Those Amazing Dinosaurs
Over 35 years of ministry, I have found many Christians have a problem with dinosaurs.
Are dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible, or do they represent evil? Is it not true that dinosaurs are old and walked on earth at least 65 million years ago, long before humans came into existence? Did God create dinosaurs just for children? These are typical questions we have addressed in our classes at our museum, ministry outreaches, seminars, website, and articles.
Dinosaurs are popular today and received a gigantic push with the Jurassic Park block-busting movie series. In 1993 the first movie was introduced with the adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel, Jurassic Park. It was directed by Spielberg, who opened the eyes of many to these amazing creatures. The film crossed generational lines bringing together a worldwide audience to witness these extinct creatures come alive. We experience that these giant creatures were not slow and clumsy but were agile and fast no matter their size. After all, the 4 -story Brachiosaurus was standing on its hind legs finding leaves and branches in gigantic trees to eat. Modern dinosaur experts took a revolutionary pathway with their new ideas of how these creatures lived and walked the earth. Everything was changing in dinosaur paleontology, and we had the fortune to see it cinematically portrayed in the movie theater. Spielberg made us jump out of our seats as we watched raptors leap through the ceiling with their formidable hind legs and retractable claws. These elusive raptors were designed to be excellent hunters armed with 70 notched teeth, standing 5 feet tall, and facing the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex (T.rex) 40 feet long and 12 feet tall, center stage. The T. rex name means “King Tyrant Lizard” who was known for his large mouth measuring 5 feet long with 50 different size teeth, some measuring as large as a foot long, all with serrations like the ones seen on a blade of a steak knife. We must conclude that dinosaurs are unique creatures with many different forms, shapes, colors, and sizes that demonstrate a high degree of creativity and imagination.
Dinosaurs are considered the giants of the land. For example, no animal can match the size of the Giraffatiton found in Tanzania, East Africa, which is like North America’s Brachiosaurus but has a more oversized neck which gives testimony of a gentle giant. The Giraffatiton is considered the largest dinosaur, weighing 31 to 52 short tons, with length from the top of its head to the end, its tail measuring 74 feet, and standing at least as tall as a 4-5 story building. It is believed that this kind of dinosaur had the ability to stand on its hind legs. The Bible addresses these amazing giants when it describes the behemoth coexisting with humans in Job 40, beginning in verse 14,
“Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox.” It introduces a creature that is an herbivore, a plant-eating creature, as he describes, “eats grass like an ox.”
Large animals, like giraffes, eat 75 -165 pounds of plant material daily, which, compared to the giant sauropods depending on the size, would have easily required twice the amount of food than a giraffe. The description of this enormous creature that God created continues in verses 15 -19 indicating the creature had a massive muscular abdomen and thighs with a colossal tail measuring the size of a cedar tree. It looks like the behemoth describes a giant sauropod, especially in verse 40:19, “He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword.” God is drawing attention to the behemoth as He demonstrates his almighty power as our divine Creator, as this creature stands out as “the first of the ways of God.” In conclusion, no other creature that exists or has existed on earth can match the biblical description of a behemoth except a dinosaur.
Unfortunately, the popularity of dinosaurs, particularly with children in games, toys, and popular TV programs is a way to bring the evolutionary concepts of dinosaurs to young children. They use an evolutionary background that dinosaurs existed in the past millions of years ago, and man could not coexist with them. This conflicts with the Bible in the Genesis account in which God created all the animals on the 5th and 6th day of Creation. It also conflicts with the Job account that states the behemoth was created at the same time as man, as indicated in Job 40:15, “which I made along with you.” The dinosaurs, that were created to give God glory and honor, are now becoming evolutionary symbols to allow false teachings of evolution into our homes and schools. They defy the Word of God and continue this kind of brainwashing throughout their formal education, bringing them further away from the truth of their Creator and His Word.
