Critics of the pre-human or prehistoric record should honestly try to be realistic about the state of the fossil record. What can be expected to remain of living things after the passage of thousands, millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of years? Consider that to become a fossil, a dinosaur, for example, must have been buried immediately after death, petrified or otherwise preserved from decay as it lies within the earth, protected from the destructive effects of extreme heat and pressure, exposed at the proper time by erosion without being disintegrated by soil-forming processes, and finally, at the last minute rescued by an intelligent human being with the interest and knowledge to reconstruct and study it. Small wonder that those who have considered the matter would conclude that for every fossil known, literally thousands or tens of thousands once existed and have disappeared without a trace. (William Lee Stokes, The Creation Scriptures: A Witness for God in the Scientific Age [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1979], 154)
While reading the above excerpt, I was reminded of the following volumes I recommend to those who wish to study the fossil record and the evidence it provides for macro-evolution (contrary to a lot of creationists and other critics and misinformed individuals on this issue, the fossil record provides evidence for transitory fossils and other evidence supporting, not disproving, macro-evolution).
Donald R. Prothero, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters
For an informed Latter-day Saint discussion, see:
Wade Miller, Creation of Earth for Man: Views of an LDS Geologist
