What About Dinosaurs and the Bible?

Recently, a fellow Christian asked me, "As a young earth creationist, what do you do with dinosaurs?" Millions of Bible-believing Christians struggle with the idea of dinosaurs because evolutionary propaganda has indoctrinated the public into believing that they died out 65 million years ago. If that is the case then the earth cannot be only about 6,000 years old. This poor man had never been given a satisfactory answer to the question and he actually wondered whether or not dinosaurs were simply invented by atheists to make the Bible appear to be in error. Sadly, this is not the first time I have heard a Christian say this.

The fact of the matter is that dinosaurs did exist. They are not the creations of clever men intent on destroying the Bible's credibility. Paleontologists really do find gigantic bones of these creatures in the ground.[1] While we may not know exactly what they looked like because we do not find the skin, muscles, and other tissues, we can make reasonable assumptions about their appearance. One thing we know for sure is that they existed.

This brings up another question for the young earth creationist (YEC). How can one harmonize the biblical record with the popular claims made about dinosaurs? Surprisingly, it is quite simple. Dinosaurs did not live millions of years ago. They were created on day six when God created the land animals.[2] Two of every kind of dinosaur was on board Noah’s Ark and left the ark at the end of the flood. Since the flood, it is believed that they have gone extinct like so many other creatures.[3] They have lived alongside of man since they were created on the sixth day until they died out.

God's Word tells us that He created everything in a period of six literal days of approximately 24 hours each. We are told in Genesis 1: 21 that "God created great whales" on day five. The Hebrew word translated as "great whales" is tannym and is translated throughout the King James Version of the Bible as "dragons." This word probably refers to the great marine reptiles (commonly but not accurately called dinosaurs) such as the Plesiosaur. The birds of the air were also created on day five. This would have included any flying reptiles, such as pterodactyls. All land animals were created on day six. This would have included the most famous dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, etc. This occurred approximately 6,000 years ago. In fact, they were created on the very same day as man. Man and dinosaurs have lived together throughout time and there is some evidence that some dinosaurs may still be alive in remote regions of the earth. Click here for more information.

The Bible records that two of every kind of land animal and bird, seven of some, boarded Noah's Ark (see Genesis 7). This would have included dinosaurs and flying reptiles. Following the flood, the animals disembarked and spread throughout the world.

Soon after the flood, Job was tested by Satan (read the book of Job for this account). Job is probably the oldest book of the Bible (outside of the first 11 chapters of Genesis). At the end of the book God asks Job a series of questions. He spent a great deal of time talking about two different animals, leviathan and behemoth (see Job 40: 15 - 41: 34). The description of behemoth is of special interest. Many study Bibles will include text notes that say that the behemoth was probably an elephant or a hippopotamus and that leviathan was probably a crocodile (see NIV Study Bible for an example). However, when you read through the descriptions of these animals it becomes clear that God is not talking about an elephant, hippo, or crocodile. God said:

The elephant and hippopotamus do not have cedar-like tails (the elephant's tail is only about four feet long and the hippo's is much smaller). Neither are they "the first of the ways of God." Only one creature that we know of fits this description - the sauropod dinosaur such as Brachiosaurus. The largest of these creatures found so far is the Argentinosaurus. This behemoth was 70 feet tall, 120 feet long, and weighed in at an astonishing 100 tons (about 20 times more than an elephant). Just one vertebra (backbone) was 5 1/2 feet tall. This creature's tail certainly could be compared to a cedar tree and it could accurately be called "the first" or chief (KJV) of the ways of God.

Some commentators would object to this identification because the word translated as "tail" may be possible to translate as "trunk." They argue that if this interpretation were correct then the behemoth would probably have been an elephant. There are two problems with this view. First, it is unlikely that an elephant's trunk could be compared to a cedar tree, either in its size or its movement. The biggest problem is that Job 40: 24 speaks of this creature's nose. An elephant does not have a nose but a sauropod dinosaur does. One might argue that a hippo has a nose but if a hippo is in view here then the word translated as "tail" or "trunk" must refer to the creature's tail since hippo's do not have a trunk. To compare the hippo's tiny tail to a cedar tree is laughable. The only animal known to man that matches this description is the sauropod dinosaur.

Notice that God specifically said that he made behemoth "along with you [man]." Dinosaurs were created on the same day as man according to Genesis 1 and Job 40. Sadly, they are probably extinct now. This is just another tragic consequence of Adam's sin.

The King James Version of the Bible uses the word "dragon" 35 times. In a few cases it is an obvious reference to Satan; however, many times it is referring to a creature of some kind. This is interesting because when the KJV was translated in 1611 the word dinosaur was not invented yet (1841). Yet the descriptions of these dragons match the descriptions of dinosaurs. By the time the modern translations of the Bible came around, people had been indoctrinated to believe that dinosaurs did not live with man and that dragons were just mythical creatures. As a result, this word is now inaccurately translated as jackal or cobra.

We have only scratched the surface on this fascinating subject. An excellent book on this topic was written by Ken Ham and is entitled The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved (to be reviewed soon).

[1] Not all dinosaurs were huge. In fact, many were about the size of chickens and the average size of dinosaurs was about that of a sheep.

[2] The popular flying dinosaur, Pterodactyl, is officially described as a flying reptile and the Plesiosaur is called a marine reptile. As such, these creatures would probably have been created on the fifth day when God made the birds of the air and fish of the sea. The Bible is not limited to our modern taxonomic classification system.

[3] Some people, both creationists and evolutionists, believe some dinosaurs may still be alive in some remote regions of the world. The most popular is the Mokele-Mbembe (allegedly an Apatosaurus) in Central Africa.