For anyone reading this who thinks I need to get my head examined, or who hasn't been paying attention & reading between the lines, here's an important point to consider before you start flaunting your ignorant faith in "evolution": The rate at which the Earth's magnetic field is deteriorating indicates that the Earth couldn't be more than about 10,000 to 25,000 years old, depending on whether you assume (wrong!) a steady rate of decline or acknowledge the sudden decline in field strength at the time of the Flood. If the earth was as old as the "evolutionists" would lead us to believe, the sun's magnetic flux would have destroyed the earth's protective magnetic shield (and burnt the earth to a crisp) billions of years before life ever had a prayer of "evolving". So stop worrying about "greenhouse gasses" and "those evil SUV's" and get yourself a reality check. You are being controlled and manipulated for sinister purposes by those who manipulate the cost and availability of energy for their own megalomaniacal purposes. They will have their "New World Order" under Satan, with themselves as "Lords of this planet" regardless of how many souls it costs. They regard you and I as "dumb cattle" and "evolution" is the Infinitely Stupid Ideological Doctrine (ISID) which renders humans "easily controllable". According to God's plan & timetable, 1000 years from now, this planet will be "toast", (partly and indirectly because of loss of magnetic field strength but DIRECTLY as a result of God's judgement on sin) regardless of what is or is not done about "fossil fuels and SUV's." God put "fossil fuels" here (they were produced in the aftermath of and as a DIRECT result of the Flood) to be USED and God intends to burn this planet up and replace it with a new Earth (wherein dwelleth righteousness) 1000 years from now. So it's no big deal if we USE the fuels God provided for us to use. Even if we used up all the coal, oil, and natural gas, there's still hydrogen fuel cells, nuclear energy, and all kinds of "weird science" as sources for energy. God created the Earth to be INHABITED (not a wilderness!) and "inhabitation" requires lots of energy. It is Satan's (and Al Gore's!) plan, not God's plan, to make the world "as a wilderness".
The Earth's magnetic field strength (and hence the Earth's capacity to protect us from harmful radiation) prior to Noah's Flood was 8 to 10 times what it is now, and carbon dioxide (and oxygen!) levels were also much higher. The atmospheric CO2 level is NOT the boogeyman that our controllers lead us to believe it is, and NOT the cause of "global warming" (which is a result of 1. cyclical solar fluctuations and 2. changes in magnetic shield strength.) CO2 is the crowbar used by the megalomaniacs to separate America from her prosperity and her sovereignty, so that there will be only ONE global government, and no freedom for anybody. He who controls the ENERGY controls the nation, and the world. The "global warming" propaganda and "environmental studies" are funded by the megalomaniacs through their network of "grants" and tax-exempt foundations. If you buy their garbage, you should also invest in Arizona beachfront property.
Our present world is a junkyard in comparison to the pre-flood world. Every ancient culture recalled a lost epoch of awe and wonder -- the Golden Age, before the Fall of Man. This Golden Age did not last, giving way to devastating upheaval, The Flood. If you really want to understand the ancient world, look to the two great motives shared by every culture: the yearning for a return to Paradise, and the fear that Judgement will occur again. Make no mistake about it. Judgement is coming. The most important questions you will ever answer in this life were asked 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate: "Who do you say that I am?" and "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? Your eternal destiny hangs on your answers to those questions. "I don't know" will not be accepted as an answer on the test.
