Devilution...Dates, Deluge, and Dinosaurs: A Few Bones to Pick

Do you know that archeologists have discovered 250 different flood legends from 250 different ancient cultures.

· Grand Canyon Mount Ararat, 17,000 feet in the air has produced Marine Fossils.

5. Prior to the flood many believe the world was surrounded with a VAPOR canopy.

Dinosaurs (reptiles never stop growing as long as they live. So they lived long, protected from the harmful affects of radiation. Perhaps this is why they grew so big...maybe they are just old lizards!)

Dinosaurs are used more than almost anything else to indoctrinate children and adults in the idea of millions of years of earth history. However, the Bible gives us a framework for explaining dinosaurs in terms of thousands of years of history, and solving the mystery of when they lived and what happened to them. Some key texts are Genesis 1:24–25 and Job 40:15–24.

According to evolutionists: Dinosaurs first evolved around 235 million years ago—long before man evolved. No human being ever lived with dinosaurs. Their history is recorded in the fossil layers on the earth, which were deposited over millions of years. They were so successful as a group of animals, that they eventually ‘ruled’ the earth. However, around 65 million years ago something happened to change all of this—the dinosaurs disappeared. Most evolutionists believe some sort of cataclysmic event—such as an asteroid impact —killed them. But, many evolutionists claim that some dinosaurs evolved into birds, and thus they are not extinct, but are flying around us today!

According to the Bible: Dinosaurs first existed around 6,000 years ago. God made the dinosaurs, along with the other land animals, on Day Six of the Creation Week (Gen. 1:20–25, 31). Adam and Eve were also made on day six—so dinosaurs lived at the same time as people, not separated by eons of time.

After the Flood (around 4,500 years ago), the remnant of the land animals, including dinosaurs, came off the Ark and lived in the present world, along with people. Because of sin, the judgments of the Curse and the Flood have greatly changed the earth. Post-Flood climatic change, lack of food, disease, and man’s activities caused many types of animals to become extinct. The dinosaurs, like many other creatures, died out. Why the big mystery about dinosaurs?

Why such different views?

‘Paleontology [the study of fossils] is much like politics: passions run high, and its easy to draw very different conclusions from the same set of facts.’

A paleontologist who believes the record in the Bible that claims to be the Word of God, will come to different conclusions from an atheist who rejects the Bible. Wilful denial of God’s Word (2 Peter 3:3–7) lies at the root of many disputes over ‘historical science.’

Evolutionists claim dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. But it is important to realize that, when they dig up a dinosaur bone, it does not have a label attached showing its date! Evolutionists obtain their dates by indirect dating methods that other scientists question, and there is much evidence against the millions of years.

What do the bones say?

There is also physical evidence that dinosaur bones are not millions of years old. Scientists from the University of Montana found T. rex bones that were not totally fossilized. Sections of the bones were like fresh bone and contained what seems to be blood cells and hemoglobin. If these bones really were millions of years old, then the blood cells and hemoglobin would have totally disintegrated. Also, there should not be ‘fresh’ bone if it were really millions of years old. A report by these scientists stated the following:

‘A thin slice of T. rex bone glowed amber beneath the lens of my microscope … the lab filled with murmurs of amazement, for I had focused on something inside the vessels that none of us had ever noticed before: tiny round objects, translucent red with a dark center … Red blood cells? The shape and location suggested them, but blood cells are mostly water and couldn’t possibly have stayed preserved in the 65-million-year old tyrannosaur … The bone sample that had us so excited came from a beautiful, nearly complete specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex unearthed in 1990 … When the team brought the dinosaur into the lab, we noticed that some parts deep inside the long bone of the leg had not completely fossilized … So far, we think that all of this evidence supports the notion that our slices of T. rex could contain preserved heme and hemoglobin fragments. But more work needs to be done before we are confident enough to come right out and say, “Yes, this T. rex has blood compounds left in its tissues.”’

Explorers and natives in Africa have reported sighting dinosaur-like creatures, even recently. These have usually been confined to out-of-the-way places such as lakes deep in the Congo jungles. Descriptions certainly fit those of dinosaurs.

Cave paintings by native Americans seem to depict a dinosaur—scientists accept the mammoth drawings in the cave, so why not the dinosaur drawings? Evolutionary indoctrination that man did not live at the same time as dinosaurs stops most scientists from even considering that the drawings are of dinosaurs.

It certainly would be no embarrassment to a creationist if someone discovered a dinosaur living in a jungle. However, this should embarrass evolutionists.

Villagers digging in China's rich fossil beds have uncovered the preserved remains of a tiny dinosaur in the belly of a mammal, a startling discovery for scientists who have long believed early mammals couldn't possibly attack and eat a dinosaur.

Scientists say the animal's last meal probably is the first proof that mammals hunted small dinosaurs some 130 million years ago. It contradicts conventional evolutionary theory (search) that early mammals were timid, chipmunk-sized creatures that scurried in the looming shadow of the giant reptiles.

