Catholic Info

Traditional Catholic Faith => Art and Literature for Catholics => Topic started by: StLouisIX on April 18, 2022, 01:52:46 PM

Title: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: StLouisIX on April 18, 2022, 01:52:46 PM
There is a need for more resources to teach children and adults about the truth about how dinosaurs are just another part of God's Creation, not products of the "millions of years" of evolution that never were.

It is true that there are many informative lectures, books, and articles on this subject, but I think there is a need to distill this information into some form of entertainment. The evolutionists do this very effectively. They produce, or help to produce, movies or books aimed at informing people about dinosaurs in an entertaining way, and then throw in their propaganda in order to indoctrinate the viewer/reader into their false beliefs. They use dinosaurs as ambassadors for evolution. 

My question is, why not use dinosaurs as ambassadors for teaching people about Creation? Some Protestants have produced material along this line, but sadly I cannot find any Catholic who has done the work of blending dinosaur-themed entertainment with telling people the truth about them. 

For this reason, I wish to share an idea that may or may not gain traction. I propose a website, started perhaps by myself, that would act in a similar manner to this one: 

https://www.prehistoricdomain.com/

The idea is to create an immersive experience that functions like a digital zoo of sorts—you have a map and click on different exhibits and view dinosaurs, with some narration provided that gives you facts about the animals, with none of the evolutionist baloney involved. I think I'd also include a visitors center/museum that presents information to the viewer that presents facts taken from the Kolbe Center and other sources relating the inaccuracy of Lyellian geology, the historicity of the Flood and the Antediluvian era, and the finding of dinosaur blood cells (which totally pokes a hole in the "they've been extinct for millions of years" mantra). 

I wouldn't suggest ripping off the jeep tour idea from Jurassic Park as the example website did. Not only would it be painfully obvious where the inspiration behind that digital attraction is from, but it would also be highly inefficient for a real-life theme park that would have hundreds, even thousands of visitors daily! 

Instead of using more modern forms of animation, I would prefer that the dinosaurs be animated with practical effects. I'm thinking along the lines of stop motion: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_oBI385qSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEK9mitagS8

(FYI, there are tutorials on how to make such props on YT)

It would probably take more time and money to produce with effects like that rather than something based around CGI, but I think it would be worth it in terms of making the animals look all the more realistic, and to really sell the awe and wonder of the dinosaurs. In my opinion, intuition tells you that when you're looking at a physical prop you're looking at something that exists in time and space, whereas only really well done CGI can allude the "video game" appearance of CGI animation. The environments inside the exhibits would also be done with practical effects. 

I think I could lend my voice to be the voice of the park announcer. I would run it through a filter to make it sound like I'm talking through some kind of a speaker to make it sound more authentic. 

Perhaps I could reach out to the Kolbe Center and see if anyone there is interested in creating something like this? 

I'll think more seriously about this once I'm done with the e-book on Russia, but these are my thoughts for now, and I think it's something worth sharing. 






Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: DigitalLogos on April 18, 2022, 05:05:37 PM
I would first like to see more triumphalist media centered around the Gospels and Saints, much like Gibson's The Passion, before Creationist accounts of dinosaurs. But, as a parent of a young boy who loves dinosaurs, it would be great to see more media directed towards the truth in this field.

It seems like in the realm of Catholicism, the Kolbe Center are the only ones talking about this. Everyone else, even many in tradlandia, seems to accept the mainstream explanations for dinosaurs.
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 18, 2022, 07:58:55 PM
Unless we can convince children of the enormity of the deceit involved in evolution and prove to them the truth of the creation “model”, they will continue to be lost and drawn away from the Gospel and the saints.

I have experienced and proved this with my own children who are all firm “creationists”, faithful Catholics who love the Gospel and the saints. (We were converted by protestants!)

Go for it, St Louis.

Children’s books are produced by protestant Creation org, Answers in Genesis.  Are there such books from a Catholic source?
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 18, 2022, 09:05:41 PM
Here is something that might worth a look at

https://goodbooksforcatholickids.com/2020/10/12/books-on-evolution-and-intelligent-design-for-catholic-teens-and-adults/
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 18, 2022, 09:29:22 PM
Looking further for catholic creation books for kids I came across a lovely site, moreover in Australia, so no prohibitive postage costs, then digging deeper I came to this

https://www.garrattpublishing.com.au/sample/TwoHandsofGod_sampler.pdf

Someone needs to get on the job ASAP. St Louis?
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Mr G on April 19, 2022, 08:18:12 AM
There is a need for more resources to teach children and adults about the truth about how dinosaurs are just another part of God's Creation, not products of the "millions of years" of evolution that never were.