One favorite "factoid" used by evolutionists to "refute" the Biblical account of the worldwide flood in the days of Noah is the "fact" that Jericho was built over 10,000 years ago and "there are no Flood sediments in its basement level". This is typical of the many circular arguments and faulty assumptions used by evolutionists. They assume that Jericho existed at the time of the Flood. It didn't. They assume that since Jericho is below sea level, a worldwide flood never happened. ( 1. It hadn't been built yet, and 2. The later local floods of "ancient cities" occurred when polar ice melt after the Flood raised water levels [above the continental shelf!] and the Mediterranean Basin was flooded, and later, the Black Sea basin.) They assume that Mount Everest existed at the time of the Flood, and that if it rained enough to cover Mt. Everest, the latent heat of condensation would have cooked the world. (1.) Mount Everest wasn't there, and (2.) all of the water didn't come from rain. The break-up of "all of the fountains of the deep" described in Genesis is the ONLY possible explanation for the large deposits of chalk found in various places around the world, and shows the intellectual poverty of the ISID (Infinitely Stupid Ideological Doctrine) promoted by crackpot evolutionists. Dr. Hovind's material available HERE thoroughly shows the lunacy of these evolutionist assertions. The following is exerpted from a piece available at: http://theageofbasemetal.blogspot.com/
Dates marked by an asterisk are fictional evo-years. I am forever indebted to the host of the site for providing the key information refuting the evolutionist notions of the age of ancient Jericho.
The "logic" used by evolutionists in dating the ancient cultures of the East as "Early Bronze", "Middle Bronze", etc., is the same "logic" used by evolutionists in dating arrowheads. For more on this topic, click this link:
In Joshua 8:17, we are told that, allied with the men of Ai, all the men of Bethel went “out after Israel, and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.” Ai was destroyed as we have just seen, and from Joshua 12:16 we may infer that Bethel was too. This destruction of Bethel is found in the archeological record, where the MB IIA city was destroyed. Indeed, traces of blood were still to be found under the ruined city gate. Again, notice that Ai was destroyed in EB times and not rebuilt, yet according to the witness of the Bible, both Ai and MB IIA Bethel were destroyed at the same time. (Note to the reader: this is evidence of the CONCURRENT RATHER THAN CONSECUTIVE chronology of these cultures.)
Jericho EB III-MB IIB
Jericho was the most notable of the EB cities. Thanks to the excavations of Kathleen Kenyon, this city is one of the best known of the ancient world, having been explored all the way down to virgin soil. Rather than causing any embarrassment to my reconstruction, the facts of archeology brilliantly support it.
Jericho must have been settled not too long after the Dispersion of Babel (2192 bc), and the remains of this earliest settlement are labeled "Mesolithic". There followed a "Neolithic" village (c. 2130? / c. *8000 bc) with a massive stone wall. This first of Jericho's walls was most likely built as a response to the invasion of Nimrod. Although Jericho is said to be more than 10,000 years old, this is just a myth of modernism. The millennia may be telescoped into mere decades and centuries. The 17 phases of the city do not represent any natural, snail's-pace dilapidation, but instead the frequent rebuilding and expansions of a dynamic culture which existed in a time of cyclic cataclysms. Rather than multiple millennia, the rebuildings occurred on average every 41 years, over a period of almost 700 years — from the Confusion at Babel until the conquest of Joshua. It is interesting to note that the walls of Jericho were built in sections, apparently in an attempt to minimize earthquake damage. It takes no effort whatsoever to recognize the role of earthquakes in the conquest of Jericho by Joshua.
The final destruction of EB III Jericho is supposed to have been due to the Amorites, but this reconstruction recognizes this level of Jericho as that of Rahab the harlot, who had lived in the very (casement) walls which were thrown down during the siege of Joshua. In the excavations of Jericho performed in the 1930's, Professor Garstang uncovered “the final phase of the wall that had surrounded the Early Bronze Age town about *2350 bc.” (Kenyon, 1987, p. 73.) This wall had burned and collapsed: “The seventeenth [wall] was destroyed by a raging fire, and its destruction marks the end of the Early Bronze Age town . . .” (Kenyon, 1967, p. 27.) Wood had been piled up against the outside of the wall and burned, and the ashes were still to be found by the excavators—we find this detail in Josh 6:24. (Note that this is known Hebrew custom, since Gideon and his host broke fire-pots on the night of their attack against Midian [Jdg 7:16], and King Abimelech heaped firewood against the walls of Shechem [Jdg 9:49].) Of all the levels of Jericho, this last EB city perfectly matches that which suffered its fate under the hand of Joshua. The standard paradigm forbids such an identification, but our reconstruction shows that the archeological data and the biblical record are in close harmony.
