Friday, February 27, 2009

Dinosaur or Behemoth?

I'm tired, so this will be a short and rambling post.

Tonight we watched a Ken Ham video "Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel" which explained dinosaurs from a creation perspective rather than an evolution one.
And my sweet, precious Dino cried himself to sleep. And the blame is all mine.

Dino loves dinosaurs, and I mean LOVES them! He can name every one that he has ever learned about. His fascination started when he was between 2 and 3 and has actually declined some recently but is still there. He will often tell me he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up.
While reading books about dinosaurs, Hub and I gently remind him that we don't believe that dinosaurs were around millions of years ago, or that they died out due to a comet, or that they weren't alive when humans were. But we never told him why we believe that way or what we actually believe about dinosaurs.

I guess it was partly because we didn't exactly know what we did believe. But a lady in our church has a passion for teaching others about what the Bible has to say about history. And we have learned a lot, which is why I showed Dino the video tonight.
I wasn't prepared for his reaction. He told me that he hadn't believed Hub and I when we told him the things we did. He said he believed a lie. And now that he knows the truth, he is heartbroken that he believed the lie. He threw his dinosaur pillowcased pillow off the bed and said he would never be a paleontologist.
And I am heartbroken for him. I tried to reassure him that he wasn't to blame. I tried to say all the right things but I don't know if I got through. I'll talk to him more in the morning and in the meantime, pray.

Oh, there are definitely some days I wish we could live out our lives in a bubble.

1 comment:

Luke Holzmann said...

May this situation become a lesson of hope that reassures NOS that we can seek out truth by examining the evidence and the reasons people believe differently than we do.

It's hard to learn that we should be more humble in our conclusions, but may he grow from this to discover the joy of seeking truth... whether as a paleontologist or otherwise [smile].

This sounds like a great experience to me. We will frequently encounter things that challenge our beliefs, and learning to hear the other side is extremely important to our ability to impact those around us.

Hang in there!

~Luke