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Dinosaurs and the ‘Power of the paradigm’

‘blind faith’ vs ‘science’

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Originally published in a CMI newsletter, August 2017
science-vs-evolution

As you are probably aware, a major part of CMI’s ministry is ministering in churches to equip Christians for ‘good works’. Matthew 5:16 reminds us to “… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” And we know from the 38 years of ministry to churches that this boosts evangelistic efforts because newly-equipped, more confident believers, in turn, reach others. It is remarkable how after even one presentation, the ‘lights go on’ for many as they realize that they can trust the Bible’s account of creation in the inspired Word of God. There is often a ‘feeding frenzy’ around our resource tables as many realize their need to be equipped to answer evolutionism and millions of years (MOY), which they had previously accepted as proven science. For example, Gabriel K. wrote:

“I became a Christian in 1990, and it is only in the last 5 years or so that I can boldly look head-on at the propositions of Scripture, armed and equipped with a biblical hermeneutic predicated not upon the tenets of naturalism (and its poster-child, evolution) but the faith-building, encouraging work of such resources as yourselves. … I have benefitted and continue to look to such resources, teachings and encouragement as you provide in order that I may love God 'with all my mind'. Bless you for the workhorse, unspectacular and person-transforming ministry you provide: you really ARE at the coal-face [front line]!”

‘Creation is religion and evolution is science’?

No doubt most of us have heard that old canard at some stage; even many Christians buy into this falsehood. But the information CMI produces can have a transforming effect on the hearer, motivating and energizing the Christian as they now have the confidence to trust and completely believe God’s Word. The ‘faith’ believers had is now a bit ‘less blind’ than it once was, and more mature—less milk and more meat.

Dinosaurs—stolen by the religion of evolution

unfossilized-skin-hadrosaur
Pieces of skin from a hadrosaur, still containing the pigments.

Dinosaurs are often used as the poster-child for evolution and millions of years. And in this very area the overwhelming majority of evolutionists do not realize that they also take a faith position when interpreting their data. Real science is limited to facts and data that we can observe, test, and can repeat in the present. For example, one cannot repeat and test the belief that dinosaurs evolved into birds over 150 million years ago (MYA). The blind faith in evolutionism was on display again recently with yet another find of soft tissue in dinosaur bone; this time undoubtedly containing collagen. Collagen is a relatively fragile molecule, so this was noteworthy because in previous finds (see pictures below) they had actually tried hard to disprove the existence of collagen in an effort to cast doubt on the discovery altogether. What was more surprising to the evolutionary community was the alleged age of this new sample as it was supposed to be 195 MYO whereas the previous find of collagen was ‘only’ 80 MYO.1 Another example was the find of actual pieces of hadrosaur skin in 2013. The ‘big question’ for University of Regina (Canada) was “how the fossil remained intact for 70 million years” (emphasis mine).

Dinosaurs are not evidence for evolution—they contradict it!

The ‘power of the paradigm’ as I like to call it, is never more apparent than when evolutionists make such ‘odds-defying’ statements. The philosophy of evolution and its long ages is never questioned, even when the evidence is obviously contrary. We now have dozens of finds of soft tissue, blood cells and various types of proteins in dinosaur bones and fossils, including DNA and carbon-14, all of which simply cannot last for millions of years. It seems easier for them to defer to some yet unknown and undiscovered process that can apparently occur randomly all over the earth at different times in the history of the earth, rather than simply accept the obvious, which is, their finds cannot be MYO! Now, that’s not science—it’s a faith position!

soft-tissue

It's paradigm blindness

Another comment we often receive from convinced biblical creationists is ‘How can evolutionists be so blind?’ Well, as a former evolutionist myself, just like many of my colleagues in the ministry, I can say “There go I but for the grace of God!” As mentioned, both Christians and evolutionists have a kind of faith position before we ever try to interpret the facts. One may call it a worldview, a philosophy, or even paradigm. But the reason that most evolutionists suffer a kind of ‘paradigm blindness’ is because they’ve never heard of, or simply refuse to consider, another way of interpreting the facts. After all, they been taught creation is religion…right? One can become so self-absorbed in promoting the paradigm because the alternative—that there might be a Creator—is not acceptable. After all, let’s keep in mind what God told the prophet Jeremiah. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Information presented in the right context

