The Six-Day War in Creationism, by Gene Nouhan

There are several books that seriously criticize Young-Earth Creationism, as it is taught by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis (AiG), and others. The Six-Day War in Creationism: A New Critique of the Young Earth Reform Movement and Its Excesses is the most thorough such book that I have read. It's also the longest. The length and content of that title gives a hint of that thoroughness, and length. 

Author Gene Nouhan  carefully considers the meaning of the Bible's original languages, and concludes that the Bible wasn't meant to say that the earth is but a few thousand years old, and doesn't. His related main criticism of the Young-Earth Creationism (YEC) movement is that its advocates do not usually explicitly claim that you have to agree with them for your eternal salvation, but that they argue so strongly for a YEC interpretation (never mind the lack of evidence) that the message that comes across is that only YEC believers can be saved.

Nouhan doesn't attempt to rule out a six day creation by examining scientific evidence. Others have done so, explaining that a young earth isn't consistent with geological, biological, or paleological findings. Nouhan's base is the original words in the Bible, as far as we can know them. I am not a scholar of biblical language, but Nouhan seems convincing. He calls upon logic and common sense.

Two other books that I recommend are not as thorough, but seem sound in Biblical scholarship, and make some important points. (Mis)interpreting Genesis: How the Creation Museum Misunderstands the Ancient Near Eastern Context of the Bible, by Ben Stanhope, deflates claims from AiG that the Bible teaches that dinosaurs were contemporary with people in Noah's time, based on his analysis of the language of the Old Testament. Why does AiG make such claims? One possibility is that they genuinely believe that the Bible teaches that. Another possibility is that, as a culture, we are excited by dinosaurs -- see Jurassic Park, etc., the Flintstones, news reports on newly discovered fossils, and many other phenomena -- and that AiG is using this fascination to raise interest, attendance, and money. Stanhope considers archaeology, and some of the sciences, as well as history. An important sample is 

It’s historically outrageous to suppose a global flood ... [is] supposed to have managed to blast out the Grand Canyon in North America and fossilize the dinosaurs in Uzbekistan but couldn’t put a dent in the Sphinx at Giza or other hundreds of Egyptian sites and entire civilizations constructed far earlier and well documented as alive and well through this period. If you accept the calculation that a global flood occurred in 2300 BC, you absurdly end up having to compress or explain away nearly all of the world’s chronological and archaeological evidence dating to before the middle of the Egyptian Old Kingdom period.

The Heresy of Ham: What Every Evangelical Needs to Know About the Creation-Evolution Controversy, by Joel Edmund Anderson, argues that AiG believes, and teaches, that Young-Earth Creationism is one of the foundational beliefs of the church, which belief is a heresy. Here's a quotation from the book:

... heresy is not limited to simply wrong teaching about something. It also can involve undue emphasis of a particular theological point or view, and actually elevate a secondary or non-essential issue to a level of primacy, equal to the resurrection of Christ.

And Anderson (and Nouhan) believe that AiG and those it influences and agrees with have done exactly that.

Nouhan's book is not perfect. There are a few things that the editor missed, such as using "tenant" when "tenet" was what was meant. The acronym SDWC is commonly used, but never expanded. (It means "Six Day War in Creationism," of course. There are hundreds of footnotes. Some of them, to web sources, don't give the UUL but give the site's name (Answers in Genesis, for example) and the date. Some of those sources would be hard to fine. Some footnotes are not to an outside source, but give part of Nouhan's argument. I'm not clear as to why these are not part of the main text. Finally, Nouhan overuses italics. When it doubt, italicize, seems to be his thinking. These are minor flaws, or maybe flaws at all. It's a good book.

Thanks for reading!

The following graphic does not directly relate to this post, but it's my blog. It's impossible to take Genesis 1 and 2 as two straightforward sequential lists of events:

 

Dinosaurs: (Mis)interpreting Genesis: How the Creation Museum Misunderstands the Near Eastern Context of the Bible, by Ben Stanhope

I have recently read the book that has the same title as this post. (I'll call it Stanhope throughout the rest of this post. I'll also call the author Stanhope. I think you can figure out which is meant, if both aren't.)

