Where Do the Dinosaurs Fit Into the Bible Record?

Dinosaur BonesI would like to answer a question about dinosaurs. So where do the dinosaurs fit into the Bible record?

This is a toughy.

And let me just say that there are some questions that we can conjecture about and offer opinions as regards and based on the evidence available, as I’m going to be doing here, but ultimately some questions won’t be answered definitively until the next life.

And I’m thinking about John 14:6. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am the truth,” has to do with every question finds its answer in Christ. Every question finds its answer in Christ ~ “the truth.” But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be on this side of heaven that it all becomes clear ~ that Jesus makes all answers known or the “complete” answers available. And it’s the case with the dinosaur question.

DINOSAURS EXISTED WITH MAN?

There are those who believe dinosaurs existed, to begin with, from archeological data, etc. (And so it’s more than just the Jurassic Park movies that prove it!)

And with man the dinosaurs existed, some believe (I should add), as there is (and I’m quoting from McDowell and Stewart’s book, “Answers To Tough Questions” here) “evidence for [dinosaurs] existence, and at the same time as man [in] pictographs (“graphs using pictures to give data”) left in Africa and North America, and [also] from fossil evidence of human and dinosaur footprints in the same formation.” (pg 94)

And so dinosaurs existed with man, some believe.

THE BIBLE REMAINS SILENT

But when it comes to the Bible, it is silent about the dinosaurs.

Some think Job’s mentioning “behemoth” (which means “colossal beast” ~ Job 40:15-24; 41:34) was a reference to dinosaurs. And as Job lived a long time ago. The record of the book of Job contains some of the earliest of mankind’s experiences ~ circa the book of Genesis and Abraham’s day. Though it’s really the hippopotamus I found out in the Bible Dictionary that Job is referring to with “behemoth.”

And then there’s the mentioning of “leviathan” by Job. (Job 41:1) Some think “leviathan” was a reference to dinosaurs. Though, again, the Bible Dictionary says that instead it’s the crocodile as it’s used in Job. And “Leviathan” is used in other parts of the Scripture for “sea monster” in the Psalms. (It’s probably the whale in Psalm 104:26.) And “leviathan” is also used for “serpent” in the book of Isaiah 27:1.

But other than these references of “behemoth” and “leviathan” as some would interpret them potentially referring to the dinosaurs, again, the Bible remains silent about the dinosaurs. Silence doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. Silence just means that, in the Holy Spirit’s determination and eyes, and in the grand scheme of things, dinosaurs weren’t deemed important enough to be included in the redemption story.

How many of you understand that the Bible is about God saving man and not so much a record of animals (though there are records of animals contained in the Bible)?

HOW DINOSAURS DISAPPEARED

Which brings us to the whole issue of how dinosaurs became extinct which has been pondered by many and is important to consider in a question about dinosaurs, I was thinking.

It was something catastrophic that did it. (Obviously.) It was something on a magnitude never before imagined that took place that wiped out the dinosaurs. But was it some type of space rock (asteroid) crashing into earth that brought it about? Was that what happened? Or was it something else?

I never really thought about this before, but … but … what about the Flood? Have you ever thought about that? What about the Flood of Noah’s day as being the cause of the dinosaurs disappearing?

It makes sense.

And as I was reading, and when it comes to fossils, and how the dinosaur record is just so perfect in the dinosaur beds where they’ve been discovered, I was reading that, if anything (listen) it would be a catastrophic flood that would preserve the fossil record of dinosaurs so well and in such a prime condition as they’re being found.

Isn’t that something?

(Picture above is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: click here.)

About Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike is making the most of web technologies to encourage disciples. A self-proclaimed “twitterholic,” one twitter follower describes him as the “jogging, blogging, tweeting Pastor.” Visits to Pastor Mike’s blog (A Heart For God) number in the hundreds of thousands. His video blogs have been viewed over a half a million times.