Christianity preaches that the world is approx. 6000 years old right?

Question

What are Christian views on dinosaurs. Since they lived 27 million(something like that) years ago, and the earth is only 6000 years old (according to the bible). Are dinosaurs real?

Answer 1

If you really want to know what we believe, you will take the time to read this.

Secular books would tell you that the first discovery of what were later called “dinosaurs” was around 1677 when Dr. Robert Plot found huge bones that were thought to belong to a giant elephant or a giant human. Then in 1822, Gideon Mantell and his wife found some Iguanodon teeth. But that was really when dinosaurs were rediscovered.

Take a look at Gen. 1:24-31. Here is a basic form of logic called a syllogism: T. Rex was 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.

You may ask, “But what about Genesis 1:30?” It says, “...to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food.”

Yes, according to the Bible, all the dinosaurs were vegetarians at first, before Adam’s sin. We see that people and animals only ate plants, not other animals. The carnivorous part of the present “food chain” didn’t exist. There were no animals to rip you apart in this “very good” creation—lions, bears, crocodiles, T. Rex, and Velociraptor ate squash for dinner.

But what about those sharp teeth? After Adam’s sin in Genesis 3, God changed the serpent (I think as a visual reminder to us that Satan is still out there). He changed childbirth, the ground, and brought in physical death to man. It could also be at that time He changed the animals (that had previously only eaten plants): creatures given teeth and claws designed to rend flesh, venom to paralyze, mouths to suck blood, coils to constrict, expandable jaws to swallow prey, etc.

I think God changed them after the fall, but the fact is, there are many sharp toothed animals living today that are vegetarians like the giant panda, the fruit bat, and some apes and bears are totally vegetarians. They have those big carnivorous looking teeth and yet they are plant eaters. And there are some plants that require sharp teeth to eat—can you imagine trying to bite into a coconut? Some evolutionists say the panda evolved sharp teeth so it could eat bamboo. And then there was that lioness named “Little Tyke” that refused to eat meat, and plenty of people have raised their dogs and cats on a vegetarian diet. There are many plants that have gone extinct—it’s likely that there were very rich protein sources in the pre-Flood plant kingdom.

And 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.

The response that often comes from the skeptic is: “Noah couldn’t have fit all those animals in the ark—especially the dinosaurs!” And you ask them, “How many animals had to go in the ark?” “I don’t know.” “Well, how big was the ark?” “I don’t know.” So, you don’t believe an unknown amount of animals could have fit in an unknown sized ark?

First of all, Genesis 6:20 states that representative “kinds” of birds and land animals boarded the Ark, not all the different species and subspecies. People say, “But there were over 600 names for dinosaurs.” Yes, and there are many names for the different types of dogs in the world, but all the dog “species” came from only one original dog kind—one Genesis kind. There were many different Ceratopsia dinosaurs that probably all came from one Genesis kind. Many creationists believe there were fewer than 50 distinct kinds of dinosaurs that had to be on the Ark.

Second, you also need to remember that the ark didn’t look like those cutesy Sunday School pictures. The ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall (and that’s using a small cubit measurement; it could have been quite a bit larger). The space in the ark would have held more than 520 modern railroad boxcars, and I’ve read that shippers allocate up to 250 sheep per boxcar when moving them by train.

Third, not all dinosaurs were huge, many were as small as chickens. Some scientists say the average size of the dinosaurs was about that of a sheep or a small pony. Very few of the dinosaurs grew to extremely large sizes.

And fourth, who says that he took full grown dinosaurs on board? It would be foolish to fill up space on the ark with the oldest, biggest adults. The largest fossil dinosaur eggs found are about the size of a football. Reptiles often grow till the day they die so the enormous dinosaurs were probably just very old. Would God want to use senior citizens to populate the new world? Their main purpose was to reproduce after the flood. I don’t think there were old adults of any of the animals on the ark. Some scientists, looking at their growth rings, believe the dinosaurs had mid-life growth spurts; it would make sense to take them before that time in their development.

