Dinosaurs

Due to films, books, and other media, people, especially children, have become fascinated by dinosaurs. Large animals like Rex, take center stage. As such, it is not uncommon for people to ask if dinosaurs are in the Bible. If not, why?

The word "dinosaur" is from Greek deinos, meaning "terrible," and sauros, meaning "lizard". The word "dinosaur" was created by British paleontologist Sir Richard Owen in 1841. So it would be impossible for the word dinosaur to be in the Bible, which was written between 1,500 BC and 90 AD (CE). Does the Bible describe a dinosaur or use a different term? Because dinosaurs were large reptiles that existed long before humans, the Bible does not use a different term for dinosaurs.

So are dinosaurs described in the Bible? Some think so, but there are two problems: 1) As noted, they were gone (extinct) long before mankind. 2) The text cited for describing a dinosaur does not match.

Job 40:17 is the text cited as a description of a dinosaur. The text cited a tail like a cedar tree. The Hebrew word for “tail” in this passage, "zanab", refers to the hindquarters and the tail of an animal. Note how well the rest of Job 40’s description fits the body, behavior, and habitat of the hippopotamus. The hippopotamus has huge hindquarters that it often uses as a weapon to attack other creatures and small boats and canoes that invade its personal space. The theme of Job 39–42 concerns the taming of animals. God tells Job and his friends that they have successfully tamed all the nephesh (soulish) animals: Manamal, Birds, and crocodiles. But some of these animals are much more difficult to tame than others. The most difficult to tame are the leviathan (crocodile) and the behemoth (hippopotamus). Dinosaurs are not among the nephesh animals identified in the Bible. See Nephesh life page

God’s primary point in Job 40 is that only a higher being (Humans) can tame a nephesh animal and that some are more difficult to tame than others. Likewise, it takes a higher Being (God) to “tame” a proud human heart, and some are more difficult to tame than others. Job 40 link

The Bible doesn't directly mention dinosaurs. The Bible is inspired for all generations. Hence, it avoids mentioning subject matter only people living in the past 2 centuries would have any knowledge about. Therefore, not only is the Bible silent about dinosaurs, it also is silent about neutrinos, galaxies, Neanderthals, and molecules. Where dinosaurs fit in the six-day creation account of Genesis 1 is on creation day 5 between God creating the first animals at the beginning of creation day 5 and God creating the first birds and mammals at the end of creation day 5.

Why would God make dinosaurs, when no human ever saw one? Why would God have dinosaurs live on Earth for millions of years?

Dinosaurs were placed on Earth for Mankind's future benefit. Almost all the oil and natural gas come from the millions of years of dinosaurs living and dying. Petroleum oil and natural gas are fossil fuels formed over millions of years from the buried remains of prehistoric plants and animals, such as dinosaurs. Fossil fuels are rich in carbon and hydrogen, which gives them a high energy density (lots of power in a small space). People extract fossil fuels through drilling and burn them to generate electricity, fuel transportation, and heat. It took millions of years to generate enough energy to sustain a high-tech human civilization. Dinosaurs thrived on Earth from 252 million years ago until they died out 66 million years ago. The 186 million years of dinosaurs on Earth were at a time when the Earth had vast low-level seas and a warm climate, perfect for cold-blooded dinosaurs. God loves dinosaurs so much (He saw them, and it was very good) that He made three distinct sets of dinosaurs:

Triassic Period (Approx. 252–201 million years ago): with its famous flying Dino, Pterosaurs and horny-beaked dicynodonts.

All the Triassic dinosaurs died out due to widespread volcanic activity and were replaced by all-new dinosaurs!

Jurassic Period (Approx. 201–145 million years ago): Had a mini T. Rex called Ceratosaurus, massive sauropods, and armored dinosaurs, such as Stegosaurus.

There was a slow die-off of Jurassic dinosaurs, which were replaced by Cretaceous dinosaurs.

Cretaceous Period (Approx. 145–66 million years ago): with its famous Tyrannosaurus rex (Trex) and Triceratops. A mass extinction event killed all dinosaurs.

There is absolutely no reason to think that the radiometric dating techniques used to determine the ages of geological formations and fossils are unreliable.

Some dinosaurs, especially the large ones, lived in ancient vast shallow seas. Some dinosaurs lived in ancient primeval forests. Some dinosaurs lived in ancient savannas. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for 165 million years before going extinct. Dinosaurs were reptiles; the closest relatives today are monitor lizards, crocodiles, and alligators.

