{"id":26579,"date":"2015-10-27T11:04:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T16:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=26579"},"modified":"2020-10-27T11:09:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T16:09:03","slug":"the-bible-and-dinosaurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-and-dinosaurs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible and Dinosaurs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

by Don Martin<\/p>\n

The word dinosaur, as such, is not found in the Bible. We must remember that man has named many of the animals today. The word dinosaur is associated with the Greek “dino,” meaning terrible. There are animals named in the Bible concerning which we have no definite knowledge or identity (see “greyhound,” Proverbs 30: 31, more later). Another thing to remember is that the Bible never attempts to provide all the names Adam assigned to different animals or to describe in detail the host of land and water creatures God created (Genesis 1; 2).<\/p>\n

Man’s Fascination with Dinosaurs.<\/h3>\n

There is an obvious fascination with dinosaurs in America today. Some of this “obsession” perhaps has to do with the relatively new evidence that has been discovered regarding what man calls dinosaurs. Some of the interest, no doubt, is because it is believed such fossil evidence disproves the Bible and, somehow, authenticates organic evolution.<\/p>\n

Bible believers should not deny that large animals that are now extinct lived on the earth, call them dinosaurs if you desire. I would not attempt to preclude even the possibility that there are many interesting animals extant that have not been discovered and classified by scientists.<\/p>\n

The Mistakes of Paleontologists.<\/h3>\n

\"\"Paleontologists (those who study the fossil record) have not been without serious mistakes. For instance, one of the most famous dinosaurs, Brontosaurus (small head and huge body) that has been used to promote dinosaur interest never even existed. Brontosaurus’ picture has been seen in just about every dinosaur book and museum for the last hundred years. The original discovery of Brontosaurus lacked the head. A skull located about four miles away was placed on the skeleton to make it complete. The skull actually belonged to Apatosaurus and the skeleton was a Diplodocus. Some scientists have made complete pictures of dinosaurs based on just a single bone or tooth. From such minuscule evidence, they have imagined great creatures, down to the color of their eyes and skin.<\/p>\n

Why Did Dinosaurs Become Extinct?<\/h3>\n

Some have suggested a great meteorite colliding with the earth killed all the dinosaurs (latest “theory”). In fact, there have been many guesses. The evolutionary scientists, for the most part, will not even consider the possibility that the Genesis flood caused the extinction of such large animals called dinosaurs by man. The Genesis’ flood was the greatest disaster known to the earth. One would expect to find billions of dead creatures buried by water in mud and sand (now hardened to rock). Beloved, that is exactly what scientists find around the world. Thousands of dinosaur bones are found where they were deposited and washed together by violent floodwaters and buried under mud, sand, and rock. Hence, the fossil record that we have today. The ideal elements for fossilization are quick burial, the right amount of water, and suitable materials. Such a global flood as is described in Genesis six through nine would have produced such fossils and in the same manner. Also, such fossilization would have taken a short time, instead of millions of years as indicated by the stratum (normal processes). Dinosaurs probably lived only a few centuries after the flood, but simply did not survive. The postdiluvian world is a very different world and such animals as dinosaurs were probably unable to adapt. Men also have typically played a major role in the extinction of a species.<\/p>\n

The Bible and Dinosaurs.<\/h3>\n

There are biblical references to unknown animals. For instance, a creature called “behemoth” is described in Job 40:15-24. Behemoth (gigantic, Hebrew) is a massive animal. Some have attempted to say the elephant or hippopotamus is meant. However, the elephant and hippopotamus do not have a tail “like a cedar” (Job 40:17). The book of Job is an ancient book, about 4000 years old. Behemoth could have been what scientists call Diplodocus, a huge plant-eater. Another apparently extinct animal is described in Job 41. It is called the Leviathan (Job 41:1). The description fits what scientists call Kronosaurus, one of the greatest animals to ever swim the seas. Leviathan was still around as late as the time of Psalms 104:26. Leviathan is said to have been in the oceans where the ships traveled (the alligator or crocodile does not satisfy the description of Leviathan).<\/p>\n

The fossil record is in harmony with the Bible, not Darwinian evolution. The suddenness of the destruction apparently by huge amounts of water, the often missing consistent layers of stratum, and the absence of transitional forms in the fossil evidence all support the Bible and present serious problems for evolutionists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Don Martin The word dinosaur, as such, is not found in the Bible. We must remember that man has named many of the animals today. The word dinosaur is associated with the Greek “dino,” meaning terrible. There are animals named in the Bible concerning which we have no definite knowledge or identity (see “greyhound,”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[302,261,80],"class_list":["post-26579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-creation","tag-dinosaurs","tag-evolution"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93547,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-dinosaurs-really-exist-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":0},"title":"Did Dinosaurs Really Exist? (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer, Standing On Solid Ground (unpublished) via\u00a0Sentry 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-dinosaurs-really-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":1},"title":"Did dinosaurs really exist? (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did dinosaurs really exist? Answer: The term \"dinosaur\" was ascribed in the 1800s to the fossilized remains of animals that no longer appear to roam the earth. While one term is used, it actually refers to a wide variety of animals. Hence, some difficulty is introduced in trying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-dinosaurs-have-evolved-into-hundreds-of-species-and-then-go-extinct-in-the-few-thousand-years-since-the-flood\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":2},"title":"How could dinosaurs have evolved into hundreds of species and then go extinct in the few thousand years since the flood?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: So you believe that two \"dinosaurs\" were on Noah's ark for over a year, left the ark (where there must have been little to no vegetation), multiplied, evolved into hundreds of different kinds of \"dinosaurs,\" lived for thousands of years, side by side with man, went extinct and became\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-you-believe-everything-you-are-told\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":3},"title":"Should You Believe Everything You Are Told?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Marty Kessler We've been told repeatedly that the last living dinosaur lived millions of years ago. If that's so, I have some questions. First, why are there accounts of human encounters with dragons (\"dinosaur\" was not coined until 1841) from nearly every ancient culture on the planet? England, Italy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-discount-things-like-radiocarbon-dating-and-fossils\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":4},"title":"How can you discount things like radiocarbon dating and fossils?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, what does this mean: \"Faith is the demonstration of your prejudice\"? Second, how do you discount things like radiocarbon dating and fossils? If God created Adam and Eve as the first humans, then where did everyone else come from after them? Was incest acceptable back then because if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-people-believe-a-text-written-by-uneducated-people-when-science-has-proven-the-bible-to-be-completely-false\/","url_meta":{"origin":26579,"position":5},"title":"Why do people believe a text written by uneducated people when science has proven the Bible to be completely false?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are many scientific discoveries and explanations that prove that the teachings of the Bible are completely false. One for example is dinosaurs, which are proven by radiometric dating to be over 60 million years old. How could this be if the world is only 10,000 years old? When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}