...

Perhaps I could reach out to the Kolbe Center and see if anyone there is interested in creating something like this?

I'll think more seriously about this once I'm done with the e-book on Russia, but these are my thoughts for now, and I think it's something worth sharing.
952 Kelly Rd.
Good idea, I think Mr. Owen would listen and consider your idea, pleas contact him:

VA 22842
The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation
952 Kelly Rd.
Mt. Jackson,
VA 22842

Phone: 540-856-8453
Email: info@kolbecenter.org







Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: StLouisIX on April 19, 2022, 10:09:24 PM
I would first like to see more triumphalist media centered around the Gospels and Saints, much like Gibson's The Passion, before Creationist accounts of dinosaurs. But, as a parent of a young boy who loves dinosaurs, it would be great to see more media directed towards the truth in this field.

It seems like in the realm of Catholicism, the Kolbe Center are the only ones talking about this. Everyone else, even many in tradlandia, seems to accept the mainstream explanations for dinosaurs.

Intriguingly enough, I could use this hypothetical website to tell the triumphalist stories of certain saints, such as Pope St. Sylvester and St. Daniel the Prophet, who slayed dragons. Their stories would be included in the museum/visitors center part of the "zoo", in an exhibit dedicated to telling the stories of various "dragon" encounters throughout history, and pointing out that these animals were truly the last of the dinosaurs and other "prehistoric" reptiles. 

Looking further for catholic creation books for kids I came across a lovely site, moreover in Australia, so no prohibitive postage costs, then digging deeper I came to this

https://www.garrattpublishing.com.au/sample/TwoHandsofGod_sampler.pdf

Someone needs to get on the job ASAP. St Louis?

Thanks for the resources and encouragement, Nadir! It's greatly appreciated. 

I don't know if I have the skill to write children's books, but that could be something I do down the line. I could even use information from the hypothetical website, and put the books up on there. If I do go down the route of using stop motion puppets, that would definitely save me the time and money involved with having to search and pay for artists to illustrate dinosaurs for these books. I could just photograph them and insert pictures of them in the books. I'm sure to a child, a realistic and well-done puppet (and that's the key right there) would capture the imagination more than a 2D illustration. 

 
952 Kelly Rd.
Good idea, I think Mr. Owen would listen and consider your idea, pleas contact him:

VA 22842
The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation
952 Kelly Rd.
Mt. Jackson,
VA 22842

Phone: 540-856-8453
Email: info@kolbecenter.org


Thanks Mr. G!

First, I wish to get the Russia e-book done and get that out of the way. But I certainly will reach out to him afterwards. 
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: SimpleMan on April 22, 2022, 06:52:08 PM
Though it is not Catholic, doesn't the Creation Museum in Kentucky (near Cincinnati) deal in some of these themes?

https://creationmuseum.org/ (https://creationmuseum.org/)
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 22, 2022, 09:47:58 PM
Though it is not Catholic, doesn't the Creation Museum in Kentucky (near Cincinnati) deal in some of these themes?

https://creationmuseum.org/ (https://creationmuseum.org/)
Indeed it does. My son took his family to visit. It is impressive. The sad thing is that folk will come to an understanding of the world and creation that is not the Catholic Understanding.

The museum is one offshoot of Answers in Genesis which was started by the Australian protestant, Ken Ham. It was through Answers in Genesis that our family came to understand the importance of the issue of the evolution / Creation. Then by the grace of God, we discovered Gerry Keane’s exposition of the Catholic doctrine of Creation.

I have searched Kolbe Foundation website and it seems they have no specific outreach into the education of children, through literature and other modern means. I believe that this is a serious lack for the Catholics. 

I hope that St Louis, and other brightminds, can make some inroads into this crucial issue.
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: SimpleMan on April 22, 2022, 11:54:33 PM
Indeed it does. My son took his family to visit. It is impressive. The sad thing is that folk will come to an understanding of the world and creation that is not the Catholic Understanding.


