did dinosaurs share the earth with humans?

Question

I've read that some religious types recon humans and dinos walked side-by-side. Is this true, if so what evidence is there. And if early man could read and write (i.e. the Bible), is human and dinosaur co-inhabitation documented, in pictures or manuscripts? And why did we forget about them?

And why are there still monkeys? are they mime artists?

Answer 1

There are two main view within the Christian community: the "young earth" view is that the earth, and indeed, the Universe itself, is some six to ten thousand years old; the "old earth" view is that the universe is about 13.7 billion years old, and the earth some 4.5 billion years old, basically accepting the settled opinion of modern science.

Young earth creationists primarily use aframework of geneaologies from the Old Testament to get their six thousand years of earth history, tracing back names and adding up years, until they arrive at their beginning. They then are left with a lot of history to condense, and sometimes suggest that Man was co-existent with dinosaurs, The hard evidence they offer (mostly some debatable footprint fossils from mudbanks in Texas) is suspect, at best. Much of their explanatory mechanism is Catastrophism, namely Noah's flood, which is used to explain the appearance of geologic features that seem very old, and the deposition of the majority of fossil remains over a very short period.

Old earth creationists, on the other hand, see those same geneaologies as edited (the names listed describe significant people in a family line, not every individual), so the geneaologies cannot be used to calculate the age of humanity. They agree with major scientific standings such as Big Bang and an old Universe, the appearance of modern humans in the 70-140 thousand year range; and a whole life history on Earth, including dinosaurs who died out, long before Adam came on the scene. Old earth creationists see other hominids not as ancestors to Human Beings, but as separate primate species which died out before the advent of humans (Neanderthals seem to have still been around at the dawn of humanity, but their DNA shows that they couldn't posssibly be related to humans).

To the idea that "early man" could read and write: no "early Man" was literate (the Creationist will say that "early man" is not Man per se, but those other hominid species that did not have the capacities true humans have); Modern Man comes on the scene quckly and brings a "Cultural Explosion" that includes writing, which we see as far back as about six thousand years ago. Whether writing is actually older than that, we don't know. The books of the Old Testament fall safely into that range, so there is no problem in thinking that these books were penned a long time ago, but by Modern Man, not Early Man.

I'm not sure what you mean by "forget about them," but it is true that much ancient history simply was not recorded, or the records did not survive. One doesn't need to go back very far in history before facts begin to get murky, and we're left with reconstructing what likely happened from small fragmentary evidence. Often we're wrong.

Why are there still monkeys? The Creationist has a simple answer: because macro-evolution (lizard-to-bird or monkey-to-Man stuff) does not exist, and those animals are just part of the created order. I'm not sure what the Evolutionist's explanation for leaving lower orders of life just as they are while more complicated forms continued to evolve.

Monkeys don't make good mime artists; they are better suited to standing beside the hand-organ with their little tin cups.

Answer 2

The Genesis Account and Dinosaurs

While the radioactive dating method is innovative, it is still based on speculation and assumption. In contrast, the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.

Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.—Genesis 1:20-24.

When the dinosaurs had fulfilled their purpose, God ended their life. But the Bible is silent on how he did that or when. We can be sure that dinosaurs were created by Jehovah for a purpose, even if we do not fully understand that purpose at this time. They were no mistake, no product of evolution. That they suddenly appear in the fossil record unconnected to any fossil ancestors, and also disappear without leaving connecting fossil links, is evidence against the view that such animals gradually evolved over millions of years of time. Thus, the fossil record does not support the evolution theory. Instead, it harmonizes with the Bible’s view of creative acts of God.

When Did They Live?

Dinosaurs played a dominant role in life on earth during their age. But then they came to an end. The rock layers containing human fossils consistently occur above those layers containing dinosaur fossils. Because of this, scientists generally conclude that humans came on the earthly scene later.

In this regard the book Palaeontology, by James Scott, states: “Even the earliest species of Homo sapiens (man) lived long after the disappearance of the dinosaurs . . . After tilting (through earth movement) has been allowed for, rocks containing fossil men consistently occur above those preserving the bones of the great dinosaur reptiles and it follows that the latter belong to an earlier age than the human remains.”