Amazon allows for reviews. There are many, mostly five stars (out of five), and an occasional four stars of Stanhope. There is one one-star review. The author of that review complains that Stanhope doesn't have a doctorate, whereas Jason Lisle, of Answers in Genesis (AiG) has a doctorate. I looked up Lisle, and, sure enough, he has a doctorate in astronomy. Stanhope does refer to Lisle, a little, but argues strongly against the positions Lisle takes. Lisle has little or no expertise in the subject matter of Stanhope. Stanhope, doctorate or not, seems to have a firm grasp of his subject  matter.

Here's a review by a person with expertise in ancient near eastern languages. It is highly complimentary. 

Stanhope criticizes AiG publications and positions. And his criticism is based on analysis of the manuscripts used to construct the Bible. (As he says, most of these  manuscripts, and other original source materials, have not been available until the last 150 years or so.)

What does Stanhope criticize?

Dinosaurs

First, he demolishes claims, by AiG, that there were dinosaurs alive in Bible times. He does so by examining the texts carefully. Ken Ham, of AiG, claims that Job 41 mentions Leviathan, and that Leviathan was a dinosaur. (See also Job 3, Psalm 74, 104, and Isaiah 27. A similar claim is made for Behemoth, mentioned in Job 40.) Stanhope finds other, better ways to interpret these passages.

Why does AiG insist upon dinosaurs in historical times? Well, I guess they believe they existed. But there is another reason. If, as they claim, the earth is only about 6000 years old, the plausibility of dinosaurs in historical time is much higher than it would be if the earth were very old. Conversely, if dinosaurs were around in historical times, that's evidence for a young earth. And there's another reason. Dinosaurs attract people to the Creation Museum, to AiG literature, and to AiG presentations in churches.

Stanhope analyzes AiG claims that there were unicorns mentioned in the Bible (They are, if you are using the King James version -- Deuteronomy33:17, Job 30:10, Psalm 29:6 and Psalm 92:10.) Stanhope demolishes these claims. He does the same for AiG claims that there are flying reptiles mentioned in the Bible. (Isaiah 30:6, and possibly other places.)

Genesis 1:1 

Stanhope spends several chapters to argue that Genesis 1:1 is usually mistranslated, and should say something like "in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth," with more thoughts to follow, in the same sentence. Stanhope may be right, but I only found one English translation of the Bible that translates Genesis 1:1 like this, and I'd never heard of this translation before.

I found Stanhope to be helpful, perhaps because he supports my view of dinosaurs in the Old Testament, but mostly because he seems to have solid knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.

Thanks for reading. (Edited for clarity on October 4, 2023)

Sunspots 933

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that an important source of congregational songs, especially in Southern Baptist churches, is ceasing to publish.

Environment:  NPR discusses those Canadian wildfires.

A Conversation article on how important rip currents are. (They aid the ocean's ecology.)

Another Conversation article examines recycling in depth. We aren't doing very well at it.

Food: (and finances) Fortune tells us why hamburgers are relatively cheap, compared to salads.

Health: A Conversation article discusses the dangers of exposure to heat.

Science: Gizmodo reports that two new species of sabertooth cats have been discovered.

The Smithsonian reports that we discover a new species of dinosaur nearly every two weeks.

An article in the Conversation tells us about huge freshwater fish, some weighing 500 pounds or more.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 928

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts (and Christianity): Fountainvew Academy is showing "Showers of Blessing" with real umbrellas.

Education: Grammarphobia on the origin of "y'all."

Environment: The weather in Antarctica was so bad in December and January 2021-22, that thousands of birds did not produce eggs.

Science: Nature reports that dinosaur bones were like corrugated cardboard, strong but light.

