What happened to the dinosaurs
The problem is not with dinosaurs, those real creatures whose bones have been
found over most of the world. It is with the worldview in which dinosaurs
are invariably presented, even to the very young.
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’.
Dinosaurs: a quick summary
1.
Created on the sixth day, as was man.
2. Death and bloodshed among animals reigned after the Fall.
3. Two of every kind (broader than species) go on to the Ark.
4. 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.
5. Most dinosaur fossils from burial due to the Flood (or its after-effects).
6. 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.
7. Evidence of recent existence—fresh dinosaur bones, fragile chemicals
found in fossil dinosaur bones—at most thousands, not millions
of years old.
8. 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).
