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Creationist perspectives on dinosaurs

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Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that first appeared on Earth approximately 230 million years ago, according to the scientific analysis of the global fossil record and data obtained through methods such as radiometric dating. Scientific evidence also shows that at the end of the Cretaceous Period, 65 million years ago, a catastrophic event caused the extinction of numerous dinosaur species, such as the famous giant Sauropods.

Groups that believe in an inerrant interpretation of religious scripture may propose different interpretations of natural history, and thus of dinosaurs, in order to align the observable natural world more closely with their reading of sacred texts. Some religious groups state that evolution conflicts with their interpretation of sacred texts. Biblical literalists, for example, believe that the Earth was created only 6 to 10 thousand years ago and that all original kinds (of living things) were created by God within six days, in a form similar to their present one.

The taxon Dinosauria was formally named in 1842 by the eminent anatomist Richard Owen, whose strong opposition to ideas current at that time of transmutation of species made him what some then called a creationist, though his proposed explanation of change as a series of sudden divine interventions did a great deal to make evolution acceptable in orthodox British science.

Introduction

The origin of fossil animals was a subject of speculation in antiquity. Xenophanes (570 – 480 BC), who posited a single deity that energized the world, described the belief that fossils indicated periodic flooding by the sea that wiped out mankind in the process and proposed that the evidence of such fossils indicated a different distribution of sea and land in ages past. The French philosopher Voltaire suggested that fossil fish on mountain peaks were the remains of rotten fish dropped by pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. It has been argued that the giant and hybrid creatures that populated the myths of antiquity, and formed in part the religious beliefs of the Greeks and Romans, have as their origin the fossil remains of ancient animals. This theory proposes that the discovery of fossil bone collections in antiquity, containing the remains of more than one creature, led the ancients to believe that they formed the skeleton of hybrid animals such as the Griffin and the Minotaur. Since it was self-evident that these creatures no longer existed, it led the ancients to believe that life was not fixed and that species could indeed become extinct. It is argued that the conventional interpretation of Aristotle's works on the fixity of the species, an idea that found support in Christianity, is based on a limited reading of his works. Claims have also been made that dragon myths, which form part of many cultures' religious beliefs, have their roots in dinosaur fossils.

However, the belief that fossils were the remains of extinct animals was by no means universal in early historic times. An influential position, held by neoplatonists, saw the whole of the cosmos being held in related affinities that was expressed in strong similarities between living and non-living objects. The force that gave shape and life to the animate also shaped and molded "likenesses in the earth", i.e fossils. This belief found support with Christians who saw in the theory a means to deal with apparent contradictions in the biblical account of creation.

Early Christian observers were Tertullian (ca. 155–230 AD), who in recognising their organic origin saw evidence of the flood, and Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 275 – May 30, 339 AD). Little attention appears to have been paid to the phenomena in in the Middle ages, the general opinion being that they were manifestations of the earth's creative force. Later Albert Magus and Leonardo Da Vinci held views that would in part be compatible to modern scientific interpretations. Conrad Gessner published the first engravings of fossils in 1565. The organic origin of fossils was maintained by Robert Hook and John Ray in the 17th century. The consensus during this period, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer being a prominent proponent, was that the evidence of fossils supported the biblical account of the flood. In time modern measurement techniques would result in fossils being used as evidence against a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation in contrast to their use from the time of the early church fathers as proof of the flood.

Many religious bodies have offered explanations that attempt to reconcile the conflict between their religion's dating of the earth and the dating of dinosaur fossils. Other religious groups have found no conflict between traditional religious beliefs and modern scientific timelines, seeing the latter as adding a further dimension to the former, without contradicting the belief of "God as Creator".

