This is a picture of a model of a T-Rex that we have in our museum. It's about 20 inches tall at the hip. This is a life-size reproduction of a T-Rex.
Is that a true statement? (Don't look at the museum sign to the right.)
Most people say, "No! T-Rex is huge. This is not life size!"
Yes, our T-Rex is life-size. This is a life-size reproduction of a juvenile T-Rex.
We make assumptions based on our past experience. Every time we read about T-Rex, or see a T-Rex in a movie, they are big. As a result the picture we have in our minds is of a huge and powerful two-legged dinosaur. But, like you, a T-Rex started out as a baby. The largest dinosaur egg is about the size of a football. In fact, there is a bird egg that is larger than the biggest dinosaur egg (the Elephant Bird).
So yes, T-Rex started out small.
Presuppositions are important. We'd have a difficult time getting through the day without presuppositions. By presupposing something is true or false, we can deal with it without thinking. For example, if someone takes a pot off a stove and pours you a cup of coffee, your presupposition will be that it's hot. You'll start by sipping the coffee, not gulping. That coffee is hot is a presupposition that eliminates the need to evaluation whether or not the coffee is hot. We use presuppositions all the time, and that's a good thing.
However, at times our presuppositions can be wrong. It can be because what we've been taught is wrong. Or we may have had an experience that was outside of what normally happens. Or a presupposition can be based on a wrong assumption, such as every T-Rex in the movies is big, so we assume all T-Rexes must be big. Wrong presuppositions can lead to a wrong understanding of the world we live in. And that can be serious.
An important wrong presupposition is that the present is the key to the past. The assumption is that everything has always been as we see it now. This is a presupposition that leads to major errors in thinking. As we've already seen with dinosaur fossil footprints and eggs, the present is not the key to the past. Only when we realize that everything has not always been as we see it today, and there was a global flood as described in the Bible, do we get a picture that matches the fossil evidence we see today.
A presupposition can be difficult to change. In many cases a presupposition supports other beliefs, and to give up the presupposition means giving up long-held, cherished beliefs. We don't like that. But, no matter how much we wish it did, what we like or are comfortable with, does not define reality.
Here Comes Evolution
In the next section of the museum we'll be looking at some of the icons of evolution. These are supposed examples of evolution that are firmly believed and held out as examples of evolution actually having happened. In their book "Contested Bones" Christopher Rupe and Dr. John Sanford write about the problem of fossils that are dated to be older than what is compatible with a belief in evolution. They note that in the end some fossils cannot accepted for what they obviously are:
"The reason has everything to do with scientific politics and deeply entrenched evolutionary presuppositions."
We'll talk about these fossils in the section on human evolution, but the point is, strongly held presuppositions can overrule reality. So the question is, are you going to stick with presuppositions that are proven false, or are you willing to learn and follow the evidence? Evolution is one of, if not the most powerful presupposition that exists today. But it is not a presupposition supported by science nor the evidence.
