Basic Questions About Dinosaurs

[Dr. John Nay]

Where did they come from?

Answer: All things were created by Christ (John 1:1-3 & 14 cf. Colossians 1:16-17).

When did they live?

Answer: God created sea and air dinosaurs on the fifth day of creation (Genesis 1:20-23) and land dinosaurs on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-25).

Note: Human footprints have been found extensively in the same strata (layer) with dinosaur tracks.

Were they dangerous?

Answer: No (At least not initially)

Explanation: When one compares Genesis 1:29-30 with Genesis 9:3 it is quite clear that God?s plan was for both man and animals to be herbivorous, i.e. eat just veggies - no whoppers

We read in Genesis 1:31, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." (NIV)

Well, just how good is very good with God anyway?

Answer: I suggest that very good with God is perfect!

Who named the animals?

Answer: Right! Adam (Genesis 2:19-20)

Explanation: In my minds eye I do not see Adam standing there with a whip, a chair, and a .44 magnum on his hip with Eve backing him with a 30.06 rifle and scope as he named all the animals. You see it was all VERY GOOD (until sin entered the world). The term, "Dinosaur" did not come about until the beginning of the 19th century. It means "Terrible Lizard". I don't believe that Adam would name anything that God created a "terrible" anything.

What purpose would they serve?

Answer: Glorify God (Colossians 1:17)

Speculations:

Control vegetation before the Flood?

As a result of the water-vapor canopy (Gen. 1:6-8) there was extensive vegetation before the Flood. The millions, and perhaps a billion or more dinosaurs may have had something to do the control of the extensive vegetation.

The need for petroleum?

Perhaps in God?s scheme of things He provided Petroleum (oil) for man. (Have you ever wondered why "Dino" the dinosaur is on the Sinclair Service Station signs?)

To make a point with Job?

In Job 40:15ff., God points out some very large beast (possibly a dinosaur) to make a point with Job.

Were they on the Ark?

Answer: Yes (Genesis 7:8)

Explanation: There was plenty of room on the Ark, i.e. over 1,500,000 cubic feet; the equivalent storage space of 522 railroad boxcars! Also, dinosaurs would not have to have been be full grown.

What happened to them?

Answer: They stepped off the Ark into a world vastly different than the world before the Flood.

Explanation: Earth was now no longer protected by the water-vapor canopy of Genesis 1:6-8. Deserts and glacial regions are not very suitable for the survival of dinosaurs in any great number. (I have an article on a huge dinosaur fossil found in the Sahara Desert. At one time this desert wasn?t a desert.)

Does the Bible speak of dinosaurs after the Flood?

Answer: Probably Yes

Explanation: Read Job 40:15-19 carefully. Some Bibles have notes on this passage. Check what the notes say with the passage and see what you think.

Are dinosaurs extinct?

Answer: ?

Explanation: There have been many sighting throughout the world (both in sea & land) of creatures that resemble dinosaurs.

[Jukia]

Without going into the rest of your fantasy:
1. The "evidence" of human and dino tracks together has been discredited.
2. Dinosaurs as we think of them are extinct. There are relatives still around--crocodiles and alligators for example. And many now believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs. I recognize that this last comment is clearly unbelieveable to anyone who is a Biblical literalist and a young-earther but it does seem to be the standard view now.

[Dr. John Nay]

Discredited - I have visited the Creation Evidences Museum in Glenn Rose, Texas and believe the empirical evidence of human footprints in the same stratification as dinosaur tracks to be credible. I find the proposal that the human prints where carved in the riverbed to be ludicrous, as I have video footage of trail excavation (one strata being lifted off another). I also believe Dr. Carl Baugh to be credible. He is a frequent lecturer on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (cable) and think his presentations are both interesting and challenging to the popular secular views relative to the philosophy of evolution. Some of the information on this topic (dinosaurs/humans) may be accessed at www.creationevidence.org/cemframes.html


Dinosaurs Extinct - It seems to me that many taxonomists and palaeontologists do not agree as to what is, or is not, a dinosaur.
As far as dinosaurs being extinct - Generally, I believe it is best not to deal in absolutes, e.g. dinosaurs are extinct, as we (humans) are not absolute in knowledge. Two articles in National Geographic Magazine (June 1988 and April 1990), state that the Coelacanth fish (key/index fossil) went extinct 60-70 million years ago. And yet over two hundred of these ?living fossils? (oxymoron) have been caught.

I do believe that one can deal in purely definable absolutes, e.g. all bachelors are not married.

For most professing Christians the source of absolutes is God?s inspired Word (Bible). This is a statement of faith in that Christians are finite in knowledge, as are all humans (an absolute based on my belief in His Word). Most Christians consider the support for the Bible being the ?inspired? Word of God to be ?beyond a reasonable doubt.?

[Jukia]

I stand by my earlier comment.

[Bryanna8926]

Without going into the rest of your fantasy:

You sound rather stressed. )