Explaining Order in the Fossil Record

Biblical creationists frequently point out that there are numerous instances of fossils in the wrong places according to secular reckoning. There are also errors in reasoning where paleontologists assume that if critters were buried together, they must have lived in the same areas.

Something that creationists do not seem to discuss as much is the actual order in the fossil record. Organisms appear to illustrate a progression from simpler to more complex, just as Darwin said. Creationists agree that, generally speaking, there is an order of fossils.

Freeimages / Miguel Saavedra

There are Genesis Flood models and hypotheses to explain the order seen in the fossil record, and they include ecological zones, mobility and intelligence for attempting to escape the Flood, and the sorting activity of waters. Clearly, several components are involved relating to the Flood and the apparent order in the fossil record.

Order in the fossil record is one of the most popular arguments for evolution. If the fossil record has a consistent vertical order it’s claimed the fossil record reflects eons of evolution. Evolutionists also think it’s a powerful argument against the Bible and young-earth creationism. If most of the fossils formed catastrophically during Noah’s Flood, then that supposedly means that the Flood would produce a random order in the fossil record.

However, flood geologists have long rejected this caricature of Noah’s Flood as physically unrealistic. Even large catastrophes need not produce completely random patterns. Creationists have developed several explanations for that order in the context of Noah’s Flood.

In today’s correspondence, CMI’s Shaun Doyle explores some of these factors to show how they might forge an explanation of fossil order consistent with the Bible.

To read it all, see "Order in the fossil record — How can Noah’s Flood explain it?"