Dinosaur Confusion

The existence of dinosaurs neither prove nor disprove God, His works, nor His existence.

Evolution would be the correct answer to your question, which would have had you burned at the stake in the old days of such punishment for Heresy.

No mystery, we can and do see evidence of evolution as it happens around us.

There are fossil remains of dinosaurs that have been located, studied and cataloged.

They didn’t turn into birds, they actually were birds to begin with. This we know by studying the bone structure of the fossils.

Yes, claiming to speak or understand the Acts and Works of God IS Heresy. You aren’t qualified.

What happenned to them? Cataclysm. We know an asteroid struck the Yucantan, parts of it are still there. Radiocarbon dating works. This strike would have caused a “Megatsunami” which would have flooded almost the entire planet.

There is both archaological and strong anecdotal evidence of this. The Greeks and Romans, and every other sncient culture mentions it. China’s written language is older than the Torah, and it mentions it. The Epics of Gilgamesh and Beowulf both mention Noah.

Your fear of science makes your entire argument moot.

Science in no way negates or questions God, nor is the reverse true, either. They more often verify each other. Put Genesis down for a sec and pick up a third grade science textbook.

—A.

The existence of dinosaurs neither prove nor disprove God, His works, nor His existence.

We agree.

Evolution would be the correct answer to your question, which would have had you burned at the stake in the old days of such punishment for Heresy.

What “old days” are you referring to? Can you give a specific example? As far as we are aware, there is no such case in which an evolutionist was burned at the stake. There have been examples of people being burned at the stake because of “heresy”; however, this practice is not biblical. If anyone had performed such an atrocious act “in the name of Christ,” they were acting contrary to what the Bible teaches (Matthew 5:44, 22:39; Romans 12:19–21).

However, millions of innocent people have been murdered by those who have held a strong belief in Darwinian evolution—under the guise of aiding natural selection (this was Hitler’s rationale for the Holocaust). Millions of people were murdered in the twentieth century under evolutionary, atheistic regimes in Germany, Russia, China, and Cambodia; and that’s not including murder in the guise of abortion.

Of course, just because someone believes in evolution does not mean they are or will be a murderer. However, if evolution is true, then life is meaningless, and there is no absolute standard for right and wrong. Therefore, if someone murders millions of people in the name of evolution, then they are justified by and acting consistently with their beliefs.

No mystery, we can and do see evidence of evolution as it happens around us.

Now, if by evolution you mean variation within certain kinds of creatures (i.e., natural selection and adaptation), then we do observe this. Creationists accept natural selection as a scientific principle. It may surprise you to learn that it was promoted by a creationist named Edward Blyth more than two decades before Darwin published On the Origin of Species (although Blyth did not use the same terminology). However, natural selection is the opposite of molecules-to-man evolution. It “selects” from genetic information already present in the genome and cannot account for the addition of any new genetic information, which is needed for fish-to-philosopher evolution to occur.

Can you give a single example of turtles turning into cows? Of course not, and since we do not observe any fish-to-farmer type changes, then it comes as no surprise that evolutionists have not been able to reproduce any such examples. But then you may argue that “it happens slowly over time and we wouldn’t see it.” But, if you, nor anyone else, have ever observed this happening how do you know it happens? The truth is that this belief is based on an anti-Bible (and therefore anti-God) faith.

There are fossil remains of dinosaurs that have been located, studied and cataloged.

Agreed—and they are found in Flood sediment (Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous layers). However, finding and cataloging fossils does not equal goo-to-you evolution. A fossilized bone does not tell you about the deceased creature’s offspring. Nor do fossils necessarily specify an arrangement of these creatures into a supposed order of appearance. This is arbitrary at best—i.e., not allowing for other explanations as to why there is order—and any contrary evidence is usually ignored.

They didn’t turn into birds, they actually were birds to begin with.

If dinosaurs didn’t evolve into birds but were birds to begin with, then that means that birds evolved into birds. Creationists have been saying this for years. Even many evolutionists would disagree with you here as well.

This we know by studying the bone structure of the fossils.

First, this conclusion is based on a rejection of God’s infallible Word and trusting a group of imperfect men’s interpretations. This position is one of blind faith, since there is no actual eyewitness account of this ever happening, simply conjecture.

Second, concluding that two animals are related because they have similar morphology is fallacious at best. Dinosaur-to-bird evolution could be seen as “begging the question.” In other words, evolutionists believe birds evolved from dinosaurs; therefore, when they see similarities in skeletal structure, they trumpet it as proof of the conclusion they’ve already made.

