Dinosaurs of Eden
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The Dinosaurs of Eden: A Biblical Journey Through Time is a creationist publication written by Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham, published by Master Books in 2001.
Rebuttal And Intro To Ham's Fictional Dinosaurs and How They Are Different Than Real Dinosaurs
Unbelievable but true, there are only a tad few people out there, because of some religious belief out there, who believes that there is no such thing as dinosaurs. They claim dinosaurs are non-existent. The Devil have put those strange bones in the ground to deceive men and to test their faith in God. In a special way, they are telling the truth. There is no such thing as dinosaurs that lived alongside of man, roamed the Garden of Eden, being all vegetarians, perishing in the great flood of Noah only for some to be safe and hibernating on the ark only to leave it to die off in “post-flood” extremes (i.e. froze to death in the ice age, killed off by man, etc.), being Behemoth and Leviathan as told in Job 40 and 41, being dragons people saw, fought, and kill in legends, and living in the remote jungle areas of the world today. Therefore, dinosaurs is truly all a myth....with one major exception!
Unlike their fictional counterparts, Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. They lived in a special time period known as the Mesozoic era (245-65 million years ago). These dinosaurs are all real. So is their contemporary neighbors, the Plesiosaurs, Mosasaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Pliosaurs, and Pterosaurs that ruled the sea and the sky alongside of dinosaurs that ruled the land throughout the world. Their fossil remains they left behind along with their living avian descendants are very real also. Unlike the fictional dinosaurs of the young earth world, the real dinosaurs were the undisputed Rulers of the Earth for over 160 million years; living long before there were any humans on earth.
From 225 to 65 million years ago, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes ruled the world and reigned supreme for countless eons before being succumbed to a cataclysmic disaster that must have came from outer space and hit the water in what is now the Gulf of Mexico and created an environmental disaster that wiped out 60% of all life on earth, including dinosaurs of non-avian types leaving behind descendants that eventually conquered the sky in place of Pterosaurs that also have died out along with the Marine Reptiles and the Dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Unlike the fictional dinosaurs of Eden, the real dinosaurs of the Mesozoic era never saw humans at all. No humans were around when the dinosaurs ruled the earth millions of years ago, but there were humans around living alongside of fictional dinosaurs in fantasy worlds of all types, whether in Dinotopia, Jurassic Park, Pellucidar, or the young earther's fanciful version of the Garden of Eden as I will tell you about here in Ken Ham's sleazy, fictional time-traveling book, The Dinosaurs of Eden: A Biblical Journey Through Time (2001, Master Books). In this sci-fi book, Ham takes you to a world through a fictional 'bible time machine' with two teenagers who plans to go back through the time portal. This world is based on his young earth interpretations of the Bible he insists for all to believe it to be all fact, accurate and true while it's not. He thinks it's all real because his Bible tells him so. If it is, then how come we see no trace of evidence for it? All over the world, people have been finding fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals dating back to many eons ago before the dawn of man and have found no valid trace of evidence in support of Ham's fantasy world.
Chances of finding valid evidences for Ham's fantasy world is nil. Yet this man insists that what he believes in is real and wishes to impose these teaching upon others, whether they like it or not. Ham is doing just that through this book made for children and other forms of literature just like it, using his fictitious “Missionary Lizards” as he calls them to help him spread his fantasies around.
Cover descriptions
The cover in the first edition of the book features the 2 kids witnessing Adam feeding an apple to a Triceratops. Eve is seen riding on its back and in the background, a sauropod is browsing on a tree. Honestly, I've never seen the first edition of the book so I don't know what the back cover of the book is like. However, the second edition I did see on both the front and the back cover of the book, there are images that is also seen in the book such as the kids, on the front cover, beholding the fictional dinosaurs of Eden for the first time as seen on pages 8 and 9. However, the difference is that there is no Brachiosaurus shown in that particular scene. The Brachiosaurus is seen, however, on pages 30 and 31 in the book. The back cover shows part of a scene shown on page 13 of Eve feeding a Scutellosaurus (Which never climbed trees in real life.) while Adam watches with delight while holding a cluster of berries in his hands.
