more food for thought. today's topic - DINOSAURS. yes, the amazing gargantuan creatures that once walked on the earth and (supposedly) ceased to exist apporximately 60 million years ago. what's this all about and what is the bible's stand on it? why isn't it in the bible? i myself am pondering on these pertinent questions, and here's a few answers i've found, albeit not all.
did dinosaurs really exist? im inclined to think, yes. evidence such as fossils, footprints etc clearly show they have once existed, or possibly, some might say, still exist. then where is it stated in the bible?, you ask. why weren't they mentioned, just as other ordinary animals like cattle, the donkey etc were? on the contrary, they actually were! Job 40:15-41:34 qoute examples of the behemoth and the leviathan, both of which fossils have been found by paleontologists! God states that the behemoth was the greatest thing He had ever created [Job 40:19], and that the leviathan was so mighty that it feared nothing, and none was its equal. [Job 41:33] so i say, dinosaurs DID exist! and they WERE mentioned in the bible! evidently, the bible is so true, no one can contest that. those who say the bible isn't complete because it doesn't mention dinosaurs, well, eat your words, i say.
next. if the bible DOES acknowledge the existence of dinosaurs, then what day were they made? it says that God created ALL land-based living things on the sixth day [Genesis 1:24-25]. so that was when dinosaurs were created. if so, then why weren't they mentioned in the bible? for example, if the behemoth and the leviathan were so great and powerful, why weren't they mentioned in the bible, ie. in Jesus' travels or when the fisherman were out at sea? its been shown that there were a great many sea creatures, the Plesiosaur being one of them. it was HUGE. that's not to mention the land-based ones weren't as monolithic. the brachiosaurus was said to be over 3 storeys tall. i think its possible that they just weren't as important as other stuff was. i mean, you dont see giraffes or the cheetah or panda bears getting a mention in the bible right, even though we all know that they clearly exist. furthermore, the bible focuses more on Jerusalem thereabouts, where the Messiah came back and was etc. so, i think there's reason for dinosaurs not being mentioned. in addition, although one might argue that if the brachiosaurus or the all-famous tyranosaurus rex was so big, surely they'd get a mention, eg. them eating cattle. like i said, the bible's focused more to Jerusalem that side, so its possible that the rest of the globe didn't get much of a mentioned. [caution: i might be wrong here]
so were the dinosaurs truly wiped out in a cataclysmic disaster like scientists hypothesize? the meteor striking the earth thing? im not too sure, but i've this book here that theorizes that it was instead the Great Flood that caused the dinosaurs to perish. which is really possible. i mean, if we all acknowledge the presence of dinosaurs in the time of the bible, then surely it was the Great Flood that wiped them out. the bible clearly states that it wiped out EVERYTHING except all that was on Noah's ark. there's also physical/paleontological evidence of such. i quote from the book im referring to.
one valley in France, where coal mining is important, is a graveyard of plants and animals. it contains the fossils of ocean anumals, freshwater amphibians, and land animals such as spiders, scorpions, millipedes and reptiles. all these aninals were suddenly buried together, entombed in the same rock. it is fossil graveyards like these, all over the world, that remind us of the terrible and sudden destruction of the Great Flood of the Bible.also,
one fossail hunter found a rock "tomb" containing a herd of almost 10,000 dinosaur skeletons. the Flood also explains the death of many other animals whose fossils are found in the layers of rock called the fossil record.so, it IS true! the Great Flood DID wipe out everything on the earth, explaining the fossil graveyards, and the "rock tombs". also, the bible DOES coincide with what scientists have proved. they said that ancient sea creatures have been found where we now have mountains, and vice versa. this is the same as how the bible describes the Great Flood. this book of mine quotes the bible and helps us visualise how the Great Flood was like.
on the eighth day, the Flood began. we can imagine how water rained down from above, as never before. the ground shook from thousands of mighty earthquakes, and the water trapped beneath the earth exploded out of the ground. great walls of water, steam, and choking gases shot high into the sky. Volcanic explosions filled the air with black clouds of ash and rock. darkness fell over the whole earth. before the flood was finished, large basins to hold the world's oceans were formed. Flood waters rushed off the land, forming great canyons and rock formations. mountains rose up where there had been no mountains before. thousands of feet of mud, containing billions of dead plants and animals, hardened into vaults of rock, storing billions of fossils as reminders of the terrible judgementsee? this explains everything, and also shows why scientists might have thought that it was due to a great meteor strike that dinosaurs perished. the great physical change of the earth and all. havoc on the physical geographist's mind.
the next point of contention would be: why then, if dinosaurs WERE alive in the days of Noah, that means they were in the ark too right? then why dont we see them just as we do dogs and cats etc etc today? im not entirely certain on this aspect either. however, i do have some plausible ideas that might just ring true. actually, most are from this book i have haha. okay, 1st point. the world after the Flood was very different. it was cooler, and for a time, probably much colder than it is today. in the Bible, the book of Job tells of ice-covered oceans and frozen rivers [Job 37:9-10] also, in the time subceding the Flood, there weren't as many plants. this made it tough for extremely large animals ie. dinosaurs to survive on a new diet and less food. as the world got colder, large glaciers covered the northern lands, even the wooly mammoth and wooly rhinoceros perished [note: the ice age!] this could have led to a huge epidemic, leading to the deaths of all the many many huge dinosaurs. [forgive my english, its deteriorating as my post gets longer] it is not surprising, then, that today, the largest land animals live naturally in the warmer parts of the world. after the Flood, people also could have hunted dinosaurs. Legends of people who killed dragons are found in every ancient civilization. we can theorize that people might have feared the strange reptiles and called for their destruction. also, many of the animals we have today are products of evolution over time. it is possible that these dinosaurs weren't as able to evolve and change according to change natural factors and elements, causing widespread deaths everywhere.
then again, one might question, surely not all were wiped out during the ice age; what about the sea creatures and the tinier dinos that aren't as affected by the weather change or are living in areas of warmer climates? well, that IS true. and there IS physical evidence and TRUE firsthand accounts and encounters with these great creatures. here are 3 such recordings and sightings of dinosaurs, from cryptozoologists.
