ME: Hello, I heard you asking about Christianity. I am a Believer, myself, and would be happy to talk to you.
STRANGER: Ah, I see. Yeah, Christianity can be confusing for me.
ME: Believe me, I understand. What's on your mind.
STRANGER: Why does the Bible say that people and dinosaurs lived together? Doesn't that make the entire Bible wrong? How can you trust something that is so obviously scientifically wrong?
ME: .......
A long time ago, someone told me that it was speculated (by someone) that dinosaurs may have lived alongside humans. I pondered this. Perhaps some isolated species did survive the extinction and managed to be seen by people. I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how implausible that is, but it sounded interesting. (And, no, it's not in the Bible.)
Little did I know that what was being speculated was different from what I imagined. Scores of people were trying to rewrite history and claim that ancient people had lived alongside dinosaurs and considered these large beasts to be a normal part of life. They even decided that people may have ridden on dinosaurs and used them for labor! That's not what I had in mind.
People in ancient times left us records about the animals they knew. Aristotle even wrote a book on zoology in which he details every creature he'd ever heard of or read about. How good was this work? It was the first scientific writing to point out that whales were mammals and not fish. But he never mentions a dinosaur.
There are no records to back up these wild claims. But there is a entire silly museum devoted to teaching this nonsense. And when I tell people that I'm a believer, do they ask me about Jesus' life on earth or the theology of redemption? No! They just want to laugh at me because of this:
This makes Christianity into a laughing stock, and it keeps people from seeing the beauty of God's Truth. The Creation Museum is fighting the wrong battle.
13 comments:
Sounds like someone got confused reading Dinotopia and thought they were reading the Bible... And then built an entire museum dedicated to it. Ouch.
Do you honestly think that the Aristotle bit is responsive to those claims? Or was that just an intentional strawman?
The word "dinosaur," meaning "terrible lizard," wasn't invented until 1841, after the most recent major translation of the Bible. You can't use a word that hasn't been invented yet. Please, do your research. Nobody thinks anymore. God gave you a brain. You're disgracing Him. Use. It. Please.
Anonymous. I know that the word "dinosaur" didn't exist in older times. Everyone knows that.
This doesn't change the fact that ancient people never mentioned seeing/hunting/riding dinosaurs.
obclhorne - Aristotle wrote the most complete work on ancient zoology. Why doesn't he, or anyone else, mention any such beasts? If this is a strawman, please disassemble it.
But, first, tell me why it matters. God is not threatened by deep time or extinct dinosaurs. Why must this debate exist?
Ouch, anonymous! Adam's point is that no one described anything that we can interpret as a dinosaur. That was a pretty mean spirited comment; we don't know you so it's hard not to see you as one of "those" online Christians, which is exactly the sort of image that Adam's blog exists to combat. Please be more careful.
Obclhorn, I'm not sure I understand the criticism. Are you saying that just because Aristotle doesn't mention them that doesn't mean they could never have existed along side humans, since humans existed a long time before Aristotle?
Recently at a certain Christian educators event where Probe always exhibits, our booth was directly across the Creation Museum booths. I cannot tell you how heartbreaking it was to sit there with real content being passed by over and over again while everyone got super excited about "the dinosaur booth with the drawing for a free iPad."
Lots of good money spent on bad science and truncated theology.
In order for your point about Aristotle to be valid, you'd have to find a creationist, much less most creationists, or the folks behind the creationist museum, who are arguing that dinosaurs were around in 300 B.C. I really doubt that you're going to find that. Your point here is roughly the same as saying that since there Carol Linnaeus didn't document them, you've proved the creationists wrong.
It's a strawman because you've oversimplified your opponent's position so that you can easily defeat it. You're seriously better than that.
obclhorn,
Unfortunately, there are many, many Young Earth Creationists who claim the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs. They almost have to in order to fit both into their time line.
At the Dallas Museum of Natural History, you can see a great replica of the tracks that were found along the Paluxy River bed near Glen Rose, Texas that look like people and dinos could have walked the Earth together. This got lots of people really excited, naturally -- wouldn't it be kinda cool? -- and got lots of YEC's proclaiming, "Proof! Proof!" The problem is that the human would have had to have the same gait as the T-Rex-like dino because there are no human prints in between the dino's; they're all in stride. Which leads to the more likely conclusion that the human-instep-like print is probably a back talon of the dinosaur's.
At any rate, a simple internet search of the phrase "people and dinosaurs coexisted" gives a gimps of how many YECs make the claim.
obclhorn - As Renea said, there are plenty of Young Earth Creationists who think that Dinosaurs lived for a long time with man - some even claiming they were still interacting with man long after Jesus lived on earth.
No men mention dinosaurs or anything resembling them as common animals. It doesn't come up anywhere in human history. Aristotle is just one such example.
reneamac,
I'm not questioning whether some people believe that humans and dinosaurs co-existed, I'm questioning whether any substantial number of creationists believe that humans and dinosaurs co-existed in 300 BC.
And despite your blanket assertions, Adam, I'm still skeptical.
Uh, what about the Leviathan? Or Chinese dragons? Sea serpents? or the Giants of the Bible? It's pretty clear that humans and dinosaurs have lived together for thousands of years.
Justin, should we also conclude that aliens, minotaurs and vampires have also been around for thousands of years? If the ancient Chinese wrote about dragons and we conclude that these were really observed by them, should we also conclude that the other creatures they describe must have also existed? Should we think that the creatures described by the ancient Greeks must have also lived with them?
Of course we would never conclude that Pegasus must have been real. It does get a little more confusing when the creatures being described seem more plausible to us. But we can't conclude that any ancient reference to something that might be slightly similar to a dinosaur must be based on actual eye witness accounts. Dragons were creatures that they imagined - not creatures that they actually encountered.
As far as leviathan, dive a little further into the Hebrew text before concluding that this must have been a dinosaur.
As believers we should focus our attention on being prepared to give a well reasoned explanation of the hope that lies within us. The only stumbling block between the non-believer and the Gospel should be the Gospel itself. As I encounter skeptics, it is my hope that I am able to remove any illegitimate barrier that might come between them and the cross.
That said, I'm a big fan of truth and if "young earth" creationism is true, then it deserves our support. Truth, even when unpopular, wins in the end. If it's true, I'd argue that the Creation Museum isn't as "useless ministry" at all. But young earth creationism not true. As a result I'd go so far as to describe it as a "false ministry" rather than a useless one. It's a "ministry" that creates stumbling blocks where there shouldn't be any. And as Adam indicated, it's a major stumbling block for many. For some people it's THE stumbling block.
Not only does Scripture not support the young earth view as put forth by the Creation Museum, it actually teaches against it. You don't even have to go to the scientific record to prove that the teaching of Mr. Hamm (who I believe to be sincere) is wrong. The museum is at odds with Scripture. A good systematic study of the multiple creation accounts found in Scripture reveals this quickly.
It's a shame that any believer would set up or perpetuate such stumbling blocks for others. It's a shame that the church has tolerated it for so long. The church should have long ago risen up against and defeated this false teaching. I for one am not satisfied to "agree to disagree" on this one. Not when so much is at stake.
As far as leviathan, dive a little further into the Hebrew text before concluding that this must have been a dinosaur.
I was being sarcastic. I am not a Bible scholar, believer or even a theist. I don't actually believe that any human has ever seen a live dinosaur. I guess sarcasm doesn't work as well on the Internet. my bad.
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