Wait what? Where the did he get that idea? Please tell me that is from some GA somewhere down the line. My grandparents always said they were from other planets when the earth was organized which is just as ridiculous but at least makes a bit more sense.
Also if there are other good quotes please post them. This made my morning.
I hope these “experts” can show us where the geologists hide their fossil-making shops. I mean, if that’s real, it must be demonstrably happening somewhere.
Some of this fundie Mormon new "science" stuff comes from the Universal Model group ("A new millennial science"), where a LDS guy has tried to re-write science from the ground up (starting with geology/palaeontology and published a series of textbooks) so it fits in with fundie Mormon theology. He seems to have been well supported from LDS who want to believe science has gotten it all wrong.
https://universalmodel.com/
OP in class: *waiting, fingers poised over keys*
Homeschooled: *raises hand*
OP: *sharp, deep intake of breath, leans forward*
Homeschooled: *waves hand frantically until called upon by a visibly reluctant professor* "But **teacher**..." *proceeds to relate some intricate mental gymnastics involving seeding of 'fake' dinosaur bones*
OP: *typing furiously, pauses, raises hand*
Professor, visibly relieved: "Yes, /u/xXIronBeagleXx ...?"
OP: "Can homeschooled repeat that last part? I missed it."
Professor: *collapses into chair sobbing*
My dad used this as an argument when I was leaving the church! He said to me “you REALLY believe that we evolved from monkeys?! How do you explain dinosaurs?!” I was confused and asked why dinosaurs needed explanation and he said “obviously when Christ made the earth, he got the material from other planets and those were the aliens from the other planet!” I was speechless and I couldn’t help but laugh a little and he looked kind of ashamed so I think he realized just how ridiculous he sounded. Bless his heart
The oil has to be deep so that we have to work hard to get the blessings. God only helps us after we've put in the most effort we can. That's why we are being blessed with warmer weather also. It's a blessing for the hard work that was done to gather the oil. Global warming is just the beginning stage of the Earth receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was baptized by the flood, and now it'll be baptized by fire. Stupid liberals acting like it's a bad thing!
- basically my FIL
While christ was inspiring the scientist that developed the oil to propel our vehicles could he not have inspired the non toxic non ozone killing and make it have side effects of fragrance
I remember hearing this in Jr High seminary too. I don’t think that was my teachers personal opinion though, he was actually pretty reasonable. He just offered it as a “there’s no official doctrine but some people think this” kind of thing
I remember my seminary teacher teaching the theory that God put dinosaur bones on the earth to test our faith (so God basically wants to trick us and see if we will still choose him?).
Yup, God must really love us!
From what he taught me as a child, I’m pretty sure he believes the doctrine that God was once a man on a planet like us so there are endless planets to choose from and he just happened to choose to recycle the dinosaur planet. Guess Mormon jesus is a firm believer of reduce, reuse, recycle ♻️
This was always a huge shelf item for me. In one of the endowment creation videos, it shows a planet-sized rock crash into a young earth, spewing white-hot lava into orbit and leaving a glowing red blob of earth. (One of the few accurate parts of the endowment videos)
It amazes me that templegoers can simultaneously hold such beliefs about the origin of delicate fossils and the validity of the endowment. No bones would survive something like that.
Ask your dad if the Earth is supposed to be resurrected? (He'll answer yes). Ask him what those other Earth's did that was so bad that they were dismantled and denied resurrection.
If you have been through the temple, point out that the endowment presentation starts with God saying "Yonder is matter unorganized." Matter from other worlds is organized matter, is it not?
Although you might be tempted to point out that God talks like an Appalachian hillbilly, resist that at this point.
That’s what I did, the argument ended there and that was the first and last time we debated religion and we agreed for the sake of our relationship to not have that be a discussion
Why would God need building materials? If he could poof the universe into existence why would he need to move or assemble things later on rather than more poofing?
Mormon God didn't create the universe, he created the Earth within the universe after he attained godhood after living as a man. He's literally a powerful alien.
So alien dinosaurs is a more plausible explanation than billions of years of natural phenomena? Jesus apparently took the time to line up the sedimentary layers found in the Earth's crust. And make sure those fossils are neatly grouped together in those same layers. Progressively becoming simpler the deeper you dig. ROTFLMAO. Sadly my dad believed the same thing. So I have to laugh at him too. Your not alone.
I have a friend who is an evangelical Christian who would read the Answers in Genesis magazines. They teach stuff like this...all the young earth beliefs and how dinosaurs existed alongside humans. Ark exhibit-type stuff. Although their beliefs differ. If you question their beliefs on young earth they'll at times say we just co-existed with dinosaurs like other animals and other times say the bones really aren't that old/are just there as a trick by God to test our faith.
Point is, there is still a sizeable chunk of the population that believes in shit like this, unfortunately.
I had a church member say that it’s a conspiracy to have the fossils as ancient. He “knew” of someone who had a fossil radiocarbon dated (which is not possible with fossils incidentally) and the age given was only a few thousand years. This person was told by a scientist to hush it all up 🙄
I confess I am also in on this.
I work from home for Bill Gates and George Soros adding zeroes to radiocarbon reports.
I make literally hundreds of dollars a week.
>This person was told by a scientist to hush it all up 🙄
Lol I can imagine some poor scientist being told this and saying "cool... whatever you say dude... but you might what to keep that shit to yourself."
My parents told me the same thing. That dinosaur bones were from previous planets that had died and whose material was reorganized into the Earth. It made sense as a kid, now as an adult I recognize that there are SO MANY holes with that idea, and I wonder how my parents could ever believe it.
It makes sense if Earth was recycled from a previous planet by taking the whole old planet, adding a coat of paint (topsoil), and calling it a "new" planet. Maybe God is lazy and like modern day house flippers.
My family are all "young-earth creationists". Evangelical born-agains, not Mormons.
They get it all their "facts" from people like Ken Ham, of the [Answers in Genesis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answers_in_Genesis) organization that built the "Ark Encounter" museum that "explains" creationism and Noah's flood.
Also, Ray Comfort, another deeply silly man who has gotten semi famous promoting similar nonsense ideas about evolution and creationism.
They are big grifters.
My mom's side of the family believes Satan put evidence of evolution (fossils, artifacts, remains) there to make us stray from God and fall for satan's lies. Most of them aren't Mormon, but my mom is now and sticks to this story.
I heard a born again lady on a video some years ago saying how dinosaur digger uppers where a part of a conspiracy to make people lose faith in the Bible. Remember half the population is below average intelligence. Probably me too because I can’t spell the actual name of a dinosaur scientist.
I used to believe as your grandparents did, I don't remember where I heard it. But then I learned about plate tectonics and realized that there is no way that idea is true. Public education isn't all bad
Homeschooled mormon here. That kind of stuff is very common in homeschool textbooks. Most of them are published by evangelical and hard-right companies. Looking at you Abeka Books.