Some 9 feet (2.75 meters) of silt accumulated on the mound before the next settlement proper was built. This silt should be the product of the unsettled weather of this era of the Long Day — being wind-blown loess and so on. During the interim, the tell was a camp for nomads, who left considerable debris; the absence of any significant MB I or IIA strata is explained away as the work of erosion (Kenyon, 1979, p. 993; Kenyon, 1987, p. 73). During the period of the Judges — MB IIB — a great "Hyksos" rampart was constructed, typical of the times. There is so little evidence for an actual MB settlement, however, that this gateless, ‘great earth bank’ is no contradiction to Joshua’s curse (6:26; cf 1K 16:34) upon the entirely different casement wall that lay fallen before him. As for the Late Bronze city which is imagined to be that of Joshua, there are “very few traces of occupation above the Middle Bronze Age defenses.” (Kenyon, 1987a).
On another track...
Man and dino co-existence would extend the timeline for man back 150 million years in "mystical materialistic time". This would prove devasting to the religion of evolutionism, although I believe they would simply make radical adjustments.
Though the dino tracks (in the Paluxy River Bed in Glen Rose, Texas, for instance) are real, perhaps the human prints were later 'clever carvings' (wink wink!) by Indians (who must have gotten around other states a lot... ).
Recent research, however, has shown that they CONTINUE under a shale bank ("older than mankind", in magical mystical evo-time) bulldozed away, and paleontologists like Dr. Camp of the University of California and Dr. G. Wescott of Ypsilanti, Michigan, have pronounced them genuine. Many a brain-dead evolutionist will dismiss this inconvenient fact and continue on the broad path that leads to destruction. He chooses to be "dumb on purpose", or what the Bible refers to in II Peter 3 as "willingly ignorant". He will go to any extreme to deny the idea that he is ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD.
Scores of other similar finds have come in: human skulls in the Pliocene strata; pollen and anthropods in Pre-Cambrian layers; even pictographs of a dinosaur among other animals on ancient canyon walls, which would knock some 70 million years out of the "geologic column" (ANOTHER FAVORITE FANTASY OF EVOLUTIONISTS) and a lot of hot air out of evolutionist gas bags.
Evolutionists scoff at the notion that humans and dinosaurs ever coexisted. Yet, the evidence clearly shows that they did. You can find evidence by clicking this link and scrolling down to various archaeological finds: Man Amidst the Dinosaurs
Evolutionists claim that there is a "65 million year gap in the fossil record". Whence cometh the thousands of ancient carvings depicting dinosaurs, then? Were they carved by dinosaurs? If so, then how did the dinosaurs know what a human looked like? Evolutionists ignore the evidence or classify it as "anomalous". Perhaps "anomalous" really means "my brains are scrambled and I can't think straight".
A fossilized iron hammer with a partially coalified wooden handle has been found firmly embedded in "Cretaceous" rock strata. (Photo above) The composition of the iron indicates it was produced by a technology far beyond the best modern iron-making technologies. Was it manufactured by dinosaurs, then? "Humans had not yet "evolved", according to evolutionists. This unique iron hammer with partially coalified wooden handle was found in Lower Cretaceous Limestone, supposedly 140 million years old (the time of the dinosaurs, according to evolutionists). According to evolutionary theory, this hammer must have been made by dinosaurs.
Consider that in 1983, researchers reported in the science and engineering news section of The Moscow News that they had discovered what appeared to be a human footprint in "150-million-year-old" "Jurassic rock", next to a giant, three-toed dinosaur footprint. The article stated:
This spring, an expedition from the Institute of Geology of the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences found over 1,500 tracks left by dinosaurs in the mountains in the southeast of the Republic [Turkmen Republic—BH/BT]. Impressions resembling in shape a human footprint were discovered next to the tracks of prehistoric animals (see “Tracking Dinosaurs,” 1983, 24:10).
Naturally, this report has received precious little attention, given the mindset of evolutionists.
For the sake of brevity, here's a brief summary of what happened in the days of Noah.
