Early Earth Enigmas (Part 4)

Problems with evolution

There were a few gaps in the “evolutionary tree” when Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Believers in the theory expected these gaps to be filled as fossil finds increased.

We read in the Newsweek magazine issue of March 29, 1982: “Darwin, and most of those who followed him, believed that the work of evolution was slow, gradual and continuous and that a complete lineage of ancestors, shading imperceptibly one into the next, could in theory be reconstructed for all living animals… But a century of digging since then has only made their absence more glaring.”⁵¹

 

Evolutionary gaps.

David B. Kitts of the School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, said in the September 1974 issue of the journal Evolution: “Despite the bright promise that paleontology provides a means of ‘seeing’ evolution, it has presented some nasty difficulties for evolutionists the most notorious of which is the presence of ‘gaps’ in the fossil record. Evolution requires intermediate forms between species and paleontology does not provide them.”⁵²

Norman D. Newell, former Curator of Historical Geology at the American Museum of Natural History, wrote in Adventures in Earth History (1970) that “the gaps which separate the highest categories may never be bridged in the fossil record. Many of the discontinuities tend to be more and more emphasized with increased collecting.”⁵³

In Darwin’s time, all living things fell under two kingdoms: plant and animal. As science progressed and scientists recognized finer distinctions between organisms, the number of kingdoms rose to the five that we have today: Prokaryotae, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. As the groupings increased, the “missing links” multiplied.

 

No transitional forms.

Many one-celled life forms exist, but there are no known forms of life with 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells. Multi-celled organisms with 6–20 cells are parasites that depend on complex animals as hosts to perform functions such as respiration and digestion for them. If evolution is true, there should be transitional forms with 2–5 cells even as fossils.

Plants. Some 375,000 species of plants exist on earth today, and most have not changed from the way they first appeared as fossils. Geneticist Jerry Bergman notes in the Technical Journal (Internet): “A major problem for Neo-Darwinism is the complete lack of evidence for plant evolution in the fossil record. As a whole, the fossil evidence of prehistoric plants is actually very good, yet no convincing transitional forms have been discovered in the abundant fossil record.”⁵⁴

If plants evolved, nonvascular plants should have preceded vascular plants (with sap-carrying channels). However, there are no fossilized nonvascular plants in the rock layers formed before the earliest vascular plants appeared. Further, no traces of stages leading to the development of seeds and fruits have been found. Darwin wrote to his friend, botanist Joseph Hooker, that the sudden appearance of flowering plants in the fossil record was an “abominable mystery.”⁵⁵ 

Arthropods. Of creatures with jointed legs, the U.S. government handbook Insects states: “There is, however, no fossil evidence bearing on the question of insect origin; the oldest insects known show no transition to other arthropods”⁵⁶ like spiders, scorpions, centipedes, crustaceans, etc.

Vertebrates. A backbone distinguishes the fish, the first vertebrate, from invertebrates. For the fish to evolve into an amphibian, it had to develop a pelvic bone for legs to be attached to; but no fossil fish with an emergent pelvis has ever been found, not even the coelacanth. The fish has a heart with two chambers, an amphibian heart has three. The lungfish, which has gills plus a swim bladder it uses for breathing out of water, is often said to be the link between fish and amphibians. But the skull is entirely different. David Attenborough (Life on Earth, 1979) says that “the bones of their skulls are so different from those of the first fossil amphibians that one cannot be derived from the other.”⁵⁷ Apparently, neither the lungfish nor the coelacanth evolved into amphibians.

Richard Milton (Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, 1997) notes: “Although each of these classes (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and primates) is well represented in the fossil record, as of yet no one has discovered a fossil creature that is indisputably transitional between one species and another species. Not a single undisputed ‘missing link’ has been found in all the exposed rocks of the Earth’s crust despite the most careful and extensive searches.”⁵⁸

A “missing link”? Just a second. Have we not earlier seen the archaeopteryx, which looks like the link between reptiles and birds?

