DINOSAURS

 

Dinosaurs

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What space do dinosaurs take up in your head? Some kids are obsessed with them, even able to name them all! In the 70s we had Tyrannosaurus Rex which morphed into the band T. Rex. Apart from that and Dino, the Flintstones’ pet, my knowledge of dinosaurs as a kid was very limited. I never gave them much thought. And there’s the rub: dinosaurs are all in the mind! Please let me explain…

 When converted by the grace of God in my early thirties I began wondering where dinosaurs fit. On what day were they created? Were they all consigned to extinction by comet or global flood? How did they fit into the ark if some survived the flood? What does the word ‘dinosaur’ mean anyway? ‘Terrible lizard’? Does the Bible anywhere mention these creatures? What about dinosaur fossils? So, I was happy in my ignorance – until I became a Christian.

Where do dinosaurs fit in the minds of the Christian whose thinking is transformed by God’s revelation in the Bible? (Rom. 12:2). Therefore, dinosaurs have to do with one’s worldview. Whereas the Evolutionist believes these creatures underwent a series of evolutionary changes over millions of years only to become extinct by a huge comet hitting the earth, the Creationist believes God created them on days five and six of creation week and that many of them became extinct during the flood in Noah’s day. The most obvious explanation for the disappearance of most of these creatures is the global flood. Evidence? We’ve already mention fossilisation (caused by being rapidly buried by sedimentary mud that has turned to rock).  

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The Evolutionist needs millions of years to try to accommodate his supposed molecules to man, goo to you series of developments. Whereas the Creationist holds that the Bible teaches that God thousands of years ago made creatures designed for life in the air, land, and sea. He created prototypes of modern dogs, let’s say wolf-like creatures, same for cats, birds and fish etc., animals that could adapt to life in a world and environment that would become fallen and therefore hostile. However, just as Great Danes and chihuahuas have a common ancestor, each creature today is a variation of what God originally created. Any dinosaurs on the ark would only need to have been juvenile, averaging the size of a sheep today. Those outside of the ark would have perished but keep in mind that many sea creatures would have survived, perhaps as indicated by today’s crocodiles and alligators etc.

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Behemoth and Leviathan as described in the Book of Job are worthy of deep study. ‘Look now at behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox (Job 40:15) and ‘Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?’ (Job 41:1). Of course, Job lived after the Flood, perhaps around 1800BC.  Therefore, behemoth and Leviathan may have become extinct as have many other animals since then. However, the bottom line has to do with whether your worldview is based upon Evolutionary theory or Biblical revelation. We all look at the same things, ‘dinosaur’ fossils etc., but arrive at different conclusions. Some, called ‘Theistic Evolutionists’, try to marry both views. They get into arguments over carbon dating, the age of the earth etc. I favour Occam’s razor, i.e., Biblical creation. Paul warns, ‘See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ’ (Col. 2:8).