Why doesn't the bible say anything about dinosaurs?

Answer 1

Start with reading Genesis 1:24-31. Here is a basic form of logic called a syllogism:
T. Rex is a land animal.
Land animals were made on day 6.
Therefore, T. Rex was made on day 6.

So, according to the Bible, dinosaurs lived beside man. Dinosaurs were made on day six of the creation week the same as man; they were beasts of the earth.

Then look at Genesis 6:18-20 about Noah and the animals. It doesn’t say two of every kind except dinosaurs. Now, keep in mind that God brought the animals to Noah; it says they will “come to you”; he didn’t have to go out and catch them. If dinosaurs got on the ark, then dinosaurs got off the ark.

And then read Job 40:15-24. Job was questioning God because of his suffering, and so God comes and challenges Job with His creation.

Many people say, “Job 40 can’t be speaking of a dinosaur.” They say that, not because the description of Behemoth doesn’t fit, but because of their preconceived conception that man and dinosaurs didn’t live together.

The margin of the NIV says, “Possibly the hippopotamus or the elephant.” Something to keep in mind—the footnotes are not a part of the original text.

Well, the tail of an elephant or hippo is like a twig, not a cedar (most dogs have longer tails). Throughout the Scriptures, cedars were known for their great size and length. Nothing on earth today fits this description, but a sauropod type of dinosaur does. The largest we have found was over 120 feet long. That sounds to me like the “chief”—not a hippo.

And then in Job 41, God describes the Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1 calls it the dragon in the sea.)

The margin of the NIV says, “Possibly the crocodile.” But the description again doesn’t fit any animal alive today. Besides, man has never had a problem catching crocodiles, even primitive tribes, but God says in Job 41 that Leviathan couldn’t be caught.

Some think this was just a mythical creature since it speaks of it breathing fire. And yes, Job is a poetic book and those could just be poetic descriptions. But not necessarily. Impossible you say? What about the electric eel that can produce enough electricity to stun a horse? If the electric eel was extinct and all we could find were its fossils, would we be able to know that it could generate electricity? Nope. What about the firefly and anglerfish that can produce light? What about the bombardier beetle that can fire a boiling mixture of chemicals at its enemies that is 212 degrees Fahrenheit?

Why couldn’t God have created certain water-living reptiles that were capable of expelling hot gaseous fumes that could ignite? Most animals produce methane anyway, which is a flammable gas. Stories of fire-breathing dragons have circulated for thousands of years.

Also, keep in mind that Behemoth and Leviathan were included along with real creatures that Job knew about. Read Job sometime.

In Isaiah 30:6, Isaiah speaks of flying serpents [reptiles]. I also find it interesting that Herodotus, the Greek Historian who lived around 450 BC wrote about flying serpents in Arabia. He talked about finding their bones and described their snake-like bodies and bat-like wings. And the Jewish historian from the first century, Josephus, wrote about Moses and the Israelites having a difficult time passing through a particular region because of the presence of flying serpents. I think they were speaking of one of the pterosaurs like the pterodactyl, pteranodon, or rhamphorhynchus.

If the Bible is right about dinosaurs and man, you would expect to find legends of dinosaurs in history. Why don’t we read stories about men fighting dinosaurs or dinosaurs eating people’s cows and stuff like that? Well, most people are unaware that the word “dinosaur” was not coined until the 1840s by Sir. Richard Owen (who was a Creationist by the way). So, if these creatures lived alongside humans prior to that time, they were not called dinosaurs. So what were they called? Dragons. Most cultures throughout the world possess ancient stories about dragons and sea monsters that closely resemble what we today would call dinosaurs. For instance, the flag of Wales depicts a dragon, which by the way, is claimed by some to be the oldest national flag still in use. Dragon stories have been handed down for generations in most civilizations. No doubt many of these stories have been exaggerated through the years, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their original basis in fact. I believe many of the dragon legends are simply distorted versions of dinosaur encounters.

So where did they go? Countries all over the world have stories of dragon slayers. Perhaps man killed them for food, sport, or because they were a nuisance. I think we just didn’t start our endangered species programs early enough.

