Dinosaurs,
the Cross, and the Bible
By Ken Ham
An aura of mystery surrounds the dinosaurs.
Where did they come from? Did they evolve? Did they really live millions of
years ago? What happened to them? Are 
there
any living today? Has any human being ever seen a live dinosaur?
Children and adults alike are absolutely
fascinated by these mysterious monsters. Numerous books and movies have been
produced to satisfy a seemingly insatiable hunger for information on these
puzzling creatures. The truth of the matter, however, is that there are no real
mysteries at all, once you have key information that is not generally known and
is withheld from the public.
Let’s take a walk through history and uncover
some amazing facts that will answer many of your questions about these “terrible
lizards.”
Did
Dinosaurs Really Exist?
Dinosaurs
certainly did roam the Earth in the ancient past! Fossils of dinosaurs have
been found all over the world, and their bones are displayed in museums for all
to see. Scientists have been able to reconstruct many of their skeletons, so we
know much about how they may have looked.
When
Were Dinosaurs Found?
The
story of their discovery began back in the 1820s, when Gideon Mantell, an
English doctor, found some unusual teeth and bones in a quarry. Dr. Mantell
realized there was something very different about these animal remains, and
believed that he had found an entirely new group of reptiles. By 1841, about
nine types of these different reptiles had been uncovered, including two called
Megalosaurus and Iguanodon.
At this time, a famous British scientist
(and creationist), Dr. Richard Owen, coined the name “Dinosauria,” meaning
“terrible lizard,” for this is what the huge bones made him think of.
What
Makes Dinosaurs Different?
Other
than the huge size of some dinosaurs, the major feature that really
distinguishes dinosaurs from other reptiles (such as crocodiles) is the
position of their limbs. Dinosaurs had posture that was fully erect, similar to
that in mammals. Most other reptiles have limbs in a sprawling position. For
instance, compare the way a crocodile ‘walks’ with that of, say, a cow.
Dinosaurs would have moved like a cow, with the limbs supporting the body from
beneath. Crocodiles ‘waddle’, as their limbs project sideways from their body.
How
Big Were Dinosaurs?
Some
were as small as chickens, and others were even smaller. Of course, some dinosaurs
were very large, weighing in at an estimated 80 tons and standing 40 feet
high! The average size of a dinosaur, however, was probably about that of
a small horse.
When
Did Dinosaurs Live?
The
story we have all heard from movies, television, newspapers, and most magazines
and textbooks is that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. According to
evolutionists, the dinosaurs “ruled the Earth” for 140 million years, dying
out about 65 million years ago. However, scientists do not dig up anything
labeled with those ages. They only uncover dead dinosaurs (i.e., their bones),
and their bones do not have labels attached telling how old they are. The
idea of millions of years of evolution is just the evolutionists’ ‘story’
about the past. No scientist was there to see the dinosaurs live through this
supposed ‘dinosaur age.’ In fact, there is no proof whatsoever that the world
and its fossil layers are millions of years old. No scientist observed dinosaurs
die. Scientists only find the bones in the here and now, and because many
of them are evolutionists, they try to fit the story of the dinosaurs into
their view.
The Bible,
God’s very special book (or collection of books, really), claims that each
writer was supernaturally inspired to write exactly what the Creator of all
things wanted him to write down for us so that we can know where we (and dinosaurs)
came from, why we are here, and what our future will be. The first book in
the Bible—Genesis—teaches us many things about how
the universe and life came into existence. Genesis
tells us that God created everything—the Earth, stars, sun, moon, 
plants,
animals, and the first two people.
Although the Bible does not tell us exactly how long ago it was that God made
the world and its creatures, we can make a good estimate of the date of
creation by reading through the Bible
and noting some interesting passages:
1. God made everything in six days. He did
this, by the way, to set a pattern for mankind, which has become our seven day
week (as described in Exodus 20:11).
God worked for six days and rested for one, as a model for us. Furthermore, Bible scholars will tell you that the Hebrew
word for day used in Genesis 1, can
only mean an ordinary day [24 hours] in this context.
