Of course the problem here is that the same things were said about the Coelacanth. That is until is was discovered to still exist, which of course means it did not "transition" into anything other than a....., wait for it,....... a Coelacanth. And just as you exampled above about creationists, evolutionists will change again. Much like when evolutionists were trying to convince us that rodhocetus had a fluke, which of course would demonstrate Darwinism. That is until they discovered that it didn't.hughfarey wrote:I'm not sure you understand the process of fossil hunting. The hunt for transitional species is indeed due to an "agenda." It's more usually called a hypothesis. A good example is the recent explorations in Greenland and Canada. A fossil lobe-fish called Eusthenopteron was discovered n 1881 and dated to 385 million years ago. A fossil tetrapod called Ichthyostega was discovered in 1932 and dated to about 370 million years ago. A hypothesis in accordance with evolution suggested that intermediate forms would be found in intermediate strata. A hypothesis in accordance with creationism would be that fish and amphibians are different "kinds" and that no such intermediate form would be found. When palaeontologists went out and looked in the predicted place for the predicted fossil, they found it. Several in fact, such as Acanthostega and Tiktaalik. To that extent the hypothesis in favour of evolution was confirmed and the hypothesis in favour of creationism was rejected.You just said a mouthful and don't even realize it. Yes, they go hunting. For what? Transitional fossils. You see, the problem here (which I doubt you will acknowledge) is that forensic science is entering into the search with an agenda. And that agenda in many cases is to find links and confirm Darwinism. Again, provide an example and we can discuss that particular one.
But is this enough? No. A further evolutionary hypothesis is that yet more intermediate forms will be found in strata intermediate between Tiktaalik and Eusthenopteron, or between Acanthostega and Ichthyostega or even between Tiktaalik and Acanthostega, and the search continues. Creationists, on the other hand, have to rethink. Now they consider Tiktaalik merely a "fish" and Acanthostega an early "amphibian," and not transitional stages at all. Their new hypothesis would be that no transitional species will be found between Tiktaalik and Acanthostega.
Well we know what will happen, don't we? Even as I type, new fossils, intermediate between Tiktaalik and Acanthostega, and found in intermediate strata, are being identified. The evolutionary hypothesis will be confirmed, and the creationist hypothesis will change again. No, they will say, this new creature is either a late form of "fish" or an early form of "amphibian" and no intermediate stage will be found between the new creature and anything of the other class.
And so it will go on. Eventually a row of fossils forms from fish to amphibian, each dated less than a million years apart, will be laid out in a museum, and every single one will be a confirmation of an evolutionary hypothesis and a rejection of a creationist one. And yet creationists will nervously make an arbitrary division between fish and amphibians somewhere along the line, and say that no intermediate species will be found between them - but they'll probably say that last bit in a worried whisper, as a new crate is being unloaded at the door...
Your whole statement is question begging as it just assumes the dates confirm something. The inference being that because something is old then it must be transitional. To make it worse, you employ an evolution of the gaps fallacy. "Don't worry, just have faith that evolution will fill in those gaps." Shameful. The fact is that you are taking ON FAITH all of these claims about what you state above. You've never as much as handled the actual evidence. You are trusting a question begging hyposthesis, and then insinuating that we are the one's not being honest with the information.