Are Dinosaurs Really Millions of Years Old?
Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
by Allan Gordon
Face The Facts
Fossils all Over the Earth.
The only evidence that we have of the existence of dinosaurs is the huge fossil remains of these now extinct animals. Millions of fossils have been found all over the earth, not all dinosaurs but many other extinct varieties of animals. Included are simply larger editions of our present day varieties. A good example is the mammoth, which is simply a very large woolly elephant.
Sedimentary Rock
The rock that fossils are found in is called sedimentary rock. When water in a river is violently agitated as during a flood, the water raises the sand that forms the riverbed and the surrounding flooded land, together with any vegetation and the bodies of animals that may have been drowned and holds them in suspension, until the violence subsides. This mixture of sand and anything else that was held in suspension is then deposited as a layer of sediment on the bottom. When the water drains away or is dried up the sedimentary layer is exposed and gradually hardens like cement into rock. The rock layer is called sedimentary rock because of the manner it was formed. At present the whole earth is covered with layers of sedimentary rock containing fossils of animals and vegetation. After a period of time the vegetation trapped in the sediment gets changed into coal. Whole trees that have changed into coal have been found in the coal layers. Vast quantities of fish life, similarly trapped have been changed into oil. The remains of animal life are the fossils we find in the rock.
The fact that the whole earth is at present covered with sedimentary rock suggest that a global flood occurred and was responsible for the formation of all this sedimentary rock. As the fossils are found in these layers of rock it would seem that if we know when the flood occurred then we would know when the animals that formed the fossils were alive and then drowned.
The Global Flood.
Now most of us are familiar with the Bible account of the Global flood of Noah's day that showed how the entire world was drowned by a global flood. Before the 1800's geologists accepted the fact that the fossil record confirmed the Bible account because of its global nature. A book entitled "The Deluge Story in Stone" by Byron Nelson has a series of chapters each devoted to examining what geologists believed, and it is evident that it was almost unanimously accepted that the flood was the cause of the fossil record. However there have always been outspoken atheists that have tried to discredit the Bible Some have implied that the flood was merely local. Others questioned where the water came from and where it went. Others have tried to make out that Noah could not have been able to get all the animals into the ark. Most of these objections highlighted the critic's lack of knowledge but if their listeners also lacked knowledge, these questions did raise doubts. . Similarly atheists have always sought to discredit the Bible and the developments that occurred in the 19th century gave them the tools.
The Basis of Evolution
Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, the first volume of which appeared in 1830, cast doubt on the Bible's creation account. Lyell claimed that the creation could not possibly have occurred in six literal days. Physicist Fred Hoyle wrote: "Lyell's books were largely responsible for convincing the world at large that the Bible could be wrong, at any rate in some respects, a hitherto unthinkable thought."
A foundation was thus laid for scepticism. In the minds of many, science and the Bible could no longer be harmonized. Faced with a choice, many opted for science. "Lyell's work had thrown the early chapters of the Old Testament into doubt," Fred Hoyle wrote, "and Darwin's book was there to replace it."
False Religion's Part in the Deception
To show how ignorance of what the Bible actually taught caused many and are still causing many to stumble consider this fact. The Bible does not teach that the seven days of creation were each twenty-four hours long. The churches were and are still in error by teaching this false teaching. Those days stand in relation to one another and so the length of the seventh day sheds light on how long they were.
(Hebrews 4:3-11) . . .For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest , just as he has said: "So I swore in my anger, ‘They shall not enter into my rest,'" although his works were finished from the founding of the world. 4 For in one place he has said of the seventh day as follows: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works," 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter into my rest." 6 Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter into it, and those to whom the good news was first declared did not enter in because of disobedience, 7 he again marks off a certain day by saying after so long a time in David's [psalm] "Today"; just as it has been said above: "Today if YOU people listen to his own voice, do not harden YOUR hearts." 8 For if Joshua had led them into a place of rest, [God] would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 So there remains a sabbath resting for the people of God . 10 For the man that has entered into [God's] rest has also himself rested from his own works, just as God did from his own. 11 . . .
So according to the Bible itself, thousands of years after creation, God was still resting. And at the moment he is still resting. That means that the seventh day rest is at least about 6000 years so far and because our 1000th year, rest day has not arrived yet, it will be longer still. So logically, the preceding 6 days must total at least 42,000 years and that is only from the time that light from the sun reached the earth (see the article " Is the Genesis Creation Account Scientific?")
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Is the Present the Key to the Past?
The point is that Charles Lyell in his book created a new rule for interpreting the evidence. He claimed that we must only use the forces that we see operating today to interpret the evidence. On the basis that the "present is the key to the past" he rejected the flood as a possible cause for the fossil record. That is why modern day geologists prefer to believe that the fossil record was formed by a vast number of local floods all over the world that laid down the sediment that formed the sedimentary layers. Personally I find this hard to swallow for a number of reasons.
