An Embarrassing Young Earth Creationist Argument

In this episode, Trent responds to a scandalously weak argument against evolution based on claims of human dinosaur coexistence.

Be sure to keep up with our socials!

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:00 What does the Church teach about Theistic Evolution?
03:24 The problem with using Young Earth Creationists' argument to evangelize
03:45 Cambodian Stegosaurus?
06:16 British Sauropods?
07:50 A T-rex in Beowulf?
09:57 Paluxy River Tracks
11:50 St. Augustine's approach

[jeffreydale]

“If you don’t think T-Rex had a Scottish accent, you ain’t black.”- Joe Biden

[robdee]

St. Georges dragon was added to the story much later (medieval times) St. George was a Roman soldier who refused to deny Christ and his faith and was martyred for it. I was always taught the dragon represented Satan and his lies.

[flabiger]

Calling Beowulf "historical" would be to read LOTR five hundred years later and think Balrogs are real. (Give credit to our ancestors for being just as, if not more creative and imagitive than ourselves.)

[Sousabird]

Stegosauruses in Cambodia is the name of my new band.

[zorrobatman]

Watch out Trent! you are exposing yourself to a video response from Taylor entitled: "When evolutionist catholics argue like atheists" 😂

[glotree]

Former Protestant, convert to Catholicism here, raised YEC and still trying to figure it all out. I really like Trent’s videos (and have been looking forward to his promised videos on Kolbe Creation Center for a while), but I have to confess, I’m a bit disappointed with this one; particularly the part about the Paluxty River prints. My parents took us to Glen Rose when I was a kid, and this “specimen” is a big deal to a lot of YECers, and, let’s be honest, if it was real, it should be a big deal. So to wrap up that part with a “scientist have decided that it’s just erosion” and move on, without any links to study’s or references, feels a bit simplistic and dismissive, especially if you were raised to be suspicious of most of the scientific community, raised as we were with tales of the canceling of scientists who questioned the evolutionary dogma, long before canceling became a culture-wide phenomena. I know debunking that particular argument was not the sole purpose of this video, but a link to a study or mention of a source would have much better than to just dismiss it and move on. Especially since something that looks so clearly like a human footprint could not possibly be attributed to simple erosion.

Turns out, it wasn’t erosion, it was most likely a carved hoax. I went looking for myself, and found this excellent study and breakdown of all the supposed prints attributes that indicate strongly that it was carved. Looking closely at it with their observations have convinced me, after all, that it is, in fact, a hoax. I confess myself disappointed and kinda sad to learn that… but also relieved to have an actual answer, and one that isn’t flippant, dismissive, condescending, or disrespectful.


Incidentally, I am one of those (usually) silent readers who is really struggling to ascertain the truth in this area, and am open to what I was raised to believe being wrong… but the absolute nastiness and pettiness that I see in the comments on this video (and elsewhere in the whole evolution/creationist debate) are a HUGE deterrent to hearing what you all have to say. (I acknowledge that both sides are guilty of this.) A large percentage of the comments under this video are derisive, nasty, scornful and mocking, and all the unnecessary comments about Taylor Marshall and the other fellow are equally off-putting. I am not a particular Taylor Marshall fan myself, but the comments about him that have nothing to do with the subject of the video, are also a huge turn-off for someone like me who is honestly trying to weigh all of this and find the truth.

The presentation matters as much as the content. Just keep that in mind.

[bman]

I was expecting that they would read Genesis as a literal account. I wasn’t expecting them to read Beowulf as a literal account. 😂

[joshuacooley]

I was raised as a YEC (as a Protestant) and spent years debating evolution and defending the literalistic reading of Genesis 1 and 2.

What ultimately proved the biggest factor in changing my mind about my previous views was when I first encountered teaching about Genesis 1 and 2 from Catholic sources like Scott Hahn that looked at their covenant meaning and their place in salvation history.

I realized, to my shock, that I had been reading and defending Genesis for years, and had never learned a single thing about what those passages actually meant to the Faith.
I also realized that whether those passages were understood to be literal history or not, had basically no impact on understanding what they were meant to teach us.

Essentially I realized that I had spent so much effort on trying to defend God's word being literal, and I had completely and absolutely missed what God was intending to say.

From that point on I became convinced that the entire debate about literal young earth creation was a largely useless distraction. People can believe what they want in that regard. What actually matters is if you understand what the text MEANS.

I think the devil is perfectly happy to have young earth creationists, so long as being young earth creationists keeps them distracted from what God is actually saying to them.

[jay]

As a former atheist turned Catholic, I can confirm that there are better arguments against evolution that appealed to me than what Hall and Marshall were talking about.

Look up video interviews with David Berlinski or Stephen Meyer on the subject. The first crack in the armor against evolution for me was a YouTube video titled “Mathematical Challenges to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution” that was put out by The Hoover Institute.

After watching that I began looking up other videos by people in that video and the YouTube algorithm showed me many other very reasonable and scientifically defendable stances AGAINST Darwinian Evolution as it is taught in schools.

[komnennos]

Now we have to defend mediaeval dinosaurs to own the modernists, it's all so tiresome

[josephposenecker]

Unfortunately the young earth creationists make Christians look gullible and foolish. I’m almost 40 now and I remember when I was growing up this was one of the most convincing arguments kids used around the end of elementary school going into middle about why Christianity was just myths and fables. I was raised Catholic but in the southern United States around mostly Protestants. Most of the kids I went to school with were actually church going Christians, but by middle school most of us didn’t believe it, because of debates like these. Unfortunately my Church and the volunteers that taught are Bible study’s and CCD were not well equipped to help us answer these questions. I hope that the availability of YouTube videos like these can help change the tides and make Christianity sound more reasonable to kids today that what I got growing up.

[JamesS]

Slight correction- Coelophysis is pronounced “See-Lo-Fye-Sis” other than that, great work Trent!

[awreckingball]

Hall recently interviewed Dr. Rômulo Carleial, a creationist who is also an evolutionary biology researcher at Kew, London, with his doctorate from Oxford. Will you be addressing the arguments presented in that video?

[billydagarin]

Is there a new editor at work? Something seems different with the style. I'm really liking it.

[MoonMoverGaming]

Even if dinosaurs did survive into historical times, that would not disprove the theory of evolution.

Paleontology tells us that many types of animals which still survive today - such as crocodiles and sharks - are as old as the dinosaurs but have not gone extinct. Sometimes species stick around for a long time.

[Catholicity-uwyb]

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH #283 “ The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers.”

[tTonyJee]

I'm partway through the video and just had to pause to shoot out the editor. Sick job, dude. These videos are slick.

[airman]

Well, this is something new. I guess I was living under a rock. I had no idea this was even a "thing". Seems like a lot of energy wasted for nothing.

[Catholicity-uwyb]

POPE BENEDICT XVI: There “...is much scientific proof in favor of evolution which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life... In short, there is no necessary contradiction between scientific theories of evolution and Catholic belief. There is no reason why God could not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species.”

[gaspartiznado]

To quote Jimmy and Dom, “It’s always demons.”