Dinosaurs & Creation

[Dr. Shane]

I bought my son, Alex, a creation and dinosaur movie recently from Answers in Genesis and he loves it. He has had it for about a week and must have watched it over 50 times already. I am not convinced that dinosaurs were on the ark, as the creators of the movie suggest, but it does highlight the fact that most scientists are unwilling to admit - there are just a lot of things about the past we don't know.

I have long suggested the study of origins, both evolution and creation, falls more under the discipline of philosophy than science. Evolution does use scientific means to create its theories but is ultimately based on a variety of assumptions which themselves can be neither proven or unproven. Creation is based upon faith in a given religion which by definition cannot be proven else it would not be faith. If there really is a God, as I believe, science would never discover that because by its own definition science cannot consider the possibility of the supernatural at work in the universe of which we live.

Some really want to believe in God because He provides the Promise of eternal life. He provides purpose and meaning to our lives in this world. He inspires greatness and ambition. He comforts the down trodden and encourages the weary. The concept of God is the life substance of millions of people without which they would have no reason to live.

Others do not want to believe in God, often because of a bad experience with some form of organized religion. Some simply do not want to be accountable to a deity. In my experience most people that don't want to believe in God have had a negative experience with religion or religious people. Mainstream science provides them what seems to be a way of dismissing the idea of God. Yet since the rules of science do not provide a means for science to even consider the possibility of the supernatural so when it comes to issues like origins, miracles and an afterlife, science is really not in a position to tell us anything beyond philosophical theories.

(This was first posted as a note in my FaceBook newsfeed April 1, 2009)