1. Noah, his family and the animals got safely into the Ark.
2. A minus-three hundred to 400 degrees Fahrenheit ice meteor came flying through space. As it got closer to some of the planets, gravitational pull caused it to accelerate and become unstable, and it broke apart, some of the fragments forming rings around the planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).
3. As it got close to the Earth, a disproportionate amount of the magnetically charged ice particles were sucked into the North and South polar regions, and the Earth was snowed on with 300 to 400 degree below zero snow, mostly around the Poles. A lot of it would vaporize coming through the atmosphere, but just like you can spray a hose right through the middle of a fire, much of the super-cold precipitation made it through the atmosphere.
4.This dump of ice on the North and South Poles caused the granite crust of Earth to crack, releasing the Fountains of the Deep, caused the Earth to wobble on its axis from the extra weight on the polar regions, and the ice began to spread out, producing the glacier effects that we still see today. It caused the burial of the mammoths, suffocating them and freezing them solid, standing up, in less than five hours with food still in their mouths and stomachs. This dump of ice caused the Earth to wobble for a few thousand years, and made the water canopy that formerly protected the Earth collapse. The granite crust of the Earth cracked, and the half-mile thick layer of water under the 10-mile thick granite crust came shooting out under the pressure exerted by the weight of ten miles of rock, and brought out enormous quantities of sediments with it. It shot 20,000 feet up into the atmosphere, producing torrential rain for 40 days and nights.
5. During the first few months of the Flood, the dead animals were sorted out and buried according to their density and streamlining, and plants were also buried. Without continents to impede the tides, tidal flows ran 200 feet high at tremendous speeds, contributing to the sorting and erosion of sediments. The large accumulations of plants became coal, and animals became oil, natural gas, or fossils, depending on the conditions under which they were buried.
6. During the last part of the Flood, the unstable plates of the Earth moved around and tilted, with thin areas sinking down to form the bottom of the oceans, and other areas being pushed up to form the continents, canyons and mountain ranges. The run-off caused enormous erosion. The Grand Canyon probably formed in less than two weeks.
7. Over the next few hundred years, the ice caps slowly melted, raising the ocean levels slowly, and causing the "Continental Shelf". Rising water levels determined the locations of continental shorelines. There was no "Pangaea". Some animals (such as kangaroos) , advancing into new territories ahead of predators, found themselves cut off and protected by rising water levels from the melting ice caps.
The absorption of carbon dioxide by the cold water resulted in a shortening of life-spans of humans in the days of Peleg (because of increased radiation). The loss of the water canopy and loss of "greenhouse gasses" weakened the earth's protective shield that formerly protected it from harmful radiation.
I HIGHLY recommend Parts 6 & 7 of the seminar series DVD's available from Kent Hovind at drdino.com Just click the "shopping" tab at the top right, or copy and paste this: http://shopping.drdino.com/shopping.php?cat=DVDs
You'll probably not find a more sensible and erudite comprehensive analysis of the subject matter available anywhere.
Historical Records of Flying Reptiles
Additional evidence for the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs is derived from various ancient writings. For instance, the largest creature ever known to have soared in the skies above the Earth was a pterosaur identified as Quetzalcoatlus (KWET-zal-COAT-lus). The fossil bones of one of these flying reptiles were unearthed in 1972 at Big Bend National Park in Texas. This Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 48 feet (which is longer than some small airplanes!). While these giant birds are not classified scientifically as dinosaurs (since they are not strictly land-dwelling creatures, as dinosaurs were, by definition), they often are lumped into a group of animals known as “dinosaur-like” creatures. Notice the following quotation taken from Herodotus, a Greek historian from the fifth century B.C., who wrote:
There is a place in Arabia...to which I went, on hearing of some winged serpents; and when I arrived there, I saw bones and spines of serpents, in such quantities as it would be impossible to describe. The form of the serpent is like that of a water-snake; but he has wings without feathers, and as like as possible to the wings of a bat (1850, pp. 75-76, emp. added).
 |
Pteranodon |
Herodotus knew of flying reptiles, and recognized that these creatures were neither birds, mammals, nor insects—but reptiles with wings. Notice also what the Jewish historian Josephus wrote 2,000 years ago about Moses and his army having a difficult time passing through a particular region because of the presence of flying serpents.
