CREATION SCIENCE: Dinosaurs & Men

According to evolutionary theory, the real Jurassic ‘park’ existed about 150 million years ago. Dinosaurs are believed to have been extinct for a very long time. Long before any modern day humans walked the earth. Another theory is that birds evolved from dinosaurs, although this is hotly contested. These ideas are based upon fossil finds in the geological column and efforts to slot dinosaurs into evolutionary theory as it is currently perceived.

For some reason, Christians who do hold to a more literal understanding of the Bible have difficulty reconciling the great age of the dinosaur with their understanding of the times involved in the chronologies of the Bible. They may question other aspects of secular thinking and the theory of evolution, but not this. The reason is that the prehistoric age of the dinosaur is taught and believed almost universally.

Those who have proposed other theories consistent with a literal understanding of Scripture suggest that dinosaurs probably lived and thrived in the pre-flood atmosphere and were included with the terrestrial animals occupying the ark. According to these theories, dinosaurs did not easily adapt to the radically altered post flood atmosphere (minus the water vapour canopy above: Gen 1:6), and the dinosaurs became extinct.

These ideas therefore support the ‘outrageous’ notion that dinosaurs and man co-existed. However, there are claims and evidence that this may indeed be true…

Once again archaeology has produced some surprising finds. Accurate replications of a variety of prehistoric creatures have been found in authentic rock art and artefacts. They appear in the form of either pictographs (picture symbols) or petroglyphs (carved rock drawings). They are considered authentic because of the degree of pitting and weathering that has taken place. Taking the rates of lichen growth and oxidation into account, the amounts of these substances also testify to the antiquity and authenticity of the art. The style of art is also a clue as to the artists in question. For example, the style of Peruvian artefacts found in the Nazca region suggest they are Inca or pre-Inca engravings. These depict Triceratops and Spinosaurus whilst other art in the North American South West boast excellent examples of pterosaurs (flying reptiles) and Brontosaurus.

The legends and myths of different cultures also testify to creatures which may well have been dinosaurs; The dragons of Chinese and European folklore for example. It is interesting that so many of these legends have to do with the heroic defeat of the last dragon. The Sioux Indians long revered the ‘Thunder Bird’ in their mythology and depicted it to look very much like the pterosaur Pteranodon. Theologians have also long questioned the identity of creatures like leviathon and the behemoth in Isaiah 27:1 and Job 40 & 41.

Could it be that our ancestors actually saw such creatures in the flesh and passed on knowledge of them in the form of myths and legends? Could they have left a heritage carved in stone to testify to their co-habitation with the dinosaurs? It’s certainly worth keeping in mind.

Becky Conolly