Hi, Peg.
Peg writes:
but the genesis account does not specify the specific types of plants.
It actually does:
quote:
...seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." ... plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
-Genesis 1:11-12 (NIV)
Two kinds of plants are specifically mentioned: seed-bearing and fruit-bearing. Not all plants have seeds. For instance, ferns do not produce seeds: they reproduce with spores. Liverworts, horsetail rushes, mosses, quillworts and clubmosses also do not reproduce with seeds.
In the Carboniferous period, these spore plants dominated the forests and swamps: the trees of the time were giant clubmosses and horsetail rushes.
The first seed-bearing plants do not appear until the Devonian (the period directly before the Carboniferous), by which time sea creatures are already very diverse, and some groups of animals have already left the water.
Fruiting plants (which are technically called "flowering plants" by botanists) are specialized type of seed-bearing plant. Conifers, cycads and the ginkgo tree are seed-bearing plants that do not produce fruit (unless you want to count the ginkgo seed as a fruit---it is, however, very distinct from true fruits). Fruit-bearing plants do not appear until the Cretaceous period, which means that dinosaurs and mammals were already very diverse before we find any evidence of fruit. In fact, birds were around before fruit-bearing plants, too.
So, here is your list from
Message 65 (message #65), highlighting all the steps that are contradicted by the available fossil evidence about plants alone:
Peg writes:
1 a beginning to the universe
2 a primitive earth in darkness and enshrouded in heavy gases and water
3 light
4 an expanse or atmosphere
5 large areas of dry land
6 land plants of all sorts7 sun, moon and stars discernible, and seasons begin
8 sea creatures and flying creatures9 wild and tame beasts, mammals10 mankind
-----
If we accept the KJV, then we have grass also created on the third day. Grass is a specialized form of flowering plant, and it doesn't appear until the late Cretaceous, near the end of the time of the dinosaurs.
In addition, I'm pretty sure tame animals didn't appear until after mankind domesticated them (but, the Bible says "cattle" or "livestock"---depending on version---and not "tame animals," so this probably isn't a real problem for the biblical account).
Edited by Bluejay, : Fixed reference to include both verses, and added subtitle
Edited by Bluejay, : Changed highlighting to red instead of bold
-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
Darwin loves you.
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