Gizmodo reports on some extinct marsupial animals, including a good-sized predator.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 838

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others:

Computing: Relevant reports that PornHub is being sued for subjecting women and children who are sex-trafficked to non-consensual sex.

Gizmodo discusses the most significant hacking events in history.

Finance: (and Politics) Gizmodo reports that many States are using facial recognition software to verity unemployment claims is prone to error, thus denying legitimate unemployment claims. Gizmodo also says that the company is difficult to contact about an error.

Health: The Scientist reports that antibodies to COVID were present in the US in late 2019.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight on how, in the US, adherents of the two major parties despise each other more than in similar situations in other countries, and how this puts democracy itself in jeopardy.

According to Gizmodo, reporting on testimony to Congress, the upstart social network, Parler, warned the FBI, several times, about the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.

Science: Gizmodo reports on snake-like robots that dig into the ground, and under it.

NPR reports that a fossil dinosaur as long as a basketball court has been found in Australia.

NPR also reports that several varieties of apple, thought to have disappeared, still exist.

The Scientist reports on a study indicating that different groups have different "handshakes." These variant behaviors appear to be long-lasting within the group.

Gizmodo reports that ground temperature in Siberia recently hit 48 Celsius, which is way above normal, and not good.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

 

Sunspots 822

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Some Gizmodo writers discuss the question of why music moves us emotionally.

Christianity: Relevant has a disturbing article on the pervasiveness of pornography, and its effects (people who watch pornography are more likely to divorce, for one). The pervasiveness seems to be as 

Education: Grammarphobia on the history of the words grid and gridiron.

Finance: (or something) Gizmodo reports on an analysis which says that Texans have paid 28 billion dollars more for power, over the last few years, than they would have if their grid had been regulated like other grids.

Politics: Gizmodo reports on congressional hearings aimed to cut down on misinformation. It's an interesting read, pointing out more than one side's misinformation, but no conclusions were found.

NPR reports that Russian diplomats and their families left North Korea by way of a manually pushed rail handcart.

Science: Gizmodo reports that there are a lot of double stars in our galaxy, meaning that, on many planets, there would often be two sun shadows of the same object, or person.

Gizmodo also reports on studies of fossil dinosaurs. There aren't many fossils of medium-sized dinosaurs, and the reason seems to be that the young of Tyrannosaurus rex and similar forms out-competed them.

Gizmodo also reports on the development of flying drones, the size of a cicada.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 773

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Relevant tells us about St. Patrick.

Relevant also tells us some things to remember when we get anxious.


Computing: Gizmodo compares several streaming services.

Finance: FiveThirtyEight tells us that the restaurant business is hurting badly, and gives state-by-state data. Restaurant employees, or suddenly laid off workers, are hurting even worse.

Health: Lifehacker tells us why we shouldn't name diseases after locations.

The virus is everywhere! Grammarphobia tells us what "deadly" means.

Politics: (and Health and Finance) Gizmodo reports on some Senators who may have had advance warning of a stock market collapse, and who sold stock before the panic set in.


(and Health and Education) Relevant reports that a Liberty University professor has openly criticized Jerry Falwell, head of the University, for his bizarre theories on the origin of COVID-19, and for requiring employees to work on campus. Here's more on that same story, from later, also from Relevant, which may explain Falwell's actions, at least to some extent.


Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

Gizmodo reports on NASA's detailed photographs of an asteroid that is scheduled to be landed on, sampled, and have the samples returned to earth.

FiveThirtyEight describes how COVID-19 tests actually work.

Sports: March Madness, sort of. FiveThirtyEight describes the women's NCAA basketball tournament that wasn't.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 772

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: (And Politics) Christianity Today reports on a survey that indicates that most white evangelicals do not like the President's behavior, but do like some of the policies that he has pushed. 

Christianity Today reports that regular church-goers are less likely to perceive the threat of the COVID-19 virus.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a site that helps you be really private when on-line.

Listverse tells us about 10 flaws of the Wikipedia. (I still use it)l
 
Health: (or something) Listverse debunks some myths about washing your clothes.

