Feathered Dinosaurs

Changyuraptor yangi

Isaiah 31:5
"As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it."

A new species of dinosaur has been found. Scientists are calling Changyuraptor yangi the biggest feathered dinosaur ever discovered. Here at Creation Moments, however, we're calling it a feathered bird. Dinosaur-to-bird evolution is nothing more than a flight of fancy.

Naturally, USA Today, BBC News and many other news outlets are calling it a four-winged dinosaur. Changyuraptor yangi, they say, is a new species of dinosaur that offers "clues to the origin of flight – and the transition from feathered dinosaurs to birds." Research scientists also say that "the new fossil possesses the longest known feathers for any non-avian dinosaur."

Non-avian? No, we're still calling them birds, and here's why. For one thing, dinosaurs and other reptiles have scales, which are folds in their skin. Birds, on the other hand, have feathers which grow out of follicles. Scales and feathers are completely different. No known fossils, in fact, provide evidence of a transition from scales to feathers.

Furthermore, for a dinosaur to evolve into a bird, it would need to develop hollow bones, and it would need to gain powerful flight muscles and develop a new heart with four chambers rather than three.

So, too, do we need a new heart to understand the things of God. We don't evolve our old heart into a new one. Our new heart comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Notes: "Scientists discover largest four-winged dinosaur to date", USA Today, 7/15/14.
"Four-winged dinosaur is 'biggest ever'", BBC News Science & Environment, 7/16/14.
"A new raptorial dinosaur with exceptionally long feathering provides insights into dromaeosaurid flight performance," Nature Communications, 7/15/14.
Illustration: Courtesy of Stephanie Abramowicz, Dinosaur Institute, NHM. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Creation Moments, Inc., P.O. Box 839, Foley, MN 56329 www.creationmoments.com

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