This month we have a guest “fact of the month” by Stephanie Brendel. Stephenie is a 16 year old high school sophomore from North Carolina. In her article the sentences that had " " around them were directly quoted from the source. Other sentences followed by a reference are paraphrases or summaries from that source. Here is the article as she completed it. This is excellent work and should encourage all high school students.
Dinosaur Dilemma: Just What Do The Fossils Prove?
By Stephanie Brendel
Did dinosaurs co-exist with humans, or did they live millions of years ago? Did they go on board the ark with Noah, or were they dead long before the Flood? Evolutionists have many theories explaining the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Each theory, however, has an unanswered question or an unsteady idea that contains no proof. The results from the Great Flood theory provide proof to withstand critics. The Great Flood is the Biblical story of Noah. God was displeased with man and the world had become a place of evil. Noah, the only righteous man on Earth, was instructed by God to build a giant ark that would hold a male and female of every kind of animal inside. God was going to send a worldwide flood to destroy all living organisms on Earth. Noah took his wife, his three sons and their wives, and two animals of every kind on board. After forty days and forty nights of downpour, the world was destroyed. Every living organism that was not on board the ark perished (Youth Walk Devotional Bible Genesis 6). When Noah and the animals stepped off the ark, the earth was dramatically changed. The new environment was hard for the animals to adapt to, and as a result, many animals died, among them, the dinosaurs (“Dinosaur Fate” Internet). Genesis is the only reliable witness humans have to find answers concerning the dinosaurs. Through looking at evidence from Genesis, as well as other scientific research, it becomes apparent that dinosaurs were present on the ark and the results of the Flood eventually destroyed them. This theory of dinosaur extinction is the most realistic theory because it offers an elucidation of the dramatic change in climate, it provides an explanation of what happened to other life forms, and it produces an answer for the befuddling fossil positions.
The book of Genesis provides an outlook on the way that dinosaurs lived. In Genesis 1:30, God says, “I give every green plant for food” (Youth Walk Devotional Bible). This verse implies that every living organism was a herbivore. Originally, no animal was killed and eaten by man or other animals. Paul Taylor disagrees with a perspective many humans have concerning the dinosaurs. They “were certainly not vicious or troublesome” (“Dinosaurs: Before…” Internet). Because all living organisms ate plants, dinosaurs did not go around tearing off the arms and legs of animals for food. God also says that everything was “very good” after each day something new was created (Youth Walk Devotional Bible Genesis 1). This verse implies that humans and dinosaurs co-existed. Most everyone will agree that death is bad. If dinosaurs died before humans were created, sin would have entered the world. Also, dinosaurs and man were created on the same day. God plainly says after every day that everything was “very good.” Death is therefore sin, so the dinosaurs could not have died before the existence of humans (Liebert Interview). This explanation supports the fact that dinosaurs were among those animals taken on board the ark. So, as Ken Ham plainly says, “Dinosaurs did not live millions of years ago; they did live beside people; they did go on Noah’s ark; they are mentioned in the Bible; they did live after the Flood” (“Dinosaurmania…” Internet). No longer do scientists have to research this controversial issue; it is already written down in the book of Genesis with the story of the Flood.