A COVID19 tracker, that gives numbers of those testing positive and negative in each state, and the numbers of deaths.

(and Politics) Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, head of Liberty University, believes that the recent virus outbreak was caused deliberately by North Korea, and maybe China, or was a politically motivated attempt to bring down President Trump. The Scientist, on the other hand, reports that at least one Chinese official says that the US started the spread of the disease in China. (President Trump has also complained about this action by some part of the Chinese establishment.)

History: Gizmodo reports on recent discoveries related to ritualistic sports, involving a court, and a rubber ball, in Mesomerica.

Relevant reports that Martin Luther had some good advice for communities threatened with a pandemic.

Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Young-earth creationism and the kinds of animals

Genesis 1:20 God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.” 1:21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 1:23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
1:24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 1:25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. 

7:1 Yahweh said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. 7:2 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. 7:3 Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. 7:4 In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground.”
7:5 Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him. (World English Bible, public domain.)

Young-earth creationists, of which Answers in Genesis is the most prominent organization, believe that there was a world-wide flood, occurring about 2348 BC, and that the land animals, including land-based birds, have all descended from the animals that Noah and his family had in the ark with them.

Saving all of the animals causes what seems to be an insurmountable problem for young-earth creationists. How did all of these creatures fit on the ark, and how was it possible to feed them? The answer, from Answers in Genesis, is that there were about 137 kinds of animals, and all of the types we have today descended from them. (This doesn't include insects -- at least some young-earth creationists believe that they weren't taken on the ark. Another estimate from Answers in Genesis is that there were about 1500 kinds of animals on the ark. I'm not clear on why the difference, although the larger estimate is said to have included "flying creatures." Perhaps the lower estimate doesn't include them.) It is doubtful that the Genesis word usually translated "kind" corresponds to any of the categories used by today's taxonomists. Young-earth creationists do not claim that it does.

How many species of animals are there now?
This source, citing an authoritative textbook, says that there are currently 5,416 species of mammals on earth. (This presumably includes water-living mammals, which, according to young-earth creationists, were mostly or entirely not found on the ark. The Answers in Genesis belief is that extinct animals from ancient times, such as the saber-toothed tiger, would have descended from animals on the ark, too.)

This source indicates that, until recently, it was thought that there were 9,000-10,000 species of birds, but that this number is an underestimate, and that there are perhaps twice that many. This source indicates that there are about 7,000 species of amphibians. This source indicates that there are about 10,793 species of reptiles. (This research article proposes that there were 11 kinds of turtle on the ark, which have given rise to 313 living species, and 3 kinds of alligator/crocodile, giving rise to 25 current species.) Using 9,000 as the number of species of birds, and 4,800 as the number of species of land mammals, there are about 31,500 species of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles now on earth. There have been some extinctions within recorded history -- dodos, moas, the marsupial tiger, dinosaurs -- yes, Answers in Genesis proposes that dinosaur kinds were on the ark -- and others, which would add to the number of species that must be accounted for. Young-earth creationists believe that no more than about 1,500 kinds of animals became 31,500, or more, species, within the last 4,366 years. That means that, on average, each of those 1,500 kinds evolved into 21 species over that period, and that number is probably an underestimate. That's an astounding claim!

Here's a brief statement of the Answers in Genesis position, with a diagram of part of the "cat kind." The diagram indicates that the cat kind of animals, on the ark, evolved into lions, house cats, jaguars and cheetahs. (And, presumably, servals, ocelots, leopards, tigers, including saber tooth tigers, and more.)

