christian view of dinosaurs

[cambrian_exp]

Abstract

Ever since the first dinosaur reconstructions in the mid-1800's, dinosaurs have been big business. They have been used to sell everything from breakfast cereal to gasoline. And now interest is greater than ever. A new craze for dinosaurs and related merchandise is sweeping America and other western nations.

Dinosaurs are the newest fad. Will they lead children away from our Creator? Or to Him? Ever since the first dinosaur reconstructions in the mid-1800's, dinosaurs have been big business. They have been used to sell everything from breakfast cereal to gasoline. And now interest is greater than ever. A new craze for dinosaurs and related merchandise is sweeping America and other western nations.

 

Almost anywhere children go these days, they are exposed to dinosaurs in one way or another, even on school milk cartons. Furthermore, these creatures are almost as popular with adults. Much of the trendy merchandise appeals to the "yuppie" generation. Articles on new dinosaur extinction theories and fossil discoveries are frequently featured in major national magazines. And a steady stream of new adult-level dinosaur books continues to be issued by humanistic publishers each year. Even adults are fascinated by these great beasts--and likewise the history and controversy surrounding them.

 

WHAT SPARKED ALL THIS INTEREST?

Part of the craze has evidently developed in the wake of a series of high-tech dinosaur exhibits currently touring America. Featured at museums and even a major Las Vegas hotel, these large dinosaurs (half-scale) actually move and growl. These traveling "animated" dinosaurs are attracting huge crowds and have broken long-standing attendance records for several museums.

 

The current dinosaur fad is, also, undoubtedly due to: (a) dramatic new fossil discoveries; (b) extensive media attention focused on the latest extinction theories; © the widely publicized building of an 18-foot mechanical, flying replica of the great pterodactyl, Quetzalcoatlus northropi (now featured in an IMAX-movie shown in museum theaters throughout North America and a PBS-TV documentary).

 

WHERE IS THE DANGER IN THIS DINOSAUR-MANIA?

Dinosaurs are being used on a monumental scale to promote evolution. Parents are often amazed at how much even kindergartners know about them. Portrayed as strange, fierce-looking creatures, they are effectively used to indoctrinate millions of children with false evolutionary concepts, such as the following:

 

1. Dinosaurs and many other animals are pre-historic. Most of the earth's history took place long before the Bible or any other book was written and long before any man existed.
   
2. It is a scientific fact that the earth is exceedingly old--perhaps 5 billion years.
   
3. Evolution is a fact. God did not create the world as portrayed in the Bible.
   
4. There once was a time when the land was inhabited only by reptiles--the Great Age of the Dinosaurs.
   
5. Dinosaurs and other animals evolved into completely different kinds of creatures. Every creature evolved from lower forms of life, even man. Man is just an animal--a highly-evolved primate.
   

PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND DINOSAURS

Public-school teachers are generally encouraged to use dinosaurs to promote learning skills. Educational supply stores are usually well-stocked with such supplies used in teaching diverse subjects--from English and reading to arithmetic and history--not to mention science. And all along the way, dinosaurs are related to evolutionary concepts that lead children away from the truth revealed by God in His word.

 

This evolutionary indoctrination is thorough and frequently reinforced. After years of exposure, beliefs become firmly established in people's minds. Eventually, for most, even to look at a dinosaur automatically brings forth mental images of evolution--ideas effectively re-emphasized in the home by hours of PBS-TV, beautiful National Geographic specials and evolutionary books and articles.

 

MORE DECEPTION IS ON THE WAY

To help counteract the efforts of creationists, various leading evolutionists have come to the conclusion that not enough evolution is being taught. They are actively engaged in making sure that evolution is stressed even more in schools, starting even at the pre-school level!

 

USING DINOSAURS TO TEACH ABOUT CREATION

The current dinosaur craze can either do great harm, or it can be used for significant good. The exciting thing is that when it comes to dinosaurs, the facts are on the side of a creationist interpretation--not evolution.

 

Here are some dinosaur facts that can be used to stimulate children's interest in the true nature of science while presenting dinosaurs in a Biblical framework of history.