2. We are told God created the first man and
woman—Adam and Eve—on Day Six. Many facts about when their children and their
children’s children were born are given in Genesis.
These genealogies are recorded throughout the Old Testament, up until the time of Christ. They certainly were not
chronologies lasting millions of years.
As you add up all of the dates, and
accepting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to Earth almost 2000 years
ago, we come to the conclusion that the creation of the Earth and animals
(including the dinosaurs) occurred only thousands of years ago (perhaps only
6000!), not millions of years. Thus, if the Bible
is right (and it is!), dinosaurs must have lived within the past thousands of
years.
Where
Did Dinosaurs Come From?
Evolutionists claim that dinosaurs evolved
over millions of years. They imagine that one kind of animal slowly changed
over long periods of time to become a different kind of animal. For instance,
they believe that amphibians changed into reptiles (including dinosaurs) by
this gradual process. This would mean, of course, that there would have been
millions of creatures during that time that would be ‘in between,’ as amphibians
evolved into reptiles. Evidence of these “transitional forms,” as they are
called, should be abundant. However, many fossil experts admit that not one
unquestionable transitional form between any group of creatures and another has
been found anywhere. If dinosaurs evolved from amphibians, there should be, for
example, fossil evidence of animals that are part dinosaur and part something
else. However, there is no proof of this anywhere. In fact, if you go into any
museum you will see fossils of dinosaurs that are 100 percent dinosaur, not
something in between. There are no 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, or even
99 percent dinosaurs—they are all 100 percent dinosaur!
The Bible
tells us that God created all of the land animals on the sixth day of creation.
As dinosaurs were land animals, they must have been made on this day, alongside
Adam and Eve, who were also created on Day Six (Genesis 1:24–31). If God designed and created
dinosaurs, they would have been fully functional, designed to do what they were
created for, and would have been 100 percent dinosaur. This fits exactly with
the evidence from the fossil record.
Evolutionists declare that no man ever lived
alongside dinosaurs. The Bible,
however, makes it plain that dinosaurs and people must have lived together.
Actually, as we will soon see, there is a lot of evidence for this.
What
Did Dinosaurs Eat?
Sadly, it did not stay that way for very
long. Adam rebelled against his Creator, bringing sin into the world (Genesis
3:1–7; Romans 5:12). Because of this rebellion,
Adam, and thus all of his descendants (you and me), gave up the right to live
with a Holy (sinless) and just God. God therefore judged sin with death.
The Bible
plainly teaches from Genesis to
Revelation that there was no death of animals
or humans before Adam sinned. (Consider just a few of the many passages, such
as: Romans 5:12; Genesis
2:17; Genesis 1:29–30;
Romans 8:20–22; Acts 3:21; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:1–4; Revelation 22:3.) This 
means
there could not have been any animal fossils (and no dinosaur bones) before
sin.
After Adam’s sin, animals and people started
to die. It was now a different world, one of death and strife. A world that was
once beautiful now suffered under the curse placed upon it by the Creator (Genesis
3:14–19). But a promise was
given (Genesis 3:15)
that God would provide a way for the penalty of sin to be paid so there would
be a way for man to come back to God.
Why
Do We Find Dinosaur Fossils?
Some people think that dinosaurs were too big,
or there were too many of them, to go on this Ark. However, there were not
very many different ‘kinds’ of dinosaurs. There are certainly hundreds of
dinosaur names, but many of these were given to just a bit of bone or skeletons
of the same dinosaur found in other countries. It is also reasonable to assume
that different sizes, varieties, and sexes of the same ‘kind’ of dinosaur
have ended up with different names. For example, look at the many different
varieties and sizes of dogs, but they are all the same ‘kind’—the dog ‘kind’!
In reality, there may have been fewer than 50 ‘kinds’ of dinosaurs.
God sent two of every (seven of some) land
animal into the Ark (Genesis 7:2–3;
7:8–9)—there were no exceptions. Therefore, dinosaurs must have been on
the Ark. Even though there was ample room in the huge ship for large animals,
perhaps God sent young adults into the Ark that still had plenty of room for
them to grow.