When the ground was difficult to be passed over, because of the multitude of serpents (which it produces in vast numbers...some of which ascend out of the ground unseen, and also fly in the air, and do come upon men at unawares, and do them a mischief)....
[Moses] made baskets like unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibes [i.e., birds], and carried them along with them; which animal is the greatest enemy to serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them; and as they fly they are caught and devoured by them (n.d., 2:10:2, emp. added).
Although these two historians do not mention the extremely large flying reptiles, they do record that snake-like winged creatures, which could fly, did live in the distant past. These reports are consistent with findings that A.H. Verrill reported in 1954 in his book, Strange Prehistoric Animals and Their Stories.
Obviously, the scientific evidence for the coexistence of dinosaurs and man speaks loudly, and yet it continues to fall on deaf ears within the evolutionary community. That silence, however, does little to change the documented facts, as we now know them.
Contrary to popular opinion, dinosaurs do not present a problem for creationists. In fact, quite the opposite is true. It is evolutionists who have a problem. While they continue to maintain, as the late paleontologist Roland T. Bird of the American Museum of Natural History once put it, that “no man had ever existed in the age of the reptiles” (1939, 43[5]:257), the evidence documents exactly the opposite.
Anyone remember this?
It was 1987. At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration. There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning!
He was being drilled by a senator; "Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?" Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir." The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, "Isn't that just a little excessive?" "No, sir," continued Ollie. "No? And why not?" the senator asked. "Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir." "Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned. "By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered. "Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?" "His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied. At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. Why are you so afraid of this man?" the senator asked. "Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of", Ollie answered. "And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator. "Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin
team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth." The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip. By the way, that senator was Al Gore!
Also: Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners." However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands. The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released.
Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports.
If you agree that the American public should be made aware of this fact, pass this on.
Do Not Break - it is 6 years strong.
This is why I always say "I love YOU...."
This has not been broken since 9/11/01, please keep it going... This has been kept alive and moving since 9/11. In memory of all those who perished this morning; the passengers and the pilots on the United Air
and AA flights, the workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all the innocent bystanders. Our prayers go out to the friends and families of the deceased.
IF I KNEW
If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.
If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute
to stop and say "I love you,"
instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.
If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything just right.
There will always be another day
to say "I love you,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do?"
But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear
Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's okay."
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.
PLEASE DON'T BREAK IT!
5 comments:
Greetings, Craig -- just took some time to swing your way. I'm please that you found my obscure "The Age of Base Metal." It's pretty formal, so excerpt it freely.
I've done extensive work in the field of Evolutionism, as the intro of Base Metal hints at, and it's nice to see that we have such similar interests. I was surprised to find your Herodotus citation. I'd thought I was the only one who'd noticed that. I'll have to go back and see what I wrote.
Anyway, keep it up.
Best,
Jack H
So I went rooting through the archives, and found the following, in chapter five of my "The Pillars of Heaven."
Feel free to select any useful quote. I've included the whole section, for the sake of contextual comprehensibility. I notice that the endnote citations don't show format properly -- ah well. Enjoy.
J
________________
Pterosaurs
Another evidence of formerly high pressure is found in another type of dinosaur. We all know that there were once flying reptiles — pterosaurs. Usually we call them pterodactyls, but these specific creatures were quite small, some only the size of sparrows. 1 Somewhat larger was the Rhamphorhynchus, which like the others had a tail three times longer than its body, and its neck and beak together were twice as long as the body — so of the six parts of the entire creature, only one accounted for the body proper. Its wingspread was about 2 feet, and it totalled only about 1.5 feet long. 2 Like the other flying reptiles, the “hind limbs . . . were not well developed and Rhamphorhynchus must have been relatively awkward on the ground.” 3
But most relevant to our study is the Pteranodon. In 1975, three individuals were found in nonmarine sediments in Texas, their anatomy suggesting that they “fed on carrion rather than on fish.” The largest had a wingspan of an estimated 51 to 53 feet, “making it by far the largest flying animal of which there is knowledge.” 4 Yet, like all pterosaurs, its hind legs “were little adapted to upright locomotion . . . . it is difficult to understand how they could have risen from land or water after alighting.” 5 A pteranodon with a wing span of over 50 feet would have weighed over 450 pounds, and needed a strong breeze of 25 mph in order to take flight. These largest pterosaurs pose a very knotty problem.
