25, 1981, p. 831.

As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.