To Nathan: I agree with you 100%. When I studied astro-physics in college, it was proven beyond any doubt that the animals and mankind were here millions of years ago. I know the WT tried to play games when questioned about dinosaurs and what happened to them. One speaker said they died off before the animals we see today were created. If they weren't wouldn't the dinosaurs had eaten most of the life we see around us now?
Another speaker said the dinosaurs drowned in the flood of Noah's time. So why didn't Noah bring 2 or each into the ark? Doesn't the WT know how big these animals were?
Even if we leave out the dinosaurs, all of the animals he was supposed to have put into the ark, the food needed for them (and remember that some are carnivores and they weren't going to be happy with a salad made of straw and cow's milk to drink. None of the animals reproduced, thereby crowding the ark even more? How did 8 people clean up all the waste from these animals? It has been estimated by some that it would take 50 men working 24 hours/day to shovel and dump it all outside, and even then they couldn't keep up. So when the ark settled and the water went away, there would certainly be a mess all around them.
I hope these points help to tie together the whole "date issue" about how long man or animals were on the earth and when they were created.