As a flying creature increases in size while retaining its shape, its mass is cubed while its wing area is only squared. 6So here is the problem: how did they take off? “The minimum flying speed necessary for these animals to sustain flight is easily calculated from the standard formulas” ,7 which we will not examine here, avoiding the overly-technical. It boils down to this: a moderately sized pteranodon with a mere 25 foot wingspan would under modern conditions require a breeze of 16.4 mph for it to take off — since we have seen that none of them could run, or even walk. Under a firmament, however, only a gentle breeze of 11.6 mph would be necessary.
Now, the problem is that given the global climate, everywhere almost the same, the ancient world by any model had only slight winds (since winds are created by temperature differences, which were suppressed by the evident greenhouse effect). Winds over 15 miles per hour would be rare: “An atmosphere with a weak latitudinal temperature change would have a weak north-south pressure difference, and hence produce weak winds.” 8 Even coastal breezes would not have been very strong, given that the seas were warm, so the difference in temperature between land and sea would have generated only slightly stronger winds. For a type of creature which supposedly lasted for 70 millions years, in a world with only slight breezes, it is ludicrous to suppose that they had to wait around for unusual weather, of uncharacteristically stiff winds, before they could move.
Under the pressure of the modern atmosphere, even moderate-sized pteranodons would have been stressed in awaiting proper flight conditions. But under the double pressure of the homichlosphere, the upper limit wind-speed of 17 mph is precisely the flight requirement of the largest known flying reptile. In our modern atmosphere, the pteranodon could not have taken off. In the ancient, heavy atmosphere, it could have. So we see that an atmosphere with greater pressure makes it far easier for the large pterosaurs to even be possible.
As for sustaining flight, “Pteranodon is large enough to cast doubt on its ability to fly under power. But it is difficult to see how such a creature could survive without this ability . . .” 9 To power its own flight in the modern air, the creature would have had to work at its maximum energy output, which is characterized as “barely sufficient”. 10 However, given the increased oxygen partial pressure predicted in the canopy theory, the giant's “ability to deliver thrust and continue flight without a too-rapid buildup of oxygen debt” would be markedly increased. 11
The only problem which arises here from the canopy model is that the drag upon these reptiles would be increased, so much so that if it had to sustain its own flight, it must work at the peak efficiency of a modern bird's very best. We can answer this problem by requiring that this creature do what it was designed to do: glide on the wind. Despite the claim by some that pterosaur “wings are clearly designed to be flapped” ,12 this merely means that it could flap its wings. The fact remains that it “is probable that this animal was relatively inefficient in [powered] flight . . .” 13 The “musculature is not sufficiently developed to have sustained birdlike flight” ,14 and while the giant pteranodon, like its smaller brethren, would have been “a very efficient glider . . . it is thought unlikely that the wings were flapped bird fashion since [it] lacked the keel at the breast to which the powerful flight muscles found in most birds attach.” 15 In every case, these flying reptiles needed wind to fly; none would achieve flight by flapping or running or even diving off cliffs in the absence of wind. Given this need, it is more reasonable to suppose the atmosphere was amenable to them, then to require a species of glorified, living toy kites, for millions of years totally dependent on rare, stiff breezes.
