Dr. Art Chadwick talks about the nature of the fossil record and whether it shows evolution.
DEL: So, when we look at the dinosaur fossils, rather than looking at them from the standpoint of early dinosaurs, then middle dinosaurs, then later dinosaurs, you’re looking from the perspective that all those dinosaurs were in existence at the same time. They were all living, and then there was this huge catastrophe that brought them to an end.
ART: The dinosaurs are already dinosaurs when they first appear. They look just like anyone would think a dinosaur looked. And this is an enigma for those who believe in evolution of the dinosaurs.
DEL: But we hear a lot about transitional forms. What’s the real story there?
ART: What we find in the fossil record — and contrary to Darwin’s hopes this is the rule — is that a form exists in the fossil record. It basically stays unchanged, then it disappears from the fossil record without having been changed. That’s got to mean something besides evolution because we don’t ever see changes from this form into this form in the rocks themselves. So, it’s coming from somewhere else. It’s a paradigm that’s being imposed on the data rather than the data providing the paradigm. So, I think it’s very easy for me to be a creationist just based on my understanding of the complexity of lifeforms. And when we look at the fossil record, we can see the complexity is all there from the beginning, and this begs the question: where did all this complexity come from? It’s one thing to have faith. I have faith that God was the creator, but that’s substantiated by what I see around me. To say I have faith that evolution produced this when I can’t even see how it could have happened, that’s blind faith.
DEL: That’s a leap in the dark.
ART CHADWICK: That’s a leap in the dark.