How so?  If a Catholic believes in a literal six-day creation, and a young earth, how is that different from what they present at the Creation Museum?
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 23, 2022, 01:47:00 AM
How so?  If a Catholic believes in a literal six-day creation, and a young earth, how is that different from what they present at the Creation Museum?
The whole point is that most Catholics do not believe in the literal six days and a young earth, or they are confused on the issue, or they believe in “theistic” evolution or even the “big bang” or they don’t care. Now, I think it’s great that people can be informed of the truth of Creation, and we do share much with Answers in Genesis in that knowledge but....

never forget that they are an apologetics organisation, and their understanding of Faith and Church is not ours. For example

from Answers in Genesis

“For Roman Catholics around the world, the pope is recognized not only as the leader of the church, but also as the primary voice of authority in the church.2 (https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/international-outreach/2015/01/06/the-pope-and-the-head-of-the-church/#fn_2)

Insert here (see next post)

Holy Scripture are supremely authoritative. No survey respondent is in a position to “rate” the ministry of the Lord Jesus (https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/) Christ, and no person alive may validly pass judgment on the authority of the Word of God. That the pope has been elevated, in the eyes of so many, to a position of such tremendous authority is actually an affront to the true authority of Jesus Christ that is expressed in His Word. “
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 23, 2022, 01:58:33 AM
After the footnote 2 insert

This stands in stark contrast to our position here at AIG. We teach without apology that the lord Jesus Christ is the one true leader of the church and that the 66(sic) God breathed books of holy scripture...
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on April 23, 2022, 05:52:50 AM
Sorry for the above messup. I had a lot of trouble copying and pasting. Here is the link
https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/international-outreach/2015/01/06/the-pope-and-the-head-of-the-church/

Having given the question more thought, AIG  may not have trouble telling the story of Genesis, but they are very poor when it comes to theology . Consider how they would deal with the Catholic truth from the very early Church that Mary is the New Eve, or that she is the Ark of the Covenant.

What they get right is what the Church has always taught, but because of undermining in the Church, they are able to capitalise and lead faith hungry folk into false religion.
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: StLouisIX on April 27, 2022, 09:27:45 PM
Though it is not Catholic, doesn't the Creation Museum in Kentucky (near Cincinnati) deal in some of these themes?

https://creationmuseum.org/ (https://creationmuseum.org/)

This project would be quite different from a museum; it would be more like an interactive website. One great thing about covering these themes from a Catholic perspective is that I can use sources that Protestants would never likely bring up. For example, when discussing the issue of the sauropod dinosaurs (the large long-necked herbivores like Brachiosaurus) something that does come up is how they would have needed to eat tremendous quantities of plants every day in order to stay alive.

Intriguingly, Bl. Jacobus de Voragine provides this detail in The Golden Legend which can be taken as proof not only that the warm climate of the supposed "Mesozoic" actually corresponds to the Antediluvian Era, but also that the sauropods would have flourished in that age:

Quote
From the time of Adam until after Noah’s flood, the time and season was always green and tempered; and all that time men ate no flesh, for the herbs and fruits were then of great strength and effect, they were pure and nourishing. But after the flood the earth was weaker and brought not forth so good fruit, wherefore flesh was ordained to be eaten.

(The Golden Legend, Vol. I)




Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: StLouisIX on April 27, 2022, 09:43:11 PM
Indeed it does. My son took his family to visit. It is impressive. The sad thing is that folk will come to an understanding of the world and creation that is not the Catholic Understanding.

The museum is one offshoot of Answers in Genesis which was started by the Australian protestant, Ken Ham. It was through Answers in Genesis that our family came to understand the importance of the issue of the evolution / Creation. Then by the grace of God, we discovered Gerry Keane’s exposition of the Catholic doctrine of Creation.

I have searched Kolbe Foundation website and it seems they have no specific outreach into the education of children, through literature and other modern means. I believe that this is a serious lack for the Catholics.

I hope that St Louis, and other brightminds, can make some inroads into this crucial issue.

Glad to see that you share my interest in this subject. I hope to use a combination of entertainment and information to make the inroads you discuss here. 

I've put some thought into what species I would feature first on the website, and I will send a draft list to Mr. Owen when I get the time to pitch the idea to him. One dinosaur that I am definetly considering (alongside beloved classics like Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus) is the relatively recently discovered Dreadnoughtus.