A brief summary of what the book is all about is on the back cover. It goes like this with emphases added in bold:
“Readers of all ages will take a thrilling (sic)' ride in a fictional time machine to the past when dinosaurs lived - a ride not through millions of years of reality, but to a make-believe time not so long ago! Filled with not-so stunning artwork, this fun family delusionary book will transport you on a not-at-all breathtaking journey through the so falsely called "time-gate" of the paper deity Bible, the not-so true history book of the universe! This captivating imaginary adventure by popular, most deluded, scientific crackpot writer Ken Ham projects disillusionally back to the Garden of Eden and to the unreal mythical world inhabited by dinosaurs of myth - and to the not so exciting non-existent days of Noah's flood and the Tower of Babel. You'll be there diluted into watching...traveling through the centuries...learning the true history of the earth that never was, and along the way no way are you discovering the very meaning and purpose of life that's not there! Join us on this mythic journey to the very beginning of time - when dinosaurs of myth roamed Eden!”
Actually this will be a far LESS breathtaking journey through time. The time that never was to begin with.
Going Back in Time
Starting at the very beginning of page 1, one of the teenage kids is looking into a screen of the time machine with a big A on top, standing for the Greek letter Alpha, and the caption at the bottom of the screen that reads 'Old Testament' that is showing 'the beginning' before his very eyes. He sees a Tyrannosaur roaring at him.
On pages 2 and 3, the kids getting ready to go back in time. If you ask me, at first I thought the kids were engaging in a virtual reality trip when I first saw the book and the samples shown online on the Answers in Genesis and Master Books website. I've heard it is said that too much virtual reality games and fantasies can cause the player to be distorted to the point where he/she cannot tell actual from virtual. YECism is exactly like that. In this book, the kids are actually time traveling, virtual reality style, all they way back to the beginning. Back to the time where the mythical dinosaurs, large and small, walked with man 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden.
On page 4, there are some notes that tells about the purpose of this book as well as about the author and the acknowledgment of the people who help him with this book.
On page 5, the kids continues to get ready to go back in time.
Making a liar out of God
On page 6, the main text begins. Ham asks if we have ever imagined us going back in time to the days of King Solomon, Noah's Ark, and the Garden of Eden. Then he asks about dinosaurs, like Tyrannosaurus for example, and wouldn't be 'fantastic' to go back in time and actually see them and how they really behaved and how long ago they really lived. It would be nice to meet the dinosaurs in real life and board up on a time machine, go back in time, and see the dinosaurs roam the earth millions of years ago, if we had a time machine. Actually, we don't need to. We can see dinosaurs everyday here in our own backyard; chirping, tweeting, and flying about as birds.
But this is not what Ham is talking about unfortunately. He sleazily states that even though we don't have a time machine, we have instead something that's (to him) far better....sort of. Ham claims to have a written record about everything past, present, and future from the one who knows everything, or so he thinks. He's really calling God a liar when he does make statements like that, claiming He saw it all and wrote it down, but did he planted evidence pointing to exactly what He saw in the past according to Mr. Ham? No he didn't. Saying that God saw and wrote it all of what did happened according to Ham and other YECs, yet turn around find hardcore valid evidence that says it never happened really makes God into a bull-faced liar, which is an act of absolute blasphemy.
He states that even if we have a time machine, we may not understand about which events of the past were the most important for us to know about, such as we might go into place at a particular time, but not know that something was happening in another location which was vital for us to know about.... OR DO WE? Ignorantly, stupidly, Ham refrains from telling his gullible followers about the fact that there were many instances of multiple important-to-us events that all have occurred in the past at the same time in history. Like the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg happening at the same time as the birth of the famous painter and inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci. Both occurring at the same time in the year 1452, for instance.