Answer 3

Dinosaurs played a dominant role in life on earth during their age. But then they came to an end. The rock layers containing human fossils consistently occur above those layers containing dinosaur fossils. Because of this, scientists generally conclude that humans came on the earthly scene later. The book A Vanished World: The Dinosaurs of Western Canada states that “all of the 11 major kinds of dinosaurs . . . ceased to exist in the western interior at about the same time.” This, and the fact that human bones have not been found with dinosaur bones, is why most scientists conclude that the Age of Dinosaurs ended before humans came on the scene.

However, it should be noted that there are some who say that dinosaur bones and human bones are not found together because dinosaurs did not live in areas of human habitation. Such differing views demonstrate that the fossil record does not yield its secrets so easily and that no one on earth today really knows all the answers.

While the radioactive dating method is innovative, it is still based on speculation and assumption. In contrast, the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.

Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.—Genesis 1:20-24.

When the dinosaurs had fulfilled their purpose, God ended their life. But the Bible is silent on how he did that or when. We can be sure that dinosaurs were created by Jehovah for a purpose, even if we do not fully understand that purpose at this time. They were no mistake, no product of evolution. That they suddenly appear in the fossil record unconnected to any fossil ancestors, and also disappear without leaving connecting fossil links, is evidence against the view that such animals gradually evolved over millions of years of time. Thus, the fossil record does not support the evolution theory. Instead, it harmonizes with the Bible’s view of creative acts of God.

According to the Genesis account, animals were created during the fifth and sixth creative periods or ‘days.’ If the Hebrew expression translated “great sea monsters” [Hebrew, tan·ni·nim´] includes dinosaurs, which often inhabited swampy, watery areas, this would mean that dinosaurs were created on the fifth “day.” (Gen. 1:21) We do not know whether they continued to exist until man was created (toward the close of the sixth “day”). At the very latest it seems likely that they must have disappeared off the earth at the time of the flood of Noah’s day. Dinosaurs were reptiles, and some kinds of dinosaurs bear strong resemblance structurally and otherwise to lizards (sauros is, in fact, the Greek word for “lizard”; saura in Leviticus 11:29, LXX). Not all types of dinosaurs were of such gigantic size. Hence, even if they had survived till the Flood, this would not have required taking pairs of the mammoth varieties into the ark. Other smaller members of the particular family or “kind” to which these belonged would have sufficed to fulfill the divine command.—Gen. 6:19, 20; 7:14.

Some of the older translations of the Bible at times use the word “dragons” to translate the Hebrew tan·ni·nim´ (“sea monsters,” NW). (Ps. 74:13; 148:7; Isa. 27:1, Authorized Version) The term “dragon” (Greek, dra´kon) is found in the Christian Greek Scriptures. It has been suggested as possible that, rather than having a purely mythical source, this expression may originally have been applied to enormous creatures such as the dinosaurs, taking on mythical tones only after these mammoth creatures had long disappeared. Interestingly, many of the mythical depictions of the “dragon” strongly resemble certain types within the family of huge reptilian creatures that includes the dinosaur.

The fossil record of the dinosaurs supports not evolution but creation.

Answer 4

No, there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that dinosaurs (as we think of them) died out long before mammals ever evolved into the ape-like animals which were the ancestors of monkeys, apes and humans.

It is possible, though, that birds evolved from the reptiles classed as dinosaurs, so, in a sense, dinosaur tastes just like chicken.

Answer 5

No, they did not! There is no evidence whatsoever of that. On the contrary, all available evidence indicates that dinosaurs lived millions of years before humans.

Why wouldn't there still be monkeys?

Answer 6

No. Dinosaurs came before humans.

Answer 7

Dinosaurs shared it with humans....humans like indians is what I think....i believe a lot of things were documented and have been destroyed over time....

Answer 8

No, humans & dinosaurs did not cohabitate the earth.
You only find that in the movies.

Answer 9

No. Some people say yes. But it has been proved scientifically no. I am not sure you may want to ask the ? in the science section they might help more

Answer 10

To paraphrase comedian Lewis Black-

"These people think the Flintstone is good research material!"