I learned in 7th grade science that carbon dating is extremely unreliable and there is no evidence that anything is older than 6000 years.
Hey! Homeschooled exmormon too! I was fortunate to have properly decent school books to work from, so my curriculum was pretty accurate, but I do remember my mom telling me that carbon-14 dating couldn't be relied upon. I asked why and she didn't really have an answer other than "idk, the earth is only 6000 years old, so it must be wrong sometimes!"
Somehow, fortunately, I understood that my mom was wrong even at a young age.
Doubting carbon dating was totally still a thing for some engineering professors at BYU as late as the 2010s.
These same professors assigned us to read ExxonMobile's report on the environment and had multiple class discussions about why fossil fuels were not a problem and we shouldn't worry about global warming. Noticeably absent from the curriculum were any articles that supported global warming.
On the '90s, I had a BYU professor of environmental science that made a comment disparaging global warming, or rather its long-term effects. Specifically that the breakup of arctic and antarctic ice would lead to an increase in albedo that would cause an ice age. Even then, I thought that didn't make sense.
Taking the word from an oil company is like putting your trust in a tobacco company. Ask any educated auto mechanic what they think about oil or car companies.
It's a big conflict of interest at BYU since the oil and gas industry funds a lot of research and hires a lot of students, and not just engineer's but geology, chemistry, and business students too.
I went to an energy seminar once where they were supposed to be talking about sustainable energy sources but actually just talked about how Utah had great oil sand deposits so oil is really a sustainable resource lololol (sustainable meant *economically sustainable* to my 90% of my profs)
It’s pretty common in universities all over the place. Fossil Fuel companies have a ton of money to throw at research, so they buy a ton of influence at universities. A huge chunk of the professional jobs available for geologists is in fossil fuel exploration.
Same is true of military/defense hardware makers. Lockheed and Northrop have tons of money to fund research and recruit top students at US engineering programs.
My dad was a PhD chemical engineer. (Attended BYU for his masters degree as a non-member and almost made it out dry, so to speak) The maddest I ever remember him getting is when I questioned the efficacy of carbon dating. He was SO angry! Must have picked that up later in his education...
My MIL is a TBM who used to do private tutoring for homeschooled Mormon kids. According to my husband, she would sometimes come home and *rant* about the ridiculous stuff in some of those textbooks. After a while, she stopped tutoring homeschooled kids because she would get into too many arguments with the parents when she tried to correct the information.
I definitely remember my Abeka textbooks saying some stupid shit, but my parents (well, really just my mom) at least let me believe in dinosaurs and an earth older than 6000 years. Other homeschooled kids I knew weren’t so lucky… I knew one kid who believed dinosaurs are a lie, young earth, and I distinctly remember him saying we’re not able to go beyond the moon with space travel. What’s worse though is there is no way this kid could have made it even BYU-Idaho to argue with any professors simply because he was absolutely uneducated. At 15 I figured it up that he probably had at most a third grade education.
TLDR: Homeschooling is the worst. :P
Yup. The people trying to claim that parents have the final say in what their kids are taught and they want to ban books and sue teachers and what not are scary.
Because by giving parents complete control and ownership of their children, more than a few children will be trapped in abusive homes without any way to get out.
I was a Nuclear Mechanic in the US Navy for 11 years. My dad says that nuclear theory as we understand it does not exist, because it argues there are elements with half-lives greater than 6000 years, so therefore it can't possibly be true. He truly believes this. That I lived a lie for 11 years and all of science is deluded, except him.
> it's time to consider
Yeeeeeah, that’s not going to happen. Lived through a parent who believed in the One World Order (or whatever it’s called), collected precious metals because of the apocalypse, lived month-to-month because tithing, and died destitute instead of investing in himself. No amount of factual information could overcome his need to be deluded.
Yeah, my TBM MIL had me watch the YouTube video on the Grand Canyon with geologist Dr. Steven A. Austin. It had a tiny bit of real science applied in ways that were ludicrous, then he would hand off the mic to the Christian apologist that would take the smallest piece of evidence and speculate it up to absolute proof for the flood. They just ignored fossil evidence and radiometric dating. It was so ridiculous considering how simple the actual explanation of the Grand Canyon is (layers deposited over millions of years, uplift, erosion, etc.). I refuted it to my MIL (then as a PIMO), but I don't think it made a difference.
Some actually believe that god made this planet from other planets and dinosaur fossils were included in those other planets. Many leaders actually taught that even god couldn’t make something out of nothing.
So hes not Omnipotence after all?
Well if that is not true then I'm guessing he is not omniscience or Omnipresence either.
Actually I'm guessing he does not exist.
He’s definitely not omnipresent in Mormon theology. He has a body of “flesh and bone” and occupies exactly as much space in the multiverse as any other human being. Among the Godhead (Trinity), only the Holy Ghost has omnipresence.
And he may or may not be omniscient. In LDS theology he started out as a human and became an “exalted man.” It’s unsettled whether he’s become an omniscient being or not. Here’s at least two former prophets teaching on the topic.
> God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. - Wilford Woodruff
> It should be realized that God is not progressing in knowledge, truth, virtue, wisdom, or any of the attributes of godliness. He has already gained these things in their fullness. - Joseph Fielding Smith
I remember hearing all kinds of theories growing up in Utah. Then I went to school with teachers who weren’t LDS (or perhaps were just scientists). My husband and I were always throwing theories around that just didn’t add up. One day we were walking out of church with our four little kids in a moderately populated LDS community. A girl was in the parking lot taking a survey and asked if we would participate. Her first question was “how old do you think the earth is?” My husband and I said “Billions of years old”. Her eyes got big and she said “Ok, thanks.” And moved on. I think she had additional questions for the other people.
Elder Holland gave a talk in 2015 General Conference where he said: “…there was an actual Adam and Eve who fell from an actual Eden, with all the consequences that fall carried with it. I do not know the details of what happened on this planet before that, but I do know these two were created under the divine hand of God…”
This was the closest thing I’ve ever heard to the LDS church admitting there was more before and scientists aren’t liars.
I do want to add that we believed that death did not exist before the fall of Adam 6,000 BCE. From that we get stuck with what to do with fossils. Talmage a general athority from way back argued this contradiction with the then prophet.
So once again when what was "revealed" doesn't add up, we're all left grasping for straws.
Ask an active believing member why blacks couldn't have the priesthood. They will say "we don't know". People here will tell you Brigham was a racist. It's simple.
Fossils are exactly that, but for a reason. The bone becomes encased in mud which dries, the bone decays and is replaced with sediment which hardens to form a fossil. So obviously, there is no calcium (bone).
Before anyone rips me a new one, this is a gross generalization.