Using this same sort of (faulty) logic, one could claim that the sun evolved from a lemon. How? If we compare the morphology of the sun to that of a lemon, we find many similarities. One, they’re both fairly round (similar structure); two, they’re yellow (similar appearance); three, they both contain hydrogen (similar composition); and finally, they both can do damage to your eyes (similar function). This, of course, is an extremely silly example; however, it demonstrates the fallacy of believing dinosaurs evolved into birds based on similar morphology.

You may be interested in reading the Smithsonian’s open letter critique of National Geographic’s claims concerning dinosaur-to-bird evolution. Even Scientific American has stated that dino-to-bird evolution cannot account for the existence of feathers.

Yes, claiming to speak or understand the Acts and Works of God IS Heresy. You aren’t qualified.

By what standard is someone qualified? What is the origin of that standard? Can you speak about Him, but we cannot? What gives you the authority to do so? When we quote the Bible, we are simply telling people what God has already revealed. This is not heresy, but obedience to what He has commanded us (Matthew 28:19–20). Heresy is defined as “an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth or to generally accepted beliefs or standards.” We don’t have an “opinion” or speak for God because He gave us His Word, which is understandable and clear about the history of the earth. And how can allowing the Bible to speak for itself be contrary to the most-accepted standard of Christianity—the Bible itself?

However, if you don’t believe in God’s Word, then on what basis can you tell us that what we say is heresy? If naturalistic evolution is true, then there is no absolute standard by which something can be judged as right or wrong or even as qualified or unqualified.

What happenned to them? Cataclysm.

Such as the Flood in the time of Noah (Genesis 7–8)?

We know an asteroid struck the Yucantan, parts of it are still there. Radiocarbon dating works. This strike would have caused a “Megatsunami” which would have flooded almost the entire planet.

We agree that a global cataclysm of water caused the death of the dinosaurs found in the fossil layers—except for those on the Ark. But there are major problems with the Chicxulub Crater (Yucatan) hypothesis.

By “radiocarbon dating,” I assume you mean radiometric dating, which is somewhat different from Carbon-14 dating. Scientists generally do not use radiocarbon-14 dating on dinosaur fossils or impact craters, since they already assume them to be millions or billions of years old. (Carbon dating could only measure something to be up to 100,000 years old or less.) As such, it would not be used on the craters, so other methods of radiometric dating are used to provide inflated dates. We have written a great deal on these subjects. Numerous examples could be cited in which we know the dates are wrong.

There is both archaological and strong anecdotal evidence of this. The Greeks and Romans, and every other sncient culture mentions it. China’s written language is older than the Torah, and it mentions it. The Epics of Gilgamesh and Beowulf both mention Noah.

We agree—but, interestingly, these same sources mention dragons or otherwise large reptilian creatures (likely dinosaurs) living with humans! There is strong anecdotal evidence of the worldwide Flood during Noah’s time. More than 200 Flood legends have been cataloged from cultures around the world. It is interesting to note the similarities that exist in many of the accounts. What this shows is that these legends were probably based on a real event, but the details have been distorted; and the Bible provides the only true account.

Your fear of science makes your entire argument moot.

This is the logical fallacy of equivocation. Molecules-to-man evolution does not comprise science.

Science in no way negates or questions God, nor is the reverse true. They more often verify each other. Put Genesis down for a sec and pick up a third grade science textbook.

We completely agree that science does not negate or question God. As such, we are not afraid of science at all. In fact, science is only possible because the Bible is true. Only God’s Word provides us with a logical foundation that is necessary for science or any acquisition of knowledge.

The Bible provides the basis for morality, laws of logic, and the uniformity of nature. These are necessary for the observations of science to be repeatable and trustworthy, and yet the evolutionary worldview cannot account for any of these. Evolutionists are forced to assume the Bible is true in order to do science, and then many of them attempt to claim the Bible is false. This is irrational. Dr. Jason Lisle’s new book, The Ultimate Proof of Creation, explains this in much greater detail.

Many great scientists were Bible-believing Christians, such as Newton, Kepler, Boyle, and Faraday. Why would we put down Genesis for a second when many of the greatest scientists in history would not? Why would we ignore the eyewitness account of God who knows everything and has always been there?

Scripture provides us with the true history of the world and the message that all men must hear: we are all sinful people and need God’s forgiveness, which is only offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. God raised Him from the dead three days later and He will save “whoever calls on His name” (Romans 10:13).

Best regards,
Tim Chaffey and David Wright