Lesson 6: Catastrophe, Part 2

“Thus I establish My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11).

Thinkin’ About Fossils!

Some scientists spend their whole lives studying the petrified remains of dead things (fossils) to try to understand what life was like in the past. This can be a fascinating job as these “paleontologists” seek to determine when the animals (or plants, etc.) died, what they looked like while they were alive, how they moved, what they ate, etc. Each paleontologist looks at a fossil with certain ideas about what the past was like. In fact, we all do!

For instance, take a look at the fossil at the right. Now take a moment and write down five things you know about that fossil.

Perhaps you said “it’s millions of years old,” or “it took a long time to form.” Now think about what you’ve written for a moment—do you really know these things or are they just your ideas about the fossil? How do you know how old the fossil is or how long it took for the animal to be fossilized?

It’s important, as Christians, that our ideas about the past are based on what the Bible tells us has happened. Using the Bible’s true record of history to help us understand, we might say the following things about the fossil:

1. This animal died. Animal death was not a part of God’s original creation, so the animal must have died after the world was corrupted through Adam’s sin.
2. The fossil can’t be “millions of years” old, since adding up the years in the Bible shows us the world is only about 6,000 years old.
3. An animal that is buried quickly is more likely to be preserved than to decay and fall apart. The worldwide Flood in Noah’s day provided great conditions for quickly burying lots of animals and plants, so the animal may have died at this time.

These are just a few things we can learn from the Bible about this fossil.

Studying the fossils you find (maybe even in your own backyard!) can be exciting, but it’s important to distinguish between what we actually find and what others may say about our findings. Since God’s Word gives us the true history of the world, we need to apply this to fossils as well.

See if you can find all 10 creatures!

You've found 0 of 13 creatures!

You've found them all!

That was not one of the creatures!

Want to learn more? Read the entire Answers for Kids Student Handout Set online!