Well, what happened to all the land animals
that did not go on the Ark? Very simply, they drowned. Many would have been covered
with tons of mud as the rampaging water covered the land (Genesis 7:11–12, 19). Because of this quick
burial, many of the animals would have been preserved as fossils. If this
happened, you would expect to find evidence of billions of dead things buried
in rock layers (formed from this mud) all over the Earth. This is exactly what
you do find.
By the way, the Flood of Noah’s day probably
occurred just over 4,500 years ago. Creationists believe that this event formed
many of the fossil layers around the Earth. (Additional fossil layers were
formed by other floods as the Earth settled down after the great Flood.) Thus,
the dinosaur fossils which were formed as a result of this Flood were probably
formed about 4,500 years ago, not millions of years ago.
Have
Dinosaurs Lived in Recent Times?
If
the different kinds of dinosaurs survived the Flood, then they must have come
off the Ark and lived in the post-Flood world.
In the Bible,
in Job 40:15–24, God
describes to Job (who lived after the Flood) a great beast with which Job was
familiar. This great animal, called “behemoth,” is described as “the chief of
the ways of God,” perhaps the biggest land animal God had created.
Impressively, he moved his tail like a cedar tree! Although some Bible commentaries say this may have
been an elephant or hippopotamus, the description actually fits that of a
dinosaur like Brachiosaurus. Elephants and hippos certainly do not have tails
like cedar trees!
Actually, very few animals are singled out
in the Bible for such a detailed
description. Contrary to what many may think, what we know now as dinosaurs get
more mention in the Scriptures than most animals! So dinosaurs—all the
different kinds—must have lived alongside of people after the Flood.
Are
Dinosaurs Mentioned in Ancient Literature?
Interestingly,
the word “dragon” is used a number of times in the Old Testament. In most instances, the word dinosaur could substitute
for dragon and it would fit very 
nicely.
Creation scientists believe that dinosaurs were called dragons before the
word dinosaur was invented in the 1800s. We would not expect to find the word
dinosaur in Bibles like the Authorized Version
(1611), as it was translated well before the word dinosaur was ever used.
Also, there are many very old history books
in various libraries around the world that have detailed records of dragons and
their encounters with people. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly for
creationists), many of these descriptions of dragons fit with how modern
scientists would describe dinosaurs, even Tyrannosaurus. Unfortunately, this
evidence is not considered valid by evolutionists. Why? Only because their
belief is that man and dinosaurs did not live at the same time!
However, the more we research the historical
literature, the more we realize there is overwhelming evidence that dragons
were real beasts, much like our modern reconstructions of dinosaurs, and that
their existence has been recorded by many different people, even just hundreds
of years ago.
What
Happened to Dinosaurs?
Evolutionists
use their imagination in a ‘big way’ in answering this question. Because of
their belief that dinosaurs “ruled the world for millions of years,” and then
disappeared millions of years before man allegedly evolved, they have had to
come up with all sorts of guesses to explain this “mysterious disappearance.”
When reading evolutionist literature, you
will be astonished at the range of ideas concerning their supposed extinction.
The following is just a small list of theories: Dinosaurs starved to death;
they died from overeating; they were poisoned; they became blind from cataracts
and could not reproduce; mammals ate their eggs. Other causes include volcanic
dust, poisonous gases, comets, sunspots, meteorites, mass suicide,
constipation, parasites, shrinking brain (and greater stupidity), slipped
discs, changes in the composition of air, etc.
It is obvious that evolutionists don’t know
what happened and are grasping at straws. In a recent evolutionary book on
dinosaurs, A New Look At the Dinosaurs,
the author made the statement: “Now
comes the important question. What caused all these extinctions at one
particular point in time, approximately 65 million years ago? Dozens of reasons
have been suggested, some serious and sensible, others quite crazy, and yet
others merely as a joke. Every year people come up with new theories on this
thorny problem. The trouble is that if we are to find just one reason to
account for them all, it would have to explain the death, all at the same time,
of animals living on land and of animals living in the sea; but, in both cases,
of only some of those animals, for many of the land dwellers and many of the
sea-dwellers went on living quite happily into the following period. Alas, no
such one explanation exists (Alan Charig, p. 150).”
