In my last post, “What am I to think? part 1“, we discussed the contrast between what the secular scientific community says about the age of the earth and what God’s Word has to say with sound Biblical evidence.
What’s important to remember is that it takes faith on both sides of the debate. Will you believe what “the world” promotes as truth, with no witnesses, or will you believe what God said, who we know was there?
Hebrews 11: 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
Big Bang or a spoken, intentional command?
The Big Bang Theory is one of disorder, chaos, and chance while Genesis 1 lays out a carefully detailed and well-executed plan that could’ve only been completed by a Master Designer.
Of course, there is more to this ongoing debate that I’d like to address this week. I used to believe that the world was millions of years old and I never bothered to reconcile that belief with Genesis 1. I believed that the dinosaurs existed many millions of years ago, died off, and then somewhere in the distant past Adam and Eve came along.
This belief, of course, contradicts the Biblical timeline of a mere week and it also contradicts this Biblical truth:
Romans 5: 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Remember this?:
Genesis 1: 31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day
If God saw that it was very good, there wouldn’t have been any death, which aligns with Romans 5:12. This is after He created the land animals and humans, all in the sixth day.
Are there dinosaurs in the Bible?
At this point, you may be asking, “What about the dinosaurs? Where do they come into play? Does the Bible mention dinosaurs?
Since they were land animals, they were created on day six.
As for Biblical evidence, when is the last time you read Job? In Chapter 39 When God continues to challenge Job, He asks questions about specific creatures, most of which we would recognize. The first to be mentioned is wild goats(v. 1), followed by wild donkey(v. 5), wild ox (v. 9), ostrich(v. 13), horse(v. 19), and finally the hawk(v. 26). It is obvious that God is quite proud of these creatures and asks probing questions that only He could answer. But God doesn’t stop there, He has a couple more creatures that are given more attention than the previous six:
Job 40: 15 “Take a look at Behemoth,
which I made, just as I made you.
It eats grass like an ox.
16 See its powerful loins
and the muscles of its belly.
17 Its tail is as strong as a cedar.
The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.
18 Its bones are tubes of bronze.
Its limbs are bars of iron.
19 It is a prime example of God’s handiwork,
and only its Creator can threaten it.
What sort of creature does this make you think of? Is there any creature today that has a tail as strong as a cedar?
Then for His grand finale, He describes a creature that is set apart from the others, in fact, all of chapter 41 is used to describe this special beast. I’d love to include it all here, but it is quite lengthy. Here are some highlights:
Consider Leviathan…
Job 41: …12 “I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs
and its enormous strength and graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its hide,
and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?
14 Who could pry open its jaws?
For its teeth are terrible!
…
18 “When it sneezes, it flashes light!
Its eyes are like the red of dawn.
19 Lightning leaps from its mouth;
flames of fire flash out.
20 Smoke streams from its nostrils
like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.
21 Its breath would kindle coals,
for flames shoot from its mouth.
…
31 “Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion.
It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.
32 The water glistens in its wake,
making the sea look white.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal,
no other creature so fearless.
34 Of all the creatures, it is the proudest.
It is the king of beasts.”
I know this sounds like a mythical creature, but in the context of chapters 39-41, does that make any sense? Especially in light of verses 33-34. Just because we haven’t seen this creature doesn’t mean it never existed.
Creature or Myth?
Where did the idea of fire-breathing dragons ever come from anyway? Isn’t it interesting that among all the ordinary creatures of the Chinese Zodiac there lies the dragon? The word dragon, by the way, is found many times in the King James Version when the word dinosaur had not yet been invented (1841).
A dragon is seen on the flag of Wales and dragons are found to be a part of many ancient cultures throughout the world. Are dragons a common myth among many cultures or could it be that they were once creatures that lived among us and are simply extinct?
Want more evidence? there’s much more
I’d like to point out just two significant “findings” for those that want something tangible:
Soft blood tissue was found in a Tyrannosaurus Rex bone. You can choose to believe that the tissue is still soft after 70 million years, or you can choose to believe that the bone is less than 6,000 years old.
Soft blood tissue found in T-Rex bone (MSNBC)
Here is a very short video about this topic:
Men and Dinosaurs (ICR.org)
We are without excuse
Before we close, here are a few passages that explain that man is without excuse, but also willingly ignorant:
Psalm 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.Romans 1: 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
2 Peter 3: 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.
At the heart of it, disbelief is not a matter of scientific findings, but about the heart. Only if I have a heart for God will I believe Him.
What do you believe?
“Dear God, I struggle with disbelief. Although I believe you created the heavens and the earth I find it hard to believe that you will help me with my daily challenges. Please change my heart. Help me to understand and know you better so that I can know you are God. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Photo by Adam Smith on Unsplash