How did these creatures become extinct? Disregarding the evolutionary soap opera of millions of years and random intelligence, I maintain (as we shall see) that every true species survived the Flood on the Ark, but that some were unsuited to the radically new conditions they encountered upon disembarkation. For the case at hand, the thinner atmosphere set a harsh limit on the size which the pteranodons might attain, even given the stronger winds. Under modern conditions, they could fly only at wind speeds between 16.4 mph (below which lift is insufficient) and 31 mph (above which no control could be maintained). 16 If the average wind speed increased by “only 5 mtr/sec, this alone would make Pteranodon's mode of life impossible. Such a change in wind speed could be brought about by a cooling of the climate . . . leading to faster overall wind speeds.” 17 Such winds are what we would expect, given warm oceans and the increasingly cold landmasses which occurred, as we shall see, after the Flood.
This is not the end of the story, however: there is a curious epilogue. Herodotus has been honored as the father of history, and ridiculed as the father of lies. But he is careful to record the distinction between what he had merely heard, and what he saw for himself. This is what he says he saw: “There is a place in Arabia [in the desert east of the Delta] where I went to try to get information about the flying snakes. On my arrival I saw their skeletons in incalculable numbers; they were piled in heaps, some of which were big, others smaller, others — most numerous — smaller still. The place where these bones lie is a narrow mountain pass leading to a broad plain which joins on to the plain of Egypt, and it is said that when the winged snakes fly to Egypt from Arabia in spring, the ibises meet them at the entrance to the pass and do not let them go through, but kill them. According to the Arabians, this service is the reason for the great reverence with which the ibis is regarded in Egypt, and the Egyptians themselves admit the truth of what they say.” 18 In another context, Josephus says that the ibis “is the greatest enemy to serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them; and as they fly they are caught and devoured by them . . .” 19
The Septuagint (LXX) is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. In the LXX, the term óphis petámenos — flying serpent 20— appears in Isa 14:29, and again in Isa 30:6 concerning the Negev desert “From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent . . .” Notice that the context is of real animals, not of fabulous monsters. This phrase is connected to the stinging or fiery serpents of Num 21:6 and Deut 8:15. What this is supposed to mean is open to interpretation, but the fact is that whatever these flying serpents were, they were dangerous: hence the homage paid to the saving ibises of the Egyptians.
You have already read of the elongated form of the pterosaur: long beak, long neck, short body, and thrice-long tail. How would you describe such a beast? Do they not partake of the serpent as well as the lizard? Since their skeletons are more birdlike than anything else, with their prominent wings, these creatures must have been seen in the flesh, and adjudged to be reptilian. In the Greek of the Septuagint Bible, there are only two terms which describe reptiles in general: óphis (serpent) and herpetón (creeping things). Obviously, flying reptiles could not be described as creeping things, so the only choice of vocabulary is serpent.
Furthermore, óphis is used not only of snakes, but of monstrous reptiles in general; for example, Appolonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC) uses this word for the dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece. 21 Similar usage is found in our sea serpent, which describes not a serpent such as the water moccasin, but some monstrous marine reptile. Therefore, we may reasonably conclude that flying serpent is best translated as monstrous aerial reptile, or flying reptile, and is the ancient Greek technical term for what we now call, after the Latin, pterosaurs — winged lizards.
That they lived in the Negev, or the Arabian desert next to the sea — doesn't this provide exactly the wind-conditions pterosaurs require, of constant breezes? Why then do we not yet find their bones, heaped so high? Because that was two-and-a-half thousand years ago, and no Flood to bury and preserve the bones. Why then do we not find their likenesses adorning the many tombs and papyri of the Egyptians? Because these creatures were abhorred as vermin, the ibis is honored, as the scourge of such monsters. We do not find the image of rats on tomb walls, either. And, actually, we do find these reptiles depicted, as harpies or other mythical beings. But how could ibises kill giant pteranodons? They could not, and did not. Only the smaller pterosaurs generally survived into this epoch, due to the physical limitations of wind and climate. When we read that “they were piled in heaps, some of which were big, others smaller, others — most numerous — smaller still”, we are reading not about the size of the animals, but of the heaps. Why then did they finally become extinct? Well, they survived at least some two thousand years after the Flood, into an age for which they were not designed; if the vicissitudes of the wind did not do them in, the ibises did. In the antediluvian climate, to soar on thick, warm and steady breezes was easy, whereas the metabolic demands placed upon a cold-blooded flier in a thin and cold atmosphere are most certainly unreasonable.