In this case, the mammal was about the size of a large opossum (search), and the victim was a 5-inch "parrot dinosaur."

A second mammal fossil found at the same site claims the distinction of being the largest early mammal ever found. It's about the size of a modern dog, a breathtaking 20 times larger than most mammals living in the early Cretaceous Period (search).

Considering the specimens in tandem, scientists suggest the period in which these animals lived may have been much different than is commonly understood as the Age of Dinosaurs — a time dominated by long-necked, 85-ton plant-eaters and the emergence of terrifying theropod hunters with bladelike teeth and sickle claws.

It appears that at least some smaller dinosaurs had to look over their shoulders for snarling, meat-eating mammals claiming the same turf.

"This new evidence gives us a drastically new picture," said paleontologist Meng Jin of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, a co-author of the study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Other scientists who did not work on the bones described the discoveries as "exhilarating."

"This size range really has surprised everybody," said Zhexi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, who digs in the same area of northeast China. "It dispels the conventional wisdom."

The fossils were found more than two years ago in Liaoning province. The specimens were taken to a Beijing lab, where they were cleaned and analyzed by Chinese and American scientists.

The dinosaur-eater belongs to a species called Repenomamus robustus, known previously from skull fragments.

This squat, toothy specimen is more complete; lying on its side, it measures a little less than 2 feet long, and probably weighed about 15 pounds.

On R. robustus' left side and under the ribs in the location of its stomach are the fragmented remains of a very young Psittacosaurus.

This common, fast-moving plant-eater is known as the "parrot dinosaur" because it had a small head with a curved, horny beak. Its arms were much shorter than its legs. Adults grew to be 6 feet long, but the one that was devoured was just 5 inches.

The remains still are recognizable, indicating that R. robustus ripped its prey like a crocodile, but probably had not developed the ability to chew food like more advanced mammals.

"We can still see articulated limb bones," Meng said. "It must have swallowed food in large hunks without being chewed."

The larger, second fossil also is a Repenomamus, but considerably larger. It measures more than 3 feet long and probably weighed more than 30 pounds. Scientists have named it R. giganticus.

It weighed 20 times more than most of the 290 known early mammal species, Meng said. Its head is 50 percent larger than R. robustus and its body was larger than some dinosaurs living in the region.

Being so much larger means that R. giganticus probably behaved differently than most other early mammals, which ate insects and seeds. A larger mammal could roam and hunt aggressively, preying on young dinosaurs.

"Giganticus is in a league by itself," Luo said. "It's the world champion so far for body mass in any Mesozoic mammal."

Originally, scientists believed that mammals remained small because larger dinosaurs were hunting them. Only after dinosaurs went extinct by 65 million years ago did surviving mammals begin to grow larger, they reasoned.

Now, the presence of larger mammals is reversing some of the speculation. The Liaoning region already is famous for its trove of small feathered dinosaurs and early birds.

"Maybe small dinosaurs got larger — or got off the ground — to avoid rapacious mammals," wonders Duke University paleontologist Anne Weil.

Equally mysterious is how these specimens died in the same area at the same time. Neither show evidence of being hunted themselves.

The Yixian rock formation in which their bones were encased was a combination of river sediments and volcanic ash called tuff. The formation also includes the fossils of insects, frogs and other creatures, suggesting a mass die-off.

Why does it matter?

Although dinosaurs are fascinating, some readers may say, ‘Why are dinosaurs such a big deal? Surely there are many more important issues to deal with in today’s world such as: abortion, family breakdown, racism, promiscuity, dishonesty, homosexual behavior, euthanasia, suicide, lawlessness, pornography, and so on. In fact, we should be telling people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not worrying about side issues like dinosaurs!’

Actually the evolutionist teachings on dinosaurs that pervade society do have a great bearing on why many will not listen to the gospel, and thus why the social problems mentioned above abound today.

The implications

If we accept the evolutionists’ teachings on dinosaurs, then we must accept that the Bible’s account of history is false. If the Bible is wrong in this area, then it is not the Word of God and we can ignore everything else it says that we find inconvenient.

If everything made itself through natural processes—without God—then God does not own us and has no right to tell us how to live. In fact, God does not really exist in this way of thinking, so there is no absolute basis for morality. Without God, anything goes—concepts of right and wrong are just a matter of opinion. And without a basis for morality, there is no such thing as sin. And no sin means that there is no judgment to fear from God and there is no need for the Savior, Jesus Christ.

1. Dinosaurs lived along with MAN.

b. There is more and more evidence to support this. Dinosaur bones have been found along with human bones. And fossilized human foot prints have been found inside fossilized dinosaur foot prints.

d. I believe Noah took some dinosaurs on the ark with him. (He only had to take two of each kind [about 110] and he could take young, small dinosaurs so they could have a longer reproducing cycle once the ark landed on dry ground)

e. Dinosaurs became extinct long after the flood. There are some written records that would lead us to believe there were a few dinosaurs still living up until rather recent time. In fact some scientist believe there are still some dinosaurs living.

