Page 145 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible Student Textbook

16. Cambrian creatures living today.
A fossil creature from the phylum Entoprocta (invertebrate animals that have tentacles and
lacking a mineralized skeleton) was found in marked abundance (over 400 individuals) in
Burgess Shale. The Burgess is a sedimentary layer that's purportedly part of the Cambrian
period about a half-billion years ago, according to evolutionists. The problem for
paleontologists is that the supposedly 520 million year old creature looks exactly like its
living counterparts, only up to 8 eight times larger.

The Cambrian geologic system is an enigma for the evolutionary paradigm. If evolution is
true, life would have started out simple and then evolved in complexity over time. The
Cambrian system is one of the oldest geological layers containing billions of
sophisticated fossils, supposedly formed after the Precambrian system. The
Precambrian layers contain "simple" single-celled life, but also have jellyfish and
annelids (worms).

In the Cambrian system, the fossils represent an explosion of complex multicellular life
forms—hence the term "Cambrian Explosion." The problem for evolution is that the
Cambrian explosion occurs suddenly with no transitional forms preceding it. Furthermore,
many of the types of fossils found in the Cambrian layer are represented by modern
organisms, such as entoprocts, that are alive and well today. This species of
entoproct, Cotyledion tylodes, was identified previously, but the specimens were not well
preserved and difficult to characterize. The discovery of hundreds of new extremely well
preserved fossils in much older strata was a huge surprise. Another shock was the extremely
well defined detail of the fossil's mouth, anus, and digestive tract, proving that the previous
classification of C. tylodes as a cnidarian (a jellyfish-like creature) was wrong. In fact, not only
was the creature postulated to be much older than previously estimated, it was incredibly
more complex.

Interestingly, the fossils of C. tylodes also appear to have somewhat more complex features than
modern entoprocts. Unlike living entoprocts, the stem and flowerlike feeding cup of the "ancient"
version was covered by tiny hardened protuberances (sclerites), and the creatures were much larger.

Clearly, a majority of the fossil record was formed as a result of the year-long global Flood recorded in
Genesis, making it one of evolution's greatest enemies. The original diversity of organisms were created
by God to reproduce "after their kind," which is why fossils like the entoproct are complex, fully formed,
and similar to their modern living counterparts.
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Conclusion
The person who observes the world today comes to the table with certain beliefs which will affect how
he views the data. Our presuppositions determine our predictions. The beginnings history of our
universe and earth are outside the realm of science, since no one was there to observe its foundation
(except God), nor are these events repeatable or measurable. If one believes the Word of God by FAITH,
he is compelled to believe that God created the heavens and the earth a few thousand years ago and

71 information found in Institute for Creation Research (ICR), article entitled, “Another Cambrian Discovery
Discredits Evolution” by Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Ph.D
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