What About the Dinosaurs?
By Kyle Pope

All over the world fossilized bones of large animals we now call dinosaurs have been discovered. Those who reject biblical accounts of creation and accept evolutionary theories of the origins of life argue that these creatures lived millions of years ago. Does the Bible teach anything about dinosaurs?

I.  God Made All Things in Six Days. Christians cannot accept the Bible and believe in a universe that has existed for millions of years. The Bible teaches that God made all things in six days (Exod. 20:11). When it comes to life, the Bible teaches that on the fifth day God made life in the sea and the birds in the sky (Gen.1:20-23). Then on the sixth day God made all land creatures and humans (Gen.1:24-31). This makes it clear that all land animals were made at the same time that man was made, not millions of years before. According to the Bible, therefore, we must conclude that land dinosaurs once lived alongside human beings.

II.  Before The Flood the Earth was Much Different than it is Now. The Bible records that before the worldwide flood of Noah’s day rivers that are now separated from each other were closer together (Gen. 2:10-14). Before the flood, rain did not fall, but a mist came up from the ground and watered the earth (Gen. 2:5-6). While this is much different than the environment we now enjoy, the world before the flood appears to have been a very moist and tropical habitat. Much like the old terrariums that were once very popular, such an atmosphere would seal in the moisture under a thick cloud canopy. At that time, the Bible reveals that human beings themselves had a much longer lifespan, with some living hundreds of years (see Genesis 5). Such conditions would naturally confuse modern dating methods that rely on assumptions of uniform environmental conditions and modern degrees of exposure to solar radiation.

III.  When the Flood Came “the Fountains of the Deep were Broken up” and the “Windows of Heaven were Opened” (Gen. 7:11). In describing the geological and atmospheric conditions that brought the flood the text makes it clear that the world before the flood had a reserve of water under the earth and in the upper atmosphere (see Gen. 1:7-8). When the flood came the Bible reveals that it covered the earth above all the mountains (Gen. 7:19), and water stayed on the earth for 150 days (Gen. 7:24). This not only killed all land creatures but caused shifts in land and soil that encased plants and animals all over the word under layers of mud preserving them from the normal destruction of decay. This resulted in much of the worldwide fossilization observable today. The erosion caused by the flood and other the geological changes from the “deep” being broken up left the earth itself much different than it was before. Continents once joined were separated. Mountains, canyons, and once sea-covered plateaus were transformed. The environment once ideally suited for forms of life before the flood was no longer the same.

IV.  So, What Happened to the Dinosaurs? Even those who accept evolutionary theories generally explain the extinction of the dinosaurs by some major catastrophic event such as a meteor or asteroid hitting the earth. From the biblical record we can understand the flood as the very type of catastrophic event necessary to change life on earth so dramatically. The Bible records that representatives of land animals were taken aboard the ark with Noah’s family in order to survive the flood. We do not know if some creatures even before the flood came to a natural extinction, but based on the dimensions outlined in Scripture it is clear that there would have been enough room on the ark for dinosaurs even if some were taken on board in their infant stage (Gen. 6:15-16). If so, it is likely that some dinosaurs survived the flood. The Bible speaks of large unidentified land and sea animals it calls “leviathan” (Psa. 104:24-26; 74:14; Job 41). Many of its descriptions fit well with what we know about dinosaurs. Legends the world over about “dragons,” and even the Bible’s use of this figure in reference to Satan (Rev. 12:9) may well derive from a cultural and historical recollection of these creatures that once lived alongside man. It is likely that the dinosaurs were on the ark and died off slowly in the time after the flood due to the change in environment and terrain found in a post-flood world. They did not live millions of years ago, but fit easily into the cosmology and chronology outlined in the biblical record.

eBulletin                Print Version