The Vertebrate Sequence: Sufficient Proof?

All of the following sequences are accepted parts of evolutionary biology. Yet, as earlier remarked, the truth of evolution is assumed or defined into truth by the terms and presuppositions utilized (apparently unthinkingly). The challenge to evolutionists is to prove the sequences are valid without first assuming the truth of what they are trying to prove.

Gareth Nelson, he of the American Museum of Natural History, observed: "'We've got to have some ancestors. We'll pick those.' Why? 'Because we know they have to be there, and these are the best candidates.' That's by and large the way it has worked. I'm not exaggerating."

1) Fish to amphibians. Supposedly a fish species developed the ability to escape the water and survive on land, along with all the other peculiar properties of amphibians (whose reproductive systems differ considerablly from known fishes). Certain ancestral fish species have been proposed as this possible amphibian predecessor. One such species, thought to have been long extinct, was discovered in the Indian Ocean several years ago. When investigated, it proved inadequate to the task of being a frog's great-nth grandfather.

2) Amphibians to reptiles. No satisfactory candidates exist as yet to corroborate this putative link. One of the problems is that the main differences between amphibians and reptiles is in their soft parts, which are destroyed during fossilization.

3) Reptiles to mammals. The existence of a mammal-like reptile is the best example available to the evolutionary biologist: the order Therapsida, of which there are many fossil examples consisting of skeletal structures that appear to be intermediary between reptiles and mammals. The problem is--as already established above--the skeletal similarities are insufficient to confirm a definite link, and so far biologists have been unable to demonstrate a firm line of descent from the therapsids to mammals. The therapsid fossil evidence may actually create more difficulties for evolutionists trying to hold onto the idea of common ancestry.

We'll look at reptiles/birds and apes/humans tomorrow.