Israel Wayne #fundie

Israel Wayne #fundie christianworldviewnetwork.com

Let's say that you are with a team digging for dinosaur bones in Alaska. You come across some fossilized remains of a duck-billed dinosaur laying in a certain rock strata. An evolutionist on the team says, "Ah! This dinosaur is from the beginning of the Triassic period! That means this dinosaur is about 858 million years old!"

"How do you know?" you ask.

"Oh that's easy, you can tell from the rock layers. You date the fossil by the surrounding strata."

You turn to a creationist who is also part of the team and ask him for a second opinion.

"I'd say this dinosaur is less than 4,500 old and was probably buried during or shortly after the flood of Noah's day."

You scratch your head. "How can your assessment be so contrary to your evolutionary colleague?"

"Well, he is using General Revelation, and interpreting it through his worldview, which excludes Special Revelation, but I am using a mix of both observable facts and the recorded history of Someone who was around in the beginning. Namely...God."

54 comments

old comment by David B.

Fortunately your team also includes a radiometrist, who says, "Regardless of what fossils were found in it, the Potassium-40/Argon-40 ratio the rock is 845 to 855 million years old. So unless there is any evidence that the fossil is a later inclusion in the rock matrix, the evolutionist would appear to be correct."

You turn to the creationist, who immediately starts blustering about how physicists "weren't there" and "can only assume" that radioactive decay rates are constant.

"But then why would the radiometrist's figure agree with the evolutionists? Not just here, but everywhere? Surely, there comes a point when you have to stop pretending it's just coincidence and start looking for a rational explanation of the agreement?"

"But I have a rational explanation," says the creationist, "God made it that way!"

"Why?" you ask.

"One cannot comprehend the ways of God. And it is better not to ask the question in case it angers him." the creationist answers, tries to look wise.

At which point you, the evolutionist and the radiometrist go back to excavating the dinosaur fossil. And the creationist gets all whiny and convinces an ex-gameshow host to make a film about how you are responsible for his losing his job and the Holocaust.

“Let's say that you are with a team digging for dinosaur bones in Alaska. You come across some fossilized remains of a duck-billed dinosaur laying in a certain rock strata. An evolutionist on the team says, "Ah! This dinosaur is from the beginning of the Triassic period!”
Would he really say that definitively?
Or would he say “This fossil LOOKS like a hadrosaur. They’re typically found in the jackassic period. We should expect the strata to be dated to 90 million years.”??

“"How do you know?" you ask.”
Huh? How the hell did i get on a fossil hunt without knowing how they date fossils?

“"Oh that's easy, you can tell from the rock layers. You date the fossil by the surrounding strata."
I know that and I am nowhere near having a degree in paleontology.

“You turn to a creationist who is also part of the team and ask him for a second opinion.”
Why in the fuck would i ask a creationist’s opinion? He won’t tell me anything that doesn’t match his understanding of Genesis.
Why are they even on the fucking expedition?

“"I'd say this dinosaur is less than 4,500 old and was probably buried during or shortly after the flood of Noah's day."”
See? Who gives a fuck what the creationist says?

“You scratch your head. "How can your assessment be so contrary to your evolutionary colleague?"”
THey value the conclusion more than the evidence.

“"Well, he is using General Revelation, and interpreting it through his worldview, which excludes Special Revelation, but I am using a mix of both observable facts and the recorded history of Someone who was around in the beginning. Namely...God."”
No, you lying sack of shit. You work backwards from the text you cherish to the facts you’ll allow. You’re NOT using observation. And the scientists are NOT using anything like revelation.
Various dating methods all produce similar results consistently. so consistently that we’ve identified ‘index fossils’ that have always always always been found at a specific strata. But that’s just a good starting point, we’ll still look for a chance to verify it. Either it matches, and the assumption becomes that much more useful, or it doesn’t match, and we’ll know something we didn’t know yesterday.

I also like how you give the cretin the final word, with no chance for the actual scientist to try to rebut him. Naughty, naughty.