Another thing, is that there have been (even recently) reports of strange animals in the Amazon and the Congo that sound a lot like dinosaurs. And there are reports of giant flying reptiles in Indonesia, and so forth. There are thousands of square miles of almost impenetrable swamps and thick jungle in the world. Natives in some of these places describe beasts that fit with what just might be dinosaurs. And what about all the sightings of lake monsters? This is a field called cryptozoology—the search for hidden animals. There just might be a few dinosaurs left, teetering on the edge of extinction. We are constantly discovering new species of animals and plants in remote areas. A tree can’t run away and hide and yet the Wollemi Pine Tree avoided detection until just recently (said to have become extinct millions of years ago).

Answer 2

Dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible countless times. The earth is only about 6,000 years old, and dinosaurs were around since the garden of Eden. The word dinosaur wasn't invented until the 1840s. The Bible uses words like behemoth, serpent, and dragon instead of the word dinosaur.

Answer 3

There are slight mentions of dinosaurs in the bible-and it is possible that the people simply didn't know about them. Remember-the Bible was written by people, and they could only write about what they knew about. In the beginning there were only two people-and Genesis never says that God didn't create Dinosaurs. They just didnt happen to be anywhere adam and eve.

Answer 4

The word "dinosaur" isn't used, but there is mention of large creatures. Check out Job 40:15 as it describes a "behemoth" in the following verses.

Answer 5

Cool question. Do you love dinosaurs?

Ancient Greek culture was quite aware of dinosaur remains. The Greek Islands were a major source of dinosaur bones, and as they eroded out of the earth, many of these bones were taken to temple sites on the Peloponnese which were active at the time of Homer (Trojan War era). It seems as if they were objects of worship, and it's quite possible their mythology of giants that roamed the earth before man referred to this archaeological record. It's only very recently that these dinosaur bones (first thought to be animal sacrifice remains and left unexamined by archaeologists) have been identified as fossils.

So it would stand to reason that the Bible should also have something to say about these giants. Apparently some think it does and some think it doesn't.

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"In her book The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, Adrienne Mayor argues that the Greeks and Romans used fossil evidence—the enormous bones of long-extinct species—to support existing myths and to create new ones.

"The idea that mythology explains the natural world is an old idea," said Thomas Strasser, an archaeologist at California State University, Sacramento, who has done extensive work in Crete. "You'll never be able to test the idea in a scientific fashion, but the ancient Greeks were farmers and would certainly come across fossil bones like this and try to explain them. With no concept of evolution, it makes sense that they would reconstruct them in their minds as giants, monsters, sphinxes, and so on," he said.

Homer, in his epic tale of the trials and tribulations of Odysseus during his 10-year return trip from Troy to his homeland, tells of the traveler's encounter with the cyclops. In the The Odyssey, he describes the Cyclops as a band of giant, one-eyed, man-eating shepherds. They lived on an island that Odysseus and some of his men visited in search of supplies."

Answer 6

Because the word 'dinosaur' wasn't coined until the 1800's. In Job there is reference to an animal with a tail the size of a cedar. Dinosaur? You bet!!

Answer 7

The Bible says something about huge animals having domain over the Earth. So, you can take that however you want to. But that's the beauty of the Bible - you can take it how you want.

Though, a lot of Christians (mostly the Evangelicals) believe that dinosaurs were made-up by the "evil" scientists who are trying to prove the Bible wrong. They also believe that carbon dating is irrelevant, and it proves nothing unless it's applied to Biblical findings.

Answer 8

The Leviathan was a dinosaur-
Job 41:1,2
Psalm 104:26

The behemoth was a dinosaur-
Job 40:15-18

Answer 9

Actually it does.

Would you like the whole list?

Obviously the many people who have answered this question by saying the Bible does not speak about dinosaurs probably don't know very much about the Bible.

Let's face it I found a lot of passages, didn't I???

Some of the dragons listed are intended as a figure of speech, but most are intended as real live literal animals. I did not include those in my list.

Pastor Art

Answer 10

here are 2 answers I can come up with:

1. when the Bible was written, people had no knowledge of dinosaurs.

or

2. dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible when talking about Creation. (When God made animals he made the dinosaurs, too.)