Something very important and practical in many areas of life that biblical creationists encourage people to do is use discernment and critical thinking. We cannot accept someone's say-so because we like them, they profess to be authorities, are creationists, are Christians, or other reasons.
While the leadership in the secular science industry has an atheistic agenda, what about Christians and creationists? There are indeed wolves among us (such as theistic evolutionists who identify as "evolutionary creationists"), sometimes mistakes are made. We have to watch for deceit as well as errors.
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| Feathered dinosaur, Flickr / Aaron Gustafson (CC BY-SA 2.0), modified at PhotoFunny |
But you must still use discernment and critical thinking.
There are several things that need to be considered here. Because someone says something that is incorrect or takes a position on something that is debatable, it is not automatically a lie. You savvy that, pilgrim? It's important.
There are times I have posted links to articles that are out of the mainstream of biblical creation science. Hopefully, I've made it clear that they have things to consider since creationists also have their disagreements.
Also, we read things or watch videos and such, but need to rely on the expertise and honesty of others because they have superior knowledge. They may sound persuasive, but someone else comes along with a contrary view and we need to examine both sides of the subject. For example, I accepted what Dr. Randy Guliuzza of the Institute for Creation Research said about natural selection. Then I had to repent of that because Dr. Jason Lisle showed that Guliuzza was spreading false information.
In this instance, we have someone from The Master’s University making statements about dinosaur feathers that do not fit with biblical creation science. That is unfortunate, because someone gains credibility because he is representing that creation-affirming organization; error can creep in a bit more easily. Unfortunately, the presenter was accepting material from secularists operating from their worldview, which is in opposition to ours. This included redefinitions of terms. For example, feather was always a way to identify birds. Feathers are complex structures. Now the definition has been broadened to make it more convenient to present evolution and deep time.
Note that if it were conclusively demonstrated that some dinosaurs did indeed have feathers, that would not be a problem for biblical creation science. If God wanted to make some with feathers, that's his business. We cannot accept speculation or wrong statements of fact from evolutionists or creationists — especially if said creationists are using poor logic and faulty science. Those of us who read and view quite a bit of biblical creation science material have an advantage over those who dabble now and then. Those folks are more likely to be hoodwinked.
This article is a warning to Christians to be discerning when it comes to accepting creationist research, just as we would be with other research. Underlying evolutionary assumptions are everywhere; therefore, discernment is always needed. In researching and critiquing the claims of the video from Dr. Matthew McLain, I am challenging the conclusions presented in the video.
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Dr. McLain has unwittingly trusted and uncritically accepted many of the evolutionary claims about feathered dinosaurs. This article will discuss and analyze some of the pertinent points he presented in his video to demonstrate how the evolutionary worldview is applied in this hypothesis and how the consequences of this can lead to wrong conclusions about the definitions of relationships between birds and dinosaurs and supposed feathered dinosaurs.
It would be in your best interests to read the full article over at "Dinosaurs in Birds’ Clothing?"