The fossil record fits best with progressive creation

[Edgar]

@AMWolfe

That is to say, why would God progressively create the great diversity of marsupials — Tasmanian tigers, kangaroos, numbats, koalas, marsupial moles, marsupial mice, and all the rest — exclusively on Australia, with the sole exception of opossums? I’ll tell you evolution’s story for this. It is that marsupials (specifically, a small opossum-like ancestor closely related to the monito del monte) migrated to Australia and diversified there in isolation, whereas everywhere else they were out-competed by placental mammals. (Paging @gbrooks9 for him to chime in with his wonderful Australian-mammal infographic.) How does progressive creation fit this distribution of facts better?

Similarly, why would God never create large mammals on isolated islands

Good questions. Firstly, I said progressive creation fits the fossil record better than evolution - I didn’t mention biogeography. As a recent convert (only about a month) to progressive creation, there are no doubt many questions I haven’t considered.

Regarding marsupials, were there not fossils of kangaroos found in China? Your evolutionary explanation could also be applied to progressive creation, which doesn’t preclude the forces of natural selection.
Furthemore, I have no problem with God creating creatures in only one part of the world. I don’t presume to know what God would or wouldn’t do.

The ‘isolated islands’ you mention may not have always been isolated.