Is this testimony of Herodotus and of Isaiah proof of all that I say? No, it is evidence. Are my arguments proof? No, they are pleasant speculations. But still I offer this curiosity of history as evidence toward my case. Make of it what you will.
. Ency. Brit., Vol. VIII, "Pterodactylus," p. 277.
. Ibid, "pterosaur," p. 278, and "Rhamphorhynchus," p. 545.
. Ibid, "Rhamphorhynchus," p. 545.
. Ibid, "pterosaur," p. 278; see D.A. Lawson, "Pterosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of West Texas: Discovery of the Largest Flying Creature," Science (Vol. 187, March 14, 1975), pp. 947 8.
. Ibid, "pterosaur," p. 278.
. C.D. Bramwell and G.R. Whitfield, p. 559 — all citations from this article are taken from Dillow, ch. 5.
. Dillow, p. 148; see him for the formal calculations.
. M. Oard, An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood (El Cajon, CA: ICR, 1990), p. 27.
. Bramwell and Whitfield, p. 558.
. Ibid, p. 559.
. Dillow, p. 150.
. Bramwell and Whitfield, p. 558.
. Ency. Brit., ibid, "Rhamphorhynchus," p. 546.
. Ibid, "Pterodactylus," p. 277.
. Ibid, "Pteranodon," p. 277.
. Bramwell and Whitfield, pp. 556, 578.
. Ibid, p. 578.
. Herodotus, pp. 157 8.
. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. 2, ch. X, sec. 2, p. 58; obviously, "fly" here is used as "flee".
. ISBE, Vol. 4, "Serpent," p. 417.
. Arndt and Gingrich, p. 600.
________________________
http://www.atheists.org/evolution/morrisdebate.html
I read it and was not at all surprised at Zindler's appalling lack of knowledge in his professed field of "expertise". I wonder if he has learned anything in the last 18 years. Probably not. Morris' description of Zindler's methodology was true and accurate.
The caricature of the ark was ignorant and assinine... exactly what I would expect from Zindler's crowd. Any third grader knows that dinosaurs are reptiles and come from EGGS. You don't need 300-ton mature dinosaurs on the ark to ensure survival of their kind.
Zindler's circular logic assumes that the ocean basins and present-day mountain ranges existed before the flood. Then he asserts that if it rained that hard, it would have worn the continents sown to crystalline rock by "hydraulic mining". (This from the same buffoon who is still insisting AFTER MT. ST HELENS that the Grand Canyon took millions of years to form). How much water would actually be HITTING THE GROUND after the first few minutes? It would be falling on WATER, with nowhere to drain off to, the ocean basins being nonexistent. The earth was one giant super-continent, comprising over 90% of the earth's surface area. Which brings me to "Pangaea"... an idiotic idea if there ever was one. The earth's crust is made of granite 10 miles thick. The continents are NOT giant lily pads drifting around on a pond. There is solid ROCK under a very THIN layer of water (about the thickness of the paint on a globe).
I've already covered all of this. The flood sediments lie over 600 feet deep on North America. Tidal flows during and after the Flood (with no continental shorelines to impede them) ran 200 to 600 feet high, contributing to the sorting of sediments. Fossilized forests were preserved the same way they were in the aftermath of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. The fossil record is the record of the SEQUENCE in which different species became waterlogged, sank, and were buried & fossilized. Coal beds were formed as part of the same process. Has Zindler no knowledge of the CONDITIONS necessary for fossilization? It takes a LOT OF WATER!!! First he asserts that there was no universal flood, and then he assumes that all of these "forests" were fossilized over millions of years. How many universal floods would THAT take? There was only ONE and it buried and fossilized 6-foot-diameter oysters on ground that is now on Mt. Everest (which was fairly flat ground before the Flood.
Zindler could perhaps best be described in Biblical terms; "dumb on purpose".
P.S. And the word describing George Clooney in Ann Coulter's weekly column could also aptly be applied to Zindler.
Post a Comment