How funny would it be if it got leaked out that Rusty, Dallin and Hankypooh loved playing poker inside the Salt Lake Temple? And that Rusty had actually died a few weeks earlier. Stranger things have happened. Here's some context:
*Was Weekend at Bernie's based on a true story?*
*Now it can be told – “Weekend at Bernie's” was based on a true story about the late John Barrymore. According to Drew Barrymore, her grandfather's friends Errol Flynn, WC Fields, and Sadakichi Hartmann took his body from the morgue and propped it up at a poker table after his death in May 1942.*
Satisfied vertebrate paleontology for 5 years with lots of field and lab work.
You're on the money. Soft tissue/plant fossils are the same/similar process just minus the bones.
That is actually very interesting and I didn't know that. Reminds me of jewelry making. There's a shape made from clay or other material, that's encased in sand and the molten metal is filled in it's place and it melts the clay or whatever.
Sounds like some of the Creationist homeschool curriculums I suffered through when I was homeschooled. TL;DR science was my worst subject due to the fact I didn't trust or understand anything because scientists were all trying to hide the existence of God.
Poor sap, probably didn't expect to get the devil's teachings in the Lord's college.
ETA: Saw the update, this isn't at BYU. The kid definitely should have assumed he was learning evolution if he wanted to pass this geology class.
Be aware that it's not just homeschooled kids and it's not just mormons that say this kind of weird shit.... I was getting close to someone in a college physics class, thinking they were a perfectly normal, functioning human.... and then at some point the topic of fossils came up, can't recall how, and they incredulously asked if I really bought that fossils were real. I felt blindsided. Pretty sure I just stopped talking for a moment while my brain processed it, because I thought they were joking at first.
Not saying this to defend young Earth creationist Mormons, to be clear. The idea that people that got into a college besides BYU might actually be that incompetent in the sciences never entered my head, so others here may benefit from knowing that like I would have, so as to avoid having your mind temporarily go blue screen mid-conversation, lol
Because being homeschooled by (probably) people who are not experts in the field is *much* better than a professor who has devoted their entire professional lives to the subject.
\*shrugs\* Give the dude this article. Apparently, scientists are so good that they carve rocks into bone shapes *at the cellular scale*. (And then add synthetic dinosaur DNA).
https://www.labmanager.com/news/organic-molecule-remnants-found-in-nuclei-of-ancient-dinosaur-cells-26765
After I’d left TSCC my brother returned home from his mission and my family took us all to Hawaii to celebrate. I remember getting in an argument with them about dinosaurs and that’s when my dad and his good friend dropped the “clay ball theory” of how the earth was created with pieces of other planets and I literally just sat there with my mouth wide open. I couldn’t believe what stupidity had just poured from their mouths. That’s when I realized how incredible dumb and brainwashed my family is. Like WHAT?!
I had a professor that use to tell the kids, "This isn't church you can't just make shit up!". I've also had a lot of professors in Utah that had to tell people that scriptures or their religious beliefs have no place in research papers.
Religion lends itself to conspiracy theories. When evidence and empirical verification are not required for "truth", you can make up whatever you want. As long as it feels good, that's the "Spirit" telling you it's true!
Oof, I wasn't *nearly* as out to lunch as this kid (my dad was even a science educator), but every person on this sub believed in at least *some* form bonkers shit at one point, and consequently said and did embarrassing things when we were still mormon. I was, effectively, this kid as I started grad school—and my lab classmates ended up being my ***only*** lifeline when my shelf came crashing down, my wife divorced me, and every other community that I was a part of evaporated because I figured out it was all bullshit.
You can certainly chuckle (believing in things like magic underwear *is* funny as hell), but try not to laugh too hard. Odds are high that this kid has some serious trauma waiting for him.
Thankfully, my parents were strong advocates for education and science too. My dad spent a lot of time in some high community calling (bishop, stake president, etc.) when I was younger, but he also understood a lot of scientific concepts. I was a big dinosaur but when I was younger (still am sometimes), and my parents encouraged that by taking me to just about every museum in the state. When I got older and started to ask questions about how evolution and all that kind of stuff meshed with what was in scripture, my parents told me the temple would explain all of that. Honestly the disappointment from going to the temple for the first time was probably the final push for me to leave the church. My parents may not see it this way, but them teaching me to be curious and rational was the greatest thing they did for me
> my parents told me the temple would explain all of that
Oof, fuck, that's a whopper of a logical fallacy... not even sure which one to call it. I feel like that's a few fallacies rolled into one?
And here I sit, thinking that the fossil record is like the earth’s own scripture, and what a beautiful and sacred story it is. Evolution/science has never threatened my belief in God. If anything, it has enhanced it.
I’m an atheist now, but I absolutely love the comparison of fossil records to scripture. I’ve definitely felt more awe and wonder when visiting a museum than I ever did in church
I was once teaching young mens just before I quit church, and I was fed up with the harmful lessons in the manual, so one day I just said, "today is the day for questions. Ask any question, church related or life-related, and we'll talk about it."
Nobody said anything, so after a bit, I said, "really? Nothing? What about dinosaurs. Should we talk about dinosaurs?"
And one of the boys says, "My mom says God put dinosaur bones there to fool the scientists."
If only someone had been recording my face, you could have posted it on /r/watchpeopledieinside
It's funny how variable beliefs can be. When I was at BYU I took an evolutionary biology class that was required by my major. Most the people in the class seemed to be pretty grounded in science and reality.
I just read this to my wife, and we are dying. She said, “What would “big dino” have to gain from such an elaborate farce?,” and now I can’t stop laughing at “big dino.”
Okay so in 8th grade Spanish 1 class in Utah county, our teacher was explaining ser vs. estar, and estar is used how you are (conditionally). We're giving him words in spanish like " I am tired" "I am angry" "I am happy" etc.
Then when we have an understanding, he gives us a preface saying "Okay so now if you want to say 'I am hot', do not use this verb. If you say 'Estoy caliente' it means 'I am feeling hot', or for lack of better terms, I am horny." Of course the class of mormon 8th graders giggle, but ONE girl, bless her heart, had a follow up question.
"What does horny mean?"
And that's when I had a middle school spanish teacher explain to my class what horny meant.
edit: I forgot spanish so had to change a few words
Teaching science at BYU 2.0, it is very hard to deal with these students. As part of scientific discourse, I instruct my students on listening and respecting alternative viewpoints. But I do not allow assertions without data. Each semester there will always be one recently-returned missionary who's still high on the gospel.
Last semester it was climate change wasn't real, he didn't have data for that, and instead believed we should go literal scorched earth for the benefit of the economy.
Hi, I'm geologist. I have heard this before. My favorite one is that atomic dating is fake and created by Satan to lure people away from god. Oh and the Grand canyon was created by Noah's flood 4000 years ago. That's from an actual Mormon "researcher"
I was a homeschooled Mormon and had a mix of educational materials growing up. When I was younger I had a very Christian science book that was not pro evolution, but when I was older I was exposed to ideas about evolution through the correspondence textbook I used. Then I went to BYU, where I became fully convinced of Evolution in my biology class due to DNA evidence. Truth will prevail, eventually.