(https://assets.answersingenesis.org/img/articles/2014/09/dino-chart.jpg)

(https://assets.answersingenesis.org/img/articles/2014/09/bones-reconstruction.jpg)


Not only is a fascinating animal to imagine in terms of its scale, but there's a greater story to be told about it, as this excerpt from the Answers in Genesis article (https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/types/dreadnoughtus-largest-confirmed-land-animal/) on the creature demonstrates: 

Catastrophically and Completely Buried


Dreadnoughtus was evidently struck down and rapidly buried in the prime of life. The titanosaur beside it suffered a similar fate. [Paleontologist Kenneth] Lacovara says, “It appears that both individuals died and were buried rapidly after a river flooded and broke through its natural levee, turning the ground into a soupy mixture of sand, mud and water.”2 (https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/types/dreadnoughtus-largest-confirmed-land-animal/#fn_2)

Lacovara says that there is a geologic reason most titanosaur fossils are so fragmentary:

Quote
To date all of the real giants that we’ve known about have only been known from very fragmentary remains. And there is a geologic reason for this: If you can imagine an animal the size of a house and that animal dying and keeling over on a hard flood plain somewhere at that moment very little of its body is in contact with the earth, so very little of its skeleton actually has the opportunity to enter the fossil record before it’s either scavenged or weathered away.4 (https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/types/dreadnoughtus-largest-confirmed-land-animal/#fn_4)

Lacovara rightly acknowledges the necessity of rapid burial in the preservation of fossils. But what kind of river catastrophically destroyed and completely buried a couple of dinosaurs the size of two London buses? Another far more catastrophic source of water-borne sediment—sufficient to drop on these two strapping young dinosaurs like many tons of bricks—is easily found in the pages of the Bible (https://answersingenesis.org/bible/)’s book of Genesis (https://answersingenesis.org/genesis/) chapters six through nine, a historical record of the Flood that catastrophically covered the Earth.

The fossil record contains a rich record of the rapid burial of billions of animals and the order in which they were swept away and sorted or simply buried where they stood. Only the application of worldview-based interpretations of scientific data interpret the geologic layers like those in which these dinosaurs were found as millions of years old (https://answersingenesis.org/fossils/fossil-record/doesnt-order-of-fossils-in-rock-favor-long-ages/).



Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: bodeens on April 28, 2022, 11:31:13 PM
I was obsessed with dinos as a kid. Hoping you make progress on this Louis, a lot of children throughout the world will love this and God will Bless you for glorifying Him. My family will pray for you!
Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Nadir on May 28, 2022, 11:14:39 PM
Returning to the question of a creation day is truly a 24 hour day as we know it today, I though I'd share part of the latest Kolbe email here.


The theme, or subject matter, of the Vespers hymns for the week is the work of the six days of creation as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. . .The series develops in an orderly manner the work of creation, devoting four stanzas to the work of each day. There is strong probability that these hymns are the work of one and the same author, and that that author is no other than the illustrious Pope and Doctor of the Church, St Gregory the Great (540-604).
Each of these hymns sums up the work of creation accomplished on the previous day, in keeping with the sentiments expressed in the popular evening hymn, “The Day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at Thy behest.” Thus, the constant Tradition of the Church would certainly seem to teach that Sunday comes to an end (and Monday begins) on Sunday evening, and that Fr. Teilhard de Chardin did indeed die on Monday, according to the original ordering of time instituted by God Himself in the Hexameron.

