化石呼唤创造

The fossils shout creation

by Robert Doolan

博士. 阿尔顿C. 默里以挖掘化石和埋葬进化论而闻名.

他一生的大部分时间都致力于挖掘化石并为专业展示做好准备. He has worked for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service in Washington, 直流, and for the William Penn Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. More recently he excavated a dinosaur for Liberty University’s museum in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has built up such a knowledge about fossils, and enjoys his work with them so much, that when he lectures or talks on this subject he is usually introduced as ‘Mr Fossil’.

博士. Murray worked for 27 years with the Smithsonian Institution as a field collector and preparator of vertebrate fossils. He proudly admits to being a creationist, and even has the words ‘creation scientist’ printed on his business cards. He was once an atheist and evolutionist, but now totally rejects those former beliefs.

‘The true explanation of the fossil record is very clear’, he says. ‘The only reasonable explanation for the fossil record, and the sedimentary formations in which they are found, is the great cataclysm of the Noachic Deluge.’

During Dr. Murray’s early years at the Smithsonian he was heavily indoctrinated in evolution. ‘Not being a Christian, my indoctrination in evolutionistic geology just seemed to come naturally, and like so many do, I assumed it was all true.’ He says he fell deeply into the rut of evolutionary belief and the study of ‘the age of rocks’.

Found the right rock

At the insistence of some friends, he attended some revival meetings in a little church in Maryland. He sees this as his graduation day from death to life. ‘God reached down and lifted me from the miry clay of evolution to the glorious realm of creation science’, he says. ‘I now had met the “Rock of Ages”—and that Rock is Jesus Christ. He gave me my BA degree—Born Again.’

From that time he started to see the errors and problems with the theory of evolution that he hadn’t noticed before.

For example, he says, ‘Evolutionists assume that in each sedimentary stratum certain fossils appear to be distinctively abundant. To them, these fossils are labelled as index fossils. So they come to the conclusion that the fossils are the means of dating the rocks. But how do they know that index fossils only lived in certain ages and not in others?’ He says the answer is simply the assumption that evolution is true!

博士. Murray also sees a major obstacle for evolutionists in the fact that the fossil record contains no indication that one type of creature has turned into a completely different type. ‘There is not a single intermediate fossil ever found’, he says. ‘All fossils that are found clearly show that each has developed “after its kind”, as the Bible tells us.’

Exicting find

One of Dr. Murray’s major fossil recoveries was Pennsylvania’s most complete skeleton of a mastodon—an extinct mammal something like an elephant. On a hot Friday in July of 1968, a mining company accidentally unearthed three bone fragments at Marshalls Creek in the Pocono area of Pennsylvania.

‘I was employed by the William Penn Museum at this time, in the departments of archaeology and palaeontology. So I had the honour of going to see the three bone fragments.’

博士. Murray identified them as belonging to the left rear part of a mastodon skull. Within weeks, he was leading a crew from the museum to Marshalls Creek to excavate the rest of the skeleton. ‘It turned out to be about a 98 per cent complete mastodon skeleton, and represents the most complete skeletal recovery in the State of Pennsylvania.’

And there was more. While preparing the bones for display back at the museum, 博士. Murray found an unusual characteristic of the skeleton. ‘I discovered that this mastodon had suffered a severe case of osteomyelitis, a serious bone infection that is rather rare in vertebrate fossils.’ The mastodon soon became a highly prized exhibit in the William Penn Museum in Pennsylvania.

他的兴趣是如何开始的

博士. 默里说他一生中最美好的时光是在化石矿区度过的. 他的化石发现可以追溯到他在马里兰州切萨皮克湾的童子军营地时. 当他沿着海滩散步时，他发现了一个相当好的已灭绝长喙江豚标本 (长鼻海豚老板) 在悬崖上. 几天后，他的化石出现在史密森尼博物馆. 他被带参观了史密森尼博物馆, 他的海豚化石受到了很多关注.

'这就是 “化石虫子” 狠狠地咬我一下’, he says. ‘已故博士. 查尔斯·W. 吉尔摩慷慨地将我纳入他的羽翼之下，并最终安排我担任准备员和现场收集员。’

他说古脊椎动物学有许多令人兴奋的方面. “我发现广泛的化石床包含许多保存完好的植物和动物遗骸, 这表明他们是被一场大洪水突然杀死并埋葬的。’

他认为一个很好的例子就是在数以百万计的鱼类化石中发现的. “有时会发现鱼化石处于非常扭曲的位置, 表现出瞬间被埋葬和窒息的样子. 发现这些诺亚时代洪水的遗迹，并把当时动植物的一些遗骸握在我手中，真是令人兴奋。’

神创论恐龙复原

他最近参与的一项化石挖掘工作是为弗吉尼亚州自由大学创造博物馆在科罗拉多州挖掘恐龙. 这种恐龙是神创论博物馆中的第一个同类恐龙.

“能够踏上化石探险之旅，亲眼目睹洪水时期的标本从晦涩的古代突然进入非常活跃的现代，对我来说是多么令人兴奋啊。”’

拥有超过 45 年’ 化石经验, 博士. 长期以来，默里一直在基督教学校担任讲师, 教堂, 和其他团体. 他谈到脊椎动物化石及其与创世和诺亚洪水的关系, 以及其他创造证据. 他最喜欢的一些其他主题是射箭鱼, 它通过从嘴里的一个洞喷射水流来击晕昆虫，从而捕捉昆虫, 以及蜘蛛的设计特点.

What about those who say God could have used evolution as His method of creation?

‘There is just no way that the theory of evolution can be reconciled with the truth of creation as recorded in the Bible. And as a former adherent to this false theory of evolution, I can assure anyone that to discount the God of creation and His wonderful works is sheer folly.’

博士. Murray delights in the fact that his early experiences are now used to God’s honour and glory. ‘The best day in my life was my graduation day from death unto life and from “the age of rocks” to “the Rock of Ages” by the power of the God of creation.’