R. Joel Duff has written about these beliefs of young-earth creationists, and finds them wanting, for a number of reasons. Some of my criticisms, listed below, are derived from his article:

1) Answers in Genesis, which rejects evolutionary mechanisms for the origin of large groups of organisms, over long periods of time, wants us to believe that evolutionary mechanisms are responsible for an astounding unfolding of many species, over a few thousand years. Answers in Genesis does not say "evolutionary mechanisms" much, or at all, but they are really relying on natural selection for the unfolding of species from ancestral kinds.
2) One criticism of main-stream evolutionary thought, by young-earth creationists, is that some fossil links are missing. But there are no known fossils, from the last 4,366 years, of any of the proposed species explosions after the Ark landed. Furthermore, cave art doesn't show such transitional forms. They are missing!
3) The Bible seems to describe lions, and other animals of Bible times, as if they looked and acted as they do today. Samson encountered a lion in about 1,100 BC, so the cat kind, according to Answers in Genesis, would have diversified to about what it is today in a mere 1,300 years or so. Is that possible? If it is, why haven't animals continued to expand the number of species up until the present day, or why did evolution stop at lions, 3,000 or so years ago, and not continue cat diversification?
4) There is no observational evidence from ancient literature for this explosive diversification.
5) Duff points out that scientific reasoning persuaded Answers in Genesis that there was not room in the Ark for all of the species we now have. The idea of rapid speciation after the flood is a new idea, not one that ancient Biblical scholars got from the text of Genesis. It has come about mostly, or entirely, because of the realization, by young-earth creationists, that it would have been impossible for Noah's family to house, feed, and clean up after 30,000 or so animal species within the dimensions of the Ark. In other words, young-earth creationists, who often accuse Christians of other persuasions about origins, that they are putting science ahead of a plain reading of the Bible, are in fact doing exactly that. See here.
6) This is a matter of culture and esthetics, I guess, rather than a logical objection, but what would Answers in Genesis have us do with all the Bible story picture books that show giraffes, zebras, lions, tigers and other animals, either with Adam and Eve in Eden, or on the Ark with Noah? Do they want us to replace these with pictures of their own inventions, the ancestors of the kinds? (Added June 8, 2022: The answer is "yes." see here for an AiG statement on this subject.)
7) Are we to believe that the names Adam gave to the animals would shortly be outdated, because of rapid evolutionary processes? (In most of the Old Testament, including Genesis, the names of people were chosen carefully, and matched the person's perceived character. Adam may have done that in naming the animals.)
8) Dogs have been artificially selected for thousands of years, but they are still dogs. Why, then, should we believe that natural selection would bring about an explosion of many species from an ancestral dog kind, in a few thousand years?
9) If hyperevolution was responsible for turning 137, 1500, or some other relatively small number of species (or kinds) into over 30,000 after the Ark landed, wouldn't it also have been responsible for rapid diversification before the Flood? If that had happened, wouldn't it have multiplied the kinds considerably?

Thanks for reading. For a chart showing many of the strengths and weaknesses of several views of origins held by Christians, see here. (All views of origins have weaknesses -- young-earth creationism isn't the only one that does!) For "What's wrong with young-earth creationism?" see here. For evidence that at least one of the important Bible scholars of the past, St. Augustine, did not necessarily believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old, see here.

Addendum, September 5, 2018: the Naturalis Historia blog discusses the idea that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time, and points out several problems with that idea. 

October 26, 2018: I recently saw a post on the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate, held in 2014, on the Gospel and Evolution blog. The reaction to the debate is of considerable interest, but this statement is especially pertinent to the subject of the post you are reading: "Ken Ham didn’t seem to have a problem at all with a 1,000 or so 'kinds' undergoing speciation since his alleged global flood 4,000 years ago to become the millions of species alive on the earth today, not to mention the billions that have lived and become extinct."

Thanks for reading.

Added November 30, 2018: A post by Naturalist Historia (R. Joel Duff's blog) discusses the adoption of evolutionary mechanisms in the explanations given by Answers in Genesis. 

Added December 31, 2018: David Heddle, of "He Lives" also writes about the problem that the large number of species raises for Mr. Ham and his followers. 

Added January 18, 2019: Naturalis Historia discusses horses, and related species, and examines what the Bible says about horses, and concludes that it's not possible for all horse types (including extinct ones) to have come from a single pair. 