For many years, I’ve canvassed the idea that we need to demolish arguments (2 Corinthians 10:5) to undermine the foundation of the faith that evolutionists possess. But perhaps in our keenness to apply 1 Peter 3:15 to be: “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”, we sometimes forget the last part of this verse which is “Yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

A biblical precedent

Consider, one of the Bible’s most strident Christ-haters was Saul of Tarsus. He too suffered from ‘paradigm blindness’ because he wrongly believed that Christians were against the truth that he had served and believed in his whole life. That sounds like the very same dilemma that faces many evolutionists when confronted with similar evidence. For Paul, it took an act of God to remove the scales from his eyes so he could see the truth that was literally confronting him (Acts 9). Paul ultimately realized that Christ loved him. We need to not only demolish arguments but also provide meaning and context. For many evolutionists, even considering biblical creation would be a step like a Damascus Road experience. But be encouraged because this is happening all the time. For example, German scientist, Gintautas A. wrote to say:

“I am grateful for the work of CMI as it accompanied me to my way to Jesus and continues accompanying me on the way with Him. I continue to appreciate the breadth… the depth as well as the simplicity of the presentation of the material whose content sometimes is quite complicated. … Though many professional scientists are trained to separate what is said by science and what is said by scientists, very often this ends up only by scrutinizing the work of the closest colleagues or peers in the same narrow field without questioning more critically the basis of much more general statements related to cosmology, natural history, history, etc…

“It actually helped to clearly separate that the conflict is not between science and faith, as it is often portrayed in modern media, but the conflict is between faith and faith, between two worldviews—biblical and naturalist. The foundations of the operational science are different from those of the science involving history, as for sciences of origin we must define the framework—naturalistic or biblical—in order to achieve any further progress in systematic knowledge. The work of your ministry assisted in reestablishing the authority of the Scripture in my mind and continues providing information and arguments while discussing with others.

“May our Creator and Redeemer, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ provide you abundantly with all the wisdom, strength and love to continue your work for His glory!”

Squash the mustard seed of evolution and re-plant a new seed

It can be a scary thing for someone to consider abandoning their long-held naturalistic faith. It was for me. But reassurance by my friends that the alternative meant finding peace and love in the arms of the Creator of the universe is a good start! Evolution cannot provide that hope. Let’s remember that God offers His love to evolutionists too!

Life on other planets? Another evolutionary stronghold

‘If life evolved on Earth, then it must have evolved elsewhere in a 14-billion-year-old, big bang universe.’ That’s pretty much the theory behind the concept of extraterrestrial life, and why governments spend billions looking for it. Our upcoming Alien Intrusion movie deals with the implausibility of a big bang, and that life could spontaneously generate not only here on Earth but on any other planet in our universe. However, there is more to this ‘ET life’ question than most realize. We can vouch from experience that large numbers of people have seen things in the sky that they cannot explain—and this includes large numbers of Christians. As the letter showed, we must be careful how we interpret such things. Many think that God may have created technologically advanced aliens that are perhaps visiting us. Such ideas have serious Gospel implications. Our movie, Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception, deals with this compelling and mysterious subject and more. It’s a movie that we believe will have wide appeal to both Christians and non-believers alike. Visit the movie’s website to find out more. AlienIntrusion.com.


alien-intrusion-unmaskiing-a-deception

For theaters in NZ/Aust/Canada please visit Fan-Force.com.

Published: 6 March 2018

References and notes

  1. 195-million-year-old dinosaur bone yields traces of soft tissue. beta.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/195-million-year-old-dinosaur-bone-yield-traces-of-soft-tissue/article33846083, 13 February, 2017. Return to text.

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