Counsel #6 — A Speedy Demise Saved The Record

Picture: Counsel #6 — A Speedy Demise Saved The RecordCSe 46.1

Many fossils are broken and scattered, reflecting what happens to dead animals today (like the wildebeests in Counsel #4). However, many others are wonderfully preserved, as shown in the pictures above. Some even retain soft tissue or skin impressions, indicating rapid, catastrophic burial. The photos above and in Counsels #1, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate these well-preserved fossils.CSe 46.2

If these fossils were buried quickly, the sediment could not have accumulated a millimeter per year, as radiometric dating requires. The rocks and fossils together tell the story of the biblical flood.^{[45]https://dialogue.adventist.org/753/fossils-the-story-they-tell-us} Next, let’s examine fossils interpreted as evolutionary ancestors.CSe 46.3

“Who can measure the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God? Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?” Romans 11:33 CEVCSe 46.4

“Nature is not self-acting; she is the servant of her Creator. God does not annul his laws nor work contrary to them; but he is continually using them as his instruments. Nature testifies of an intelligence, a presence, an active agency, that works in, and through, and above her laws.” Ellen White in The Signs of the Times, March 20, 1884, par. 5CSe 46.5

Reflect: How does the concept of God as the active Creator and sustainer of the universe inform our understanding of geological processes?CSe 46.6