First, the dramatic change in climate that many scientists have theorized is a result from the Flood. In Genesis 1:6-8 God created an expanse to separate the waters. “Then he created day and night and after that he divided the waters. Water still covered the earth but there was now an expanse, or firmament, and then another layer” (“Just What do…” 9). Possibly, this expanse was a water canopy whose job was to protect the earth from harmful radiation produced by the sun. If radiation was allowed to have a direct path towards the earth, many living things would die because the temperature would increase. “The earth would thus have had an even, warm climate all over it, with no extreme fluctuations of heat or cold (“Just What do…” 9). The temperature would be moderate throughout the world. All the animals and people were used to this climate, so after the Flood when the climate dramatically changed, the living organisms had trouble adapting to the new atmosphere. The canopy had now been destroyed because of the tremendous rainfall. The large amounts of plants the animals and humans ate were now not so plentiful (“What Happened…” 20). Because every living organism was a herbivore, some animals died because there was very little to eat. When vegetation became scarce, humans and animals had to find other sources for food, so they looked toward each other. God told man that the animals would be food for all humans after the Flood (Youth Walk Devotional Bible Genesis 9). This instruction by God also would have contributed to the death of many animals, including the dinosaurs, during this time. Another consequence of the destruction of the canopy is radiation. Harmful radiation from the sun was not shielded from the earth (“Dinosaur Fate” Internet). Because this radiation was now hitting the earth, the temperature was unpredictable. The dinosaurs were cold-blooded creatures that need a stable environment to survive. An animal that is cold-blooded can not regulate its own body temperature. The changes in the environment would have caused immediate changes in body temperature (“Just What do…Section 5…” Internet). The destruction of the canopy, the loss of vegetation, and the extreme and widespread temperature increases resulting from the Flood all contribute to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Next, unlike many theories, the Flood theory provides an explanation of what happened to other life forms. The dinosaurs were only one part of a mass extinction during this time (Carroll 325). Many species died because of the climate change and the destruction of the Flood. However, how did other life forms survive this dramatic change? Those animals most adapted to aquatic life were the ones who survived in the life after the Flood. Many of the survivors were swimmers. The reptiles that adapted easily to life in water endured throughout the changes the Flood caused. Nothosauria was a group of reptiles that failed to adapt to life in water. “Their limbs were poorly adapted to swimming” (Pinna 213). Those animals that were not used to the abundant water supply resulting from the Flood died. Because of their incomplete adaptation to aquatic life, dinosaurs have been assumed to be land animals (Pinna 213). The poor adaptation to aquatic life was one reason the dinosaurs did not survive. Another reason dinosaurs were among those who died during this period is their high taxonomic diversity (Pinna 212). The dinosaurs, however, were not the only animals that became extinct. Mammals also show extinction during this time (Carroll 328). These animals probably were not used to aquatic life either. Other theories such as the theory that a meteorite struck the earth and destroyed all living organisms do not provide a solution for how some organisms survived (“Extinction of the Dinosaurs” Internet). A meteorite carries an immense amount of iridium. The earth has a small layer of iridium naturally (“Dinosaur Extinction” Internet). If a meteorite did happen to hit Earth, large quantities of iridium would be deep into the ground of the earth because of the tremendous impact. But, the latest dinosaur fossils are found ten feet below the iridium layer in the earth. Tracks are found fifteen inches below the iridium layer, also. This means that dinosaurs were dead long before a meteorite collided with Earth (“Meteors and Mass Extinction…” Internet). However, the Flood theory does explain why some organisms survived the Flood and climate change.
Finally, the fossil positions of many organisms befuddle scientists. The Flood, however, provides an answer to this question as well. Recently, scientists discovered fossils of aquatic life on the tops of mountains (Swofford Internet). How can this be true? Fish should be in oceans, definitely not on top of a mountain. Only a catastrophic event, the Flood, could produce such results (Swofford Internet). There is also sediment on mountaintops. Sediment is rock laid down in water. Three-fourths of Earth is composed of sedimentary rock (“Just What do…”). This statistic implies that the world must have been covered with water at some time. For sediment to be deposited on mountains, the mountains would have been under water. Fossils have also been well preserved. The top parts are just as well preserved as the bottom parts. For this to occur, sediment has to be deposited in a short amount of time (“Just What do…Section 2…” Internet). The Flood is the only example that could cause this rapid burial. Furthermore, the positions of the fossils suggest violent death. One evolutionist described a fossil of a duckbill dinosaur “in a swimming position with the head thrown back as if in death throes” (“Just What do…Section 2…” Internet). There have also been fossils of nonaquatic organisms found in water. “Evolutionists have had to develop elaborate theories to explain why these animals, who are not aquatic, should have died violently in water” (“Just What do…Section 2…” Internet). The Flood, however, provides a logical explanation. Evolutionists have also had problems explaining why thousands of animals died violently at the same time (“Just What do…Section 2…” Internet). Again, the Flood answers the many questions concerning the violent deaths and explains the fossil positions perfectly.
The aftermath of the Flood, along with the Flood itself, is the most logical theory for the destruction of the dinosaurs because it gives an explanation why there was a dramatic climate change, it provides an answer on how other life forms survived, and it produces reasons for the befuddling fossil positions. There is much evidence to support this theory. Ken Ham believes “dinosaurs are used more than any other topic by evolutionists to brainwash our children into accepting evolutionary ideas and rejecting the Bible as God’s inerrant Word” (“Dinosaurmania…” Internet). In other words, evolutionists will try to come up with many theories to disprove the Bible. They do not accept the Bible as the truth and the only witness humans have to really explain what happened to the dinosaurs. They take this hot topic and use it to their advantage, telling children what supposedly is the truth. May the children of today be filled with the one and only truth: God’ s Word and may grasp the reality of the extinction of the dinosaurs.