Did Dinosaurs Really Exist? (Moyer)
by Doy Moyer, Standing On Solid Ground (unpublished)
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994
Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994
Some, afraid of the repercussions of evolution, really do question the existence of dinosaurs. However, denying the existence of creatures for which there is substantial evidence will not help defend the truth. Such will only make it appear that Bible-believers are completely irrational and unscientific. Again, we have nothing to fear from an honest study of dinosaurs.
Undoubtedly, dinosaurs lived on Earth. The main proof is fossils: bones, teeth, claws, spikes, horns, bony plates, eggs, dung, and footprints. In some rare cases, there are imprints of skin and even stomach contents. The “modern” discovery of the dinosaurs occurred in the spring of 1822, when a fossil collector's wife ventured across a pile of stones that contained large fossil teeth. She showed them to her husband, Dr. Gideon Mantell, which sparked a search for more such fossils. Since these teeth were much like those of the iguana, he named the owner of these large teeth Iguanadon. In the meantime, additional fossils were discovered. By 1841, sufficient of these fossils had been discovered that the British anatomist Richard Owen proposed the name “dinosaur” for this large group of reptile-like creatures. In the United States, various dinosaur fossils have been found. The evidence for their existence is certain. The question is not, “Did the dinosaurs really exist?” The question now is, “When did they exist?” And this is where the controversy is engaged.
Although dinosaurs are not mentioned by the names modern scientists have given them, there are some animals in the Bible that are very possibly creatures we call dinosaurs. Consider two such creatures:
Leviathan
Job 41 gives a description of Leviathan. Some have suggested that this was just a creature like an alligator, but read the description! Even if some figurative language is employed, it describes an extremely large and powerful creature. It may even be that this creature breathed some sort of fire (vs. 19-21). This may sound fanciful, but just consider the living bombardier beetle, which shoots out super-heated gases in its own defense. Could this not have been possible with a larger creature? Whatever this creature was, it was a large and terrifying beast that would not be tamed by man. Could it possibly have been some sort of “dinosaur”? We don't know, but we can't rule out the possibility.
Behemoth
Job 40:15-24 gives a description of a creature called "behemoth." Some have suggested that this creature was a hippopotamus or an elephant. But this seems unlikely, given the fact that Behemoth is said to have had a tail like a cedar (Job 40:17). There is no way that the tails of either a hippopotamus or an elephant could be described like a cedar (even with figurative language). Again, we do not know what kind of animal Behemoth was, but he certainly can fit the description of an extinct dinosaur (such as Brachiosaurus or Diplodocus).