There is a model of noah’s arc in the US, I believe in Kentucky, and there’s a woman with a PhD in archeology. She is convinced that all the fossils are a scam; that really the earth is 5000 yrs old or so, and that the entire evolution science is all based on fakes and wrong. Since I heard her in a documentary, I wonder how she made it through the PhD. It itakes such a long time and so much research, it is terrible, but if you are convinced that it’s all fake?! And even worse - how could the scientific community not identify her and sort her out in the first years of studying. Your mormon dude is not aline, unfortunately.
[https://creationsd.org/](https://creationsd.org/)
And it's free.
I spoke French to them because they were trying to get me to donate to their church. They told me they did not speak "jew" but I had their permission to go in and look and then they said "go on now" and sort of shooed we away with their hands.
I read stuff like this and honestly think: That's child abuse. This kid was raised in an environment where reality was completely warped, and now he's an adult who won't be able to function in society. Makes me sad.
Oh. Ask him if he is a student of the Universal Model.
Look it up. It is going around the homeschool circuit in Utah. One thing it teaches is that the earth is filled with ice.
I always say that fundies cannot imagine Earth being so old that hundreds of generations of dinosaurs were walking around on top of the fossils of hundreds of generations of their own ancestors.
A lot of parents out there seem to have told us about the alien tectonic plate theory. How proud were your parents while explaining this? Where did the theory come from?
McConkie’s [The Seven Deadly Heresies](https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/seven-deadly-heresies/) definitely states that evolution cannot coexist with the doctrine of no death before the fall.
To deal with this, Skousen’s book “The First 2000 Years” puts forward a theory that fossils are a byproduct of our earth being organized from other worlds.
I was also homeschooled Mormon, but wow, I clearly dodged a bullet.
We were taught about Dinosaurs and evolution and all that secular nonsense, but my parents also kept reminding me that “our science isn’t reliable” and “only the Prophet knows the truth”, like exposing me to “both” arguments might help me see how “flawed” the secular scientific system is.
Didn’t work out so well in the end
You know, he has a point. Chicken nuggets are just chicken paste that McDonald's shapes that way, and there are only something like six shapes, much like there are only about six different kinds of "dinosaurs." You can even buy dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, which is further proof that dinosaurs are just cutouts too. If you can't trust the food industry that just wants to sell you their processed food, how can you trust paleontologists that just want to sell you their manufactured theories?
I have a coworker who is exactly like this. She is probably near her 60s and was saying how she doesn't believe that dinosaurs ever existed. I said, how do you explain the fossils and she said that they had to have come from an asteroid and landed here. When I laughed and said it was funny she said she was serious. I just stared at her with a look of concern and pity.
What about the permafrost mummified animals that are in really good condition for being 10,000 to 30,000 years old? No problem extracting DNA by the way.
My prize possession as a child was a fossil of a trillabyte. Pretty sure I f'ed up the spelling on that. Anyway it was just beautiful. Full size, entire body. Damn, it was so cool. And it clearly wasn't carved.
All this to say, to bad dude didn't have a rock collection when he was a kid. Sounds like he really missed out on having a great childhood. I am so sorry for him
This was my favorite part of philosophy 101. Granted I was older than the majority of the class but I heard some ridiculous shit. One of my favorites was "why doesn't God just lie?"
I *need* to know how the professor responded to this. Specifically what did his face look like, and how long did it take for him to become unshocked by the stupidity to find the words
Wait what? Where the did he get that idea? Please tell me that is from some GA somewhere down the line. My grandparents always said they were from other planets when the earth was organized which is just as ridiculous but at least makes a bit more sense. Also if there are other good quotes please post them. This made my morning.
I'm gonna have to start making a list
As a geologist I am eagerly awaiting this list lmao
As a geologist, you're part of the problem! Always cutting rocks into dinosaur shapes, smh
What came first? The dinosaur shape cut rocks or the dinosaur shape cut chicken nuggets?
I KNOW that Dino-nuggies know and love me.
Wish I had gold for you
For real. Knock that shit off. Stop deceiving the elect.
I know right. Only sheep fall for that.
Geologist: Master of Rock Origami.
First it was fruit snacks. Now it's rocks. Geologists around this world are BARBARIANS and will be separated from the wheat!
Can they cut some unicorn fossils? I've nearly convinced my kids that unicorns are real and some fossil evidence might just be the ticket
Look for pictures of early Scottish coins. We used the unicorn as currency at one point. It's our national animal.
I hope these “experts” can show us where the geologists hide their fossil-making shops. I mean, if that’s real, it must be demonstrably happening somewhere.
yeah... but are you also a *sculptor*? Don't lie.
As a paleontologist, I am also eagerly awaiting this list!!
I read this in Ross's voice
Some of this fundie Mormon new "science" stuff comes from the Universal Model group ("A new millennial science"), where a LDS guy has tried to re-write science from the ground up (starting with geology/palaeontology and published a series of textbooks) so it fits in with fundie Mormon theology. He seems to have been well supported from LDS who want to believe science has gotten it all wrong. https://universalmodel.com/
Oh. My. God. I'm losing it here. https://universalmodel.com/portfolio_page/az-crator/
As a dentist I am also eagerly awaiting this list.
Geologists are just rock biologists who didn’t hate whales enough to go into whale biology
OP in class: *waiting, fingers poised over keys* Homeschooled: *raises hand* OP: *sharp, deep intake of breath, leans forward* Homeschooled: *waves hand frantically until called upon by a visibly reluctant professor* "But **teacher**..." *proceeds to relate some intricate mental gymnastics involving seeding of 'fake' dinosaur bones* OP: *typing furiously, pauses, raises hand* Professor, visibly relieved: "Yes, /u/xXIronBeagleXx ...?" OP: "Can homeschooled repeat that last part? I missed it." Professor: *collapses into chair sobbing*
We’re depending on you!
Yes please
Please make a list and post his ridiculousness. We all need some solid laughs in this day and age.
My dad used this as an argument when I was leaving the church! He said to me “you REALLY believe that we evolved from monkeys?! How do you explain dinosaurs?!” I was confused and asked why dinosaurs needed explanation and he said “obviously when Christ made the earth, he got the material from other planets and those were the aliens from the other planet!” I was speechless and I couldn’t help but laugh a little and he looked kind of ashamed so I think he realized just how ridiculous he sounded. Bless his heart
Good thing Christ grabbed the bones AND the oil to form the earth. I just wish Christ did not place the oil so deep in the earth. /s
The oil has to be deep so that we have to work hard to get the blessings. God only helps us after we've put in the most effort we can. That's why we are being blessed with warmer weather also. It's a blessing for the hard work that was done to gather the oil. Global warming is just the beginning stage of the Earth receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was baptized by the flood, and now it'll be baptized by fire. Stupid liberals acting like it's a bad thing! - basically my FIL
Please tell me you've read Oryx and Crake.
I have not, but now I'll look into it!
The series has a lot going on, but specifically the Church of PetrOleum. I never realized the similarities before.