 

The Wrong-Headed Dinosaur. How do scientists know anything about dinosaurs? Apart from the Bible, the only information on dinosaurs comes from fossils--parts of dead plants and animals that have been turned into rock. Examples of dinosaur fossils include bones, teeth, claws, spikes, horns, bony plates, eggs (sometimes with unborn babies), gizzard's stones (gastroliths), dung (coprolites), footprints, imprints of skin (very rare), and stomach contents (very rare). Fossils are like pieces of a puzzle. No one knows how the living animal actually looked, nor can they do more than guess about the animal's behavior. This is why our concepts about dinosaurs continually change.

 

A good example is the great Brontosaurus, probably the best known of the dinosaurs. Millions of people have seen it in books and advertising; however, the Brontosaurus never existed! Its fossils were discovered with the head missing. To complete the skeleton, the scientist attached a skull found 3-4 miles away, but did not reveal this fact. Recently it was discovered that the body skeleton belonged to a Diplodocus and the skull was from an Apatosaurus.

 

Dinosaurs and the Bible. Many are surprised to find that dinosaur-like creatures are mentioned in the Bible. Job chapter 40 gives us a good description of one of these animals.

 

The book of Job is very old, probably written around 2,000 years before Jesus was born or soon after the Flood. Here God describes the greatest of land animals, an animal the Bible calls "behemoth," meaning "gigantic beast." This Biblical description clearly fits the description of a large saurapod such as Diplodocus or Apatosaurus. Note the following points mentioned there; the behemoth:

 

Was a large, grass eater

Had great muscles and extremely strong bones

Was not afraid of anything

Had a tail so large it was compared to a large cedar tree

Rests in marshes--flooding rivers do not alarm it

Cannot be trapped or domesticated

 

Before the wide-spread interest in the dinosaurs, early students of the Bible tried to identify the behemoth of Job based on contemporary experience. The best candidates were the elephant or hippopotamus, both of which fail the description--especially the tail test.

 

Other samples of how dinosaur facts can be used to honor the Creator include the presence of dinosaur fossils in hardened mud (sedimentary rocks) and the fact that fossil skeletons result from rapid burial (such as the Flood), not by slowly being covered by sediments over many years. Another area of interest to both children and adults is in the wide-spread tales of dinosaur-like creatures (so-called "dragons") preserved in the legends of many ancient cultures. There have even been occasional encounters with dinosaur-like creatures reported in modern times.

 

A CALL TO ACTION

Every Christian is in a position to help children escape this great dinosaur deception. Here is a partial list of actions available:

 

1. BOOKS, MOVIES, VIDEOS, AUDIO TAPES, ACTIVITY BOOKS. Provide children with dinosaur materials that tell the truth about dinosaurs and history--not the distorted evolutionary beliefs of secular humanists. Use children's natural fascination with dinosaurs to turn them toward their Creator!
   
2. STORYTIME. Incorporate dinosaurs into your story-telling about Creation, Noah and the Ark, etc.
   
3. SCHOOL. Christian teachers can incorporate dinosaurs into their curriculum to teach students about Creation, the Fall, the Flood, geology and the environment.
   
4. LIBRARIES. Donate creationist books to libraries. Start with Christian school libraries and churches first, since they are the first responsibility of Christians.
   
5. SUNDAY SCHOOL AND VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL. The one place most children never hear about dinosaurs is in church. Shouldn't this be the first place to teach young people about creationism and the Bible--and how dinosaurs fit into all this?
   
6. SPECIAL MEETINGS. An evening meeting, a week-long series, or a special "Dinosaur Night" for families--all have proven effective and have gotten great attendance. Many creationist speakers are happy to provide assistance.
   
7. BOOKSTORES. Encourage your local Christian bookstore to carry Christian materials on dinosaurs, especially during the current dinosaur fad, as well as other creation-oriented books and audiovisuals.
   

CONCLUSION ============================================

 

Creationists are maniacs ":mad: "

[AzurePhoenix]

the widely publicized building of an 18-foot mechanical, flying replica of the great pterodactyl, Quetzalcoatlus northropi

Blatant Inaccuracy #1; Quetzalcoatlus was a pterosaur, referring to a family of flight-capable archosaurs. It was not a Pterodactyl, which is a distinct genus of relatively small, raven-to-hawk sized pterosaurs.

 

There once was a time when the land was inhabited only by reptiles--the Great Age of the Dinosaurs.

Blatant Inaccuracy #2; This is simply the stupidest thing I've ever read. There was never an age in which only reptiles roamed. The dinosaurs themselves cannot be conclusively defined as reptiles, mammals were around for quite a while, amphibeans had been around even longer, and birds existed, as well as many, many non-dinosaurian reptiles, not to mention our terrestrial invertebrate friends.