So why did they die off? Well, many Creationists believe the flood would have drastically changed the climate of the earth (cooler temperatures, more radiation, etc.), and that there was a short ice age after the flood. Some Creationists think the dinosaurs that survived the flood where not able to cope so well in the new environment. They also believe that is the reason why man’s life-span shortened so much after the flood, and why bugs and animals are so much smaller now.

Another possibility is that dinosaurs may have become extinct for the same reason that many animals become extinct today. Why do we have endangered species programs? Extinction is the rule. Why? People killing them, lack of food, man destroying the environment, catastrophes, disease, genetic problems, and so on. I’ve read that in the last 350 years, about 400 species have disappeared and some say the number is much greater. Of course we are talking about species and not Genesis kinds.

Let’s think for a minute—countries all over the world have stories of dragon slayers. Perhaps they went extinct from man killing them for food, sport, or because they were a nuisance. I think we just didn’t start our endangered species programs early enough.

Answer 2

Not all Christianity believes that the world is 6000 years old. I am one who does not.

I think that the world was here long before that. It wasn't even originally used by man. If I have it right, the literal translation is ' a meeting place of intelligent creatures'.

If you look up the Gap Theory of Genesis 1:1 - 1:2 on a Google search, you will find an explanation of what the Gap Theory of Genesis 1:1 - 1:2 is, and the reasons why Christianity does not accept it. I am not so traditional, and I also have translated the words under question myself using a common Strong's Concordance - any person can do it.

What any person cannot do is accept what the study shows.

Tradition makes so many Christians suffer when it comes to seeing truth in this matter.

Answer 3

No the Bible does not teach that, it is an interpretation that has been placed on it by people who did not understand. Several stories in the Bible show the creation story in Genesis is more of a recreation story from something much older. A verse in Job states that the Earth was first formed before the revolt in Heaven and notice in Genesis 1:2 that the Earth was formless and empty with darkness over the deep and God's spirit hovering over the water. This makes sense if you think that Satan's Rebellion for all intents and purposes wiped out the universe and later God put it back together.

Answer 4

Well, I think that the world is older than that. God's time and our time are a little different. Dinosaurs had to be real because they left bones. I admit I do wonder about the time line and when our history started. Clearly there have been humans here more then 6000 years ago.

Answer 5

Here's your answer: On day 6 GOD said, let the earth bring forth the living creatures after his kind cattle and creeping things and BEAST OF THE EARTH, after his kind and it was so (gen. 1:24-31). This is the same day Adam and Eve were created. The beast are what we now call dinosaurs. Proof humans walked this earth the same time period as dinosaurs was found in Glen Rose, Texas where they toke photos of a mans footprint and dinosaur footprint side by side from the same time era. The age of the earth is hard to pinpoint but it is not millions and millions of yrs old. The reason the earth can appear older to scientist is cause their whole system of determining the earths age is not accurate and thrown off due to the global flood. Scientist try to date areas by fossilization and layers of sediment in one area. After the flood however, billions of dead creatures became trapped beneath millions of tons of rock and mud therefore appearing to one whom doesn't include the flood in their research as a much older world. Also the fossilization process can be greatly increased by being compressed in the right conditions such as those caused by the global flood making something not so old appear to be much much older! So scientist dont have the earths age pinned down either for they dont take the global flood into consideration when trying to determine the earths age!

Answer 6

The 6000 years figure was a complete guess made by a translator trying to estimate the amount of time each event would have taken.

It appeared in many copies of a specific translation of the Bible, and some literalists assumed it was an accurate figure.

Most Christians I have met believe the Earth is several billion years old and we did not coexist with dinosaurs.

Answer 7

Mormons believe that the earth was organized from other materials and not just poofed out of nothing. We also dont know how long adam and eve were in the garden or how long a day is to God.
There is the theory that when Adam and Eve fell, so did the earth, and that is when the dinosaurs died, along with many other animals to provide the fossil fuels we would eventually learn to use.