We have ONLY dinosaur fossils. A fossil is stone that looks like a bone, and sometimes a soft part of a plant or animal. Not all bones become fossils; the plant or animal must be quickly buried in mud or other runoff rich in mineralized water. Over millions of years, the mineralized water replaces the life form, cell by cell. As the mineralized water dries out, a stone in the shape of the life form remains. NO human fossils have ever been found, as humans have NOT been on Earth for millions of years.

How did the dinosaurs end? A massive asteroid impact in modern-day Mexico resulted in the extinction of all dinosaurs. On the Yucatan Peninsula, near modern-day Chicxulub Puerto, just north of Cancun, a large asteroid impact created a 110-mile-wide crater. Scientists identified the impact site by debris rocks both on the Yucatan Peninsula, including impact melt spherules, shocked quartz, and tektites found in geological layers. This arc of rocks provided evidence of the ~66 million-year-old Chicxulub asteroid impact in Mexico. The arc of rock is used to form a circle; from the circle, the center of the circle was found, which is the Yucatán Peninsula, on the beach. The impact triggered a 1.5-km-high (0.93-mile) initial wave, followed by 50–150-meter-high tsunamis. It launched debris worldwide. As countless tiny ballistic rocks fell back to Earth, meteors filled the sky, and the atmosphere became red-hot. Fires erupted over the Earth's surface, and the global inferno was soon followed by persistent darkness.

What about dinosaur footprints alongside human footprints?

Carl Baugh popularized the idea that human footprints exist alongside dinosaur ones at the Paluxy Riverbed near Glen Rose, Texas. However, the "human" prints are huge at about 2 feet long. In addition, they are heavily filled in, so the prints are unclear. However, some of the prints show three separate areas, suggesting that they came from a three-toed dinosaur. We don't see any biblical evidence of three-toed people, so we know that the "human" prints are really just the prints of smaller dinosaurs. In fact, ICR president John Morris admitted in 1986 that the Paluxy footprints are probably not human but are eroded dinosaur footprints.

What about dinosaurs on ancient pottery?

Claims that ancient pottery or artifacts depict true dinosaurs are either misidentified mythological creatures, artistic exaggerations, or modern hoaxes. Mythical dragon-like sea serpent (ketos) and called Dinos by YEC. Mexico and Peruvian dinosaurs are fakes. "Dinos" in Greek is type of pot, not dinosaurs.

What about cave drawings showing dinosaurs?

We haven't seen any caveman drawings that suggest they saw dinosaurs. Some of the better drawings allow us to identify now-extinct large mammals. However, when one is trying to interpret caveman art, they could be just about anything, including rockets or Twinkies.

Did Noah take Dinosaurs on the ark?

No. There weren't any dinosaurs to take along at that point, since they had died 66 million years ago. In fact, since the flood was local in extent, Noah did not take polar bears, penguins, kangaroos, giraffes, or many other animals that humans had not seen at that time. The Bible teaches that the flood was in Mesopotamia. See Flood Page

Can Dinosaurs Be Resurrected from Extinction? No. DNA cannot survive that long. Jurassic Park is great entertainment, but not science. Usable DNA has a half-life of only 521 years. Short DNA fragments can survive long. (DNA alf-life meaning half of the nucleotide bonds in a sample break down every 521 years). The oldest animal DNA genome is a 1.2-million-year-old mammoth tooth found in Siberian permafrost (cold helped it last longer).

Why did God create dinosaurs? 1) God likes big animals 2) To increase the global availability of nutrients and to permit a greater diversity of life. 3) Large-bodied herbivores play a role in dispersing vital nutrients throughout Earth’s ecosystems. They played a very important role in the distribution of nutrients by large herbivores. 4) Even individuals who feel no particular fondness for reptiles describe an almost irresistible fascination with dinosaurs. These large (and a small) reptile species dominated Earth’s land and sea life from around 250 million to 65 million years ago. Their creation probably belongs to the fifth creation day in Genesis 1.

Does Dinosaur "Soft" Tissue Challenge Evolutionary Timescales? No. Radiometric dating methods are reliable. It is scientifically conceivable that soft-tissue remnants could survive for upwards of hundreds of millions of years. The soft tissues are somewhat fossilized. The person, Dr. Mary Schweitzer, who found the 68-million tissue keeps saying, "Stop saying these are recent soft-tissues". After dissolving the hard internal fossil minerals with a mild acid solution, Dr. Schweitzer found stretchy tissue inside an ancient fossil bone. It took millions of years for the large T. rex bone to become a complete fossil.