 

Other samples of how dinosaur facts can be used to honor the Creator include the presence of dinosaur fossils in hardened mud (sedimentary rocks) and the fact that fossil skeletons result from rapid burial (such as the Flood), not by slowly being covered by sediments over many years.

Geeze, Another Fallacy; Yes, it is common knowledge that most surviving fossils are still around due to rapid burial. What you don't seem to understand, is that there are these events that occur even today, mysterious happenings known in many legends as mudslides, avalanches, landslides, flash-flooding and the deposit of river-sedimentation. I understand how you might have overlooked them, they being so rare and all. Oh, what's all this about a devestating hurricane striking eastern America? You don't think that maybe some things got rapidly buried under that, do you Cambrian? Or that many more things will be buried in the coming weeks?

 

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otherwise... you mentioned the Brontosaurus fiasco...

 

A good example is the great Brontosaurus, probably the best known of the dinosaurs.

You're excluding T-rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus I assume? No one can say what is most famous. There are a dozen more I could add to the list, and you can rest assured, many children know most sauropods by the name "Long Necks," a phrase inflamed by the well-meaning "Land Before Time" movies.

 

Millions of people have seen it in books and advertising; however, the Brontosaurus never existed! Its fossils were discovered with the head missing. To complete the skeleton, the scientist attached a skull found 3-4 miles away, but did not reveal this fact.

definitely an embarrasment, but you must be honest enough with yourself to realize at that time, that the field was no where near as well refined as it is today. Practically every skeleton dug up was designated as a new species, and most bone-hunters were in the field for the glory of discovering a new species. It must be expected that in such an age where public notice exceeds scientific accuracy, that some major errors would be made, both simple oversights as well as blatant farces...

 

BUT

 

The actual story of the apatosaur issue was that a supposedly new skeleton of a sauropod of a different size from the previously discovered Apatosaurus was found without a head. Yes, it's completely true that the nearest skull to be found belonged to a camarasaur, and the scientists simply but idiotically assumed it belonged to the new skeleton, which was dubbed "Brontosaurus," but this was due more to naivety and stupidity rather than conspiracy. Due to the greater size of the alleged "brontosaur" fossils, it gained wider acclaim, until scientist recognized their mistake. The term "brontosaur" was discontinued, seeing as how "apatosaur" was coined first.

 

Recently it was discovered that the body skeleton belonged to a Diplodocus and the skull was from an Apatosaurus.

By recently, I take it you mean 102 years? The Apatasaur/Brontosaur mix-up was identified and corrected around 1903. Proper science has been fighting for accuracy ever since, and although Brontosaurus was condsidered a valid synonym for apato. until the early seventies, it doesn't help that people are too stupid to pick up an accurate book rather than a six-page kiddie-guide called "Pete and the Grumpy Dinosaur"

 

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BOOKSTORES. Encourage your local Christian bookstore to carry Christian materials on dinosaurs, especially during the current dinosaur fad, as well as other creation-oriented books and audiovisuals.

You do mean in addition to factually accurate scientific texts, yes?

[Tetrahedrite]

This should be in the religion section.......

See also this thread relating to creationist posting here.........

[swansont]

You really should mention that you are quoting from the ICR's Impact #167, and the article was written by Paul Taylor. Quote some relevant parts and provide a link to the whole thing. Even crap is protected by copyright.

[Hellbender]

Dinosaurs and many other animals are pre[/i']-historic. Most of the earth's history took place long before the Bible or any other book was written and long before any man existed.

yup

It is a scientific fact that the earth is exceedingly old--perhaps 5 billion years.

true

Evolution is a fact. God did not create the world as portrayed in the Bible.

true again! Creationist sites may have a grasp on reality after all!

There once was a time when the land was inhabited only by reptiles--the Great Age of the Dinosaurs.

false. While the mesozoic is commonly referred to as "the age of reptiles", this is because they were apparently the dominant land vertebrate of the time. There were also mammals, amphibians, insects, etc.

Dinosaurs and other animals evolved into completely different kinds of creatures. Every creature evolved from lower forms of life, even man. Man is just an animal--a highly-evolved primate.

partly true. some lines dies out, some gave rise to some of the animals we see today. Euryapsids such as plesiosaurs and ichthosaurs have left no descendants, but saurischian dinosaurs have. And yes humans are primates, although I wouldn't say "highly evolved".