Some scientists believe birds evolved from theropods (dinosaurs that walked on hind legs). However, theropods had tiny “arms,” compared to the large wings of early birds. Moreover, their “hands” differed. Ann C. Burke and Alan Feduccia tell us in Science magazine (October 24, 1997): “Theropods have ‘fingers’ I, II, and III (having lost the ‘ring finger’ and little finger), while birds have fingers II, III, and IV.”⁵⁹ In the same issue, Richard Hinchliffe notes that “most theropod dinosaurs and in particular the birdlike dromaeosaurs are all very much later in the fossil record than Archaeopteryx (the supposed first bird).”⁶⁰ In a subsequent issue (November 14, 1997), John Ruben et. al. argue that “a transition from a crocodilian to a bird lung would be impossible, because the transitional animal would have a life-threatening hernia or hole in its diaphragm.”⁶¹

While the archaeopteryx appears like half-reptile and half-bird, no fossil remains look like an intermediate between a reptile and the archaeopteryx, or between the archaeopteryx and a true bird. W.E. Swinton (“The Origin of Birds,” Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds, 1960) concluded: “The origin of birds is largely a matter of deduction. There is no fossil evidence of the stages through which the remarkable change from reptile to bird was achieved.”⁶²  

Hybrids? There are other creatures that look like crosses between species, but are not. Whales, porpoises, dolphins, and manatees live in the water and look like fish, but they are mammals that suckle their young. Of course, the most enigmatic hybrid-looking animal is the platypus. It has a bill like a duck, feeds underwater like a fish, and lays eggs like a bird or reptile, but is actually a mammal that produces milk for its offspring. The only member of the Ornithorhynchidae (“bird-snout”) family, the platypus has neither “evolutionary” ancestors nor descendants even vaguely resembling it.

Charles Darwin had agonized: “Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?... Why do we not find them imbedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?⁶³

And why, if evolution is true, does it seem to have stopped?

 

Vestigial organs?

Several seemingly useless parts of the human body, presumed to be evolutionary “leftovers,” are cited as proofs for the theory of evolution. Are they? Here are some of the best known.

Appendix. It is most often mentioned by evolutionists as one of the so-called “vestigial organs.” But it has been found that the appendix is part of the lymphatic system, which, especially in early life, produces antibodies that fight infections in the digestive system.⁶⁴

Tonsils (adenoids).These used to be removed from children when inflamed, but are now medically known to protect the nose and throat from infection against invading bacteria and viruses. They also filter out harmful substances that could pass into the digestive system. There are indications that people who have had their tonsils removed experience more problems in the upper respiratory tract..⁶⁵

Thymus. An organ in the chest cavity that shrinks from childhood until maturity, the thymus is now recognized as the control center of the body’s defense system against germs.

Coccyx. Better known as the “tailbone,” it supposedly shows man evolved from monkeys. However, patients who have had their tailbones removed have difficulty sitting. The coccyx also holds the muscles for bowel and childbirth movements, supports internal organs, and keeps the end of the alimentary canal closed. It anchors the gluteus maximus, the large muscle along the back of the thigh, which enables us to walk upright (something monkeys cannot do).

Writers Mario Seiglie et al. tell us in The Good News magazine (November-December 2006): “The list of what were once considered vestigial organs in our body has gone down from 100 in the early 20^th century to virtually zero…”⁶⁶                       

____________________

⁵¹Enigmas of Evolution,” Newsweek, March 29, 1982, p. 39

⁵²David B. Kitts, “Paleontology and Evolutionary Theory,” Evolution, September 1974, p. 467

⁵³Norman D. Newell, “The Nature of the Fossil Record,” Adventures in Earth History, 1970, pp. 644–645

⁵⁴“The Evolution of Plants: A Major Problem for Darwinists,” Technical Journal, 2002, Internet

⁵⁵Quoted in “What About Plant Evolution,” The Good News, November-December 2009, p. 13

⁵⁶Frank M. Carpenter, “Fossil Insects,” Insects, 1952, p. 18

⁵⁷David Attenborough, Life on Earth, 1979, p. 137

⁵⁸Richard Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, 1997, pp. 253-254

⁵⁹Ann C. Burke and Alan Feduccia, “Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand,” Science, 24 October 1997, pp. 666–668

⁶⁰Richard Hinchliffe, “The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted?” Science, 24 October 1997, p. 597

⁶¹John A. Ruben et al., “Lung Structure and Ventilation in Theropod Dinosaurs and Early Birds, Science, pp. 1267–1270

⁶²W. E. Swinton, “The Origin of Birds,” Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds, 1960, p. 1

⁶³Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, Masterpieces of Science edition, 1958, pp. 136-137

⁶⁴David Menton, “The Human Tail and Other Tales of Evolution,” St. Louis MetroVoice, January 1994

⁶⁵J.D. Ratcliff, Your Body and How It Works, 1974, p. 137

⁶⁶Mario Seiglie, Tom Robinson and Scott Ashley, “Evolution’s ‘vestigial organ’ argument debunked,” God, Science and the Bible, The Good News, November/December 2006, p. 11

 

(Excerpted from Chapter 5, Early Earth Enigmas, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)