Creation Science Rebuttals
Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaurs
By Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
First Published 21 September 2003
Usually, when I read articles on young earth creationist websites, they strike me as well-thought out, rational efforts to explain the topics from a young earth perspective. So I was a bit surprised (actually, amused) when I read the various dinosaur articles on Kent Hovind’s website, Creation Science Evangelism (CSE).
Most of the arguments that he presents have already been shown to be false by articles on Old Earth Ministries, and surprisingly, by other young earth creation science experts. However, since OEM seeks to confront young earth aggression towards old earth beliefs, they need confronting again. We will do so one article at a time. To view the CSE articles, click on the headings. (CSE has changed links in the past, therefore if you cannot directly link to their pages, go to www.drdino.com, and click on Articles.)
Pictures of 20th Century Dinosaurs (Link dead)
This is a collection of photographs that tries to paint the picture that dinosaurs exist today. It contains the photographs of supposed plesiosaurs that have washed up on shore or been caught in fishing nets, and also a picture of a fictional man-made dinosaur. To show you how ridiculous these photos are, other young earth creationists have come out against these plesiosaur carcasses, having identified the mysterious animals as basking sharks. This Answers In Genesis article is one example. However, let’s look at the photos anyway, just for the fun of it.
1. The “plesiosaur” of Moore’s Creek photo shows what appears to be a shark or whale, and has no resemblance to a plesiosaur!
2. Lake Champlain Monster – An old wives tale, has never been proven. Very similar to…
3. The Loch Ness Monster. Being Scottish, I’ve always been interested in Nessie, but recent evidences of how the fake photos of the past have been made, plus two end-to-end sonar scans of the lake, prove there is nothing there. With this and the Lake Champlain monster, it is clear that Kent Hovind’s website is desperate to use anything as evidence for a young earth, whether or not the evidence is true or not.
4. The 1977 capture of a carcass by a fishing boat. This is well rebuked in the Answers In Genesis article. It is also rebuked in great detail in this article.
5. Situate Harbor, Massachusetts. Another one shown by the Answers In Genesis article to be a basking shark. Note the scientific proof of this specimen, “Many of those who saw it felt it was a sea monster.” Looks alone do not make a "sea monster."
6. The 31-inch unidentified specimen. This young-earth ministry has gone so far as to claim that a 31-inch plastic toy was a real dinosaur! Whether it is plastic, or the taxidermist made it out of some other materiel, remains unknown. My toddler would love to play with this one…maybe I should make one.
It is incredible that a young earth creation science ministry could actually use these photos as evidences of modern dinosaurs! It’s obvious that they have no real scientific proof of a young earth, so they have to go to extremes, in the hopes that people will believe them, and not investigate these things for themselves.
What Happened to the Dinosaurs? (Link dead)
The author first makes an emotional appeal to the reader by referring to the supposed dinosaur reference in the book of Job. However, these creatures don’t fit the description of dinosaurs, using young-earth standards. Remember that young earth creation science believers are literalists, and believe every verse of the Bible is to be taken literally. In that case, Leviathan must have actually breathed fire (Job 41). However, there are no known dinosaurs with this capability. For Behemoth, no dinosaur had bones of bronze or iron. More importantly, the author refers to this as one an Apatosaurus. Job said the animal shaded itself under the branches of the lotus tree. An Apatosaurus would have a difficult time getting under the low-hanging limbs of a lotus tree!
For a moment, let’s assume the author is correct, and it is a dinosaur that Job refers to. Keep in mind that this is a one-way conversation between God and Job. If God wanted to, He could refer to one of his extinct creations…after all, Job was in no position to dispute God. For all we know, God showed him one right on the spot to enforce his scolding of Job!
Next, the authors move toward the claim that all but a few dinosaurs died in the worldwide flood of Noah. The author even goes so far to say that there was a “lack of burial mixing between these very different kinds of animals due to local or ecological grouping.” Let’s look at this closer. According to young-earth creation theory, the fossil-bearing rock layers of the world were laid down in the flood of Noah. According to the best young-earth model, the rocks that geologists call “Mesozoic” in age were deposited by the receding waters of the flood1. As it rained for 40 days, then the waters stayed on the planet for 150 more, and then started receding, these rocks were deposited at least 190 days into the flood.
The problem is…these rocks contain all the dinosaur fossils. Even worse, all fossil mammals are above these layers! They must have escaped the flood, only to be killed by the receding waters. And, they were even mating, eating, pooping, and walking around, right in the middle of the flood (see my article, Dinosaur Evidences for an Old Earth). So we know for certain that dinosaurs were not killed by Noah’s flood. (For more on Dinosaur Extinction, see this article.)
After this, the author continues to make simple errors. For the dinosaurs that were on the ark, he claims that “Instead of a warm, mild climate worldwide, they would have found a harsh climate which soon settled into an ice age. If climatic hardships did not cause the dinosaur's extinction, man's tendency to destroy probably did.” Let’s talk about a post-ark environment. Assuming that there were two juvenile T-rex’s on the ark, and at least one raptor species, what would they eat? The flood has killed all plant life, since it was buried by the multiple layers of rocks. Seeds would take years to repopulate the earth’s plant life. So these dinosaurs would come out, and probably kill off everything else as food within the first three months. We would have no cattle, no mammals, probably no man! All because of four dinosaurs! The supposed “ice age” would not come quickly enough to save mankind.
Given this realistic scenario, Noah’s only had two options for survival. First, he could kill the dinosaur species before getting off the ark. We know he could not do this, as God would not be pleased. The only other viable option…an old earth, where dinosaurs had died off 65 million years ago. There is no other way to solve this dilemma that young earth creationism has created for itself.
Next the author goes on to talk about cave drawings of dinosaurs. I’ve already shown what these are in another article.
The author closes with a dialogue against evolution, which is insignificant as it relates to old-earth belief. Old earth believers fall into two categories…those who believe God used evolution, and those who don’t. Take your pick…either one does not impact one’s salvation, or the Gospel of Christ. You can be a fundamentalist, Bible-believing evolutionist!
The Ica Stones (Link dead)
In this article, Dr. Dino ( Hovind’s website address is www.drdino.com ) tells about stones that Spanish explorers found in 1571, with drawings of supposed dinosaurs. The article “Paleontology Pioneers” on the Old Earth Ministries website provides ample explanation of these stones. However, here’s more for the skeptics out there. A drawing of a dinosaur, with men, on a stone hundreds of years old, does not prove dinosaurs and man lived together. All it proves is that an artist drew a picture of a dinosaur and a man. My children have done the same in their artwork.
Using the same logic, I can draw a picture of a mermaid, and a man, and thousands of years from now, someone may find this picture, and then they would assume that mermaids lived a thousand years ago! There is no difference between this scenario and the Ica Stones. The Ica Stones only prove that the Indians were good artists. In all probability, they were drawing the beasts based on a nearby fossil discovery. Nothing more can be implied from these drawings…certainly not that man and dinosaurs lived together.
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Conclusion
Kent Hovind, and his Creation Science Evangelism website, provide no credible evidence. Given the attitude and methods used by CSE, I am not surprised that they are at odds with other young earth creationists. CSE articles present no proof of recent dinosaurs (because there is none!) and they go to great stretches of the imagination in the hopes of fooling their followers into believing the young earth lie. In essence, they embarrass the young earth creation science community as a whole. I’m certain that Mr. Hovind is sincere in his efforts, and truly believes what he preaches. I pray that his ministry will win souls for Christ, and I pray that all believers, young and old earth, will continue to strive for the truth, winning souls for Christ along the way. |
1 Snelling and others, in the book Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, FIgure 4.1.
If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.
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