This evolutionary indoctrination is thorough and frequently reinforced.

And they will support why this is with lame "athiestic scientist global conspiracies" untile they are blue in the face, never admitting that it is taught because it is science.

They are actively engaged in making sure that evolution is stressed even more in schools, starting even at the pre-school level!

Thats good to hear, although I think preschool is stretching it a little. At least spend more time on the subject in high school biology.

The exciting thing is that when it comes to dinosaurs, the facts are on the side of a creationist interpretation--not evolution.

Really? *smirks* I can't wait to see the leaps in logic wating for me ahead.

nor can they do more than guess about the animal's behavior. This is why our concepts about dinosaurs continually change.

Scientists don't "guess". They may infer things about the creature's lifestyle based on the fossil's anatomy, but they don't "guess".

Millions of people have seen it in books and advertising; however, the Brontosaurus never existed!

No crap. I'm sure in their eyes this proves something, but it really doesn't.

Its fossils were discovered with the head missing. To complete the skeleton, the scientist attached a skull found 3-4 miles away, but did not reveal this fact. Recently it was discovered that the body skeleton belonged to a Diplodocus and the skull was from an Apatosaurus.

No the body was of Apatosaurus, and they found the closest skull they could to complete the skeleton. The skull happened to be from a Camarasaurus At the time, it was a good idea, but they found later they made a mistake. Dinosaur books were revised, and everyone moved on with their lives. Its the creationists who can't seem to forget decades-old mistakes .

Creationists are maniacs ":mad: "

LOL this may be, but I would more accurately call them "fanatics".

[cambrian_exp]

Yea i call These creationist as Fanatics or Terrorists, they terrorise science with their horrific theoris lol

[cambrian_exp]

well i debated one creationist for few minutes and he said that dino fossils with humans have been found and he has seen that in pic. he said scientists are conspiring against ID and creationism by not showing those fossils because majority of scientists have no morality

[Hellbender]

well i debated one creationist for few minutes and he said that dino fossils with humans have been found and he has seen that in pic. he said scientists are conspiring against ID and creationism by not showing those fossils because majority of scientists have no morality

OKay, first of all, even if humans were found in strata that also bear pre-human fauna, this barely changes the fact that heritable changes in a population occur. We would just need to revise our current understanding of the fossil record. Second, its all moot because this hasn't been found and verified. I would love to see this picture. I would love to ask this creationist you have been debating with if he has met every scientist in the world to be able to accuse the whole scientific community of being immoral. Scientists are critical, and rightly so, of creationism of any stripe because it has no evidence. Simple as that. It has nothing to do with trying to prop up evolution as a basis for a secular world-view, or to persecute christianity as a whole.

 

"When in doubt, invoke the ad hoc conspiracy theories!"

[AzurePhoenix]

Okay, Now I understand Cambrian's point. Don't confuddle me!!

[Hellbender]

Okay, Now[/i'] I understand Cambrian's point. Don't confuddle me!!

Sorry. Cambrian, please make it apparent to us and other members what your reason for posting creationist arguments is. Am I right to assume that you are not a creationist, that you post these arguments for us to refute so you can have ammunition for when you debate them? There is nothing wrong if you do, I am just curious (and glad to help).

[bascule]

partly true. some lines dies out, some gave rise to some of the animals we see today. Euryapsids such as plesiosaurs and ichthosaurs have left no descendants, but saurischian dinosaurs have. And yes humans are primates, although I wouldn't say "highly evolved".

 

Why do humans try to be so humble about the incredibleness of our species? Who are we trying to be humble for?

 

If you take into account humanity's memetic evolution, we are far and away the most highly evolved species on the planet.

[AzurePhoenix]

What good is that if it we can't even advance far enough to stop being a corruptive, self-destructive force? Yeah, we have some astonishing attributes, but the negatives far outway the positives. Doesn't seem very highly evolved to me. And that doesn't even bring into play how pathetic we would be without our nifty gadgets (stone tools included). In that sense, most everything else has us beat.

[Hellbender]

Why do humans try to be so humble about the incredibleness of our species? Who are we trying to be humble for?

What I meant was that "highly evolved" and "primitive" are not conisdered useful designations anymore, as they hearken back to the time when evolution was erroneously thought of as a progressive chain leading to better and better organisms. Sorry I didn't clarify that.