Rivers flow downwards and so the sediment they deposit is formed at the mouth of the river. However the area from which the rivers flowed is also covered with sedimentary rock. As rivers cannot flow uphill, it becomes necessary to invent an uplift of the land so the river can flow back to the land that it came from so as to deposit the sediment in that area. Now can you imagine the earth's surface seesawing up and down all over the earth to back up this theory, How much simpler to accept the global flood of Noah's day as the cause for the fact that sedimentary rock is found all over the world. The enormous thickness of the strata layers is another reason for my scepticism. Consider the enormous thickness of a rock layer that contains a large fossil dinosaur. I question whether local floods can lay down such a large quantity of sediment. Furthermore these vast upheavals that evolutionary geologists propose are only in the imagination of the geologist. They believe that these upheavals occurred because it is necessary to uphold the theory. Judge for yourself. Is it true science to create a rule of interpretation to suit oneself? Because we have not seen a global flood occurring at present, that is surely not reason to say that it never happened before. For that matter neither do we see fossils being formed today. At any rate this philosophy is what opened the door to the acceptance of the evolution theory. Evolution needs millions of years to explain why we do not see animals evolving into something else today. The excuse is because it happens too slowly to be observed. So what we are being told is that something that we cannot see for ourselves actually happened, and is still happening, but because it happens so slowly we cannot see it happening. My question is this:- Why should I believe the evolutionist when he tells me this story? Where is the physical evidence of its happening? Surely this is the literal fulfilment of the story of the little tailor and the emperor. According to the story the emperor wanted a special suit of clothes made by the tailor. The tailor was afraid that he could not fulfil the emperor's claim to have something special so he fabricated the story that the material used was special and could only be seen by intelligent people. Everybody went along with the hoax until a little child said "mommy the emperor has no clothes on"
Evolutionary Alternatives
The only explanation that an evolutionist can muster as an alternative to the many local floods theory is the idea that the strata forms slowly by the gradual effects of the forces of nature. My objection is what happened to the forces of erosion while the strata layer was forming?. Surely a slow formation of the strata and the force of erosion cancel out each other. Furthermore could a dinosaur carcass lie about for the millions of years required to gradually form the strata layer. Common sense tells me that these theories will just not work.
Evolution's Evidence
If I ask for proof of the theory I am then shown similarities in the skeleton construction of animals as proof that the one evolved into one another. But think of it. Is that actual proof or merely just another theory? In human experience there are many similarities in constructions all around us and they are all the product of intelligent design. Why should God's creation be any different? We are intelligent and yet we use similar proven methods to construct our own creations. We could line these creations in a sequence but would this prove that the one evolved into the other? No! Then why is it that the majority of mankind have fallen so easily to this imaginative story?. Using my own life experience I have concluded that it is the failure of the religions of this world to teach their flocks a reasonable and coherent explanation of how the Bible was written and also a reasonable coherent explanation of what the Bible actually teaches. The many unreasonable teachings have caused doubt regarding the existence and reality of God and the truthfulness of his word. This vacuum has provided the ideal climate for the evolution doctrine. What was the cure in my case? I began to question the theory of evolution and looked for its evidence while gaining a more accurate understanding of the Bible, and the way it harmonized with true science. If you require evidence of the Bible harmonizing with science check "Is the Bible's creation account scientific?" and other articles on my site.
Publishing Theory as Fact
Although the theory of evolution is just an imaginative story of how life could have evolved, and has not yet been proven to be true, no matter where you look it is being taught as established fact. Even business men when giving talks and commentators, commenting on imaginative TV documentaries manage to sound knowledgeable and very scientific when they bandy expressions that seem to indicate that they personally know how these animals lived and behaved millions of years ago. Therefore we are going to look at how they arrived at these conclusions.
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The Real Story
Some people think that scientists use radioactive dating to date the fossils. The facts show that radioactive dating methods for dating organic material only clock dates for thousands of years and not millions of years. Furthermore the exact age of the samples have to be used to calibrate the radioactive clock. No samples are available for which the dates are known for creatures like the dinosaurs so any dating is just speculative. Some use radioactive minerals that may be found in the rock as proof of the age of the rock. This is not so. The mineral can already be very old before it is picked up and deposited in the rock. The mineral is dated and not the rock. So how then do they arrive at their dates of millions of years? The following quotations show how it is done
T he identification of strata by the fossils they contained, pioneered by William Smith, Georges Curvier, Jean domains d'Halloy and Alexandre Brogniart in the early 19th century, enabled geologists to divide Earth history more precisely . It also enabled them to correlate strata across national (or even continental) boundaries. If two strata (however distant in space or different in composition) contained the same fossil s, chances were good that they had been laid down at the same time . Detailed studies between 1820 and 1850 of the strata and fossils of Europe produced the sequence of geological periods still used today. (wikipedia)
Notice that the table was created before much was known about radioactive materials.
