Yet when terrestrial strata and the fossil record are examined, it is to be seen that all living organisms appeared simultaneously. The oldest stratum of the earth in which fossils of living creatures have been found is that of the Cambrian, which has an estimated age (according to scientists) of 500-550 million years.
The living creatures per the fossil record found in the strata belonging to the Cambrian period emerged all of a sudden, fossils showing snails, jellyfish, sea hedgehogs, and other complex invertebrates. There is not even one pre-existing ancestor to be found. There are no transitional animals between the advanced living organisms of the Cambrian and the unicellular organisms, which were the only life forms on earth prior to them.
All the animals show up suddenly as they are today in complete form with complex systems like eyes, gills, circulatory system, and advanced physiological structures no different from their modern counterparts. It is highly unlikely these complex, well-developed organisms with many types of differentiated cells could have evolved from unicellular precursors all at the same time within such a short period of time. They are too varied with radically different body plans from one another.
Logically, they could not share a recent common ancestor if evolution were to be true to its own theory. Neither could the same sort of advance have arisen independently in several lines, not simultaneously as the fossil record shows.
Since the Cambrian period (referring to time from about 543 million years ago until 490 million years ago), there are no new groups. There is only die-off. The bryozoans are found in the fossil record a little later, but were probably also present in the Cambrian explosion.
Darwin was at a loss to explain how the wide divergence of characteristics occurred so suddenly; i.e., that the various levels appear so different as to be unrelated or that all the various lines would be at a complex stage at much the same time.
One example is the sponge. All four classes of sponges appear abruptly in the Cambrian. Despite a relatively unspecialized structure, the classes are distinct and difficult to relate to one another. There is no sign of intermediary fossils and no explanation as to how they could have evolved from a common ancestor. They do not appear related at all to the rest of the animal kingdom yet they all seem to have arisen at the same time.
Also inexplicably, the crustaceans are exceedingly diverse with no trace of any transitional forms which would link the different groups to a common ancestor.
How the earth came to overflow with such a great number of animal species all of a sudden and how these distinct types of species with no common ancestors could have emerged is just one question that remains unanswered by evolutionists.
Yet evolutionists continue to cling in faith to their theory, hoping somehow, someday they'll find a transitional fossil or two. .
Imagine how ecstatic they were to have discovered Piltdown man, the missing link between man and ape. Or so they would believe.
Piltdown Man
The first Piltdown fragments were found in 1912. Over the next 40 years, over 500 scientific essays were enthusiastically written and accepted as most learned and enlightened. Then in 1953 the discovery was proven to be a deliberate hoax when analyzed to consist of two human skulls, an orangutan jaw, an elephant molar, a hippopotamus tooth, and a canine tooth from a chimpanzee.
The human skulls were determined to be a mere 620 years old and may have belonged to Ona Indians from Patagonia, as the skulls were unusually thick. The orangutan jaw was over 100 years younger than the skull. The elephant molar and hippopotamus tooth came from totally different locations while the canine tooth belonged to a Pleistocene Chimpanzee.
It became obvious the Piltdown remains were purposefully scattered around a quarry in Piltdown, England, so that they could in hope and faith be "discovered" later as evidence for the theory of development of man from ape.
Once the remains had been examined, it was not hard to discover the hoax. The skulls had been treated with acid. All of the fossil remains were stained with an iron sulfate solution. The canine tooth was painted brown and patched with bubble gum. The molars were filed down. The portion of the orangutan jaw that connected to its skull was broken in an effort to hide that this jaw did not belong to a human skull.
The reason the remains were not examined right away is no one suspected fraud. The men who made the discovery had held excellent credentials.
No one is quite certain of who perpetrated the hoax although there are several suspects in the fields of archaeology, geology, fossil collectors, museum keepers, paleontology, theologians.
Other Failed Attempts to Prove Evolution:
Ramapithecus was at one time accepted as a ancestor of humans but we now know he was merely an extinct type of orangutan.
The fraud of Nebraska man was built around the find of a single tooth which turned out to belong to a rare type of pig.
Sketchy evidence of a femur, skull cap, and three teeth found within a wide area over a one year period gave rise to the concept of Java man, but the femur is human and the skull cap from a large ape.
The stooped ape man known as Neanderthal is now accepted as a variation of today's human kind, and that the alleged posture was due to disease.
Ambitious atheists are willing to resort to fraud in furtherance of their old worn-out theory, their scientific theory full of holes. Christians on the other hand don't need to prove anything. They know that science, when ready and real, can only confirm God's hand in the creation of all things.
As a final note, I would encourage all atheists as they continue to search in hope for the missing link that they leave Christians alone and stop trying to drag us down to their level of non-belief in our Creator. I ask that they let Christians enjoy in peace our beautiful traditions while they perhaps invent a holiday all their own, one to celebrate their belief that they have no soul.
