1-14-07
Our visit to Idabel’s Museum of the Red River to see the dinosaur was exciting, but there was one hitch – the teachings of the tour guide.
Don’t get me wrong, she was very polite and she knew all about the exhibits, especially the dinosaur exhibit. But she believed in, and taught as fact, the wild theory of evolution.
Meet “Fran” the Dinosaur
The dinosaur on exhibit is nicknamed “Fran”. She is an Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, “acro” for short.
According to the “fact” sheet distributed by the museum, “Fran” is 125-110 million years old. She was found by amateur paleontologists Cephis Hall and Sid Love. They spent three years (1983-1985) recovering “Fran” from “a dense, grey mud layer, about twelve feet below the surface. They recovered over 50% of the original dinosaur’s skeleton”. The amazing thing about this fossil is the skull, which includes 67 teeth – an unusual occurrence.
A cast mold of the skull rests on a table at the museum for all to see, as well as a full reconstruction of the dinosaur. When my one year old son saw the full replica he looked amazed at its sheer size – over 40 feet long!
A Conversation with the Tour Guide
My family ventured into the room with “Fran”, and the friendly tour guide soon followed. She began talking about the dinosaur, and the information she gave was straight from the evolutionary, anti-religion, anti-God playbook, which wasn’t too surprising, although one hopes to hear at least a little respect for the Bible in a small “hometown” museum. Allow me to explain.
As she began explaining “Fran’s” age, it was obvious she agreed with the age given to the dinosaurs by atheistic scientists. She stated as fact that “Fran” lived about 40 million years before the famous T. Rex appeared on the earth. She kindly pointed out the large time-line on the wall, which named the various ages of the earth such as the Jurassic period (remember the movie Jurassic Park?), during which the T.Rex is said to have lived, and the Early to Mid-Cretaceous Period, during which “Fran” lived, and noted the time difference in the two.
Some Unanswered Questions
After our guide finished her speech on the age of the dinosaurs, this writer asked if she had ever considered the evidence for dinosaurs and humans living together. In her response, she told of her extensive reading about fossils and the age of the dinosaurs, and how it is “not possible” that humans lived with dinosaurs – she didn’t answer my question. She proceeded to explain that dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago, and that humans didn’t appear until around 50,000 years ago – with no evidence offered for her beliefs. Our friend also stated, “…it’s pretty much a proven fact that people and dinosaurs didn’t live together”. We beg to differ.
What about the dinosaur drawings made by American Indians in the Hava Supai section of the Grand Canyon, which were discovered in 1924 by Samuel Hubbard? What about the ancient Inca Burial Stones (ca. AD 500 – 1500) with perfect depictions of dinosaurs carved on them? These old artists could not have drawn dinosaurs unless they saw them, or had someone describe the dinosaurs to them. (see Lyons and Butt, 2004 or apologeticspress.org). Remember, dinosaur fossils were not “discovered” until the 1800’s, and our modern depictions of dinosaurs came after that.
Atheistic scientists may reject the evidence, but the Bible is right when it says that God created man and animals (even dinosaurs) on day six of creation (Gen. 1:24-26; Ex. 20:11), about 6,000 years ago.
J.M. Gilbert, Jr.
www.dekalbchurchofchrist.com
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