Today at lunch I asked my son what I should blog about today. He said I should talk about his toy dinosaur, who he has named B-Rex (don’t ask me why). He said I should talk about B-Rex because B-Rex wants to eat but he can’t because B-Rex is just pretend.
Which leads me to a thought that I often have. I don’t trust everything scientists tell me. Why am I expected to take everything a scientist tells me as fact? My kid is really into dinosaurs and he has books that tell him all about life on this planet as it was x million years ago. And, everything is written as fact. When I read these books to him, I always add in the caviet phrase “according to scientists” at the end of each statement that strikes me as utterly unprovable. I mean, there is no way to prove or disprove some of the statements made, and yet, we are expected to accept all of it as fact. And, not only that, but we are expected to just start teaching it to our kids.
My son had his 4th birthday party at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. It was a terrific party and he and all his friends had a super time. (I recommend it if you are looking for a unique party idea for a young child). But, even there, I remember thinking more than once, “How can they possibly know that?”
And, it certainly isn’t limited to theories on dinosaurs. I have heard and read all kinds of crazy things stated as fact. I have heard all about how the planets came to be. There are detailed accounts of how our own planet has evolved and changed over the millions of years. Give a scientist a rock and they can tell you its age. (Carbon dating in particular is something that gets on my nerves because it is so widely accepted as complete and utter fact beyond any possible debate). They can categorically state when the Artic will run out of ice. They know how much our climate is warming and can tell us with amazing precision how temperatures will change over the next 10 years, 20 years, etc.
A quick google of “scientists claims” gave me the following results:
Life on Mars Likely, Scientist Claims
Black people ‘less intelligent’ scientist claims
Scientists Claim Infrared Helmet Could Reverse Alzheimer’s Symptoms
Men Smarter than Women, Scientist Claims
And, these are just on the first page! The list of unbelievable and un-provable claims goes on and on. (Of course, Men being smarter than Women is really more of a commonly accepted fact than any sort of breakthrough scientific discovery…just kidding).
I remember the exact moment about 5 years ago when I finally decided to officially quit believing anything that was stated in the name of science. I read a headline that “There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the earth.” Come on, how in the world can they possibly know that? And yet the article fully documents the total number of stars in the sky (70 sextillion to be exact) as compared to the much smaller number of grains of sand on the earth, which ironically they don’t even state…it’s as if we are to assume that they have known that all along. I knew when I read that article that they are completely full of crap.
Don’t get me wrong. I do think there is validity to a lot of things that scientists discover. Many advancements and truly proven discoveries have been made in all areas of science. But, my point is, that our society is expected to just fall in line with whatever is said in the name of science.
Well, I, for one, can’t do that. In my mind there is always room for other explanations no matter how remote they may be. For instance, I believe that God created the world. It is certainly possible that the Grand Canyon was carved into the rock over millions and millions of years by the Colorado river. But, it is also very possible in my mind that God created the Grand Canyon in just a single instant in all its beauty and glory. But, I have never heard the latter as a possible explanation to how the Grand Canyon came to be.
It’s possible that Dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, sure, but isn’t it also possible that God created the world with fossilized dinosaur bones and footprints and even droppings just because He’s God and He can create the world anyway he chooses with dinosaur droppings and all?
I personally think that the Grand Canyon was, in fact, formed over thousands of years and that dinosaurs actually did roam the earth. But, I would just once like to see scientists to acknowledge that there are other possibilities when they start to make their informed statements of fact.
This entire blog started because my 4 year old said I should talk about his pretend hungry dinosaur. Here’s hoping he will continue to be interested in dinosaurs. Here’s hoping he will continue to ask questions that will lead him into a further thirst for truth. Here’s hoping he will channel his interests and his curiosities into finding out more about this world and how it came into being. Here’s hoping he will always keep his mind open to a whole “world” of possibilities.
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