Dinosaur Tracks

Over the Fourth of July weekend we went to the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. The park is a beautiful 1,500-acre area highlighted by the Paluxy River; visitors can dig for fossils, take a dino hike, and see animatronic dinosaurs inside the museum. There are also multiple fossilized dinosaur tracks preserved, including a few successive left-right patterns.

As expected, the information provided boasts that the footprints formed during the Cretaceous Period, which was approximately 113 million years ago. Over the last million years, the river allegedly eroded away rock layers, leaving the tracks exposed for us to observe. This matter-of-fact information seemingly upholds Darwinian evolution and hurts the biblical claim of a young earth.

But how are these footprints preserved? Secular Geologists believe in a slow and gradual process that would have taken an extremely long time, but common sense says that wind, rain, and other factors would have eliminated these tracks from fossilizing. The biblical solution is that a worldwide Flood caused the dinosaur tracks to be quickly buried by new layers of floodwaters and the minerals brought with them. In fact, an unbiased person would almost certainly conclude that dino tracks could only be preserved by rapid burial, supporting the Genesis account and refuting evolution.

Consider the fact that the vast majority of these dinosaur trackways are in straight lines, compared to the normal meandering pattern of animals. The straight trackways seem to indicate that the dinosaurs were in great distress, running for their lives. If we picture the dinosaurs running towards higher ground to escape the rising floodwaters, we can understand the straight nature of the tracks, and the rapid burial to preserve those tracks. Evolution doesn't have an answer for these fossils, but God’s Word does.

It is easy to believe what we are told by the experts because they are the experts. But while visiting the State Park I noticed a few things. One was in the FAQ section of the museum, under the question, “What color were the dinosaurs?” The answer began, “We don't know. But…” The depictions we see today of green or tan dinosaurs are entirely guess work. And that is fine, so long as we keep in mind that most of what the experts say is entirely guess work. A second thing I found interesting was a re-creation of a dinosaur that basically looked like a giant crocodile. The placard said this was not a crocodile, though, because it did not live near water.

The very last line of the information conceded that only a single one of these creatures has been discovered. How do they know it didn't live near water? How do they know it wasn't just a large crocodile? We cannot let a science based so largely on guesswork lead us away from the Bible. Don't be intimidated by hypothesis packaged as fact.

“I form the light, and create darkness…I the Lord do all these things.”

Isaiah 45:7