SIN, DEATH, FLOOD & FOSSILS

By Akin Ojumu

By definition, fossils are the preserved remains, or traces of remains, of ancient organisms. The word fossil comes from the Latin word fossus, meaning “having been dug up.” Fossils are often found in rock formations deep in the earth.

Fossilization is the process of remains becoming fossils. Fossilization is rare. Most organisms decompose fairly quickly after they die. For an organism to be fossilized, the remains usually need to be covered by sediment soon after death. Sediment can include the sandy seafloor, lava, and even sticky tar.

Over time, minerals in the sediment seep into the remains. The remains become fossilized. Fossilization usually occurs in organisms with hard, bony body parts, such as skeletons, teeth, or shells. Soft-bodied organisms, such as worms, are rarely fossilized.

Without death there can be no fossils. For fossils to form, death must occur. Until sin entered the world, there was no such thing as death. It was sin that ushered in death. Human sin is the precursor of death. 

Sin is the transgression of God’s command by a rational human being with a soul. Adam was the first human being that had a soul. He is the progenitor of the human race. Before Adam, sin didn’t exist in the world. It was not until Adam sinned that death came into the world. It was his violation of God’s command that brought in sin and death. Fossils are what become of a dead body.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12)

“But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20)

“For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

For a living creature to become fossilized, rather than to decay and turn to dust, it must be buried immediately and suddenly under a great weight of sediment. Apart from a catastrophic deluge on a scale unlike any observed in recent history, it’s impossible to explain the existence of massive fossil beds such as the Karoo formation fossil field in Africa, which is thought to hold eight hundred billion vertebrate fossils.

Much of the fossils found today came from cataclysmic events that occurred thousands of years ago. In geology, this is known as Catastrophism. This is the theory that Earth’s history has been dominated by cataclysmic events rather than by gradual processes acting over long periods of time.

Scientists often speak of a great mass extinction that occurred on earth. Dubbed the Great Dying, they say it happened first about 250 million years ago, with a second one occurring 65 million years ago. These cataclysmic events wiped out nearly all life. They describe the events as the mother of all extinctions. Virtually all marine life and land life forms were eliminated in a very short period of time. The evidence of this, they believe, is the massive fossil record.

The scientists are right, the Great Dying occurred alright. But it didn’t occur 250 million or 65 million years ago. What these scientists call the Great Dying is actually the Flood recorded in Genesis 6 to 9. This cataclysmic event occurred about 6,000 years ago. And it wiped out the entire human race except for Noah and his family. 

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” Genesis 7:11).

The Flood was accompanied by volcanic activity, massive geological movements, and shifting of the earth’s tectonic plates. Such a catastrophe would not only explain twisted and upthrust rock strata, but it would also easily explain why so many of the earth’s mountain ranges give evidence of having once been under the sea. 

Fossils are the preserved skeletal remains of the people that perished in the Flood. They are what’s left of those who did not enter the Ark of salvation. And that’s the Biblical explanation of the fossils.

(Sources: Holy Bible, Grace to You, National Geographic, Encyclopedia)