Newsgroups: talk.origins,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: YOUNG EARTHERS _AND_ BIBLE CRITICS WATCH OUT! (huh?)
From: C741SCB <C741SCB@SEMOVM.SEMO.EDU>
Date: 11 JAN 93 15:00:56 CST
Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City
NNTP-Posting-Host: semovm.semo.edu

In article <justinf-050165124332@macintosh19.cco.caltech.edu> justinf@cco.caltech.edu (Justin Fang) writes:
>John Muehlhausen writes
>
>[many paragraphs deleted]
>
>> Order of Creation Events
>
>[1 paragraph deleted]
>
>[1st three steps deleted]
>> 4.  establishment of continent(s) and ocean(s)
>> 5.  production of plants on the continent(s)
>> 6.  transformation of the atmoshpere from translucent to transparent
>>     (Sun, Moon, and stars became visible for the first time)
>> 7.  production of small sea animals
>> 8.  creation of sea mammals (nephesh)
>> 9.  creation of birds [possibly same time as 8] (more nephesh)
>> 10. making of land mammals (wild mammals, mammals that can be
>>     domesticated, and rodents - still more nephesh)
>> 11. creation of mankind (adam)
>> No Coincidence
>> --------------
>> The record above perfectly accords with the findings of modern
>> science.
>
>NOT!
>There are several errors here. First of all, land plants did not precede
>animals. Primitive fish and the like ("small sea animals") (Does small sea
>animals include protazoa?) were around consideably before plants moved to
>the land. (Unless you mean algae.) Even worse, sea mammals evolved from
>land mammals, not the other way around. Also, I believe birds came after
>mammals, not the other way around.

Right - in fact, when it comes to origin of various groups of organisms,
"Moses" is completely wrong according to this sequence.
The actual order based on the fossil record would be:

small sea animals    pre-cambrian, about 600 million years ago
land plants          late Silurian, about 400 million years ago
land mammals         early Triassic, about 250 million years ago
                     (it's often forgotten that mammals and dinosaurs
                     show up at about the same time, though the big
                     diversification of mammals did'nt happen till
                     after dinosaurs died out)
birds                Jurassic, roughly 200 million years ago
sea mammals          Cenozoic, no earlier than 65 milliion years ago
humans              about 4 million years ago, if you define us loosely


Okay, "Moses" got humans last, but that's the only part of the sequence
that"accords" with the fossil record.  Not too amazing a coincidence,
especially when you could hardly have land plants without sunlight or
land, land animals without land plants, etc.  The authors of the
Pentateuch weren't lacking in powers of reason, only in information.

************************************************************************
|    Allen Gathman                |  Bitnet: C741SCB@SEMOVM            |
|    Biology Department           |  Internet: C741SCB@SEMOVM.SEMO.EDU |
|    Southeast Missouri St. U.    |  Phone: (314) 651-2361             |
|    Cape Girardeau, MO 63701     |  Fax: (314) 651-2223               |
************************************************************************
|    "I would lay down my life for two brothers or four cousins."      |
|    - J.B.S. Haldane                                                  |
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: talk.origins