Bible Boasting
Then Ham claims God made sure all the most (sic) important events of history is all recorded in a special series of books when combined together makes up one book. Of course he's talking about the Bible. The Bible he claims in big bold letters to be in his own eyes, “The History Book of the Universe.”(So is the Qur'an, so is the Jewish Bible, so is the Mormon Bible, so is the sacred text of Buddha. What difference does it makes when people of other religions other than Christianity would say the exact same thing for their sacred writings?) It is the only 100 percent accurate history book in the world (Yeah right! All other people of religious faith other then Christianity would say the same thing about their own sacred texts.). If it is so, according to this arrogant bibliolator, then we would live on a flat disked planet on 4 pillars and a large dome covering over it, have remains of dinosaurs and man found mixed together in the fossils record, but this is not the case. If it is “the (sic) history book of the universe”, this idol that Ham has placed above God, then how come we have passages that are missing a lot of text in it as well as having passages that are all allegories and metaphors be found in the Bible in many cases? How come it's, in some cases, out of order event-wise, like in the passages in the book of Jeremiah for example? How come we find atrocities and verses that contradict each other in there? How come there is no accounts in the bible about life and times occurring OUTSIDE the bible lands like in the North Americans for instance? And finally how come we see NO evidence of the Bible to be as authentic as the Bible literalists, liberals, and bibliolators would like to have it be? Ham apparently either knows ZERO of or is willfully ignorant of the Bible's true history, archeology, and literature and the fact there are much MORE books out there that has special ties in with the Bible that should have been canonized, but for some reason they weren't.
No Understanding of Dinosaurs In Ham's Drivel
Then, Ham tells the reader that he/she is going to learn how this faux time machine enables us to understand (actually misunderstand) dinosaurs: where they lived, how they died, what they ate, why we are finding their bones and much more, or so he thinks. The Bible actually tells us absolutely ZERO of these things. Being so ignorant as he is, Ham simply just don't care. He just takes the Bible, twist it here and there, and just tell it like it is.
Ham then tells the reader he/she's going on a journey through the Fictional Bible Time Gate [emphasis mine] which the kids are going through on page 7.
Ham Abuses The Word Of God
Ham then tells to look up the following verses in the bible and find out why it is so special. Ham assumes that the Bible is the Word of God (Not in Ham's views it isn't!) who always existed (or did it?) and always tells the truth (Yet, made a liar out of by crackpots, including Ham.) unlike Ham and others like him who just abuse God's Word by twisting it around to fit in with their own beliefs about it.
Ham says that studying God's word is the only way we will know the truth about the past concerning dinosaurs. Problem is, there is none. God's Word does NOT have such a concept. How would the biblical writers suppose to know all these thing while in fact they all knew absolutely NOTHING about dinosaurs? They neither have seen nor heard of dinosaurs. They all, except birds, died out millions of years before the first man ever appeared on earth. Does Ham care? No. He just lies, twists the truth, and tells it like it is.
The World of The Fictional Dinosaurs
On page 8 and 9, The kids have just went though the portal and get their first look at the fictional dinosaurs in person for the first time and is amazed at what they saw. These fictional [sic] “missionary lizards” all have a very striking resemblance to the real dinosaurs of the Mesozoic era. In most pages of the book each image of a “missionary lizard” has captions on them that tells the reader what are their names and what their name means.
In some cases there are captions next to 3 fictional mammal-like reptiles, a Pelycosaur on page 59 (Dimetrodon, well known sail-back meat-eating reptile often mistaken as a dinosaur), a theriodont (Inostrancevia, named in honor of a Russian geologist. Click here to learn about the real history and description of this reptile.) on page 50, wrongly drawn with an upright stance instead of a semi-erect posture, and a eotheriodont on page 19 (Estemmenosuchus, meaning Crown Crocodile. Click here to learn about the real history of this reptile.) that says they are not true dinosaurs, but either a therapsid or a synapsid reptile; refraining from that fact that these reptiles, in reality, are actually mammal-like reptiles that lived 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period and the Paleozoic Era.
