Comment on Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit by Bob Helm.
@Professor Kent: Dear Professor Kent,
I have been thinking more about your question as to why dinosaurs did not climb into the higher elevations inhabited by mammals during the early stages of the flood, and it occurred to me that this question does not merely pertain to the months when dinosaurs were alive, but seeking shelter from the oncoming flood. The same question also pertains to the extended period of time when dinosaurs and mammals lived in the antediluvian world. What kept them separate then?
Again, I don’t know the fine details of antediluvian geomorphology, but as I think about this issue, I suspect that there were natural barriers that kept dinosaurs and most mammals separate.
Let’s consider an example from our modern world. Modern lion populations occur in Africa and a few places in southern Asia, while modern tiger populations occur strictly in Asia. Why are there no lions in northern or central Asia? Why are there no tigers in Africa? I think the answer is that natural barriers keep the populations of these large cats separate.
Now lion and especially tiger populations have dwindled in recent years, but let’s go back to a time when there were more of these cats in the world – say the year 1800. Suppose a progressive, year long catastrophe had occurred in 1800 and had wiped out all the world’s lions and tigers. Would we find lion fossils in Siberia today? Would we find tiger fossils in Africa today? I doubt it. If lions and tigers had lived for several months in the oncoming catastrophe before perishing, I suspect that they would have sought higher ground. But I doubt that they would have crossed the formidable natural barriers that separate Siberia and Africa.
As I have already stated, I cannot speak with certainty in answering your question, but I suspect that a similar situation prevented the dinosaurs and mammals from mixing, both in the antediluvian world and in the early stages of the flood.
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Bob Helm Also Commented
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Dear Professor Kent,
Two thoughts – although it appears in the NIV, your pluperfect – “the water had gone down” – is really unwarranted, because Hebrew does not have a pluperfect tense. Gen 8:3 in the NASB simply states: “At the end of the one hundred and fifty days, the water decreased.” There is no reason to make it any more complicated than that, and this statement accords perfectly with the idea that the flood crested on the 150th day. By the way, this is not “Bob Helm’s suggestion,” as many expositors hold this position.
Secondly, where in the world did you get the idea that every bird species was on the ark and that those ancient birds had identical diets to modern birds? Please don’t fall for the hoary falsehood that creationists believe in a fixity of species. Modern creationists agree with Darwin that new species emerge via natural selection. We do not equate baramins or “created kinds” with species, and we believe that micro-evolution occurs within the baramins.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
@Eddie: Eddie, I would like to see more research on Protoavis. I remember when its discovery was first announced in the early 1990s, it created a sensation, but then it was seemingly forgotten in the rush to prove that birds evolved from dinosaurs. I was trying to google recent information on Protoavis, but everything I found that was significant dated to the early 90s. If you have anything more recent on this fossil, I’d love to read it.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
This is an interesting article that examines extensive evidence for the eruption of lava into water in the Columbia River Basalts in southeastern Wahington and northeastern Oregon. This data suggests that eastern Washington was partially covered with water when these Miocene and early Pliocene deposits were laid down. This would accord with a model in which the Genesis flood ended in the late Cenozoic along the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary. I’m posting this, not as the final word on the subject, but as food for thought.
http://creation.com/field-studies-in-the-columbia-river-basalt-northwest-usa
Recent Comments by Bob Helm
Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
What is wrong with conceding that many claims of scripture can only be accepted on faith?
I fully realize that 21st century scientists cannot perform X rays of Mary’s womb or insert instruments into her womb to determine exactly what took place when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. Of course, I accept the virgin birth on faith! My point was that we now have examples of virgin births occuring as a result of modern scientific technology, and since science has now produced virgin births in mammals, if God is real, we have an analogy for how He could have done the same thing. @Professor Kent:
Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
Darwinist is just short for Neo-Darwinist. While the majority of biologists subscribe to Neo-Darwinism, I would contest your statement that Darwinist=biologist. I prefer “Darwinist” to “evolutionist” because the latter is a slippery term. Even creationists believe in micro-evolution.@pauluc:
Science, Methodological Naturalism, and Faith
@Sean Pitman: Sean, it’s interesting and ironic how churches repeatedly try to become more relevant by accepting Darwinism and other forms of liberalism, but in the end, they always die, while churches that maintain their creationist stance and conservative values continue to grow.
Science, Methodological Naturalism, and Faith
@pauluc: I wondered if you would bring up alchemy. Just because Newton was wrong about alchemy, why try to slur him over it? Even though he was a great physicist, he was human, and he did make mistakes!
Science, Methodological Naturalism, and Faith
@Pauluc: Actually, there is one extrabiblical reference to Jesus’ Resurrection. In his “Antiquities of the Jews,” we have this from Flavius Josephus: “When the principal men among us had condemned Him [Jesus] to the cross, those who loved Him at first did not forsake Him. For He appeared to them alive again the third day. . .” This so-called “Testimonium Flavianum” has provoked fierce debate, with critics calling it an interpolation. However, it is written in the style of Josephus and appears in all the extant Greek manuscripts of “The Antiquities of the Jews.”
