{"id":93547,"date":"2026-01-28T12:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T18:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=93547"},"modified":"2026-02-14T17:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T23:15:27","slug":"did-dinosaurs-really-exist-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-dinosaurs-really-exist-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Dinosaurs Really Exist? (Moyer)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Doy Moyer, Standing On Solid Ground<\/em> (unpublished)
\nvia\u00a0Sentry Magazine,<\/em> Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994
\nSentry Magazine<\/em>, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

Leviathan<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Behemoth<\/h2>\n

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).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 will not help defend the…<\/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":[261],"class_list":["post-93547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-dinosaurs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-dinosaurs-really-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":93547,"position":0},"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":26579,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-and-dinosaurs\/","url_meta":{"origin":93547,"position":1},"title":"The Bible and Dinosaurs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Brontosaurus-300x213.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":87269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-you-believe-everything-you-are-told\/","url_meta":{"origin":93547,"position":2},"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":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":93547,"position":3},"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":35283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-discount-things-like-radiocarbon-dating-and-fossils\/","url_meta":{"origin":93547,"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":51212,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-evolutionists-so-ignorant\/","url_meta":{"origin":93547,"position":5},"title":"Why are evolutionists so ignorant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Jeffrey, I hope all is well! Thanks for always using scriptures! I do have a question: Why are evolutionists so ignorant? I was reading about explanations of how 80 whale fossils ended up in the desert and also how the world's largest shark went extinct due to \"an\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\/93547","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=93547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}