Added March 5, 2019: R. Joel Duff has analyzed articles by adherents of Answers in Genesis, and, again, finds the hyper-evolution thesis to be spectacularly unbelievable. (In fact, Duff quotes one AiG author, who states that ordinary evolutionary processes could not have been responsible for the amazing number of bird species of the finch kind, if they all descended from one kind, after the Flood.) Here's one of Duff's articles. It has links to an AiG related publication.

July 18, 2019. This blog post was edited somewhat, including the addition of criticism 9.

August 20, 2019. See this post for more on the subject.

May 19, 2020. For more on proposed rapid speciation, from AiG and other Young-Earth Creationists, see here.

May 26, 2020. An article, published in Answers Research Journal, an organ of Answers in Genesis, and authored by important YEC scientists, says this: "In short, the YEC model proposes significant amounts of morphological change in a window of time that, by comparison with evolution, is extremely short."

July 18, 2022: Todd C. Wood, a young-earth creationist with solid science credentials, reacts to some who are calling Ken Ham, head of Answers in Genesis, an evolutionist. He is sometimes called that because of his belief in hyperevolution.

Sunspots 526

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: The History Blog tells us about the return of the best-known (and almost the only) picture of J. S. Bach to Leipzig
 
Christianity: An article on the errors the so-called Prosperity Gospel makes in interpreting the Bible.


Benjamin L. Corey thinks that John Calvin either didn't understand Christ's teaching, or deliberately disobeyed it, and explains his thinking.

Health: (or something) As of June 11, 2015, Amazon was offering a free book, in Kindle format (the price may go back up in the future) entitled How to Survive by Eating Insects and Learning Entomophagy [eating insects]. I didn't download it, but it caught my attention.


Science: Wired points out that the wings of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World aren't large enough.


The courtship display of a peacock spider, in a 3 minute 2 second video.


Wired also has an essay about dinosaurs in general. If we did produce one now, would it be like the extinct ones? How would we know? and other interesting questions.

Image source (public domain)

Two amazing organisms from South America

National Public Radio, and other news outlets, have reported on the discovery of bones from what seems to be the largest dinosaur ever found. The discovery was in Argentina.

NPR also reports on a living organism, a weird plant that looks like what would happen if you sprayed green shaving cream over one or more large beach balls. These slow-growing individuals could be the oldest higher plants on earth. They are related to carrots, but they certainly don't look like them in the photos. They are found in the Andes, including in Chile.

Amazing stuff! Read the articles, and look at the photos and videos.

Sunspots 428

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: God and Nature magazine reports on how and why a mature Christian couple changed their beliefs about the age of the earth.
Health: (or ethics, or sex) National Public Radio reports on the question of "Can Elderly Patients With Dementia Consent To Sex?"
Humor: (sort of) A photo of what happens when you try to drive in wet concrete.
Science: In case you didn't know it, there has been some doubt that Tyrannosaurus rex was really a savage predator, but might have merely scavenged on dead animals. National Public Radio reports on good evidence that it was, indeed, a hunter of other dinosaurs.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 390

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science: An astronomical object, 20 million light-years in length -- that's really long -- has been discovered, according to Wired.

Scientists in Italy have been convicted of not giving sufficient warning about an earthquake, according to The Daily Beast.

Dinosaurs probably had feathers, and the feathers may have been colored, perhaps used in courtship displays, according to reports by National Public Radio and the Scientific American. See here and here.

Philosophy: Do plants have rights? Some think that they do. (Some don't!) NPR reports.

Computing: You may think you own books, and other media, that you obtain from Apple, Amazon, and other commercial sources. Not so. Furthermore, Wired reports that all the content you have paid to use may be removed. Whoops.!

