Instantaneous Events

In his book, The Meaning of Evolution, George Gaylord Simpson, with

reference to the apperance of new phyla, classes, or other major groups,

states that:

"The process by which such radical events occur in

evolution is the subject of one of the most serious

remaining disputes among qualified professional

students of evolution. The question is whether such

major events take place instantaneously, by some

process essentially unlike those involved in lesser or

more gradual evolutionary change, or whether all of

evolution, including these major changes,is explained

by the same priniciples and processes throughout, their

results being greater or less aaccording to the time

involved, the relative intensity of selection, and other

material variables in any given situation.

Possibility for such dispute exists because transitions

between major grades of organization are seldom well

recorded by fossils. There is in this respect a tendency

towards systematic deficiency in the record of the

history of early life. It is thus possible to claim that

such transitions are not recorded because they did not exist,

that the changes were not by transition but by sudden leaps in

evolution."

If phyla, classes, orders, and other major groups were connected by

transitional forms rather than appearing suddenly in the fossil record

with basic characteristics complete, it would not be necessary, of

course, to refer to their appearance in the fossil record as "radical

events."

Furthermore, it cannot be emphasized too stongly that even

evolutionist are arguing among themselves whether these major categories

asppeared instantaneously or not! It is precisely the argument of

creationists that these life forms DID ARISE INSTANTANEOUSLY and that

the transitional forms are not recorded because they never existed.

In a more recent work, Simpson (G. Gaylord) stated that "it is a feature

of the known fossil record that most taxa appear abruptly."

In the same paragraph he states further that "Gaps among the known

species are sporadic and often small. Gaps among known orders, classes,

and phyla are systematic and almost always large." -The evolution of

Life, sol Tax, ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p.149

It's hardly necessary to document further the nature of the fossil

record

It seems obvious that if the above statements of Simpson were stripped

of all presuppositions and presumed evolutionary mechanisms to leave the

bare record, they would describe exactly what is required by the

creation model. This record is woefully deficient, however, in light of

the predictions of the evolution model.