What Ever Happened to the Dinosaurs?
This is an easy one. They died!
Actually, this question is a very good one. In school we are told that “millions and millions of years ago” all the dinosaurs died out. We are told that they lived long before man first entered the equation. And yet, the Bible tells a far different story. The Bible tells us that God created all the animals during the six days of the creation week. Therefore, we have a problem here. These two views are diametrically opposed. Only one can be right.
What Does the Evidence Suggest?
The fossil record is very plain. The picture it paints is clear. We find millions of dead things, buried in rock layers laid down by water, all over the earth.
The question is: Did man and dinosaurs live contemporaneously? Let us assume first that they did not.
Let us say that the dinosaurs died out millions of years before man came around. If that is so then certainly also the forces of nature which dictate the survival of the fittest were in affect for all those millions of years from the dawn of time on through to the arrival of man and forward further to the very present. The cold hard facts of nature, with all the death and destruction associated with them have been in operation from the very beginning.
Now with this background, let us see what happens to our interpretation of scripture:
Gen 1:1
In the beginning… “Well, not really the beginning. Actually there were billions of years in there- but hey, who’s counting?”-
Gen 2:19
And Adam named all the animals.. “You know what? He didn’t really mean ‘ALL’ the animals. You see, God is just speaking poetically here.”
Gen 2:17, 1 Cor 15:21
And death came in… “This is not what you think. Really, there had been death and destruction going on for millions of years by the time Adam and Eve came around. God doesn’t need to be bogged down with minor details though. Just continue reading and pretend that you didn’t see this.
Gen 6:19
And God brought all the animals… “That is to say, all the animals that haven’t become extinct millions of years before this. I know it sounds confusing. That’s the way God is sometimes. We just have to accept it.
Isa 11:6, Isa 65:25
And all things will be like they once were.. “Yep. Right back to that glorious beginning. With all its death destruction and blind chance of course.”
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word… “Well, you know as well as I do how arbitrary the phrase ‘In the beginning is! This is obviously nothing more than Oriental poetry.
John 14:6
I am the way the truth and the life… “Actually he is ‘A’ way, ‘A’ truth, and ‘A’ life. …
Now, let’s assume that man and dinosaurs did live at the same time. Let’s examine the scriptures again:
Gen 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. “No Problem!”
Gen 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. “No Problem!
Gen 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die..1 Cor 15:21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. “No Problem!
Gen 6:19
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female…. “No Problem!
Isa 11:6
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them…Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD….. “No Problem!
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….. “No Problem!.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me….”Amen!”
Just think about it. Wouldn’t it make much more sense if the Bible were taken literally?
James DiPasquale