In a recent thread, there was discussion about Dinosaurs and their involvement in the Bible. I submitted that there was a substantial body of evidence to support human/dinosaur coexistence, provided links to said evidence, and was not substantially countered. There are numerous secular sources that will argue for the existence of "dinosaurs" on increasingly smaller scale into the middle ages.
Further, there doesn't seem to be any good reason to argue that dinosaurs were extinct before humans came around, aside from the "My 4th grade teacher told me so" argument. Given the overwhelming body of evidence and the complete inapplicability of the point, there's no solid reason to dispute it, except the simple reason that disagreeing with Bible believers is a lot of fun. Human/dino coexistence can certainly be consistent with the rest of evolutionary theory.
But, realistically, let's face it -- dinosaurs are theologically insignificant. They don't play any role in any of the fundamental points of the book, so why should they even be mentioned? I'm surprised they even earn a passing reference in Job, quite frankly. If they weren't mentioned at all, it wouldn't bug me in the least. Why _should_ they be mentioned? I mean, seriously -- we get only passing references (relatively speaking) to some of the most major cultures of the time, all the way through the OT. Should we question the validity of a historical document simply because it doesn't provide the level of detail that we desire on some topic? In that case, I choose to refute the historical nature of today's newspaper, because it doesn't discuss the fact that butterflies die when the weather gets cold, a fact that I have personally witnessed.
Quote:
kenikh said:
People need to question much of the swill people feed them as religion.
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Spot on, mate. This
definitely applies to religious teaching everywhere. I meet too many people who claim to carry some belief, but then can't defend it to save their lives. I meet way too many people who apparently attend the church of "I like to feel," because they say that so often. "I like to feel that Paul meant such-and-such when he wrote Corinthians." Well what did Paul
say? ... Of course, the same applies to the religion of evolution, taught in schools everywhere. "My 4th grade teacher told me it was true" is no more valid a defense than "My pastor told me it was true."
There's my other $.02. Next time, we need to talk about the demise of film-based photography so I can wax passionate about the immense detail of a print made from 4x5 negs and the Zone System, and how Ansel Adams is turning in his grave because of people who don't previsualize their pictures.
