It’s a small thing, but it’s representative of the bizarre pseudoscience in the world of the Creation “Museum”. There was a room with a small collection of dinosaur models and skeleton casts, and they each had little panels describing the specimen…just like a real museum! Then you read them, and the weirdness sinks in.
Notice that “Diet” specifies “after the Fall” — that’s because everything was a vegetarian before Adam and Eve ate the apple, since there was no death anywhere in the universe (which implies, apparently, that in their version of Christian theology, plants are dead). That’s not the weirdest thing, though.
No, the part that I found most amusing is the date. This is a Jurassic ceratosaur, so it says that this is from the Jurassic (~2348 BC). There were other specimens from other geological eras, and they would say “Upper Cretaceous (~2348 BC)” and “Lower Cretaceous (~2348 BC)”. I’m sure that if they had some Cambrian specimens there, they would have also said “(~2348 BC)”.
Why does the geology even matter to them if they’re just going to ignore it all and compress everything into one year, a year given with such remarkable specificity?
Even if you don’t care about the geology, what about the history? All but 7 people are exterminated in 2348 BC, by their accounting, yet we know that in that century, we have the establishment of the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, the sixth dynasty in Egypt, the founding of major cities in the Indus valley and Korea…we have archaeological and historical records that show business as usual, with no one noting a massive annihilation of the human race.
The whole “museum” is like that — it’s a succession of assertions that flout the evidence, but does so in a style that is simply parroted from legitimate museums. Substance is completely lacking.
The simple thing to remember when debating Religion is that these beliefs originated in primitive times. Times when people were as sure that the earth was flat and that a stomach ache was caused by a Goblin in the belly as they were of the existence of God.
Today we all know that the earth is not flat. I’m pretty sure everyone can agree on that. Also, that no one has any Goblins in their bellies.
The difference?
We have tangible evidence to disprove Belly Goblins and Flat planets. You can’t disprove a thing that doesn’t exist. It’s a losing battle. You can throw all the hard facts, provable history, rational thought and common sense at them you want. You can measure out the Arc according to the provided dimensions and show that it could not possibly have held two each of approximately 4500 mammal, 4600 amphibian, 6000 reptile, 9000 bird, and 750 000 insect species.
You can ask them to explain what the carnivores ate on the 3 month journey, or the herbivores for that matter.
You can ask them to imagine a couple of Raccoons swimming home across the Atlantic after the Arc came to rest atop Mt. Ararat in Turkey. Or how they got to the Arc in the first place.
How anyone knew the flood was global when the existence of at least 3 major continents would not be known to that part of the world for another 4 thousand, or so, years.
Or, why the Egyptians didn’t make note of even a mild swelling of the Nile while they were recording everything else about their culture, civilization and history.
You just can’t win when you say – if all of these things, all of these fundamental parts of the book of Genesis are obviously wrong or at the very least DRASTICALLY exaggerated, isn’t it at least POSSIBLE that the rest of it might be as well?
That it just MIGHT be a holdover from a time when superstition was a serious part of daily life? When people had only speculation to explain what they saw in the world around them?
When those in power had only the fear of “divine” retribution and eternal torment to prevent the masses from killing them and each other?
You can try to explain that the belief in a God is the last remaining leftover belief from those times. That it has survived through our governments and societies that were born from the structures of those ancient governments and societies that existed in those primitive times.
That it is the only belief from those times that hasn’t been proven to be true or disproved, because it can’t be.
You can say all these things, but it doesn’t do a lick of good when all they have to do is respond “Because God made it so.”
It’s like someone giving you an empty plate and saying “There’s an Orange on this plate.” You look on the plate, there’s nothing there. It’s an empty plate. You tell them the plate is empty. You turn the plate over and shake it. You throw the plate on the floor and kick it around a little. You pick it back up and show them, there’s nothing on the plate. They reply “No, it’s not empty. You just can’t see it because you don’t believe it’s there.”
So, in conclusion I’d just like to point out that when trying to explain reality to someone who isn’t interested in seeing reality is about the same as talking to a wall with the words “God did it” written on it. (Hmm, that could make an interesting installation piece)
…and oh yeah, Quake them Boobs.