Posted by:
paisley70
(
)
Date: January 21, 2018 12:00PM
We can see by the fossil record that earth's history is punctuated by many extinctions. The evidence is very strong that life has existed on the earth for a very long time.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/big-five-extinctionsIf you happen to doubt the age of the earth and the geochronology found in the stratifications of the soil, then take a look at zircon crystals. Earth scientists use the radioactive isotopes of uranium found in the zircon crystal to date many types of rock. The half-life is 4.5 billion years, meaning that's the time it takes for those parent isotopes to break down into daughter isotopes. It is a ratio of these isotopes that gives us absolute geologic time, within 1%. Search radioactive decay or radiometric dating.
https://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/earth-inside-and-out/zircon-chronology-dating-the-oldest-material-on-earth/Yet, latter-day revelation says it isn't so. The LDS church's stance is that "Latter-day revelation teaches that there was no death on this earth before the Fall of Adam. Indeed, death entered the world as a direct result of the Fall (2 Ne. 2:22; Moses 6:48)."
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/death?lang=eng&letter=dSo, which is right?
During my seminary years, I was given a little plastic card for the chronology of the Old Testament. The church teaches the chronology of things and it is pretty clear that as members, we are supposed to believe all of the latter-day revelation. So as the church teaches, was there no death on the earth around 4000 BC? Do you believe this? Take a look at this seminary card. Do you remember?
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/00001/old-testament-bookmark_1344149_prt.jpgI have written a thesis on Upper Ordovician Limestone, approximately 444 million years old. I have collected the rock samples, cut them with a lapidary saw, mounted the rocks on slides with epoxy, and shaved them down to within 2 microns thick. Under the microscope, an amazing world appears! The science doesn't lie folks. Life existed on this planet much earlier than you would expect.
In graduate school I studied 91 million year old mud from the Cenomanian/Turonian period. I studied the entire petroleum system paradigm that brings forth very low specific gravity (low API) oil and natural gas from a tight shale formation. I can tell you that the geologic processes necessary for hydrocarbon generation is very complex and takes a very, very long time. The earth is old folks.
I have hiked around Burgess mountain in Yoho National Park. There is just as much life preserved here in Alberta as what is found in Kentuckian Limestone. Albeit soft tissue creatures, which makes the Burgess Shale a World Heritage Site. This shows that death was on the earth long before Adam ever existed. If you believe in this kind of thing.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/ovation-worm-bizarre-new-burgess-shale-species-discovered-on-b-c-guided-hikeHere is Bruce McConkie's opinion:
"My reasoning causes me to conclude that if death has always prevailed in the world, then there was no fall of Adam that brought death to all forms of life; that if Adam did not fall, there is no need for an atonement; that if there was no atonement, there is no salvation, no resurrection, and no eternal life; and that if there was no atonement, there is nothing in all of the glorious promises that the Lord has given us. I believe that the Fall affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself, and that the Atonement affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself."
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie_seven-deadly-heresies/Members of the church will mock me to scorn with what they know to be "true". As I studied paleontology I held the Tuang baby's replica skull in my hands and admired the dentition to not be much different than that of my own children. It was remarkable to see the similarities. Look at the study of dentition analysis and how we compare.
https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/press7Remember, we are not evolved from apes but share a common ancestor. There is a big difference. We come from a branch of bipedals, branching off at Australopithecus Afarensis. The science is still evolving and open to debate and discussion. Isn't this the healthy way to do things?
Science is constantly peer-reviewed, replicated, and proven many times over. The take away is to believe evidence as presented, with a desire to understand truth. Collect your own evidence and do not be afraid of what you will find!
"The truth will set you free."