A Rabbit in the Precambrian
Colossians 2:8
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
What evidence could we provide that would prove to an evolutionist that evolution was false?
Apparently, the late evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane (1892–1964) addressed this question, and his answer was, famously, “Precambrian rabbits”. More exactly, he opined that if fossils of rabbits were found in precambrian rocks, then this would just about wrap up the case for evolution. So the answer about precambrian rabbits has been used over and over again – I have been offered the same answer, with the person concerned having no idea who had first given the answer.
Richard Dawkins commented on Haldane’s answer in his book The God Delusion. He wrote:
Evolution makes the strong prediction that if a single fossil turned up in the wrong geological stratum, the theory of evolution would be blown out of the water…. No such anachronistic fossils have ever been authentically found.
In practice, this is not the case. There are plenty of out-of-place fossils discovered. Usually, such fossils are linked by ghost lineages. It is ironic that the Dawkins quote just given came from a chapter about the “God of the Gaps”, which he accuses us of believing in, while ghost lineages represent a clear case of “evolution of the gaps”.
However, evolutionary philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith suggested that precambrian rabbits would simply point out errors in the system that needed to be re-written, without overthrowing the whole edifice of evolution. You see, the issue is not about the evidence, and it never has been.
Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the truth of Your word. Help us to filter everything we learn and do through the lens of Your word. Amen.
Ref: Precambrian rabbits—death knell for evolution?, < https://creation.com/precambrian-rabbits-death-knell-for-evolution >, accessed 11/30/2018. Image: Chalk layers in Cyprus, Public Domain.
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