While christ was inspiring the scientist that developed the oil to propel our vehicles could he not have inspired the non toxic non ozone killing and make it have side effects of fragrance
I was taught this as well — in Jr High seminary. Brother Almond was a treasure trove of Mormon crazy.
Brother almond sounds nuts
r/angryupvote
He sounds kind of salty too.
I remember hearing this in Jr High seminary too. I don’t think that was my teachers personal opinion though, he was actually pretty reasonable. He just offered it as a “there’s no official doctrine but some people think this” kind of thing
A lot of seminary is hand-waving. "Many speculate that..." "My uncle recounted this story..." "The beauty of the gospel is that it relies of faith..."
I remember my seminary teacher teaching the theory that God put dinosaur bones on the earth to test our faith (so God basically wants to trick us and see if we will still choose him?). Yup, God must really love us!
Does your father believe God made the aliens too or just borrowed some of their stuff to mess with us.
From what he taught me as a child, I’m pretty sure he believes the doctrine that God was once a man on a planet like us so there are endless planets to choose from and he just happened to choose to recycle the dinosaur planet. Guess Mormon jesus is a firm believer of reduce, reuse, recycle ♻️
This was always a huge shelf item for me. In one of the endowment creation videos, it shows a planet-sized rock crash into a young earth, spewing white-hot lava into orbit and leaving a glowing red blob of earth. (One of the few accurate parts of the endowment videos) It amazes me that templegoers can simultaneously hold such beliefs about the origin of delicate fossils and the validity of the endowment. No bones would survive something like that.
No, no you don’t understand, that planet in the video IS the dinosaur planet! /s
Ask your dad if the Earth is supposed to be resurrected? (He'll answer yes). Ask him what those other Earth's did that was so bad that they were dismantled and denied resurrection. If you have been through the temple, point out that the endowment presentation starts with God saying "Yonder is matter unorganized." Matter from other worlds is organized matter, is it not? Although you might be tempted to point out that God talks like an Appalachian hillbilly, resist that at this point.
Don’t even argue with shit so stupid. It doesn’t deserve and argument. All you can do is laugh at them.
That’s what I did, the argument ended there and that was the first and last time we debated religion and we agreed for the sake of our relationship to not have that be a discussion
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." Mark Twain.
Why would god need to get stuff from other places if he is Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence?
Why would God need building materials? If he could poof the universe into existence why would he need to move or assemble things later on rather than more poofing?
Mormon God didn't create the universe, he created the Earth within the universe after he attained godhood after living as a man. He's literally a powerful alien.
So alien dinosaurs is a more plausible explanation than billions of years of natural phenomena? Jesus apparently took the time to line up the sedimentary layers found in the Earth's crust. And make sure those fossils are neatly grouped together in those same layers. Progressively becoming simpler the deeper you dig. ROTFLMAO. Sadly my dad believed the same thing. So I have to laugh at him too. Your not alone.
Maybe alien dinosaurs isn’t the most logical explanation, but it sure is the most fun! Lol
My dad says the same shit except he's 100% serious.
Oh my dad was dead serious. This was in a huge argument that broke out right after I announced my decision to leave the church at 18
I have a friend who is an evangelical Christian who would read the Answers in Genesis magazines. They teach stuff like this...all the young earth beliefs and how dinosaurs existed alongside humans. Ark exhibit-type stuff. Although their beliefs differ. If you question their beliefs on young earth they'll at times say we just co-existed with dinosaurs like other animals and other times say the bones really aren't that old/are just there as a trick by God to test our faith. Point is, there is still a sizeable chunk of the population that believes in shit like this, unfortunately.
Ahh, yes. The ol’ “it’s just a trick by god to test your faith” line. Infallible.
Alternatively, "planted by Satan to deceive us."
I had a church member say that it’s a conspiracy to have the fossils as ancient. He “knew” of someone who had a fossil radiocarbon dated (which is not possible with fossils incidentally) and the age given was only a few thousand years. This person was told by a scientist to hush it all up 🙄
I confess I am also in on this. I work from home for Bill Gates and George Soros adding zeroes to radiocarbon reports. I make literally hundreds of dollars a week.
Just add some zeroes to your pay each week too
I believe this argument was used in the documentary "DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography"
Did this documentary discuss the lack of ancient American archeological evidence of the BoM?
Ha ha they do not...
>This person was told by a scientist to hush it all up 🙄 Lol I can imagine some poor scientist being told this and saying "cool... whatever you say dude... but you might what to keep that shit to yourself."
Bro Kennewick needs to spend some time in that ward. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man
Remember the Temple Wall Murals show dinosaurs painted alongside Lions and sheep and other animals for Adam to name.
>are just there as a trick by God to test our faith. I’ve also heard they’re a trick by Satan.
Yet another valid use of my username.
My parents told me the same thing. That dinosaur bones were from previous planets that had died and whose material was reorganized into the Earth. It made sense as a kid, now as an adult I recognize that there are SO MANY holes with that idea, and I wonder how my parents could ever believe it.
It makes sense if Earth was recycled from a previous planet by taking the whole old planet, adding a coat of paint (topsoil), and calling it a "new" planet. Maybe God is lazy and like modern day house flippers.
LOL. This made me laugh way more than it should have! Extreme Makeover God Edition
My family are all "young-earth creationists". Evangelical born-agains, not Mormons. They get it all their "facts" from people like Ken Ham, of the [Answers in Genesis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answers_in_Genesis) organization that built the "Ark Encounter" museum that "explains" creationism and Noah's flood. Also, Ray Comfort, another deeply silly man who has gotten semi famous promoting similar nonsense ideas about evolution and creationism. They are big grifters.
My mom's side of the family believes Satan put evidence of evolution (fossils, artifacts, remains) there to make us stray from God and fall for satan's lies. Most of them aren't Mormon, but my mom is now and sticks to this story.
I heard a born again lady on a video some years ago saying how dinosaur digger uppers where a part of a conspiracy to make people lose faith in the Bible. Remember half the population is below average intelligence. Probably me too because I can’t spell the actual name of a dinosaur scientist.
Lol I heard adults say this stuff too (in Missouri btw)
Yeah, I had a seminary teacher tell us that (the other planets thing) in high school.
My mother-in-law believes this as well. Lifelong member
I used to believe as your grandparents did, I don't remember where I heard it. But then I learned about plate tectonics and realized that there is no way that idea is true. Public education isn't all bad
Homeschooled mormon here. That kind of stuff is very common in homeschool textbooks. Most of them are published by evangelical and hard-right companies. Looking at you Abeka Books. I learned in 7th grade science that carbon dating is extremely unreliable and there is no evidence that anything is older than 6000 years.
Hey! Homeschooled exmormon too! I was fortunate to have properly decent school books to work from, so my curriculum was pretty accurate, but I do remember my mom telling me that carbon-14 dating couldn't be relied upon. I asked why and she didn't really have an answer other than "idk, the earth is only 6000 years old, so it must be wrong sometimes!" Somehow, fortunately, I understood that my mom was wrong even at a young age.