But, one such explanation does exist. If you
remove the evolutionary framework, get rid of the millions of years, and then
take the Bible seriously, you will
find an explanation that fits the facts and makes perfect sense:
At the time of the Flood, many of the sea
creatures died, but some survived. In addition, all of the land creatures
outside the Ark died, but the representatives of all the kinds that survived on
the Ark lived in the new world after the Flood. Those land animals (including
dinosaurs) found the new world to be much different than the one before the
Flood. Due to (1) competition for food that was no longer in abundance, (2)
other catastrophes, (3) man killing for food (and perhaps for fun), and (4) the
destruction of habitats, etc., many species of animals eventually died out. The
group of animals we now call dinosaurs just happened to die out too. In fact,
quite a number of animals become extinct each year. Extinction seems to be the
rule in Earth history (not the formation of new types of animals as you would
expect from evolution).
Will
We Ever See a Live Dinosaur?
The
answer is probably not…but, then again? There are some scientists who believe a
few dinosaurs may have survived in remote jungles. We are still discovering new
species of animals and plants today in areas that have been too difficult to
explore until now. Even natives in some countries describe beasts that fit with
what might be a dinosaur.
Creationists, of course, would not be
surprised if someone found a living dinosaur. However, evolutionists would then
have to explain why they made dogmatic statements that man and dinosaur never
lived at the same time. I suspect they would say something to the effect that
this dinosaur somehow survived because it was trapped in a remote area that has
not changed for millions of years. You see, no matter what is found, or how
embarrassing it is to evolutionists’ ideas, they will always be able to concoct
an ‘answer’ because evolution is a belief. It is not science—it is not fact!
What
Lessons Can We Learn From the Dinosaur?
When
we see the bones of dinosaurs, we can be reminded that death was not a part
of the original creation. Death is actually an intruder, entering when the
first man disobeyed God. The Bible
tells us that because we are all descendants of Adam, we too have sinned:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and 
death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans
5:12); “For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
We need to recognize that the wickedness in the world is because of sin, because
man rebelled against God.
We can also be reminded that God, who made
all things, including the dinosaurs, is also a judge of His creation. He judged
Adam’s rebellion by cursing the world with death. Adam was warned about what
would happen if he disobeyed God’s instruction not to eat the fruit of one
particular tree. “But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
Dinosaurs can also remind us that God judged
the rebellion in Noah’s day by destroying the wicked world with water,
resulting in the death of millions of creatures. The Bible teaches us that He will again judge the world, but next time
by fire: “But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
We can also be reminded that after this
judgment by fire, God will make a new heaven and Earth: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a
new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). And what will it be like in
this new Earth? “And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
But we are also warned that many will not be
allowed into this new Earth but will suffer for eternity: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers,
and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death” (Revelation 21:8).
Humans, who are all sinful from conception (Psalm
51:5), cannot live with a
Holy God, but are condemned to separation from God. But, God provided a
wonderful means of deliverance from sin. The Bible teaches that God offered the perfect sacrifice needed to pay
the penalty for man’s sin. God’s own Son, the one who in fact created the world
(Colossians 1:16), came
to Earth as a man, as a descendant of Adam, to suffer the death penalty for
sin. “But now is Christ risen from the
dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20–22).
The Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross, but
on the third day, rose again, conquering death, so that anyone who believes in
Him and accepts Him into his or her life, is able to come back to God and live
for eternity with the Creator. “For God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16); “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
For those who do not accept by faith what Christ
has done for them and do not recognize their sinful nature and need for redemption,
the Bible warns that such people
will live forever, but will be separated from God in a place of torment that
the Bible calls Hell. But for those
who commit their lives to the Lord—what a wonderful message! What a wonderful
Savior! What a wonderful salvation in Christ the Creator!
Ken Ham is the President, CEO and Founder of
Answers In Genesis-U.S. and the highly acclaimed