EX. The Catholic Bible has two extra chapters to the book of Daniel, and in one of those chapters it is recorded that Nebuchadnezzar had a dragon in his court at 600 BC. And it is stated the Daniel killed the dragon. (Could this have been a dinosaur still living they captured)

EX. Alexander the Great, in 300 BC claimed that a dragon more than one hundred feet long stuck its head out of a cave in India and hissed at his soldiers. (Could this have been a dinosaur still living?)

NOTE: Remember the term “Dinosaur” which means “big lizard” was not coined until 1831!

2. The Bible describes dinosaur-like creatures...

Job 40:15-24--behemoth

Job 41:1-34--leviathan

Is there another word for ‘dinosaur’? There are dragon legends from around the world. Many ‘dragon’ descriptions fit the characteristics of specific dinosaurs. Could these actually be accounts of encounters with what we now call dinosaurs?

The Hebrew word commonly translated ‘dragon’ in the KJV (Hebrew: tan, tannin, tannim, tannoth) appears in the Old Testament some 30 times. There are passages in the Bible about ‘dragons’ that lived on the land: ‘he [Nebuchadnezzar] has swallowed me like a dragon’ (Jer. 51:34), ‘the dragons of the wilderness’ (Mal. 1:3). Many biblical creationists believe that in many contexts these could refer to what we now call dinosaurs. Indeed, Strong’s Concordance lists ‘dinosaur’ as one of the meanings of tannin/m.

In Genesis 1:21, the Bible says: ‘And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind … ’ The Hebrew word here for ‘sea monsters’ (‘whales’ in KJV) is the word translated elsewhere as ‘dragon’ (Hebrew tannin). So, in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible God may be describing the great sea dragons (sea-dwelling dinosaur-type animals) He created.

There are other Bible passages about dragons that lived in the sea: ‘the dragons in the waters’ (Psalm 74:13), ‘and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea’ (Isa. 27:1). Though the word ‘dinosaur’ strictly only refers to animals that lived on the land, the sea reptiles and flying reptiles are often grouped with the dinosaurs. The sea-dragons could have included dinosaur-type animals such as the Mosasaurus.

Job 41 describes a great animal that lived in the sea, Leviathan, that even breathed fire. This ‘dragon’ may have been something like the mighty 17 meter long Kronosaurus³², or the 25 m long Liopleurodon.

There is also a mention of a flying serpent in the Bible: the ‘fiery flying serpent’ (Isa. 30:6). This could be a reference to one of the pterodactyls, which are popularly thought of as flying dinosaurs, such as the Pteranodon, Rhamphorhynchus or Ornithocheirus.

Not long after the Flood, God was showing a man called Job how great He was as Creator, by reminding Job of a massive creature He had made:

‘Behold now behemoth, which I made with you; he eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. He moves his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are like tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: his maker brings near his sword.’ (Job 40:15–19)

The phrase ‘chief of the ways of God’ suggests this was the largest land animal God had made. So what kind of animal was ‘behemoth’?

Bible translators, not being sure what this beast was, often transliterated the Hebrew, and thus the word ‘behemoth’. However, in many Bible commentaries, and Bible footnotes, ‘behemoth’ is said to be ‘possibly the hippopotamus or elephant.’ Some Bible versions actually translate ‘behemoth’ this way. Besides the fact that the elephant and hippo were not the largest land animals God made (some of the dinosaurs far eclipsed these), this description does not make sense, since the tail of behemoth is compared to a cedar tree (verse 17).

Now an elephant’s tiny tail (or a hippo’s tail that looks like a flap of skin!) is quite unlike a cedar tree! Clearly the elephant and the hippo could not possibly be ‘behemoth.’ No living creature comes close to this description. However, behemoth is very like Brachiosaurus, one of the large dinosaurs.

Are there other ancient records of dinosaurs?

British historical documents from ancient times to the 1900’s record encounters people had with dragons—and many of the descriptions fit well-known dinosaurs. The emblem on the flag of Wales (United Kingdom) is a dragon.

In the film, The Great Dinosaur Mystery, a number of dragon accounts are presented:

Petroglyphs (drawings carved on rock) of dinosaur-like creatures have also been found.³⁹

Summary: People down through the ages have been very familiar with dragons. The descriptions of these animals fit with what we know about dinosaurs. The Bible mentions such creatures, even ones that lived in the sea and flew in the air. There is a tremendous amount of other historical evidence that such creatures have lived beside people.

a. I believe dinosaurs existed and most of them died in the flood, as did the rest of the animals on earth.

b. But some survived the flood and came off the ark and reproduces and lived with man up until very recent history, when they gradually became extinct for any number of reasons.

I have tried to give you the Bible’s answer to the 3 most often asked questions of creationists....

I really believe the Bible is the inspired word of God... And it is perfectly true and accurate. And science will always verify the Bible, whenever it catches up and has all the information.

The main message of the Bible, is that this creator God, came to earth one day, to be the Savior of the world...His name is Jesus Christ.

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