The only differences between them and their real counterparts is that they are all thousands of years old and have a very different personality and are all subjects to the will of man. Especially to the will of Adam and Eve who lived with them in the Garden of Eden way back in 3995 BCE/BC. Like Real Dinosaurs, these Fictional Dinosaurs came in many different shapes and sizes. But unlike Real Dinosaurs that are known for their South American birth and their worldwide dominance, the Fictional Dinosaurs originated in the Middle East 6,000 years ago in c.4000 BCE. These so-called “missionary lizards” were all created on the 5th and 6th days of creation week and placed on earth alongside of man who was shortly created after the creation of the animals, perhaps around noon on the 6th day of the creation week to have dominion over them along with all other forms of animals just like a king having dominion over all those he surveys in his land, man and beast. The fictional dinosaurs all have the exact same names as their real counterparts' names in nearly all cases and has a very strange dietary habit unlike real dinosaurs whom most were herbivores (plant-eaters), others were carnivores (meat-eaters), and the rest were omnivores (Plant and meat-eaters). The fictional dinosaurs was created to only devour plants and fruits that God has given them regardless of whether they have sharp teeth or not. They are to live in peace with all other animals and man and eat only plants as seen in Ham's book in some pages. However when man deliberately disobeys God, things changed drastically for these creatures of myth as I will discuss later.
The Bible Has Zero To Do With Dinosaurs
Right now in this fictional beautiful paradise, as the kids marveled at its "Garden's beauty" and the mythical dinosaurs within, on the top left corner of page 8, there is a paragraph where Ham asks us, “What do these verses have to do with creatures like a Dilophosaurus or Cryolophosaurus?” Simple! The answer is ZILCH! II Timothy 3:16 have nothing to do with dinosaurs. Then, Ham states that we probably have heard of dinosaurs like Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Stegosaurus and have read or heard phrases like “dinosaurs lived millions of years ago;” the disappearance of the dinosaurs is a big mystery;” “Dinosaurs are not mentioned in the bible;” “dinosaurs were not created, they evolved.” The last two is something Ham just throws in there. You won't see anything like that in real dinosaur books like Dinosaurus for instance. You will see, however, phrases like that only in YEC books like what I'm refuting here. Ham admits they once existed, because of bones and fossils of them in the earth being found, dug up, and put on exhibits in museums for all to see. However, the dinosaurs in this book as well as in all other YEC books like it are all imaginary creatures, mythical dinosaurs that lived along side of man just as in many other sci-fi worlds other than what I'm refuting here.
Ham: "Check your brains at the door, please!"
Then on page 9, Ham tells the reader to put out of your mind all these things the reader have heard about dinosaurs. In other words he's telling the reader to “Check your brains at the door, please!” Instead, Ham and the reader are to get into the so-called bible time machine and travel back into the beginning of history to the time that never was.
What yom Means
Genesis 1, the verse in the King James Bible, Ham twists around to fit his beliefs , says “In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” To Ham, it means God, who always existed, tells us in the first verse that He made time, space, and matter, which is not what the verse really says. Then on page 10, Ham gives a summary of the creation story and then claims falsely that people who believe the creation week lasting for long periods of time is wrong and claims the Hebrew word yom always meant an ordinary 24 hour day. He's lying. Being ignorant he is, he would rather not accept the fact that the word “yom” which means “day” can also mean a lengthy period of time. Like a week, a month, a year, or even a extensive period of time, such as the day of the dinosaurs for instance.
Ham's Concept of Time
No different than the teachings of Seventh Day Adventism which the Edenic Cult (young earthism) is a part of, Ham states that the verse in Exodus 20:11 to be the reason of why we have a 7 day week: God worked for 6 days and on the 7th day he rested. (He doesn't know a doggone thing about how the concept of weeks, months, years, and measuring time and seasons have changed over the years does he?) Using circular reasoning, just like he did in all of his literature such as D is for Dinosaur for instance, he assumes if the universe was created in 6 million years of time for each day our week and God rested on the 7th million years of time, then the week will be millions of years long. That kind of circular reasoning fails to explain how come we live on a planet that's 4 billion years old and located in a universe that's 15-20 billion years old based on scientific evidence. What Ham thinks of the verse and what the verse really means is 2 different things. The verse does not established any cosmological time frame. It just simply says that the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath on the seventh day and not work at all. Besides that, what our views of what a day is and what God views of what a day is is 2 different things (II Peter 3:8).
References, http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/longdays.html
