Read
And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:25
Reflect
Whenever you get into a discussion about Christianity with a true skeptic, several questions will inevitably come up. Why do good people suffer? Why would a loving God allow evil into the world? How could a loving God allow people to suffer in Hell? If creation is true, then what about dinosaurs?
That last one is actually harder to answer than the other questions because scripture addresses those, but is largely silent on the issue of history’s biggest giants. But we know these creatures existed, and it’s hard to imagine that they coexisted with man. On August 12, 1990, a fossil hunter named Susan Hendrickson discovered bones belonging to the largest Tyrannosaurus rex on record. Once completed, the skeleton of this T-rex (nicknamed Sue) was 65 feet long. You’d think that we’d know about a creature like that if Moses while he was writing the earliest books of the Old Testament.
Some people believe in a “young earth,” dating back only thousands of years. For these people, dinosaurs are definitely mentioned in the Bible, such as the behemoth in Job 40 and the leviathan in Job 41. It does seem certain that these creatures also do not exist in the modern era, so there may be something to that. But logic and science tend to point to an “old earth” that could date back billions of years. This would definitely allow for the existence of dinosaurs in a previous era that didn’t yet include man.
What do I think? I honestly don’t know, and I’m OK with that. So often we think we should have all of the answers to everything, but if that was the case then you could give me the final word on a toughie like, “What was God’s plan and purpose in allowing my Mom to die so young?” You can’t answer that one, and neither can I. And even though I want that answer, I’m OK with finding out when I meet the Lord on the other side.
Did dinosaurs roam the earth? It certainly seems so, and when they existed shouldn’t be our biggest concern, or even the second, third or 100th concern. We should be more focused on things like telling others about the love of Christ and ensuring that we all agree on core beliefs like Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and the need for salvation and a relationship with Him. We know that God exists, we know that He made everything and we know that He has a plan for our lives. Let’s focus on the questions that we can definitely answer and trust Him to reveal the rest in His good time.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
