501 E. St. Joseph St, S.D. School of Mines
Rapid City, 57701
Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm, Saturday: 9am-6pm, Sunday: 12pm-5pm
This museum is open free to the public. Some of the best local fossils of dinosaurs, giant fish, and mammals are exhibited here. Also, there are meteorites, a fluorescent minerals room, and models of famous diamonds and gold nuggets.
Have you considered
……….how a dinosaur fossil is made. A fossil is a rock. It takes very special conditions to make a rock or fossil. Think about this, what happens to a dead animal? Scavengers eat it; bugs and bacteria cause it to rot and decay, eventually leaving no remains behind. It takes very special conditions in order to make a fossil. Here is the general fossil recipe:
Fast coverage by sediment. So, scavengers and bacteria don’t eat it.
Deep coverage by sediment so no oxygen is present to start decay.
Lots and lots of water so the minerals can seep into the bone and turn it into stone.
What event in history had fast, deep coverage with lots of water? The Flood of Noah’s time. Every time a dinosaur fossil is dug up, it is a reminder of this Flood. Fossils remind us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy. God’s judgment in that He destroyed the entire world with a worldwide flood because it was so wicked. When you look around this room at all these fossils realize that all these creatures were caught in the Flood and died. God’s mercy in that He saved Noah and his family on the Ark. Every time a dinosaur bone or fossil is dug up, it reminds us of God’s judgment and God’s mercy; fossilized dinosaur bones are really missionaries to the world.
Have you considered
………..diamonds. Evolutionists have never bothered to check to see if diamonds had carbon 14; they assumed diamonds to be at least a billion years old. Some creation scientists were curious, so they took 12 diamonds and prepared them for carbon 14 analysis. To their amazement, every diamond was found to have carbon 14! Diamonds, according to evolutionist should not have any C-14. Carbon 14 has a half life of 5,730 years. Meaning that every 5,730 years only ½ the C-14 remains having decayed to nitrogen, so after 57,300 years or ten ½ lives there should hardly be any C-14 left. Anything over 250,000 years should contain absolutely no C-14. Diamonds still contain C-14 that means they are not billions of years old. Diamonds are young!
So how do diamonds fit into the Flood model? During the Flood some 4,300 years ago, there were violent volcanic eruptions; this would have brought the diamond up in pipes from more than 100 miles down below. Diamonds are the hardest known substance, so C-14 leaching in would have been impossible. Yet, C-14 was found in diamonds. This means that C-14 had to be present in the diamonds when they were formed before they reached the surface. Diamonds are not billions of years old but young. Diamonds are a creationist best friend!
(Museum Guide: a Bible-base Handbook to Natural History Museums, 2007, p.199)