Christianity: Project Gutenberg has recently released the public domain Rand-McNally Bible Atlas by Hurlbut, in several versions. There is an abundance of maps and charts. I took the HTML version and went to the large version of a couple dozen maps or so, and saved them for later use. I also took the Windows Snipping tool (any screen capture tool should work) and saved some of the charts, some of which were on subjects I had never thought of, such as how much land each tribe got, under Joshua. I also hope to use the Kindle version. There are more versions.

Image source (public domain)

Leviathan

In a previous post, I mused about behemoth, a real, or perhaps imaginary, creature mentioned in the Book of Job.

I now turn to leviathan, which is mentioned in the next chapter of Job, also as part of God's response to Job, which, basically, is that God knows what He is doing, and Job doesn't.

Job 41:1 “Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish hook,
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope into his nose,
or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will he make many petitions to you,
or will he speak soft words to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you,
that you should take him for a servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird?
Or will you bind him for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him?
Will they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,
or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay your hand on him.
Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain.
Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Everything under the heavens is mine.
12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who shall come within his jaws?
14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror.
15 Strong scales are his pride,
shut up together with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another,
that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined to one another.
They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18 His sneezing flashes out light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches.
Sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,
as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals.
A flame goes out of his mouth.
22 There is strength in his neck.
Terror dances before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together.
They are firm on him.
They can’t be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid.
They retreat before his thrashing.
26 If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;
nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 He counts iron as straw;
and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow can’t make him flee.
Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble.
He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot.
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He makes a path shine after him.
One would think the deep had white hair.
33 On earth there is not his equal,
that is made without fear.
34 He sees everything that is high.
He is king over all the sons of pride.”

*41:1: Leviathan is a name for a crocodile or similar creature. (Quoted, including the note, from the World English Bible, which is public domain. All quotations from the Bible in this post use that version.)

Most Bible scholars suppose that leviathan means crocodile. But not all do:

Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in Job 41:1-34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bomardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon. - taken from the lexicon page on leviathan, from the Blueletter Bible. That same chapter also suggests that the creature may have been a plesiosaurus.

As far as I am aware, there is no credible evidence that dinosaurs and humans lived on earth at the same time. Nor is there evidence that fire-breathing dragons ever existed, either, however much we might wish that they had (or do). As in the previous post on behemoth, my guess is that at least some of the description given in Job is fanciful, like some of the beliefs about animals in medieval bestiaries. (We may have some equally ridiculous beliefs about some creatures now, but don't realize it.) The point of Job 41 is not to give an accurate zoological description, but to point out to Job, and early readers of the story, that God is in charge, even of remarkable creatures. My guess is that Job, and quite a few of his contemporaries, supposed that leviathan was as described, but had never seen such a creature.

Unlike behemoth, leviathan is mentioned more than once in the Bible.

There is a passing mention in Job 3:8.

Here's part of Psalm 74:12 Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation throughout the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength.
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.
You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

Again, this seems to be poetic, not referring to actual events, but who knows?

There is another passing reference in Psalm 104:26, and there's also Isaiah 27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. Again, this doesn't seem to be meant strictly literally. One reason I think so is because the same chapter also talks about Israel budding, blossoming, and producing fruit.

If there really were, or are, dragons, God made them, or allowed them to come into existence. That's really the point of Job 41, I believe.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 305

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science: There have been claims that a petroglyph (prehistoric painting) is of a dinosaur, thus indicating that dinosaurs and humans lived on earth at the same time. A scientific analysis shows that the petroglyph is not a picture of a dinosaur.

Wired reports that someone has made a study of why our fingers wrinkle when immersed in water for a long time.

Another report from Wired is on evidence that using antibiotics on domestic animals selects for antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, and that these resistant bacteria then turn up in humans. 

Computing: Windows Secrets has published an article on Windows 7's libraries, which make it possible to control, from one place, files from more than one folder, or drive, or even more than one computer.

 

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 246

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else: 

Humor:(Not exactly, but I don't have a category for this one) The New York Times reports that prisoners are prohibited from playing Dungeons and Dragons in Wisconsin, and the ban has held up under a lawsuit. 

