Are the dinosaurs a test of our faith?

Question

I was talking to my parish priest today about creation. (Roman Catholic) He says God created man/woman and animals on the same day. I believe that, but he also says that dinosaurs are not real because God created man first. Instead, he believes that the dinosaur bones were put here on Earth by God as a "test of our faith". Those were his words.

What do you all think? Does your parish preach this? I'm not buying this at all.

Thanks for all the replies, but I'm gonna stick up for my parish priest on this one. He says carbon dating is all wrong, and nuclear science is a shame. I believe that. There is no way to test the real age of the dinosaur bones. Also, the bible says God created Adam and Eve not T-Rex and Littlefoot.

Dinosaur bones are challenging all of your faiths. You should all believe in God.

Answer 1

hopefully, his is not the official Roman Catholic stance on the issue.

Answer 2

Job 40 talks about Behemoth which I think is a dinosaur. No, not a hippo as some say. Hippo's don't have tales like a cedar. Also, remember that a day is as a thousand years to the Lord. So creation could have literally been 6 days or well...who knows. It wasn't millions and millions of years and we somehow accidentally managed to have a near perfect planet which is completely balanced in all ways...except for mankind's destructive nature. I can only imagine how it would have been before the fall of man.

I'm not catholic but my catholic school priest taught us in religion class that evolution was correct. That Adam and Eve were just a story, a parable. I will never forget what he said. That means that you can change anything in the Bible to suit your "theory". You can even sin and say...well, it's really ok because I'm forgiven. It's dangerous to play games with God's word.

Answer 3

Well, you said "Catholic". Officially the RC believes in evolution. I think if your priest can make this huge of a mistake about dinosaurs, he could be wrong about the main thing. I believe I would find a church that really believed in God and not just itself.
Find a church that puts the Bible above man (priest, or church). The Bible says that God created the universe about 6000 years ago. I believe that. The only reference I can offer is that it is recorded in the Bible. Evolutionist ( not all scientist) claim that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and that dinosaurs died out millions of years ago-they have "zero (0)" proof. All they can offer as proof is the assumed ages of the geologic strata. They are guessing with no data to support them-none. They have constructed an elaborate framework of evolutionary data that supports itself based on suppositions that have suppositions as a base, this is called speculation-not proof.

It doesn't bother my faith one bit.

Answer 4

Look, if you believe in god, the obvious genius it must've taken to design such an intricate evolutionary system should be way more impressive than believing he made it appear out of nothing.

plus, saying god didn't engineer the scientifically sound theory of evolution isn't doubting society. It's the same thing as saying he didn't do what we know to be true. It's like saying his mysteries can be solved by ignorance, when the bible says we're not going to figure it out.

Science isn't specifically trying to prove god wrong, and if you believe he's infallible, then they won't be able to. They just want to know the truth, whether god had a hand in it or not.

And obviously, birds' hollow bones evolved from dinosaurs.

Answer 5

You spoke with a Catholic priest?????? This sounds totally made up. I cannot imagine any Catholic priest holding a stance like that. A fundamentalist preacher maybe but certainly not a Catholic priest. It goes against fundamental teaching. As Pius, I believe said, Truth cannot contradict Truth. I have yet to meet a Catholic priest with less than a master's degree in something. Quite a large number of Catholic priests are also scientists. I had a priest who was also a metalurgist. The big bang was discovered by a Catholic priest, and while that is unrelated to evolution, it points out the level of education priests tend to hold. My current priest has his doctorate and speaks twelve languages including all the ancient tongues scripture was published in and the ancient tongues of the stories scripture comes out of such as Ugaritic. A very large number are engineers, physicists and chemists along with of course social scientists.

Did you invent this story?

Answer 6

Your priest doesn't know his Bible. Read Genesis chapter one. Humans were created the same day as animals,but created last, and the days mentioned are not 24 hour days.
First,notice Genesis Chapter 2 , verse 4. It calls ALL the creative periods "one day." So obviously the creative days are not literal days as we know them to be.
Second, the Bible also shows that the word 'day' can have different meanings. In the Bible book of Second Peter chapter 3, verse 8 it says :..."that one day is with God as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day."
Third, reason on these: In some places people often refer to a man's lifetime as his "day". Also, the 'day' of harvest covers many days.
Man was made on the 6th day of God's creative process.Thousands of years for each creative day. And that makes more sense, because of EVERYTHING God was making would take time.
In Genesis chapter one, verse 21, it says God made the great sea monsters, and the following scriptures show God made all kinds of creatures; from fish to birds to creeping thing to wild and domestic, BUT they were all made "according to their kind." That's why we don't see mixed animals. Those that are even close can't produce young who can be productive.. Example: donkeys and horses produce a mule, which is sterile.
The dinosaurs were part of God's creation that he made for the purpose that he needed them at that time. The fact that archaeologists are finding bones, etc. is telling us that there were very BIG creatures God had made to live, and this for a certain amount of time only. How they ACTUALLY looked we don't know. The way we perceive their look today could be wrong.
Anyway, the Bible answers ALL our questions. It is God's Word and He does not lie. Trust in Him by reading his letter to you. He says in his Word at Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6: "Trust in God with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he will make your paths straight." and also notice Psalms chapter 146, verses 3 and 4 which reads this way: "Do not put your trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; In that day his thoughts do perish."

Answer 7

well God didn't mention anything about a three toed sloth but it doesn't mean they don't exist. The bible didn't tell me much about how to make a cheeseburger either. I believe in dinosaurs but you have to remember the purpose of the bible. The bible is first and foremost a record of events. Its not a text book of mathematical equations or precepts. Its not a handbook for extra terrestrial life. The bible is a written accound of God dealing with mankind. I dont think it has much to do with the testing of faith. At the same time, our faith shouldn't be based upon facts like wether dinosaurs existed or not. If your faith is based upon factual, scientific evidences, your faith needs strengthening. Good question tho...

Answer 8

That priest is not following Catholic doctrine regarding the teaching of the Church. This is why people don't understand Catholicism, because of imbecile priests like this one. Find yourself a good priest and you'll get a better answer. God created the world in seven days, creatures first, man on day six. Since we don't know how long a day was, the term day merely refers to different stages of creation. This jives fine with evolution. I can't go over all the nuances online, just find a good priest with a good Catholic education.

Answer 9

Really.

Putting dinosaur bones on earth to test your faith is like god saying- "First, I'm going to give you free will, so you can make mistakes. Then, I'm going to give you a book with all of the answers I want you to base your life upon without question. The lifestyle I am laying out for you will be contrary to your own nature, and it will be difficult to follow. I am then going to put physical evidence all over the planet that the information in my book is 99.9% incorrect. When you take the more logical choice and go with the evidence instead of the book, I get to kill you and send you to hell where you will be tortured for all eternity!- in fact I only made an afterlife so I could punish those who would spite me! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA."

That, to me, sounds like a pretty cruel god. If I believed in that god, I would hate him.

Your priest sounds messed up. I wouldn't bring my kids there if I was you. He sounds pretty frustrated with life.

Answer 10

Dinosaurs are real. I do not believe life is about being tested all the time by the creator. Dinosaurs are BC. Nothing proves or disproves the energy of the spirit is real or unreal. Faith is knowing without always having to have a logical answer for what is or has been.

Answer 11

I have bones that were not created the same day as Adam and Eve, and I exist and am real. God has existed for eternity. Dinosaur bones are what is left of animals that did exist, just as bones of a mummy are from one who existed. These material laws that we are subject to for awhile while on earth are consistent. Jesus set these laws aside to show us the door, but otherwise they remain in place. Dinosaurs did walk on this dirt just as you and I do.