Bottom line, we dont know, whether you are an evolutionist or a creationist, a lot about the origins of the earth, yet.

Answer 8

Let's see about the age of the earth according to the Bible:
Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived 130 years, and begot Seth
Genesis 5:6 Seth lived 105 years, and begot Enosh
Genesis 5:9 Enosh lived 90 years, and begot Cainan
Genesis 5:12 Cainan lived 70 years, and begot Mahalalel
Genesis 5:15 Mahalalel lived 65 years, and begot Jared
Genesis 5:18 Jared lived 162 years, and begot Enoch
Genesis 5:21 Enoch lived 65 years, and begot Methuselah
Genesis 5:25 Methuselah lived 187 years, and begot Lamech
Genesis 5:28 Lamech lived 182 years, and begot Noah
Genesis 5:32 Noah lived 500 years, and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Genesis 11:10 Shem lived 100 years, and begot Arphaxad 2 years after the Flood

Add all these up and you get 1,654 years from Adam until the Flood + 2 years and Arphaxad was born. We continue in Genesis 11:12 Arphaxad lived 35 years, and begot Shelah
Genesis 11:14 Selah lived 30 years, and begot Eber
Genesis 11:16 Eber lived 34 years, and begot Peleg
Genesis 11: 18 Peleg lived 30 years, and begot Reu
Genesis 11:20 Reu lived 32 years, and begot Serug
Genesis 11:22 Serug lived 30 years, and begot Nahor
Genesis 11:24 Nahor lived 29 years, and begot Terah
Genesis 11:26 Terah lived 70 years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
(Abram's name was later changed by God to Abraham--see Genesis 17:5) So, if you add up these numbers, you get 290 years from the flood to Abraham.
Now, if you skip over to Matthew 1:17, you will see that it was 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from
David to Deportation to Babylon, and 14 generations from Bablylon to Messiah. This is 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus. If we make an assumption of 36 years per generation, this places Jesus birth at 1,512 years after Abraham.
So, to summarize, we have 1,654 years from the beginning (Adam) to the Flood, then 290 years to Abraham, then 1,512 years (give or take a week) from Abraham to Jesus. Jesus was born in 4 BC, so from then til now is 2,011 years. This adds up to 5,467 years for the age of the earth; based on an assumption of 36 years per generation. You can rerun the figures with a strict Biblical 40 years per generation, but you don't get millions or billions. Those numbers are reserved for Congress and evolutionists.

Now about those Dinosaurs: Another answer above refers to Job 40:15-24. I have taken my children to the Chicago Museum of Science and Natural History and taken their pictures in front of Sue (the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered-yet).
I personally have no probem with science. True science and the Bible do not contradict. Evolution is a religious lie, and it is as old as the Garden of Eden and the Original Lie: "Ye shall be as Gods"
If Evolution is true; then there is no God, moraltiy is relative, and nothing really matters. This is what Satan wants you to believe. Don't fall for it. http://icr.org/
In His Service,
John the Baptist

Answer 9

Dinosaurs went extinct about 60 to 65 mya. There is nothing in the Bible that says the world is only 6000 years old.

Answer 10

Evolution teaches that dinosaurs lived so many million years ago but the bible teaches that god created everything and created the animals on the 6th day. In the book of Job the animal Behemoth is mentioned and when the King James was translated the word Dinosaur was not in the English language but dinosaur only came into the English language in the 1800's.
The word behemoth means Giant, kingly beast

Job chapter 40 verses 15 to 24
15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.

17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.

18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.

22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

Answer 11

No to your first question.

The 6,000 years was arrived at by counting the generations.

However, we don't know how long a "day" is to God (and besides, the word that was translated as "day" may or may not actually mean that), and we don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before the Fall.

So yes, dinosaurs are real. Fundamentalist Christians tend to believe that dinosaurs lived alongside humans.

I'm a Christian, but I don't take the entire Bible literally.