Unwarranted Assumptions

(Dinosaurs)

The large lead story on the front page of the Star-Telegram, with accompanying photos, captured my attention and probably thousands of others as well (October 6). The article was entitled, “Dinosaur that once roamed area will soon loom large again.” This piece by David Casstevens tells of Robert Reid’s careful work to restore a dinosaur named Paluxysaurus jonesi, a huge beast that stood 15 feet at the shoulder and had a length of 60 feet. The restored dinosaur will have its prominent place in the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

No one can doubt that this creature roamed Texas years ago and that it is now extinct. However this is where the agreement ends. Doesn’t Casstevens know that there are thousands of professing Christian citizens, some with advanced degrees, who would deny basic elements of his account? Further, these professing Christians would object to fundamental views of this and other dinosaurs held by unbelieving paleontologists and museum curators.

These basic differences would include such facts as these: (1) Believing and consistent Christians hold that God created dinosaurs relatively recently—about 6,000 years ago or a little longer—whereas some scientists would assert that they lived more than 100 million years ago (as the Star-Telegram article states). (2) Christians would contend that dinosaurs were created as dinosaurs instead of evolving from prehistoric life that spontaneously sprang from non-life some three billion years ago. (3) Consistent Christians would believe that dinosaurs probably died out at the time of the worldwide flood at the time of Noah, some 4,500 years ago.

For this reason, we must totally reject the unfounded assertion that this dinosaur “roamed this part of the country more than 100 million years ago” and the additional allegation that “dinosaurs from three geological times periods have been found in three areas of the state”—as the Star-Telegram article asserts.

It is time that responsible writers say that “some scientists believe” or “some non-Christian paleontologists think” or “many unbelieving scientists suppose” that dinosaurs lived 100 to 160 billion years ago, instead of making blanket statements as though they were established facts believed by all scientists! They are not established facts. Dinosaurs are facts but this requires interpretation. There are hundreds and even thousands of reputable scientists who believe that the facts harmonize with the truth of recent creation by an infinite and eternal God, along with a worldwide deluge.

The discerning reader can verify this by consulting websites like those of the Institute for Creation Research (www.icr.org), Answers in Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org), Apologetics Press (www.apologeticspress.org), and Creation Resource Foundation (www.creationresource.org). Many others could be mentioned that show the fallacy of the evolution model and the reasonableness of recent creation, along with the creation and extinction of dinosaurs.

I encourage the Star-Telegram to report these findings in a way that harmonizes with true, established facts instead of blindly accepting unfounded assertions by unbelieving, and usually atheistic, paleontologists.

Richard Hollerman