The Bible Skeptic: The Dinosaur Glen

The Dinosaur Glen

Why Doesn't the Bible Mention Prehistoric Creatures?

If you have a child, or if ever you were one yourself, then you understand the great appeal of dinosaurs, especially to the young. I remember being fascinated by a neighbor’s collection of plastic dinosaur models as a kid. I used to go over to his house to see them. Being only four at the time, he wouldn’t let me touch them. But I recall standing, staring at them, a buzz of electricity humming through my arms urging me to reach out and take one down from his bookshelf. I never did. I was a respectful little kid. My own son has the same fascination. In his generation, there are dinosaurs for every age. He has one that can turn from a Triceratops into a rocket-firing robot! And visits to the museum are never complete without at least three trips through the exhibit of these prehistoric beasts. Dinosaurs overwhelm popular culture. They are the subject of summer movie blockbusters. Dinosaur likenesses are found when we purchase fuel for our cars. They adorn t-shirts and swimming suits, kids bedding and baseball caps. They’re sports mascots and cartoon characters. As soon as they were discovered, these long-dead animals became, and continue to be, the focus of intense interest. Modern human culture is drenched with the images and stories of these ancient, endlessly fascinating beasts. Imagine if they still lived alongside us today…could they possibly go unnoticed? Were they to be alive, would they not still be a dominate focus of our attention? Would they still fail to capture our imaginations? Make us fear them all the more than do their mere colossal bones do today? And yet, the world’s bestseller is devoid of any mention of them.

The dinosaurs went extinct roughly 65 million years ago, according to conventional science. Creation "science" places dinosaurs on Noah’s ark [1], even though the Bible never mentions them. According to conventional science, dinosaurs ruled our planet for millions upon millions of years. They were part of long evolutionary branches, leading from such diminutive creatures as the 3-foot tall, 22 pound Eoraptor (228 million years ago) to the nearly 60-foot long Spinosaurus (95 million years ago) which weighed in at roughly 8 tons. Creation "scientists" believe these creatures roamed the earth in the early pages of Genesis, even though they are never mentioned there, or anywhere else in the Bible. And that raises a question: if creatures like the swift Eoraptor were dashing in and out of the garden of Eden, and raiding the chicken coops of Adam’s descendents, and if monsters like the Spinosaurus were throwing their tons of weight around the countryside, picking off some of Abel’s sheep and flattening Cain’s vineyards, wouldn’t these creatures have at least deserved some sort of mention in the holy text? Why, if the Bible is suppose to document the history of humankind, from Adam and Eve to the savior Jesus Christ, weren’t a Dimetrodon or two just casually mentioned in the biblical narration? Currently, there are 300 known dinosaur genera from the fossil record with an estimated 700 to 900 more genera as yet undiscovered. That’s quite a number of dinosaurs to be roaming around and not get even a passing mention in the world’s all-time bestseller!

Internet apologist and webmaster of the Christian Think-tank, Glen Miller, was once approached with this same conundrum. A visitor is reported to have asked Glen,

Hi I am a long time Christian. I had a friend ask me "If God created the world, why aren't dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible ?" I was at a loss for an answer. I know 'wild animals' are mentioned numerous times. Thanks and GOD Bless

Thoughtfully, Glen replied,

Friend, the basic answer is "there wasn't any NEED to mention them"...the story is about God and humans, all the animal 'players' are peripheral/background at best...penguins are not mentioned, nor or tigers or elephants, for example...they just don't come into the story line...

Authors chose what they want to include in their background and setting, and the vast majority of ancient history and ancient information is simply unnecessary to the authors'/Author's storyline and message.

I hope this helps some, glenn

Personally, I don’t appreciate it when someone calls me "friend" when they don’t even know me, but I suppose Glen’s use of the term merely reflects his folksy attitude toward amiable visitors to his site. However cordial Glen may have been in answering this inquiry, it apparently doesn’t occur to him that the real reason dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Bible is because there weren't any at the time of its composition! Regardless of what the creation "scientists" tell their flock, dinosaurs and human beings never shared the planet at the same time. They are separated by millions of years and one very catastrophic asteroid impact.

The Bible doesn’t mention bison, coyotes, prairie dogs, raccoons, kolas or kangaroos not because the biblical authors didn’t find them worthy of note, but because there weren't any in the region in which the bible was written! The Bible doesn't mention penguins, tigers or elephants either, because there weren't any in the region of its composition, not because these animals simply didn't "come into the story line" of the Bible.

We know dinosaurs roamed the region that would become home for the biblical authors. 150 million years ago, for example, (or, perhaps, while Jabal was tending his flocks if you’re a young earth creationist believing the earth to be a mere 6 to 10 thousand years old), large sauropod dinosaurs roamed ancient beaches in what is today Yemen. Lebanon was home to giant Brachiosaurs and other such creatures during the Cretaceous. Bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs left behind tracks in Jerusalem, the future home of King David and the stage for Jesus’ triumphal drama. Medium-sized theropods galloped through what is today the Al-Khod area of Oman. [2] With all this prehistoric wildlife around them, and the human penchant to obsess over dinosaurs, it seems rather flippant to suggest that the biblical authors found even an off-hand mention of these incredible creatures "simply unnecessary."

The Bible mentions all sorts of animals that are, or were, native to the region when the biblical stories were being composed and many don't further "the story line" any more than if they'd been left out. The Bible mentions not only cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, camels and other animals important to the people of the region and ones they likely ran into on a regular basis, but also such tiny creatures as ants, bees, flies, worms and grasshoppers. The Bible also mentions dangerous creatures that people likely avoided whenever possible: bears, snakes, crocodiles, lions, scorpions and wolves. Certainly, if an animal was either a companion, or an enemy, of the people of the Bible, they got a mention in the biblical text. Even neutral animals were mentioned: birds, deer and lizards just to name a few. So, why not mention the massive Brachiosaur, or any of the other sauropods or theropods for which we have evidence lived in the region (if we are to believe the creationists that these dinosaurs did not predate the biblical authors by tens of millions of years)? Surely these creatures deserved as much notice as the ant, the mouse, or the wasp! And what story isn't made much more interesting by including a pack of raptors? What story line doesn't benefit from a sauropod or two?

The names of a large number of animals occur in the Scriptures. [3] The sacred books were composed by and for a people almost exclusively given to animal husbandry and pastoral life, hence in constant communication with nature. Glen’s answer is far too dismissive given the evidence that the Bible is all to willing to mention a large number of animals –sometimes only once or in passing—for his excuse to pass reasonable consideration. What’s the real reason dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Bible? For the same reason they don't turn up in Egyptian hieroglyphics or Akkadian cuneiform. Because they were long extinct before the first human set pen to papyrus and wrote the words, "In the beginning…" But Glen, apparently, is a young earth creationist and cannot admit the obvious truth. He has to give a dismissive answer to his "friend" and hope it will suffice.

NOTES

1. "In Genesis 6:19–20, the Bible says that two of every sort of land vertebrate (seven of the "clean" animals) were brought by God to the Ark. Therefore, dinosaurs (land vertebrates) were represented on the Ark." according to Answers in Genesis. Return to text

2. Very special "thank you" to the posters at the Talk Rational! forum for their help in locating information about Near East dinosaur discoveries. Return to text

3. There are many lists of animals found in the Bible. The Catholic Encyclopedia has one here. Return to text