Of course they don’t understand the science, and they don’t understand the history, either. The Institute for Creation Research makes an utter botch of the history of our knowledge of pterosaurs, arguing that because scientists have a different view of flying reptiles now than we did when they were first discovered, evolutionists have been getting it wrong all along.
Dave Hone explains why they’re wrong. For one thing, the first pterosaur fossils were found in the 18th century, before Darwin, so it’s kind of silly to pin the errors of interpretation on evolutionists — there weren’t any around. I’d also say it’s rather typical that it takes time and much research to establish an accurate interpretation, so basically this is a case where the creationist is complaining because scientific knowledge progresses.
But another thing leapt out at me in the ICR article.
The evolutionary timeline fails to match the most obvious pterosaur fossil data, but Genesis history readily explains them. First, pterosaur structure was flight-ready from the get-go because God created it to be. Second, a terrible, watery cataclysm like Noah’s Flood buried these winged creatures—often in the same layer as dinosaurs, fish, lizards, small mammals, and birds—leaving behind elegant, fully formed pterosaur fossils with no evidence that intermediary “also-ran” versions ever existed.
Oh, really? Pterosaurs are in the Bible? I don’t think so.
I also note the dishonest elision at the end, that pterosaurs are found in the same “layer” as small mammals. This is true. But these are not the small mammals we are familiar with — no squirrels, no mice, no voles or moles.
It’s all just wall-to-wall lies.
Rectal wall to rectal wall? It would make sense considering where they pull all their “science” from.
Oh, really? Pterosaurs are in the Bible?
You’ve never wondered about the mysterious Behe-moth?
The evolutionary pioneer Darwin was already over 50 when pterosaurs were discovered.
{“…The first pterosaur fossil was described by the Italian naturalist Cosimo Alessandro Collini in 1784. …”} wiki
Charles Robert Darwin, 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882)
Care to revise your assertion?
sounds like Home is saying the Creationists apparently have 20/20 hindsight; by declaring the earliest misinterpretations of the fossils as “obviously incorrect (given recent findings)”.
Clearly the Creationards [sic] will say whatever they can to make themselves appear more correct than anything said by any Scientist.
There you go again, manhattanmc, using your facts and your data instead of simply relying on what you know in your heart.
“so basically this is a case where the creationist is complaining because scientific knowledge progresses.”
Well yeah! All valid knowledge was written down in the Bible by God with his very own Bic, dontcha know. Anything which contradicts this “fact” pisses them right off.
Maybe Jack Sprocket meant *Erasmus* Darwin, who was indeed about 50 when pterosaurs were discovered.
The mapping of the fossil record is a work in progress, so of course there are going to be some organisms with incomplete histories. Even so, there have been a good number of fossils showing the evolution of pterosaurs once they evolved flight. Besides, even if paleontologists one day discover the flightless ancestors of the pterosaurs, the creationists will just find some excuse to explain why they aren’t related.
The thing about the biblical “explanation” of the existence of any organism is that it’s not an explanation at all. Paleontologists will dig up fossils and record where they found them, which geological stratum they were found in, and then use phylogenics to figure out the processes that led to the evolution of the organism. Creationists just say that their god poofed the organism into existence out of thin air, and never bother to explain how said poofing works.
Creationists also have a problem with explaining why we only find certain fossil species in particular strata, and only with a certain set of other organisms. Pretty much every half-assed explanation like running from flood waters or body density causing them to sink doesn’t match up with the patterns we see. Also, if the flood waters were moving fast enough to carve out canyons and displace massive amounts of sediment within a few days, then why are any of the fossils we find still intact and not shredded into powder?
Yeah, duh! First everyone knew the earth was flat (the bibble says so!) and then some robe-wearing dude says it’s round, I mean a sphere, and then some eggheads say it is an “oblate spheriod ” (an obvious fake term).
They keep changing so they must be wrong — all wrong!!!!
All these fossils are indeed found in the same layer, the crust; take that evilutionists.
Weeeeeell, technically, there’s a dozen or so mention of poultry in the Bible, so I guess that qualifies as having relatives starring in it?
There must be! They were in the historical documentaries Flintstones and One Million Years BC, the later clearly occurring before Teh Flud (the title was changed from the more correcter Three-and-a-Half Thousand Years BC due to pressure from the evilutionists).
I’m disappointed!
When I saw “Creationists and pterosaurs” I thought it was going to be one of those ‘spot the difference’ thingies. :-(
“Where are the two- or three-boned wings or the half-sized wings that evolution might have produced in its alleged eons of tinkering?”
Hmm. If only there were a resource that categorized these things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gliding_animals