[note: at one point, scientists were incredibly confident of themselves that coelacanths had perished 60 million years aog.] one evening in 1938, a fishing trawler arrived at its dock, having just brought a catch in from the ocean. as the fishermen sorted through their catch, they discovered a fish they had never seen before. it was nearly six feet long, with powerful jaws, strong lobe-shaped fins, and heavy rough scales. its color was steel blue with scattered pink blotches. news of this strange fish spread quickly through the town. finally, the dead fish arrivied at the laboratory of a university chemist. immediately, he recognized it. without a doubt, it was a coelacanth. while i do admit that these accounts do seem a tad sketchy, real-life coelacanths have been found as recent as 1998, with pictures. check out http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/coela.htm and http://www.dinofish.com/. in fact, there is living proof that these coelacanths do still exist, look at the guy's 1st hand account of the coelacanth up close in the dinofish site.
like the coelacanth, pterosaurs are supposed to have also all died 65 million years ago. in 1856, workmen digging a railway tunnel in France were using gunpowder to remove a boulder. when the dust settled, the astonished workmen brought a huge bat-like creature out of the tunnel. but the animal wasn't dead. when it reached the light it began to shake its wings, making a hoarse cry. it was shiny black, had a long neck, and rows of sharp teeth in its long beak-like mouth. soon after it was removed from the mine, it died. its wingspoan was measured to be more than ten feet! scientists called in to examine the creature concluded that it was indeed a pterosaur.
on april 10, 1977, off the coast of New Zealand, the nets of the japanese fishing trawler, Zuiyo Maru, pulled in an unexpected catch. filling the net was the rotting body of a recently dead ocean reptile! not wanting to spoilt his other catch and being oblivious to the value of his find, the ship's captain had the smelly carcass thrown back into the ocean. fortunately, photographs and measurements were taken beforehand. the animal was 32 feet long and weighed in at approximately 4,000 pounds. the skin had mostly decayed, but in places where it was still sttached, it was a pinkish-red colour. tissue samples were saved to be analysed b the marine scientists when the ship returned to Japan. the best guess was that the mystery animal was a Plesiosaur. a scientist at the famous national science museum said "it seems that these animals are not extinct after all. its impossible for only one to have survived. there must be a group." while the discovery of a Plesiosaur was ignored, excused and overlooked by European and American scientists (probably indignant at being bested by Asians), it was called the "scientific discovery of the year" in Japan. so amazing was this find that the Japs have issued a commemorative postage stamp to honor the discovery.see? look at how incredibly possible it is how dinosaurs to be co-existing with us, right under our very noses! amazing but true!
how can you know how old a fossil is? the truth is that no one person can know any fossil's true age for sure. many methods that scientists use to guess the ages of fossils are built on guesses themselves. for example, one method uses a system based on "index fossils". one famous index fossil was the coelacanth, a fossil fish. scientists were confident that at one time the coelacanth became extinct 60 million years ago. any rocks therefore, that had coelacanth fossils in them, were assumed to be 60 million years old-in fact, all fossils found in those rocks were believed to be that old too. using this "index fossil" system, we could go on and on thinking in circles, but would we be even closer in guessing the true age of either the coelacanth fossil or the rock in which it was buried? to quote ernie, zack's teacher in the incredibles, "I THINK NOT!". look at the websites i have quoted earlier. its been proved that coelacanths are in fact co-existing with us, RIGHT NOW! amazing eh?oh the funky-ness of it all.
yet another juicy nugget of information is that the reputed T-Rex MIGHT just have been a melon eater, and not what paleontologists might claim them to be, meat-eaters. this is a prime example of how newly revealed facts can challenge old ones, even those that have been long established and might be known in all households. in fact, one should refer to the bible for all times for this kinda thing. the bible applies to the things of the past, but is still applicable now, and will forever be in the future! back to the topic. In Genesis, we are told something about dinosaurs that no scientist can know from studying dinosaur fossils: in the beginning, all dinosaurs were plant eaters! in fact, all animals and the 1st humans, adam and eve, were to eat only plants [Genesis 1:29-30] haha! well, scientists and peoeple alike might argue that the long, sharp teeth accompanied with the strong jaws of the T-Rex would be the ideal kind of teeth that would be found on a terrible killer eg. hyenas. in retrospect, on closer look, one finds that the teeth have shallow roots, with would break off if sunk into the leg of a 5-ton galloping Triceratops! in conclusion, while these teeth might not have been ideal for fighting, they are perfect for ripping the rinds off melons. if this seems hard to believe, take the example of the spider-monkey, a living animal. it has very sharp, pseudo meat-eating teeth that is not carnivorous at all. the monkey eats only fruit! check out http://www.comozooconservatory.org/zoo/spidermonkey.htm. this leads us to think that all dinosaurs might possibly have been plant-eaters. we can all believe God when He tells us that in the beginning all animals, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex, ate plants!
that's all i have for now, in fact all my previous questions on dinosaurs have been answered, i hope yours have. feel free to post any comments or views on the topic, i'd be glad to read them.
credits, lest i get sued for copyright.
"Dinosaurs and the Bible" by David Unfred
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/nation09.htm
http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/coela.htm
http://www.dinofish.com/
http://www.comozooconservatory.org/zoo/spidermonkey.htm
on a lighter note, check this out! http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1541732.html haha funky eh.
