What About Dinosaurs?

 by Tim Chaffey

     It is commonly taught and believed that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.  This idea is promoted by Hollywood, the news media, television shows, cartoons, schools, and even many churches.  These creatures are said to have ruled the earth for more than 100 million years.   Why did they die off?  Well, the most popular view is that a giant meteorite struck the Yucatan Peninsula causing a massive worldwide catastrophe.  While this view is popular, there is no general consensus among the scientific community.  In fact, it seems the only view that has not been promoted is that a massive flood wiped out the dinosaurs.  While on a field trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum I took this picture which described some of the popular “extinction theories.”  You may want to enlarge the photo to see these theories (click on the picture for a higher quality image).  If you cannot read them, here is a summary of what this display claims: “Why did this great extinction occur?  Perhaps…small mammals ate all the eggs, dinosaur eggs lost their viability, a reversal in the earth’s magnetic field, meteorite, small asteroid, a ‘normal event’, volcanic activity, or a chemical imbalance in the oceans.”  In other words, “We really do not know what happened.”

     Why is it that they only view they won't accept is a worldwide flood when this is the most obvious answer to the problem?  The truth is that they have an extremely strong bias against the biblical record and accepting a worldwide flood would provide support for the Bible.  Nevertheless, the flood would explain the mass extinction (with the exception of those on the ark and their offspring afterwards).  Those that survived into the new world (after the flood) may have found life much more difficult than before due to climate changes, food shortages, and possibly the threat of being hunted by man.  From the YEC perspective, dinosaurs survived the flood on the ark and went extinct some time after the flood.

     So is there any evidence suggesting that dinosaurs did not live millions of years ago and instead were created on the sixth day along with man?  Actually, there is abundant evidence (see What About Dinosaurs and the Bible for the biblical support).  First, there are ancient pictographs (cave and wall paintings) of dinosaurs found throughout the world.  How could ancient man without the benefit of the giant fossils in our museums know what these creatures looked like unless they saw them?  The crypt of Bishop Richard Bell (d. 1496) in England’s Carlisle Cathedral is surrounded by engravings of dinosaurs.[1] 

     Second, numerous cultures have dragon legends.  The creatures described as dragons bear a striking resemblance to dinosaurs.  The infamous Grendel of the Beowulf epic may well have been the most popular of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Beowulf succeeded in killing this beast by ripping of one of its small arms.  This view was put forth by Bill Cooper in his excellent book entitled After the Flood.  Please take the time to read this fascinating chapter from his book.

     Third, the Bible vividly describes two of these creatures in the book of Job.  It calls them behemoth and leviathan.  The description of behemoth sounds very much like a sauropod dinosaur (long neck and tail like Brachiosaurus).  Even though many study Bibles designate behemoth as an elephant or hippopotamus, the description just does not fit.  The leviathan seems to be a marine reptile of some sort.  Also, the King James Version of the Bible uses the word “dragon” 35 times.  In a few cases, it is referring to Satan but in the majority of cases, it is referring to certain creatures.  Modern translators (having been heavily influenced by evolutionary beliefs) have translated the Hebrew word tanniym as jackal, cobra, or sea monster.  Yet the descriptions match those of dinosaurs.

     Finally, recent dinosaur discoveries have been devastating to the idea of millions of years.  Dr. Mary Schweitzer, popular for her find of red blood cells in a T-Rex bone several years ago, recently discovered soft tissue inside of a T-Rex leg bone.  The fact that this bone was not completely fossilized argues strongly against it being 70 million years old (see Answers in Genesis' articles and responses to critics on this issue).  Also, Carbon 14 dating, long thought to be an enemy of YEC, has actually provided strong support for dinosaurs existing recently.  Since the half-life of radioactive C-14 is only 5,730 years, it can only be used to provide dates up to 100,000 years.  Incidentally, all dinosaur bones that have ever been dated by C-14 have revealed detectable amounts of C-14.  This demonstrates that the bones are not even older than 100,000 years. 

(1/31/05)

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