Bible Question?

Question

Religion teaches god created adam and eve and they populated the world, if this is the case then why is there no mention of dinosaurs in the bible? Or what is the religous explaination of dinosaurs or pre historic things that have been discovered?

Answer 1

The topic of dinosaurs in the Bible is part of a larger ongoing debate within the Christian community over the age of the earth, the proper interpretation of Genesis, and how to interpret the physical evidences we find all around us. Those who believe in an older age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does not mention dinosaurs, because according to their paradigm, dinosaurs died out millions of years before the first man ever walked the earth. The men who wrote the Bible down couldn’t have seen dinosaurs alive.

Those who believe in a younger age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does mention dinosaurs though it never actually uses the word “dinosaur.” Instead, it uses the Hebrew word tanniyn (pronounced tan-neen; Strong’s #08577). Tanniyn is translated a few different ways in our English Bibles; sometimes it’s “sea monster,” sometimes it’s “serpent.” It is most commonly translated “dragon.” The tanniyn appear to have been some sort of giant reptile. These creatures are mentioned nearly thirty times in the Old Testament and are found both on land and in the water.

In addition to mentioning these giant reptiles in general nearly thirty times throughout the Old Testament, the Bible describes a couple of creatures in such a way that some scholars believe the writers may have been describing dinosaurs. Behemoth is said to be the mightiest of all God’s creatures, a giant whose tail is likened to a cedar tree (Job 40:15ff). Some scholars have tried to identify Behemoth as either an elephant or a hippopotamus. Others point out that elephants and hippopotamuses have very thin tails, nothing comparable to a cedar tree. Dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus and the Diplodocus on the other had huge tails which one could easily compare to a cedar tree.

Nearly every ancient civilization has some sort of art depicting giant reptilian creatures. Petroglyphs, artifacts and even little clay figurines found in North America resemble modern depictions of dinosaurs. Rock carvings in South America depict men riding Diplodocus-like creatures and, amazingly, bear the familiar images of Triceratops-, Pterodactyl- and Tyrannosaurus Rex-like creatures. Roman mosaics, Mayan pottery and Babylonian city walls all testify to man’s trans-cultural, geographically-unbounded fascination with these creatures. Sober accounts like those of Marco Polo’s Il Milione mingle with fantastic tales of treasure-hoarding beasts. Modern day reports of sightings persist though they are usually treated with overwhelming skepticism.

In addition to the substantial amount of anthropic and historical evidences for the coexistence of dinosaur and man, there are other physical evidences, like the fossilized footprints of humans and dinosaurs found together at places in North America and West-Central Asia.

So, are there dinosaurs in the Bible? The matter is far from settled. It depends on how you interpret the available evidences and how you view the world around you. Here at GotQuestions.org we believe in a young earth interpretation and accept that dinosaurs and man coexisted. We believe that dinosaurs died out sometime after the Flood due to a combination of dramatic environmental shifts and the fact that they were relentlessly hunted to extinction by man.

Answer 2

That's a really really good question!!! I've wondered the same thing and I'm not totally positive but this is what I think. Well, Genesis 1:1 (the 1st verse on the bible) says "In the beginning god created the heaven and the earth." Then it goes on saying that there was nothing at all before god created the world, but god was always there. Yeah it's kind of confusing but god has always been here. I have 2 ideas about the dinosaurs. 1. They came before god made people........but what about the cave people? my 2end guess is that Adam and Eve were cave people. They continued the human race and the dinosaurs died out. But don't they say that the dinosaurs died because of a big meteorite. Maybe it killed That cave people as well so that's what makes me think that they came before Adam and Eve, but god could have made more people after the meteorite. Or, god could have just killed the dinosaurs and not people.
These are the questions that haunt me. Well I don't think that we'll ever know for sure unless if there's some big science break threw! I hope I could help!

Answer 3

As a biologist and a religious person I can appreciate the dilemma. The way I figure it, much of the prehistoric evidence we have from science could have taken place during the forming of the earth before Adam and Eve were placed here. The seperation of the creation into six days is not literal in the sense of our current 24 hour time frame. I believe that the earths days or rather God's days were quite different than what we know today. It could have taken much longer for all of the element to come together than what is indicated in the Bible. Likewise, I believe that science is not perfect with their time frame either. It could have take place much quicker than science realizes. Having said that, the dinosaurs could have happened on the earth from God's fifth day through His seventh day and somewhat beyond. After Adam and Eve left the garden, supposedly on the eighth day, whos to say what they encountered in the world around them. The Bible records very little about their many discoveries. It says that Adam named the animals and we have some evidence of animals that no longer exist. How they all overlapped is unknown except by the scientific record and that is probably imperfect.
I reconcile myself with the comfort of believing that someday I will find those answers and know how they all fit together. Until then, I will continue to learn and glean knowledge whereever I can find it.

Answer 4

Most of the dinosaurs were created on the sixth day, with the other land animals. They were vegetarian until sin, then some would have started eating meat. Actually, the behemoth was probably a brontosaurus, it's mentioned in Job as having a tail like a cedar. The leviathan may have been something like a plesiosaur.

There have actually been cave drawings of a brontosaurus discovered, indicating that men lived alongside dinosaurs.

Answer 5

God created all the animals, including dinosaurs.

Or, another definition is that a day to God is not the same as an earth day, so God created the dinosaurs when he created the animals, but they died off before he created Adam and Eve. Either sort of works.

Answer 6

the Bible actually is a book of science and history, in fact its the most reliable source of information on each of these subjects by far.. this is a debatable topic because there is no way to kno for sure without the Bible explicitly stating that humans lived contemporaneously with the dinosaurs, but if you take the passages mentioned by one of the other users about the leviathan and behemoth [job 41:1 and job 40:15, among others] as referring to dinosaurs then they are clearly stated.. most Christian archaeologists and theologians and so forth agree that dinosaurs lived contemporaneously with humans, and this is in agreement with the Bible's explanation of the order in which we were created.. as to why they went extinct, thats another question that i couldnt answer..

Answer 7

Throughout the bible I have been shown references where there are dinosaurs mentioned but my best understanding lies between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Chapter one says, "In the beginning" and then chapter 2 starts by saying, "Now.." So an unknown period time existed between "the beginning" and "now" where anything and everything could have happened. So somehow in this time frame the dinosaurs very well could have existed.

Answer 8

Adam and Eve were created after all the animals. Dinosaurs were in this group, but their existence was not so important for our salvation that God felt the need to include detailed information about them in the Bible.

Answer 9

The Bible is Gods word written by humans. It is truth. Humans were not around at the time of dinosaurs, and completely irrelevant to us. God does everything for a reason and there was no reason to put dinosaurs in the bible, just as there was no reason for humans and dinosaurs to exsist at the same time.

Answer 10

The Catholic Church does not have a position on the existence or non-existence of dinosaurs. It is not a matter of faith.

Dinosaurs are not mentioned in teh Bible because the bible is not a science or history book. It is a book that is about the relationship between God and His people.