In the Book "Stratigraphy" by D.T. Donovan, on page 28 in the chapter entitled " "Correlation by Fossils," we are told; "Smith's discovery that each formation is characterized by distinctive fossils are an empirical one. Moreover, stated in this form, it is of limited usefulness. It was soon realized, however, that fossils could be used as indicators of age irrespective of the rock-type in which they were found. "
So if the fossil dates the strata, then we are back to square one. How did they date the fossils?
It appears that they artificially arranged the fossils in a sequence that they imagined evolution worked and estimated the age of the selected fossils that they were going to use to date the strata. These fossils were named index fossils. Of course they had to assume that these fossils were only present at one time in earth's history. This assumption is incorrect because with the modern discovery of what was once regarded as an extinct fish, the coelacanth, alive and still swimming around today, these kind of assumptions are shown to be false.
The Geological Table
The next step was easy. Wherever the index fossil was found in a rock layer, that rock layer was assigned the imaginary date supplied by the evolutionist and given a fancy name. In this way, the Geological Table came into existence and was printed in textbooks.
So whenever a fossil is found, the layer that it was found in is checked with the geological table and the fossil dated accordingly. Of course the geologist does not question the result because he believes in evolution or else he may not even be aware of how the dates were arrived at.
The Global Flood
If we accept the Global flood as a reality the situation changes. Remember it is not only the Bible that speaks of a global flood, According so some authorities I have read there are over 70 different legends from all around the Globe that clam that a flood destroyed all mankind in the past, except for a few individuals that survived. What is significant is that as a legend this destruction could have been by volcanic action, drought, disease, or any other reason however they all refer to a flood. Surely this is circumstantial evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible narrative especially when it is supported by the presence of the fossil record itself. Is it any wonder that the early geologists accepted the flood as a reasonable explanation. The evolution theory is only a recent invention and has been formed with the express purpose of destroying people's faith in God and the Bible.
According to the Bible record the flood occurred about 2370 B.C.E.. This would mean that the fossils are only about 4000 years old and not millions of years as many believe. As the Global flood is a serious obstacle to the evolution theory it has to be demolished at all costs. It is the scientific label that gives evolution its authority. However with a little thought it becomes apparent that that is no authority at all. All of the advancements of science lies in the realm of engineering and electronics.
Evolution is merely a belief. Scientist doing similar work may or may not be evolutionists. Belief in evolution does not really affect their chosen field. That is why there are many creation scientists who believe in creation. Their religious explanations may not be correct because they merely reflect their church teachings but their scientific world is excellent.
The problem is that the popular media is supporting the evolutionists and publicizing everything they say and do whereas the work of creation scientists is given very little publicity. Interestingly the bible shows that the media would assist in gathering the people into opposition to God.
(Revelation 16:13-14) 13 And I saw three unclean inspired expressions [that looked] like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demon s and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty .
Without going into a detailed explanation of the various symbols, it should be noted that it is propaganda that gather the nations into opposition to God .
God's Point of View
If you were our creator how would you feel when you heard the intelligent people of our world ascribing the wisdom of your creative activity to a mindless force like chance? Would you not be angry? Is it any wonder that God is going to prove once and for all time that he is the source of all these creations. How? When God took the Israelites out of Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. the Egyptians believed in many false Gods. These Gods controlled various aspects of the world according to the beliefs of their worshipers. The ten plagues that Jehovah sent against Egypt were all aimed at the sections of nature that these Gods were said to control. This exposed all these Gods as impotent and unable to support their worshipers. We can be sure that likewise, Jehovah God will expose this false God "Nature" that evolution pays homage to by methods that we can only imagine. One way could be the revealing of himself as the author of the Bible by fulfilling all its prophecies relating to our time. Evolution considers the mankind is evolving upwards. However the evidence is rapidly accumulating that shows that mankind is degenerating. In spite of the evolutionary claims, consider the rises in crime and immorality, These facts provide evidence that humans are not evolving upward, are becoming more animalistic. The bible puts it like this:-
(2 Peter 2:12-13) 1 2 But these [men], like unreasoning animals born naturally to be caught and destroyed, will, in the things of which they are ignorant and speak abusively, even suffer destruction in their own [course of] destruction, 13 wronging themselves as a reward for wrongdoing.. . .
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The Final Answer
Our examination of the facts have shown that the millions of years put forth as the age of the dinosaurs are just in the imagination of the evolutionists. The scientific evidence together with the Bible indicates that the dinosaurs come from an age before the global flood that can be dated as being no more than about 4000 years ago. So in answer to the question "Are dinosaurs really millions of years old? " The answer is no! They are probably no more than about 4000 years old. If you still have doubts regarding the subject then I suggest that you make good use of my site "Face the Facts" because I have discussed many more scientific arguments exposing evolution and proving that the Bible is accurate and true and the Jehovah God should be honored because he is the creator of all things.
contact email is info@facethefacts.co.za
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