Uniformitarianism

At this point we must take a brief excursion and discuss the concept of “uniformitarianism,” as advanced by the advocates of Darwinian evolution.

Uniformitarianism is the notion that the earth’s features, as currently observed, are the result of gradual changes, over a very long period of time (supposedly, several billion years). Thus, the slow processes we see occurring now are a commentary on the forces of nature in the past. The favorite phrase in the evolutionary vocabulary is: “The present is a key to the past.” The late George Simpson of Harvard, known by his peers as “Mr. Evolution,” opined that without the uniformitarian concept “there could be no really scientific study of any kind of history” (p. 742).

The fact of the matter is, the data cited above represent a “mammoth” obstacle to uniformitarian (evolution) theory.

An alternate concept for explaining earth’s features is called “catastrophism,” i.e., the idea that the planet’s surface has been subject to violent changes in the past – and on a worldwide scale. The most significant of these would be the global Flood of Noah’s day. Let us reflect upon several matters related to this theme.

First, it is well known that in the ancient past, the earth was characterized by a universally mild climate. There is evidence aplenty for this. For example, fossil remains of ivy; grapevines, oaks, walnuts, and magnolias in Greenland – within eleven degrees of the north pole – reveal a once-summer-like climate in that region. Coral within fossil rocks, discovered near Point Barrow, Alaska, indicate that the waters there once were much warmer than at present; corals cannot live in water cooler than about 68 degrees.

It is also widely recognized that coal is the by-product of decayed vegetal matter. There are vast coal deposits in certain areas of the earth (e.g., Antarctica), which cannot now accommodate the lush vegetation necessary to produce billions of tons of coal. This clearly demonstrates that the climate in these regions must have been drastically different in the remote past.

Alfred R. Wallace, who proposed the theory of evolution about the same time that Darwin did, once wrote:

“There is but one climate known to the ancient fossil world as revealed by the plants and animals entombed in the rocks, and the climate was a mantle of spring-like loveliness which seems to have prevailed continuously over the whole globe” (p. 277).

A more recent apostle of evolution, Dr. Robert Jastrow, similarly has observed:

“Throughout the long reign of the giant reptiles, the world had known a mild and constant climate; on every continent the eye met gentle landscapes of low relief, with shallow seas and vast areas of swampland and tropical forest. The elements of the world were in perfect balance. . . “(p. 69).

The crucial question is: What so altered the surface of the earth so as to create the radically different features observed today? An increasing number of scientists are confessing that the theory of “uniformitarianism” simply cannot account for this change. “Catastrophism” is becoming an intriguing topic of discussion again.

Note the following testimony. “Of late there has been a serious rejuvenation of catastrophism in geological thought” (Brown, p. 456). “The profound role of major storms throughout geologic history is becoming increasingly recognized” (Nummendal, p. 23). “The hurricane, the flood, or the tsunami may do more in an hour or a day than the ordinary processes of nature have achieved in a thousand years” (Ager, p. 54).

by WAYNE JACKSON