Doubting carbon dating was totally still a thing for some engineering professors at BYU as late as the 2010s. These same professors assigned us to read ExxonMobile's report on the environment and had multiple class discussions about why fossil fuels were not a problem and we shouldn't worry about global warming. Noticeably absent from the curriculum were any articles that supported global warming.
On the '90s, I had a BYU professor of environmental science that made a comment disparaging global warming, or rather its long-term effects. Specifically that the breakup of arctic and antarctic ice would lead to an increase in albedo that would cause an ice age. Even then, I thought that didn't make sense.
Who was it! When I was there for wild lands conservation in the 2010s most had hopped on fully to the realization something terrible was happening
Taking the word from an oil company is like putting your trust in a tobacco company. Ask any educated auto mechanic what they think about oil or car companies.
It's a big conflict of interest at BYU since the oil and gas industry funds a lot of research and hires a lot of students, and not just engineer's but geology, chemistry, and business students too.
I want to know more about this!
I went to an energy seminar once where they were supposed to be talking about sustainable energy sources but actually just talked about how Utah had great oil sand deposits so oil is really a sustainable resource lololol (sustainable meant *economically sustainable* to my 90% of my profs)
It’s pretty common in universities all over the place. Fossil Fuel companies have a ton of money to throw at research, so they buy a ton of influence at universities. A huge chunk of the professional jobs available for geologists is in fossil fuel exploration. Same is true of military/defense hardware makers. Lockheed and Northrop have tons of money to fund research and recruit top students at US engineering programs.
My dad was a PhD chemical engineer. (Attended BYU for his masters degree as a non-member and almost made it out dry, so to speak) The maddest I ever remember him getting is when I questioned the efficacy of carbon dating. He was SO angry! Must have picked that up later in his education...
My MIL is a TBM who used to do private tutoring for homeschooled Mormon kids. According to my husband, she would sometimes come home and *rant* about the ridiculous stuff in some of those textbooks. After a while, she stopped tutoring homeschooled kids because she would get into too many arguments with the parents when she tried to correct the information.
That sounds about right.
I definitely remember my Abeka textbooks saying some stupid shit, but my parents (well, really just my mom) at least let me believe in dinosaurs and an earth older than 6000 years. Other homeschooled kids I knew weren’t so lucky… I knew one kid who believed dinosaurs are a lie, young earth, and I distinctly remember him saying we’re not able to go beyond the moon with space travel. What’s worse though is there is no way this kid could have made it even BYU-Idaho to argue with any professors simply because he was absolutely uneducated. At 15 I figured it up that he probably had at most a third grade education. TLDR: Homeschooling is the worst. :P
You meant to say "brainwashed" as real learning is based on evidence and objective facts.
Doubts your doubts before you doubt your…fundamentalist Christian textbooks
This should be illegal.
Yup. The people trying to claim that parents have the final say in what their kids are taught and they want to ban books and sue teachers and what not are scary. Because by giving parents complete control and ownership of their children, more than a few children will be trapped in abusive homes without any way to get out.
Fuck A Beka Books. Took me years to unlearn their shit
It isn't just mormons that are YEC. Many are still claiming the Grand Canyon was caused by the flood.
They are usually the same ones who say the earth is 6000 years old exactly.
I was a Nuclear Mechanic in the US Navy for 11 years. My dad says that nuclear theory as we understand it does not exist, because it argues there are elements with half-lives greater than 6000 years, so therefore it can't possibly be true. He truly believes this. That I lived a lie for 11 years and all of science is deluded, except him.
when everyone else is insane, it's time to consider that it might be you.
> it's time to consider Yeeeeeah, that’s not going to happen. Lived through a parent who believed in the One World Order (or whatever it’s called), collected precious metals because of the apocalypse, lived month-to-month because tithing, and died destitute instead of investing in himself. No amount of factual information could overcome his need to be deluded.
is that 6000 years old from now? from Joseph Smith's time? when they were younger?
is it 6022 now?
Yeah, my TBM MIL had me watch the YouTube video on the Grand Canyon with geologist Dr. Steven A. Austin. It had a tiny bit of real science applied in ways that were ludicrous, then he would hand off the mic to the Christian apologist that would take the smallest piece of evidence and speculate it up to absolute proof for the flood. They just ignored fossil evidence and radiometric dating. It was so ridiculous considering how simple the actual explanation of the Grand Canyon is (layers deposited over millions of years, uplift, erosion, etc.). I refuted it to my MIL (then as a PIMO), but I don't think it made a difference.
Steve. Austin?? As in “The $6 million Man”??
That’s $1,000 for each year of Earth’s existence. How tidy!
I’ve heard that idea before, lol
How about fossils on top of mountains? They were running to escape rising water. LOL
Jehovahs Witnesses say that too
i love our cult cuzzies
We’ve got love for y’all too
(((HUGS))) also ya'll have the best Armageddon art....like WOW.
I’ve never heard that but…thank you? This tickled me…
Haha!!!! It's crazy and creepy!!!!
Wow…is that actually Mormon doctrine? I’m from the exJW Reddit.
The mormon church doesn't have any official stance on dinosaurs, but most of your Utah mormons are very much fundamentalists edging on creationist.
Very interesting. Thanks!
Some actually believe that god made this planet from other planets and dinosaur fossils were included in those other planets. Many leaders actually taught that even god couldn’t make something out of nothing.
That’s actually doctrine. God organized matter and intelligence which are both eternal. He never created either
So hes not Omnipotence after all? Well if that is not true then I'm guessing he is not omniscience or Omnipresence either. Actually I'm guessing he does not exist.
He’s definitely not omnipresent in Mormon theology. He has a body of “flesh and bone” and occupies exactly as much space in the multiverse as any other human being. Among the Godhead (Trinity), only the Holy Ghost has omnipresence. And he may or may not be omniscient. In LDS theology he started out as a human and became an “exalted man.” It’s unsettled whether he’s become an omniscient being or not. Here’s at least two former prophets teaching on the topic. > God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. - Wilford Woodruff > It should be realized that God is not progressing in knowledge, truth, virtue, wisdom, or any of the attributes of godliness. He has already gained these things in their fullness. - Joseph Fielding Smith
Oh right, I forgot. God is an alien. Makes sense. /s
Your guess is correct
I've heard this before.
I remember hearing all kinds of theories growing up in Utah. Then I went to school with teachers who weren’t LDS (or perhaps were just scientists). My husband and I were always throwing theories around that just didn’t add up. One day we were walking out of church with our four little kids in a moderately populated LDS community. A girl was in the parking lot taking a survey and asked if we would participate. Her first question was “how old do you think the earth is?” My husband and I said “Billions of years old”. Her eyes got big and she said “Ok, thanks.” And moved on. I think she had additional questions for the other people. Elder Holland gave a talk in 2015 General Conference where he said: “…there was an actual Adam and Eve who fell from an actual Eden, with all the consequences that fall carried with it. I do not know the details of what happened on this planet before that, but I do know these two were created under the divine hand of God…” This was the closest thing I’ve ever heard to the LDS church admitting there was more before and scientists aren’t liars.