“A Day Is Made Up of Twenty-Four Hours”
To argue otherwise would be to hold that a Sunday with a second vespers would consist of more than 24 hours—and there is no precedent for that opinion in any Father or Doctor of the Church. The consensus summed up by St. Thomas in the Summa is that Moses uses the phrase “one day” at the end of his account of Day One of the Hexameron because he is defining that a day is made up of 24 hours, 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light. He writes:
The words “one day” are used when day is first instituted, to denote that one day is made up of twenty-four hours. Hence, by mentioning “one,” the measure of a natural day is fixed. (STIa q. 74 a).
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/hALSMF5GZDNtal561OAY2a4rAjJyJbU9bymY2oMn-IgoU2FJyAtnAqiRutypZbLhGT05Q1I7eAliv1518LgfCSVHCVwEmpOM5DuZiqkpsY0TDssYU9UrQpEgkH4POmdE14dysORvOLMmuILdUTZbz0Hq=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/99e23de0101/13b19a46-0006-4a68-a706-5984f171f63f.jpg?rdr=true)
St. Thomas Aquinas
I don’t think that anyone would seriously argue that Easter Sunday was made up of more than 24 hours; and, that being the case, Fr. Teilhard de Chardin definitely died on the beginning of Monday when the following Vesper Hymn would normally be chanted, summing up the work of the first day of creation week, and begging God for protection from errors of a remarkably Teilhardian character:
Blest Creator of the light
Who mak'st the day with radiance bright.
And o'er the forming world didst call
The light from chaos first of all;
Whose wisdom joined in meet array
The morn and eve, and named them Day:
Night comes with all its darkling fears;
Regard Thy people's prayers and tears.
Lest, sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife,
they lose the gift of endless life.
While thinking but the thoughts of time,
They weave new chains of woe and crime.
But grant them grace that they may strain
The Heavenly gate and prize to gain:
Each harmful lure aside to cast
And purge away each error past.
The words in bold might almost serve as an epitaph for Teilhard de Chardin since he abandoned God’s Revelation of how He supernaturally created the world in six days in favor of his own “thoughts of time” which resembled the “past errors” of Epicurus, Lucretius, and a host of pagan evolutionists. Indeed, the Teilhardian fantasy of evolution over long ages of time has been used to “weave new chains of woe and crime,” most especially through the propagation of the evolutionary pseudoscience of embryonic recapitulation which denigrated the sacred humanity of the unborn child from the moment of conception and paved the way for the legalization of abortion in the years immediately following Fr. Teilhard de Chardin’s departure from this world.
(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/GwVc4nehFArX2nycFi51XYtENp5UmMHWp6jAhnL78faMnSUiuUpSz3hLDzlNRy2Qj_RwWrYM5R5BpX8MDTIu8pD7ukp4jtV7LCKon-KbKayjlt-illWrRxR5FXcMRDutwA2Gfzqf6S9bP81UKeHZfnj4=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/99e23de0101/9db51db1-aecd-4dd0-8afc-3c95c51ed3c9.jpg?rdr=true)
Moses receives the Ten Commandments from God
Conclusion
In conclusion, it would seem that when God wrote with “the finger of God” the Ten Commandments on Tablets of Stone for Moses and established the liturgical rhythm of the People of God with the Sacred Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, God explicitly declared that He Himself had established this liturgical rhythm at the beginning of time. After commanding the people to work for six days and rest on the seventh, He wrote: “For in six days, God created the heavens, the earth and the seas and all they contain and rested on the seventh day.” The Hebrew word translated “for,” transliterated as “ki,” means “because,” as in Genesis 2:3 where Moses writes that Eve was “called woman because (“ki”) she was taken from the man.” In other words, God Himself wrote on the stone tablets that Moses and the Chosen People were to follow a liturgical rhythm that revolved around observing the Sabbath from sundown to sundown because God Himself had established that liturgical rhythm by the way in which He created the world in six days and “rested” on the seventh day.


This was certainly the mind of the early Church Fathers, for we find St. Justin Martyr, in the second century, acknowledging that God made Sunday “the first day” of Creation Week in anticipation of the “new creation” in Christ on Easter Sunday:
The day of the sun is the day on which we all gather in a common meeting, because it is the first day, the day on which God, changing darkness and matter, created the world; and it is the day on which Jesus Christ our savior rose from the dead.

St. Gregory of the Theologian writes in a similar vein:
Just as the creation begins with Sunday (and this is evident from the fact that the seventh day after it is Saturday, because it is the day of repose from works) so also the second creation begins again with the same day [i.e. the day of the Resurrection].
Thus, the early Church Fathers echoed the ancient Liturgy of Antioch in which the faithful prayed:
When we ponder, O Christ, the marvels accomplished on this day, the Sunday of your holy Resurrection, we say: “Blessed is Sunday, for on it began creation” (emphasis added) (Fanquith, The Syriac Office of Antioch, Vol. VI, first part of Summer, 193 B. (CCC, 1167).
(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/i1osAHDn5zkGW3r1sADrkBTOwWVR4I5OklGZE-csVn-K59ciai5Zr8qllcBmb2ntNqqAxFMosjOYJriS2GMw1WPDDQuSvFo24NRcnbzypXtgag6Xgbdz0XAfuE5TkjlyMRXbJJ8ubOR2b3xMFCINleVl=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/99e23de0101/d965ee6d-1751-460c-83bd-434eeb1af2dd.jpg?rdr=true)
Day One: of the Hexameron: Creation of the Light and of the Angels



Title: Re: A Dino-Themed Educational Project Idea
Post by: Viva Cristo Rey on May 29, 2022, 04:27:33 PM
I think most children didn’t get into dinosaurs until 1980’s or later. Most younger boys were into toy soldiers, cowboys and Indians and matchbox cars.