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A
major feature of the current Jurassic Park-inspired
wave of dinosaur mania is the continual repetition that
dinosaurs existed millions of years ago, dominated the
earth, and died long before there were any people.
This
is opposed to the biblical world view, in which all
things were created ‘very good’, with no death, disharmony,
suffering, bloodshed or animals ripping each other apart
before Adam’s sin brought death and bloodshed into the
world. Exodus 20:11 states that all things were created
in six days (the same days as our ordinary working week,
as the passage makes clear)—which must include dinosaurs.
So if dinosaurs died out millions of years before man,
then obviously Exodus 20:11 would be wrong.
But
this passage forms part of one of the Commandments …
so if dinosaurs mean that six-day creation is a campfire
story, maybe they mean the whole Law was a campfire
story, too? The bottom line is: if the Bible can’t be
trusted on such obvious things as dinosaurs when it
comes to origins, how can it be trusted about the origin
of sin? And, if the origin of sin is a myth (if sin
is somehow our left-over animal ancestry), then the
reason Jesus died is a myth too.
First
Corinthians 15:21–22 tells us, ’For since by [a] man
came death, by [a] man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive’.
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Dinosaurs:
a quick summary
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- Created
on the sixth day, as was man.
- Death
and bloodshed among animals reigned after the Fall.
- Two
of every kind (broader than species) go on to the
Ark.
- Ark
huge; many dinosaurs small; even big dinosaurs start
life from a football-sized egg. Reptiles often keep
growing; maybe teenagers, not great-grandfathers go
on Ark. God in control.
- Most
dinosaur fossils from burial due to the Flood (or
its after-effects).
- After
the Flood, survived for centuries, as shown by dinosaur
cave paintings, dragon stories, historical accounts
(e.g. Alexander the Great). Also Job chapter 40—behemoth.
- Evidence
of recent existence—fresh dinosaur bones, fragile
chemicals found in fossil dinosaur bones—at most thousands,
not millions of years old.
- Many
species dying out all the time. Death is a part of
the curse—extinction is not evolution, and is no great
mystery. Reduced populations, different climate and
ecology after the Flood. Remote possibility that some
are still alive (e.g. in the Congo).
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