I've heard this theory about fossils?

Question

The person said that fossils appear older than they do because of Noah's flood. That Noah's flood accounts for why they're buried in layers and such. They also said that dinosaurs DID exist before the flood killed them all (I guess Noah didn't like dinosaurs). And they've died since. Just take for granted that this is true.

Don't you think that Adam & Eve, Cain or Avil, Noah or his children, would have had some kind of an encounter with a dinosaur? Why aren't there any dinosaurs mentioned in the bible if this is true?

Answer 1

Dinosaurs are mentioned in the bible and they also are mentioned after the flood in Job's times

Answer 2

Take a look at 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 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.

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. 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.

Answer 3

1 - Pertaining to the flood - People thought the world was flat just 350 years ago. You are talking about a story that was supposed to have occured in ancient times. Do you think they had any way of communicating to the whole world? If there was a flood which probably happened then it probably happened nerby where the author of the story lived. That does not prove that the whole world flooded. Most people didn't know what was going on past their own village let alone half way around a world that they had no conception of.

2 - Dinosaurs were extinct before the first humans existed.

Age of the earth: 4.6 bya (billion years ago)

First cells: 3.5 bya

First eukayrotic cells: 2.0 bya

First evidence of animal life (worm tracks and burrows): 1.0 bya

First fish: 530 mya (million years ago)

First four-footed animals 375 mya

First hominids: 4 mya

First anatomically modern humans: 140,000 years ago

First symbolic behavior (art & jewlelry): 70,000 years ago

Maybe a science class would better explain this to you.

Answer 4

That's typical creationist misrepresentation. The flood does not account for why fossils are buried in layers. The fossils go from older forms lower down to newer higher up. More recently evolved fossils are just not found in lower layers. If they had been buried during a global flood, mammal fossils should be found in all layers. They're not. And it's not because all the mammals managed to climb higher than all the dinosaurs. That doesn't make sense. Flowering plants are only found in more recent layers. They can't climb!

Answer 5

Well your second set of questions is unimportant because the answer to the first set makes the second irrelecant. THAT'S ABSURD. I am a creationist, I believe the universe is a divine innovation, and I find that ridiculous. I can't imagine what atheists will think of this theory, I feel rather sorry for them. If I was an atheist and read that, my brain would explode.

Fortunately, I have been exposed to such theories. This is a spinoff of a terribly misunderstood theory (which actually makes some since) called Omphalos Theology. It's the idea that God created the world full grown, that God created it with a past not just a future and presence. I still think it's a tad odd, but it's at least non-falsifiable. When did we discover carbon dating...? Maybe the Fundies think it's some sort of matchmaking service.

Answer 6

although it might be fun to think about a hypothetical situation, there is just no good reason to take that for granted. a single event can't explain the fossil record - there are layers and layers of rocks with different characteristic fossil species represented in each layer (not just dinosaurs but millions of extinct species of various ages). geologists discarded the global flood explanation in the 1830s. apparently someone forgot to tell the young earth creationists.

Answer 7

Because its a pot of crap. There's no dinosaurs mentioned in the bible because people of those times didn't have the fossil record we have today.
Numerous archaeological and especially geological test and surveys clearly show that there were no big flood that covered the whole earth.
Besides, fossil are often millions of years old....

Answer 8

Merry Meet

Because the PEOPLE who wrote "the bible" were living in an age where most thought fossils were the remains of Dragons etc.

Science TRIES to find answers. "the church" does not want answers.

Brightest Blessings-

Answer 9

It is possible to date the geological layers overlying a fossil bed (as well as the fossils themselves), so attributing the strata to a 2000 year old flood is clearly ridiculous.

Answer 10

It's the average Christian mindset to attempt to explain that which goes against its own theology. The reason the bible doesn't mention fossilized remnants is because it disproves the theory of the great flood. Simple as that.