Answers in Genesis is at it again…claiming that the soft tissue find in a T-rex last year was evidence of a young earth, and the “recent” existence of dinosaurs. In a new web article dated 6 March 2006,1 they claim that evolutionists are struggling to explain how this fits into their long ages model. Here are a few choice quotes…
Evolutionists like her have been scrambling for 12 months to explain away this powerful evidence that dinosaurs have been around in relatively recent times.
So steadfast is she in her long-age belief, Dr. Schweitzer will not even consider a re-think of her view that dinosaurs perished 65 million years ago. So she continues a search for an explanation of how soft tissue could have survived so well preserved for a long time.
Will evolutionists now be convinced to think about rewriting dinosaur history
Regardless of how the evolutionist community finally decides what to do with this fossil conundrum, the creationists now possess immensely powerful evidence against the well-publicized belief that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and instead have tremendous support for the biblical timeline of a recent creation.
It is interesting how they depict the problems which face evolutionists. Answers in Genesis makes it seem like evolutionists are clueless half-wits, trying to figure out how to make this fit the old age of the earth. Nothing could be further from the truth. The issues that the T-rex soft tissue bring up do not challenge evolution. They do not challenge old ages. They provide no evidence for a young earth.
have stated in the past,2 if
soft parts were to be found, the dense, heavy leg bones of a large therapod,
such as T-rex, provide the perfect answer for how to preserve them. These
dense bones would seal inside any unfossilized material, in essence creating
an airtight, watertight tomb for the contents. This has been pointed out by
the evolutionists, yet the young earth ministries fail to address this
claim…all they do is shout “SOFT TISSUE, SOFT TISSUE” without examining the
possibilities. With their blinders on, they consider the soft tissue
by itself, without examining the rest of the evidence. They have found
one straw at the bottom of a haystack, but they are ignoring the haystack.
Despite the shouts from the young earth creation science proponents, this soft tissue still provides no proof of a young earth. You see, the dinosaur itself is not the main problem. The problem for the young earth model lies in the stratigraphy…or where in the rock layers the fossil was found. The T-rex is found in Late Cretaceous sediments, from 68 to 65 million years in age. These sediments are said by young earth creation science to be Late Flood deposits. However, these sediments where T-rex is found is many thousands of feet above the starting point for the Flood rocks, which can be seen in the rocks at the base of the Grand Canyon.
How did T-rex, and the rest of the dinosaurs, survive thousands of feet of deposition? One could argue that this specimen was killed after the flood (after all, by the young earth creation science model, the dinosaurs were on the ark). However, the rock layers show that the Flood deposited over 8,000 feet of sediment, BEFORE the first dinosaur fossil appears in the rocks. Of course, one could argue that they sought high ground, and were killed after the waters rose high enough. However, if that were the case, then there would be trace fossils (fossilized footprints, coprolites, nest sites, and fossils of animals that died prior to the Flood) in the earliest layers at the base of the Grand Canyon. However, ALL the trace fossils appear in the same layers as the dinosaurs themselves. This indicates they did not live outside the time represented by the rock layers they are found in.
Contrary to the claims of young earth creation science advocates, the T-rex soft tissue does not support their cause. Of course, they will continue shouting "SOFT TISSUE," and some will listen, but anyone willing to examine all of the evidence will see the truth.
1 The Scrambling Continues, published at answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0306AAAS.asp
To learn more
about old earth creationism, see
Old Earth Belief,
or check out the article
Can You Be A
Christian and Believe in an Old Earth?
Feel free to check out more of this website. Our goal is to provide rebuttals to the bad science behind young earth creationism, and honor God by properly presenting His creation.