Introduction

A eukaryote is an organism whose cells each consist of a nucleas and other materials, enclosed in a membrane. Animals are eukaryotes. So are plants. This is as opposed to prokaryotes, which do not have a nucleas in their cells. Prokaryotes include bacteria, which first appeared 3.5 Ga (billion years ago). Eukaryotes appeared later.

 

"Plants, animals, fungi and Protista (algaes) are all eukaryotes. The earliest fossil evidence for eukaryotes dates back to [2.7 Ga]. Looking at the sheer number of eukaryotic organisms which have evolved since, this is a very significant event! The oldest fossil which is significant in a discussion of plant evolution is an alga called Grypania which is [2.1 Ga old]. Algae were the precursors to plants." -- “Plant Evolution Tour” by Adam Dimech

 

Initial Evolution of the Plant

A plant's eukaryotic cells also contains mitochondria and chloroplasts that have their own prokaryotic DNA, which is separate from the plant's nuclear eukaryotic DNA! It suggests a symbiotic relationship between what were originally distinct life forms. If Evolution describes the process of a life form developing new features from old, then the prokaryotes that fed the original symbiosis of eukaryotes and prokaryotes appear to have evolved from bacteria, starting 3.5 Ga; the eukaryotes that fed this symbious appear to have started evolving around 2.7 Ga. Their symbiosis, which is not Evolution, appears to have occurred by or before 2.1 Ga. It is believed that other plants evolved from there.

 

With Day 3 dating to 2.5 Ga, this places the initial appearance of plant cells (i.e., algae) firmly within Day 3, as it should. However, this is not the entire story. God's actual command was for Jesus to let the land produce seeded plants. Seeded plants do not appear in the fossil record until 500 Ma (million years ago), which places them firmly in Day 4. Doesn't this contradict scripture? Not if you take God's command literally.

 

God's Command

According to scripture, Jesus is the master craftsman, obeying the commands of God the Father. The Father's commands are not to create, but to let certain things "be". In the case of Genesis 1:11, God's command was to let the (newly created) land produce seeded plants. Have you ever noticed that Genesis does not mention any other kinds of plants? It does not have to. If Evolution is true, then for the land to produce seeded plants, it would additionally produce the other plant forms that precede it.

 

The interesting thing is that this was not a command that started Evolution. Evolution started 3.5 Ga when prokaryotes appeared in the deep. Another thread of Evolution began 2.7 Ga when eukaryotes appeared in the deep. Neither one, by itself, constitutes an Evolutionary thread toward today's plants. That thread did not start until these two were combined through a symbiotic relationship, and that is that what Jesus obediently did 2.1 Ga. That was the action that "let" the land "produce" seeded plants.

 

What About Marine Plants?

Though the land produced seeded plants, the first plant cells actually developed in the seas. There is no problem with this, because God knew the plant cells created in the seas would eventually make their way to the land, and continue in their evolution toward seeded plants, such as grass and trees. In fact, going back to the “Plant Evolution Tour” by Adam Dimech...

 

"Before plants could venture onto land, it was important that certain environmental changes be made to the Earth’s surface. Firstly the near-shore environments needed to be of adequate size and stable. Secondly, soils needed to develop. And thirdly, the climatic conditions needed to be appropriate to support terrestrial plant life."

 

For Jesus to be fully obedient, He needed to ensure the development of the land itself, which He did through plate tectonics. The environmental conditions this led up to did not exist until around 440 Ma...

 

"There was significant tectonic activity during the Cambrian and Ordovician (543-443Ma). Rodinia fragmented and East Gondwana collided with West Gondwana, before they both collided with Laurasia to form the Pangea supercontinent about 320Ma. There were also significant changes in sea levels due to the ending of ice ages at around 650-590Ma, and this led to widespread flooding and the creation of shallow straits. Then, at about 440Ma, there was another period of glaciation (another ice age) and [the] water levels dropped again, with ocean levels decreasing by 70 metres. It is this period of time that indisputable evidence for the first land plants can be dated back to."

 

From this point, the evolutionary process that Jesus started 2.1 Ga and had left marine plants in its wake, would continue on the land.

 

Land Plants Take Off

It is thought that the first land plants developed from green algae, but scientists acknowledge that their ancestry isn’t clear. The first land plants might not even have a common ancestor, although “current thinking is that the Charophyaceae contains a common ancestor.” Perhaps an unrecorded nudge by God along the way?

 

Note that the first true land plants were not that large:

- Cooksonia developed 428 Ma. It had no leaves, and grew 6.5 cm long

- Rhynia qwynne-vaughanii developed 400 Ma, and grew to about 18cm long

- Aglaophyton major developed 400 Ma, and grew to 20cm long

- Zosterophyllum developed 400 Ma, too, and grew to 30cm long

- Baragwanathia longifolia developed between 420 and 410 Ma, and grew to be 1 meter long

 

This makes sense when you consider the hurdles that plants had to overcome, just to reproduce. In the water, sperm could swim to the egg and fertilize. On land, there is no water to swim through. The seas also served the the purpose of hydration, not to mention shelter from external elements. So, being taken out of the water provided land plants with several major obstacles to overcome. Toward that end, various adaptations developed:

- Reproduction of some plants via airborne spores, and others through a process called “The Alternation of Generations”

- Cuticles to prevent the loss of water

- Stomatal spores to regulate water loss

- Supported cells to compensate for lack of water, and to fight the wind and rain

- Roots for absorbing water and nutrients from the ground, as well as anchoring them

 

Seeded Plants Appear

"…it was during the late Devonian between 395-286Ma that seeds developed (to replace spores). This was a major evolutionary advance, because it eliminated the requirement for external sources of water for sexual reproduction of plants. It also provided better protection and a nutrient source for the developing embryo. This process of development is thought to have started with the conversion of plants from producing spores of one size (homospory) to producing spores of two sizes (heterospory). It is thought that the larger spores were precursors for ovules, and the smaller ovules precursors for pollen." – The Plant Evolution Tour

 

It is thought that a group of plants called progymnosperms (which no longer exist) were the first of the seeded plants, and that all seeded plants descend from them. In any case, the advent of the seed allowed the development of large trees, and resulted in extensive forests. It was during this time when the high primitive concentration of CO2 began to go down. Over the next 100 million years, new species developed, capable of surviving in drier regions of the earth.

 

So Plants Evolved and God was Actively Involved

The "creation" of plants explains a lot about why theologians and scientists cannot agree on Evolution. Scientists perceive in nature a series of events that suggest Evolution passively occurred. Theologians perceive in scripture that God actively created. Old Earth Christians have attempted to reconcile these observations, but such attempts generally compromise on the science and/or the scripture. 1 Chronicles 14:15-16 tells us that God can be active, even while physical evidence makes Him appear passive... perhaps a clue on how to view Evolution.

 

The GeoCreationist perspective is:

1. Young Earth theologians are correct, that God actively created plants from nothing... except the process took much longer than 24 hours.

2. Scientists are correct, that Evolution passively runs without interaction from God... except for when God interacts.

3. Old Earth theologians are correct, that God set up the dominoes and tipped the first one... except He didn't walk way.

 

Summary and Conclusions

Scripture tells us that the land produced the life we have, and that God removed any encumbrances to it doing so. Before Day 3, the land was evolving increasingly complex prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but it was not evolving plants. So, God (i.e., Jesus, the master craftsman) stepped in and created a symbiosis between them. The plants continued their evolution in the seas, until conditions on land were conducive.