Christianity

Dinosaurs were discovered at a time of lively debate between those, such as Lamarck, who explained discoveries of diversity in nature by a process of transmutation of species determined by unifying general laws established by the deity, and those who followed Georges Cuvier who insisted that species were unchangeable but that a series of catastrophes followed by new creations explained the fossil record, supporting traditional ideas of permanent separation and subordination in a natural order such as the great chain of being. The eminent anatomist Richard Owen who formally named the taxon Dinosauria in 1842 strongly supported Cuvier's ideas, but in 1841 he had synthesised a view which saw an ascending evolutionary process as expressing divine will with no gradual transformations, but rather sudden changes producing new ideal archetypes. In 1837 Owen's revelations about the fossils collected on the Beagle expedition by Charles Darwin had contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory, and Darwin privately called those opposing transmutation creationists. However, Owen's more complex explanation of change attempted to reconcile the opposing views, and did a great deal to make evolution acceptable in orthodox British science.

Biblical Inerrancy

Some Christians, mainly evangelical and fundamentalist, seek to maintain an inerrant and literal interpretation of scriptures, and believe that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Old Testament, regarding this as evidence that the animals were still alive during early human history, thereby contradicting scientific teaching that dinosaurs pre-dated humankind. The significance of this issue has its roots in a biblical interpretation of the fall of man that results in sin bringing death into the world, not just for mankind but for all creatures. This would be contradicted if whole species came and went, as fossil evidence suggests, long before man appeared.

As it is a modern coinage derived from Greek, the Bible does not use the word "dinosaur", but the Hebrew word tanniyn (/tan·ˈnin/) has been interpreted as referring to them by some Christians.In English translations, tanniyn may be translated as “sea monster” or “serpent”, but it is usually translated as “dragon”. These creatures are mentioned nearly thirty times in the Old Testament and are found both on land and in the water. At another point, the Bible describes a huge creature called a "behemoth" (Job 40:15-24) that "moves his tail like a cedar"; the behemoth is described as ranking "first among the works of God" and as impossible to capture (vs. 24). Some Biblical scholars identify the behemoth as either an elephant a hippopotamus or a bull, but these animals have very thin tails that are not comparable to a cedar tree. Some creationists therefore identify the behemoth with dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus. Some critics contend that the word "tail" is a euphemism for the animal's penis, and that the passage should be understood as describing its virility.

The Leviathan is another creature referred to in the Bible's Old Testament; it is described as having a variety of dinosaur, dragon, and water-serpent-like characteristics. Some scholars identify the Leviathan in Job c. 41 with the crocodile, or point out that it has seven heads and is purely mythical. Some Bible readers, however, have tried to connect the creature with the dinosaurs.

Young Earth creationism is another position based on a literal interpretation of scripture accounts. Young Earth creationists believe that the Earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Based on this assumption, they argue that the scientific dating of dinosaur fossils must be flawed. They advance the alternate explanation that most dinosaur fossils date from the Noachian flood, and argue that humans and dinosaurs must have coexisted. Some Young Earth creationists contend that dinosaurs were present on board Noah's Ark, but became extinct because of the Flood or soon after the flood. This belief is demonstrated at the newly opened Creation Museum where life-sized dinosaur models, over 80 of them animatronic, are shown in the Garden of Eden, side-by-side with humans. In one exhibit, a model Triceratops is shown wearing a saddle and another, along with a Stegosaurus, is shown aboard a scale model of Noah's Ark.

One view proposed by some is that the serpent in the Garden of Eden may have actually been a dinosaur. The serpent was cursed to "crawl on its belly." This curse, according to this view, is the reason of the extinction of the dinosaurs and the now prevalent modern day reptiles. Some young earth creationists point out that, according to Christian interpretation, God was speaking to the Devil when he cursed the serpent, not an ordinary snake. Some Young Earth creationists claim that dinosaurs survived in Australia, and that Aboriginal legends of reptilian monsters are evidence of this.

Some Christians who also adopt a literalist position with regard to the Bible believe the Earth was created "with age"; in the same way that Adam was created as a fully grown being, God created the Earth as a fully-developed planet (Omphalos). In this view, Earth was called into being in an already ancient state, with the geological formations, oil deposits, fossils, etc, also known as Ex nihilo. Some religious critics contend that this view is blasphemous as it implies that God is deceitful. See also Last Thursdayism.