Were Dinosaurs Reptiles? Yes. Some scientists have speculated that a few of the dinosaur species were warm-blooded and that some dinosaurs were feathered. These claims are not scientifically validated. Scientists do know that dinosaurs were not mammals. Dinosaurs, like reptiles today, laid eggs. Mammals have placentas and give live birth. The sheer size of the larger dinosaur land-dwellers means they are cool-blooded reptiles. Most plant-eating dinosaurs had small mouths, which means they could not have consumed enough food to maintain high blood temperatures. The claim that some dinosaurs had feathers is not there. Some dinosaurs had a dorsal crest like an iguana's; these are being called feathers. The dorsal crest is also called spines or tubercles. The feather evidence claimed is just not there or true.

Are Birds Dinosaurs? Some, not all, scientists recently claim that birds are dinosaurs. This claim is based on the fact that Birds have beaks and some dinosaurs have beaks (but a platypus has a beak and is a mammal; we do not classify animals by beaks). Some claim that some dinosaurs have bird hips; if you look at this evidence, it is not true. Birds are warm-blooded; dinosaurs are cold-blooded reptiles. Birds have 4-chambered hearts, like mammals; dinosaurs have two or three 4-chambered hearts. Mammals have three tiny bones in the middle ear. Birds have only one middle ear bone; dinosaurs have no ear bones. Birds have significantly more neurons and higher cognitive capacity than reptiles of a similar body size; birds process information like mammals do. A group of secular scientists, called BAND scientists, have published papers and talked about this topic, noting why Birds are not Dinosaurs. BAND is for Birds are not Dinosaurs.

Does the sudden Appearance of Jurassic Dinosaurs show Creative work or Evolution? Despite the destruction caused by the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event, the mass speciation that followed is surprisingly quick and robust. Within 10,000 years or less, large theropod dinosaurs appeared, and in less than 100,000 years dinosaur species diversity attained a stable maximum. Especially astounding is not just the body size and complexity of the new species but the fact that they appeared amid hostile environmental conditions.

Are Bible Dragons talking about Dinosaurs?

Tannin (תַּנִּין): The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament is translated as "dragon," but also "serpent," or "jackal" or "monster," or "great sea creature" or "sea serpent." The translator looks at the context to choose the best English word. Tannin (Tan) /dragons primarily serve as powerful symbols of chaos, spiritual evil, rebellious nations, and the devil rather than literal fire-breathing mythical beasts or dinosaurs. In wasteland imagery, Bible dragons served as poetic symbols of divine judgment and utter desolation. (In the Ancient Near East the jackal was known for haunting burial grounds and devastated settlements [symbol of pity and desolation]) Note: Biblical Hebrew has a limited vocabulary, with fewer words compared to other languages, such as English, which is why Tannin has many meanings.

Also see Age of Earth page

Ref - Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzrbTjQ1pWw Dino and Bible Video

(Coal is formed over millions of years from dead plant matter in swamps that is buried, compacted, and heated under layers)

Some petroleum comes from prehistoric plankton, algae, and microscopic organisms that inhabited ancient seas for millions of years, where dinosaurs also lived.

Dino fossils are made through a long process of fossilization (usually permineralization) where a dinosaur dies, is rapidly buried by sediment (mud, sand, volcanic ash) near water, and its soft tissues decay. Minerals in groundwater seep into the bones, replacing organic material over millions of years to turn them into solid rock. This is why there are NO human fossils only bones. All fossilized creatures appear suddenly and fully formed in the rock record, with no clear history of evolutionary transitions.

https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/fossils/how-do-fossils-form/

https://www.nsf.gov/science-matters/international-team-finds-oldest-known-dinosaur-fossil-africa

https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/dinosaurs-and-fossils/what-is-the-earliest-known-dinosaur

https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/nanotyrannus-confirmed/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/august/dinosaur-killing-chicxulub-asteroid-came-from-edge-solar-system.html

https://pmel.noaa.gov/news-story/first-global-tsunami-simulation-chicxulub-asteroid-impact-66-million-years-ago

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• “Does Dinosaur Tissue Challenge Evolutionary Timescales? A Response to Kevin Anderson, Part 2” by Fazale Rana (article)

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