Science:
Finally, there's a way to tell the color of some dinosaurs, according to a report on NPR.

Sports:
Wired reports that playing simulated games has a real impact on the way professional athletes play their sport.

Computing: 
Wired reports that even careful, very careful, computer use may not make your computer activity untraceable



Image source (public domain)

Are dinosaurs still alive?

In his book, The Trouble with Physics, Lee Smolin tells how he met some "members of a Bible college" in an airport, and they told him that they had been to Africa, in part to find evidence that dinosaurs still exist. Smolin asked why they were so hard to find, if they exist, especially since they are large, and some of them seem to have lived in herds. The response was that they hide in caves for most of the day, and are supposed to sort of pull dirt across the entrance from the inside to prevent discovery. (New York: Houghton, pp. 25-26) Smolin was illustrating a similar phenomenon in physics, that is, some claims for a particular theory "are just rationalizations." Smolin had a hard time believing this whole idea, especially the idea about the dinosaurs hiding themselves by pulling dirt across cave entrances. Smolin is a physicist, not a geologist, biologist, or paleontologist. According to him, the Bible college persons brought up the subject that led the conversation to dinosaurs.

What about dinosaurs?

I did a Google search for the words, dinosaurs, caves, Africa, and found, sure enough, several web pages that claim that dinosaurs exist there now. Most or all of these pages are by young-earth creationists, who are either attempting to discredit mainstream science by showing that dinosaurs, which supposedly became extinct more than 60 million years ago, are not extinct at all, arguing that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs on it, or both.

Just because young-earth creationists claim something is true doesn't make it false. Are those who make such claims on to something? My response is that I doubt it, but I'm not absolutely sure.

This page has a section on "dinosaurs in the Bible," which refers to Job 40:15-19, which uses the word "behemoth," in some versions. (See here for the King James translation of this passage. The New King James also uses this word, but there's a note, saying that we don't know what animal is meant.) I have done some serious study on the matter of plants in the Bible, and, for most of the names used, we don't seem to really know what plant was meant. I suspect that the same is true for "behemoth."

I was a little surprised that the page didn't refer to "leviathan," apparently another large animal, which is mentioned in four passages in the King James Bible, namely Job 41, Psalm 74:14, Psalm 104:26, and Isaiah 27:1. Leviathan is/was apparently an ocean creature of some kind.

This page cites three articles, from mainstream science journals, indicating that dinosaur soft tissue has been discovered. If so, that is remarkable, if dinosaurs have been extinct for so long. I haven't seen these articles, nor checked to see if they have been supported or discredited by further work.

OK, let's get logical, and examine various possibilities.

Dinosaurs never existed at all.
This is difficult to believe, because of the fossil evidence.

or Dinosaurs existed.

In which case, they became extinct at some time in the past . . .

If that's true, why? There are three possibilities.

1) The earth is very old, and mainstream science, which claims that dinosaurs became extinct a long time ago, is correct.
2) Dinosaurs (and presumably many other forms of prehistoric life) were destroyed before the creation events described in the six days of Genesis 1. This would be consistent with gap theory. It is probably consistent with mainstream science, also.
3) Dinosaurs were rescued from Noah's flood, but have become extinct since, probably because conditions on earth changed*.

or they didn't.

The evidence cited on the web pages proclaiming that they still live is correct, and some dinosaurs still exist. Perhaps the Loch Ness monster exists, and is one.

*Dinosaurs would have taken up a lot of room on the ark, if there were very many species of them, plus the room needed for their food. Genesis 6 says that Noah was to take a male and a female of each animal, and doesn't mention anything about eggs being brought aboard. If somehow the dinosaurs were represented by eggs, rather than young dinosaurs, where did the eggs come from? As the KJV puts it (Genesis 6:20) the animals were to "come unto thee." (to Noah) (I cleaned up some grammar in this paragraph on August 23, 2007. I also mistakenly re-published this as a draft, not a post, after that.)

Thanks for reading.