#dinosaurs1

Are dinosaurs in the Bible?

Yes.

Biblical facts/logic:

Dinosaurs are land animals, so they were created on Day 6 (Genesis 1:24-25) along with man.

Not millions of years old, they lived with people.

God didn’t create these giant creatures as “monsters”. Hollywood portrays dinosaurs as monsters, but when they were originally created they were gentle giants, much like an Elephant. By looking at Elephant bones (if elephants were extinct now) scientists might say their tusks HAD to be used to stab their prey. That isn’t true. So, by looking at dinosaur’s bones it is not fair to say they were these evil monsters who ripped people to shreds.

Dinosaurs were vegetarians, as all animals and Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:29-30). How do we know this? Death was after Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 2:17, Romans 5:12). And people ask, well what about dinosaurs sharp teeth? Refer to the above bullet mentioning elephants and their tusks. Dinosaurs originally were vegetarian, so I can imagine God created their sharp teeth to bite into coconuts and other veggies/fruits that might have required strong, sharp teeth.

Evidence dinosaurs didn’t live millions of years ago?

Yes. Evidence of red blood cells found in Montana from a T-rex. And more recently, scientists found evidence of soft tissue of a t-rex that is still spongy and soft, indicating dinosaurs lived much more recently than millions of years ago (but we ultimately know dinosaurs didn’t live millions of year ago due to the Bible, but this is evidence that is consistent with the Bible).

Why don’t I find the word dinosaur in the Bible?

It is a modern word, invented by Richard Owen, a creationist, in 1841. KJV was translated in 1607, during which the word dinosaur did not exist. HOWEVER, the Hebrew word Tanniyn (translated to dragon) occurs 27 times in the OT. And a dragon is basically a dinosaur, some of the legends of dragons might to distorted stories about dinosaurs.

More specific occurrences of dinosaurs in the Bible:

Job 40:15-19: We are told about a creature called Behemoth. This was an actual creature living at that time. God was using the examples of the strong, large dinosaur, something Job would be familiar with, to compare to His power. Many people think Behemoth might be an elephant or a hippopotamus. But the description provided does not match those animals. A long neck and a tail that moves like a cedar (tree) would very likely fit that of an early sauropod dinosaur.

Many people seem to think that the dinosaurs became extinct due to the flood. However, the dinosaurs were on the Ark.

Can dinosaurs fit on the Ark?

Yes.

How big was the Ark?

1,396,000 cubic feet

13,960 tons

522 R.R. stock cars= freight capacity

***So, smallest possible Ark could be 437 feet x 73 feet x 44 feet tall

Many people have misconceptions of the Ark due to Christian art that features a small boat filled with happy animals. However, the Ark God designed was designed to withhold huge waves and storms from the flood.

Large enough to fit ALL those animals?

Yes. 

It is important to remember that individual variants/breeds of species were not needed. For example, hounds, golden retrievers, poodles. etc. were not required, but simply two dogs. And from those two dogs you can get different variants/breeds of the dog species due to adaption. Same goes for all animals. Same goes for the dinosaurs. Although there are tons of different dinosaurs, there are about 50 Genesis “kinds”, and from those “kinds” you can get all the different variants and breeds of dinosaurs.

So, there were only about 100 dinosaurs aboard the Ark. And although some dinosaurs got very big, most were very small. They were babies. All the animals were babies. It is very logical. If the sole purpose of these animals was to reproduce and repopulate, then God would take the healthiest, youngest ones. Not the older, larger ones that were not as healthy and were not as capable of reproducing.

Let’s add it all up!

*Estimated number of kinds

Mammals: 7,428

Birds: 4,602

Reptiles: 3,704 (including dinosaurs)

TOTAL= About 16,000 animals aboard the Ark along with Noah’s family

Space Available: 450ft x 73ft x 3 decks = 101, 250ft squared

Space Required:

Birds: 2,621ft squared = 2.6 %

Mammals: 29, 132ft squared = 28.7 %

Reptiles: 15, 700ft squared = 15.5 %

TOTAL: 47,453ft squared = 46.8 %

So, we can conclude that the animals (including dinosaurs) took up about half of the Ark. The other half would have been used for sleeping space, food storage, people, and anything else they might have needed. It would appear as though there was some extra space.  

Why did the dinosaurs die off?

There are lots of reasons things die off. It isn’t just the dinosaurs. Lots of things have gone extinct. Could be disease, famine, hunted to extinction. Now, today, we have endangered species program set up. If we had had those in the past, maybe dinosaurs would still be around today. But ultimately, the reason the dinosaurs went extinct and the reasons things die is due to sin. All of creation suffers under sin. So, really, dinosaurs point to the Bible. The reason these magnificent creatures are no longer around is because we rebelled against God and brought death and sin into the world.

Formed: Dinosaurs were formed on Day 6. Some were very big, some were very small. But most importantly they were these gentle, vegetarian creatures designed for humans to enjoy. They lived beside Adam and Eve.

Fallen: Due to Adam and Eve’s sin the world fell. And the dinosaurs became corrupted along with everything else.

Flood: Many of the fossils we find today, probably the bulk of them, were laid down due to the flood. But remember, that there were representative of each “kind” aboard the Ark in order for them to survive as species.

Faded: After the flood, the numbers of dinosaurs were on a steady decline until there are possibly none left. They are now passed down in memory, and maybe some of those memories got exaggerated a little bit. But still express various kinds of possible extinct reptiles.

Found: Dinosaurs were rediscovered in the 1800s. First fossils found.

The whole passage in Job 40 concerning Behemoth certainly suggests a large animal, and no known living animal fits the passage adequately (for various reasons, including the detailed habitat presented).

The most natural interpretation of the key clause Job 40:17a is that the tail of Behemoth is compared to a cedar for its great size, and there is nothing in the context which contradicts this possibility, even though the exact sense of the verb is extremely difficult to determine.

Consequently, the most reasonable interpretation (which also takes the whole passage into account) is that Behemoth was a large animal, now extinct, which had a large tail. Thus some type of extinct dinosaur should still be considered a perfectly reasonable possibility according to our present state of knowledge.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/tj/v15/n2/behemoth

Admittedly, I need to study this more in depth. I tend not to focus on history in the Bible and more on what will help my relationship with God now. But I should do both.