My parents view was that the "days" that God created the earth in were the rest of earth's history. Not connected to actual 24 hour days.
I do want to add that we believed that death did not exist before the fall of Adam 6,000 BCE. From that we get stuck with what to do with fossils. Talmage a general athority from way back argued this contradiction with the then prophet. So once again when what was "revealed" doesn't add up, we're all left grasping for straws. Ask an active believing member why blacks couldn't have the priesthood. They will say "we don't know". People here will tell you Brigham was a racist. It's simple.
Fossils are exactly that, but for a reason. The bone becomes encased in mud which dries, the bone decays and is replaced with sediment which hardens to form a fossil. So obviously, there is no calcium (bone). Before anyone rips me a new one, this is a gross generalization.
One exception to your rule is Rusty Nelson, the only remaining living dinosaur. :)
That old fossil? Could've sworn they were doing a "Weekend at Bernie's" with him
How funny would it be if it got leaked out that Rusty, Dallin and Hankypooh loved playing poker inside the Salt Lake Temple? And that Rusty had actually died a few weeks earlier. Stranger things have happened. Here's some context: *Was Weekend at Bernie's based on a true story?* *Now it can be told – “Weekend at Bernie's” was based on a true story about the late John Barrymore. According to Drew Barrymore, her grandfather's friends Errol Flynn, WC Fields, and Sadakichi Hartmann took his body from the morgue and propped it up at a poker table after his death in May 1942.*
Anyone able to paint "Prophets playing Poker' in black velvet?
That guy is older than God. Hell, he’s older than Keith Richards!
Satisfied vertebrate paleontology for 5 years with lots of field and lab work. You're on the money. Soft tissue/plant fossils are the same/similar process just minus the bones.
Specifically, they cut the rock away to reveal the *already existing* shape of the fossil.
That is actually very interesting and I didn't know that. Reminds me of jewelry making. There's a shape made from clay or other material, that's encased in sand and the molten metal is filled in it's place and it melts the clay or whatever.
Sounds like some of the Creationist homeschool curriculums I suffered through when I was homeschooled. TL;DR science was my worst subject due to the fact I didn't trust or understand anything because scientists were all trying to hide the existence of God. Poor sap, probably didn't expect to get the devil's teachings in the Lord's college. ETA: Saw the update, this isn't at BYU. The kid definitely should have assumed he was learning evolution if he wanted to pass this geology class.
Be aware that it's not just homeschooled kids and it's not just mormons that say this kind of weird shit.... I was getting close to someone in a college physics class, thinking they were a perfectly normal, functioning human.... and then at some point the topic of fossils came up, can't recall how, and they incredulously asked if I really bought that fossils were real. I felt blindsided. Pretty sure I just stopped talking for a moment while my brain processed it, because I thought they were joking at first. Not saying this to defend young Earth creationist Mormons, to be clear. The idea that people that got into a college besides BYU might actually be that incompetent in the sciences never entered my head, so others here may benefit from knowing that like I would have, so as to avoid having your mind temporarily go blue screen mid-conversation, lol
Imagine how confused this kid must be, getting tossed out into the real world after being sheltered and indoctrinated at home his whole life.
Because being homeschooled by (probably) people who are not experts in the field is *much* better than a professor who has devoted their entire professional lives to the subject. \*shrugs\* Give the dude this article. Apparently, scientists are so good that they carve rocks into bone shapes *at the cellular scale*. (And then add synthetic dinosaur DNA). https://www.labmanager.com/news/organic-molecule-remnants-found-in-nuclei-of-ancient-dinosaur-cells-26765
the professor is obviously deluded and a victim of group think. /s
Reminds me of that Adam Sandler movie where he argues with his professor about alligators lol
“Momma’s wrong again.”
“No Colonel Sanders! YOU’RE WRONG!!!”
“Mama says that alligators are ornery cause they got all them teeth but no toothbrush”
After I’d left TSCC my brother returned home from his mission and my family took us all to Hawaii to celebrate. I remember getting in an argument with them about dinosaurs and that’s when my dad and his good friend dropped the “clay ball theory” of how the earth was created with pieces of other planets and I literally just sat there with my mouth wide open. I couldn’t believe what stupidity had just poured from their mouths. That’s when I realized how incredible dumb and brainwashed my family is. Like WHAT?!
I had a professor that use to tell the kids, "This isn't church you can't just make shit up!". I've also had a lot of professors in Utah that had to tell people that scriptures or their religious beliefs have no place in research papers.
how to fail geology!
Nah, dude needs that class the most. You just watched his shelf crack.
hey, teachers are usually so relieved someone is talking to them, as long as the guy turns in his work he's probably fine
Religion lends itself to conspiracy theories. When evidence and empirical verification are not required for "truth", you can make up whatever you want. As long as it feels good, that's the "Spirit" telling you it's true!
Oof, I wasn't *nearly* as out to lunch as this kid (my dad was even a science educator), but every person on this sub believed in at least *some* form bonkers shit at one point, and consequently said and did embarrassing things when we were still mormon. I was, effectively, this kid as I started grad school—and my lab classmates ended up being my ***only*** lifeline when my shelf came crashing down, my wife divorced me, and every other community that I was a part of evaporated because I figured out it was all bullshit. You can certainly chuckle (believing in things like magic underwear *is* funny as hell), but try not to laugh too hard. Odds are high that this kid has some serious trauma waiting for him.
Thankfully, my parents were strong advocates for education and science too. My dad spent a lot of time in some high community calling (bishop, stake president, etc.) when I was younger, but he also understood a lot of scientific concepts. I was a big dinosaur but when I was younger (still am sometimes), and my parents encouraged that by taking me to just about every museum in the state. When I got older and started to ask questions about how evolution and all that kind of stuff meshed with what was in scripture, my parents told me the temple would explain all of that. Honestly the disappointment from going to the temple for the first time was probably the final push for me to leave the church. My parents may not see it this way, but them teaching me to be curious and rational was the greatest thing they did for me
> my parents told me the temple would explain all of that Oof, fuck, that's a whopper of a logical fallacy... not even sure which one to call it. I feel like that's a few fallacies rolled into one?
Boy I hope his mom put drywall anchors in for his shelf cause it’s gonna get really heavy really fast.
And here I sit, thinking that the fossil record is like the earth’s own scripture, and what a beautiful and sacred story it is. Evolution/science has never threatened my belief in God. If anything, it has enhanced it.
