Rewriting History—Again

The discovery of deep-ocean stromatolites has both evolutionists and creationists rewriting the history of life on earth. Well, not quite.

What is a stromatolite? It’s basically a mound made by bacteria living underwater. Until stromatolites were found deep in the Arabian Sea, scientists thought they formed only in shallow seas, where bacteria can get the sunlight they need to grow. Based on what we know about stromatolites today, both creationists and evolutionists have viewed stromatolite fossils as coming from a shallow-water environment. Evolutionists believe they represent some of the oldest life from early oceans, 3.5 billion years ago, while creationists believe they ringed shallow seas before Noah’s Flood. But now both groups have to revise their assumptions.

By P. Carrara, National Park Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Stromatolite fossils in the Siyeh rock formation of Glacier National Park.

That’s how science works. Scientists build models—explanations for how the specifics work (in this case, how and where stromatolites formed in the unobservable past)—but they revise these models as new information comes to light. This discovery and others like it aren’t likely to turn an evolutionist to a biblical creationist—or vice versa. That’s because creation and evolution are not models but starting points for viewing the evidence. But a model is open to change; otherwise, it is unscientific by anyone’s definition.

Article text was taken from Answers magazine, July–September, 2018, 35.

For More Information

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