Biblical Interpretaton Attempted

The ChristianCourier.com web site contains the statement, "Jesus affirmed that mankind has existed 'from the beginning of the creation' (Mk. 10:6); this certainly excludes the notion that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years before man appeared upon the planet."

This so-called affirmation of dinosaurs co-existing with mankind by Jesus in Chapter 10, Verse 6, of St Mark's gospel was not about mankind and dinosaurs as the Web site claims, rather it dealt with Jesus's teachings about divorce. Jesus said, "But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female." Because of the definitive article, the, that is used in the reference to creation, one must assume that the science book used by Jesus for his education was the Holy Scriptures, particularly the book of Genesis. Jesus's statement about the creation proves that he knew of the biblical story of the creation and that accepted it as an explanation of how there came to be two sexes. In the time of Jesus, evolution was as much a fact as it is today. Jesus and everyone else in his time were simply unaware of evolution. Mark 10:6 does not exclude anything regarding the age of dinosaurs. The fossil record establishes the extinction of dinosaurs millions of years before the evolution of mankind.

Actually, Mark 10:6 possibly excludes the divinity of Jesus. If Jesus is one with an all-knowing, omniscient god, he would have been aware of the role of evolution in the development of sexuality. It is possible, of course, that Jesus was aware of evolution, but chose not to reveal it, because people would be confused by facts too modern for their understanding, and that would have hurt Jesus's credibility. Jesus was by his science education (which was almost none, I would guess) not ahead of his time.

I expect that had dinosaurs and mankind lived at the same time, the bible would have been full of stories about these remarkable creatures, for example: how a Hebrew tribe was devoured and passed into oblivion; how the walls of Jericho and other settlements were built to withstand their carnivorous foraging; how the meat from dinosaurs was unclean, because it was corrupted by the people dinosaurs ate; etc. And, I am sure that the bible would have had many names for dinosaurs besides behemoth, leviathan and dragon because of the great variety of these beasts. Yes, dinosaurs and mankind together would have been a story too big not to tell it in the bible.

The last words of the 'Dinosaurs and the Bible" page in the ChristianCourier Web site sums it up, thusly, "Those who accept the testimony of the Bible are confident that men and dinosaurs did occupy the ancient earth at the same time. We are not dependent upon modern discoveries to confirm that for us. However, when clear evidence does come to light, we should not hesitate to accept it." Yeah, right. If you believe that, you'll believe anything, even dinosaurs and man living on earth at the same time.

Powell Gardens

Friday was a good day for a 40-plus mile trip on US Highway 50 from KC to an arboretum just over the Jackson County line in a rural setting. Powell Gardens is primarily financed by a private foundation with some assistance from other foundation and corporate donors. It is well done. Plant species are identified. Unique settings are crafted, i.e., a large water garden and "Living Wall". The price of admission is nominal. I recommend visiting, although the display of flora could use a larger variety of trees.

The Gardens is featuring until October a "Jurassic Park" exhibit of dinosaurs, life-size replicas of these prehistoric creatures placed here and there amidst the flora. There are interpretive plaques sponsored by the soon to be extinct Aquila that explain the geologic history, scientific concepts and each species of dinosaur exhibited. The only out-of-place representation on these plaques was a small cartoon logo of a Flintstones-like character leading a smiling Dino-like creature by a leash. What was this? It undermined the science that was show-cased by the plaques and exhibits, giving impressionable young minds the idea that humans and dinosaurs co-existed. Could it have been a salve for the fundamentalist Christians who might view the exhibits, skip the text of the plaques and affirm their wacky biblical interpretations of man co-existing with dinosaurs from the sixth day of Creation? I think Powell Gardens has some explaining to do, because with this cartoon logo they trashed their own exhibit.

Googling Dinosaurs and the Bible

Using Google's advanced search feature, I entered 'dinosaur and bible' in the "all the words" category and found these Web sites:

Dinosaurs and the Bible
Clarifying Christianity
Christian Answers
Bible.CA
Christian Courier

I also learned that a book had been written on the subject: The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible, by Paul S. Taylor. I haven't read the book, but I'll bet that the above Web sites lean on it heavily for their material.

What does all this tell us? I believe it indicates that there are some certifiable loonies posing as Christians. I will follow up on this later, after I print the claims of these bizarre Web pages and compare them. After all, if they have the truth and nothing but the whole truth as revealed by Holy Scripture, they should be in perfect agreement. Right? Well, not necessarily, since it's possible that some may have information that others don't. But, at least, they should be in general agreement and not contradict each other. We'll see.

Flood Protection

Floods have wrecked havoc with Kansas communities this past couple of weeks. The focus is now on aiding those whose homes and businesses have been damaged, and rightfully so. When the water recedes and the clean-up is done and things start to gravitate towards normality, the attention of state and local officials needs to re-focus on preventing future flood disasters. I will venture that the flood water that did the damage has attained that harmful level before. Any place that flood protection works are feasible, they should be constructed. Where they are not feasible, due to cost-benefit analysis, structures should be relocated to ground that will not be subject to flooding. In the later case, that includes residences, mobile home courts, and farm houses. Farm buildings and similar uses in flood-prone areas should be flood-proofed, a technique that is fully developed. To suffer flooding once is unfortunate. For property to remain exposed to the potential of flooding and suffer flooding a second time is inexcusable. Our resources should be directed to prevention, so the costs of restoration and lost opportunities can be avoided or minimized. The communities that were hit by flooding need to start work now while the need is evident to protect themselves from future calamities.