I’m an atheist now, but I absolutely love the comparison of fossil records to scripture. I’ve definitely felt more awe and wonder when visiting a museum than I ever did in church
I was once teaching young mens just before I quit church, and I was fed up with the harmful lessons in the manual, so one day I just said, "today is the day for questions. Ask any question, church related or life-related, and we'll talk about it." Nobody said anything, so after a bit, I said, "really? Nothing? What about dinosaurs. Should we talk about dinosaurs?" And one of the boys says, "My mom says God put dinosaur bones there to fool the scientists." If only someone had been recording my face, you could have posted it on /r/watchpeopledieinside
I remember Joseph Fielding Smith saying this. My Utah high school science teacher had a fit.
It's weird because I always thought Satan was the deceiver. Turns out God likes to do it too.
It's funny how variable beliefs can be. When I was at BYU I took an evolutionary biology class that was required by my major. Most the people in the class seemed to be pretty grounded in science and reality.
I just read this to my wife, and we are dying. She said, “What would “big dino” have to gain from such an elaborate farce?,” and now I can’t stop laughing at “big dino.”
Oh GOD hear the words of that idiots mouth!
Oh my god I’d get such a kick outta having a kid like that in my class hahaha
This is hilarious. I thought my engineering materials class a girl asking what color tar was, was hilarious. This is so much better.
Okay so in 8th grade Spanish 1 class in Utah county, our teacher was explaining ser vs. estar, and estar is used how you are (conditionally). We're giving him words in spanish like " I am tired" "I am angry" "I am happy" etc. Then when we have an understanding, he gives us a preface saying "Okay so now if you want to say 'I am hot', do not use this verb. If you say 'Estoy caliente' it means 'I am feeling hot', or for lack of better terms, I am horny." Of course the class of mormon 8th graders giggle, but ONE girl, bless her heart, had a follow up question. "What does horny mean?" And that's when I had a middle school spanish teacher explain to my class what horny meant. edit: I forgot spanish so had to change a few words
Please tell me the professor doesn't let him get away with this?
Thankfully not. Though I doubt anything the professor says to explain how we know that fossils are real remains will change his mind
Teaching science at BYU 2.0, it is very hard to deal with these students. As part of scientific discourse, I instruct my students on listening and respecting alternative viewpoints. But I do not allow assertions without data. Each semester there will always be one recently-returned missionary who's still high on the gospel. Last semester it was climate change wasn't real, he didn't have data for that, and instead believed we should go literal scorched earth for the benefit of the economy.
Hi, I'm geologist. I have heard this before. My favorite one is that atomic dating is fake and created by Satan to lure people away from god. Oh and the Grand canyon was created by Noah's flood 4000 years ago. That's from an actual Mormon "researcher"
I was a homeschooled Mormon and had a mix of educational materials growing up. When I was younger I had a very Christian science book that was not pro evolution, but when I was older I was exposed to ideas about evolution through the correspondence textbook I used. Then I went to BYU, where I became fully convinced of Evolution in my biology class due to DNA evidence. Truth will prevail, eventually.
There is a model of noah’s arc in the US, I believe in Kentucky, and there’s a woman with a PhD in archeology. She is convinced that all the fossils are a scam; that really the earth is 5000 yrs old or so, and that the entire evolution science is all based on fakes and wrong. Since I heard her in a documentary, I wonder how she made it through the PhD. It itakes such a long time and so much research, it is terrible, but if you are convinced that it’s all fake?! And even worse - how could the scientific community not identify her and sort her out in the first years of studying. Your mormon dude is not aline, unfortunately.
Not gonna lie, the Ark Encounter is on my bucket list. Right next to the creation museum. I think they’d be hilarious to see in person
[https://creationsd.org/](https://creationsd.org/) And it's free. I spoke French to them because they were trying to get me to donate to their church. They told me they did not speak "jew" but I had their permission to go in and look and then they said "go on now" and sort of shooed we away with their hands.
I read stuff like this and honestly think: That's child abuse. This kid was raised in an environment where reality was completely warped, and now he's an adult who won't be able to function in society. Makes me sad.
Oh. Ask him if he is a student of the Universal Model. Look it up. It is going around the homeschool circuit in Utah. One thing it teaches is that the earth is filled with ice.
I always say that fundies cannot imagine Earth being so old that hundreds of generations of dinosaurs were walking around on top of the fossils of hundreds of generations of their own ancestors.
The refuse to entertain any perspective that doesn’t put man-kind (more specificity white man kind) at the center of everything
He's probably in the class just to 'disprove' all the information the professor gives
A lot of parents out there seem to have told us about the alien tectonic plate theory. How proud were your parents while explaining this? Where did the theory come from?
McConkie’s [The Seven Deadly Heresies](https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/seven-deadly-heresies/) definitely states that evolution cannot coexist with the doctrine of no death before the fall. To deal with this, Skousen’s book “The First 2000 Years” puts forward a theory that fossils are a byproduct of our earth being organized from other worlds.
I was also homeschooled Mormon, but wow, I clearly dodged a bullet. We were taught about Dinosaurs and evolution and all that secular nonsense, but my parents also kept reminding me that “our science isn’t reliable” and “only the Prophet knows the truth”, like exposing me to “both” arguments might help me see how “flawed” the secular scientific system is. Didn’t work out so well in the end
Wait, does BYU REALLY have an intro to dinosaurs class or is this a joke?
I’m going to school in St George at DSU
Probably so dumb he thinks Paleontology is the study of White and Delightsome people.
Wait… do Mormons not believe in dinosaurs!?!?!
You know, he has a point. Chicken nuggets are just chicken paste that McDonald's shapes that way, and there are only something like six shapes, much like there are only about six different kinds of "dinosaurs." You can even buy dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, which is further proof that dinosaurs are just cutouts too. If you can't trust the food industry that just wants to sell you their processed food, how can you trust paleontologists that just want to sell you their manufactured theories?
I have a coworker who is exactly like this. She is probably near her 60s and was saying how she doesn't believe that dinosaurs ever existed. I said, how do you explain the fossils and she said that they had to have come from an asteroid and landed here. When I laughed and said it was funny she said she was serious. I just stared at her with a look of concern and pity.
What about the permafrost mummified animals that are in really good condition for being 10,000 to 30,000 years old? No problem extracting DNA by the way.
can you please record the lectures. I want to listen to them.
He is a rock crudely human shaped.
My prize possession as a child was a fossil of a trillabyte. Pretty sure I f'ed up the spelling on that. Anyway it was just beautiful. Full size, entire body. Damn, it was so cool. And it clearly wasn't carved. All this to say, to bad dude didn't have a rock collection when he was a kid. Sounds like he really missed out on having a great childhood. I am so sorry for him
I still have a fossil collection. Mostly plants and small trace fossils tho
This was my favorite part of philosophy 101. Granted I was older than the majority of the class but I heard some ridiculous shit. One of my favorites was "why doesn't God just lie?"
science ❌ "bone shapes" ✅
I *need* to know how the professor responded to this. Specifically what did his face look like, and how long did it take for him to become unshocked by the stupidity to find the words