References

  1. ^ Johnston, Ian (1999). "Section Three: The Origins of Evolutionary Theory". . . . And Still We Evolve, A Handbook on the History of Modern Science. Liberal Studies Department, Malaspina University College. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  2. Desmond, Adrian (1975). "The Discovery of Marine Transgressions and the Explanation of Fossils in Antiquity". American Journal of Science. 275: 692–707.
  3. “…in the mountains are found shells and in Syracuse in stone quarries are found the imprints of fish and seals (…) and on Malta impressions of fish of every sort”
  4. Mayor, Adrienne (2001). The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton University. ISBN 0691089779.
  5. "Mythological Creatures and Dinosaurs". Illinois State Geological Survey. 2000. Retrieved 2007-03-14. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Unknown parameter |Last= ignored (|last= suggested) (help)
  6. Bowler, Peter J (1992). The Fontana History of the Environmental Sciences. Fontana. ISBN 0006861849.
  7. "The History of Fossils". 2003. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  8. Ante-Nicene Fathers:10 Volumes. Hendrickson Publishers. 1994. p. Volume 4, The Pallium. ISBN 978-1565630826. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help) Yes, and the whole earth was changed once, being covered by all the waters. To this day, sea conchs and triton's shells are found as strangers on the mountains, desiring to prove to Plato that the heights have once flowed with water
  9. A noteworthy exception is the Italian monk Restoro d'Arezzo who wrote "For we have picked up and excavated near the top of a very high mountain, quantities of shells of those fishes which we call cockles or mussels, similar to those which painters use to hold their colors. And in that place they are found mixed with sand, and with round stones among them, both large and small, as if they came from rivers; and this is a sign that that mountain was made by the Deluge."
  10. He did not see in the fossil records evidence for a world wide flood since "if the shells had been carried by the muddy deluge they would have been mixed up, and separated from each other amidst the mud, and not in regular steps and layers -- as we see them now in our time." See also the Leicester Codex article.
  11. "Medieval and Renaissance Concepts of Evolution and Paleontology". 1997. Retrieved 2007-03-14. Scheuchzer argued that the fossil tree cones he had found being ""tender, young, vernal" suggested that the biblical flood had happened in the month of May.
  12. The English naturalist John Woodward summed up the orthodox view on fossils during this period in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth that it "Vindicates, supports and maintains the Mosaick Account of things, as exactly agreeable to the Phaenomena of Nature."
  13. Waagen, Lukas (1911). "Catholic Encyclopedia: Palaeontology". Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  14. "Soc.Culture.Jewish Newsgroups FAQ-Does modern science (e.g., "big bang" theory, evolution, the age of the world) contradict traditional readings of the Torah?". 2003. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  15. Nanda, Meera (December 20, 2003 - January 02, 2004). "Postmodernism, Hindu nationalism and `Vedic science'". Frontline. 20. Retrieved 2007-03-14. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. "Are Dinosaurs Mentioned in the Bible?". Institute for Biblical & Scientific Studies. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  17. Batten, Don; et al. "What happened to the dinosaurs?". Retrieved 2007-03-14. {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)
  18. The term was first used by Robert Owen in 1842
  19. ^ "Dinosaurs and the Bible". Clarifying Christianity'. 2005. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  20. Pennock, Robert T. (2000). Tower of Babel: the evidence against the new creationism. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-66165-9.
  21. "CH711: Behemoth a Dinosaur". Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  22. "Claim CH711.1: Leviathan as a dinosaur". the TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  23. Michael Matthews. "If dinosaurs could talk". from Answers in Genesis. Accessed May 26, 2007.
  24. Jim DeBrosse. "Creationist display creating controversy". Dayton Daily News. May 26, 2007
  25. Mike Rutledge. "Creation leader thanks critics". The (Cincinnati) Enquirer. May 26, 2007.
  26. Driver, Rebecca. "Australia's Aborigines ... did they see dinosaurs?". Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  27. Worrad, Jr., Lewis H (1977). "God does not deceive Man". Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal. 13.

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