Do Dinosaurs Prove a Young Earth?
Dinosaurs sure look like prehistoric creatures, but are they in the Bible and when did they exist. It is a common question that everyone has. We think of dinosaurs existing millions of years ago, so this goes against the timeline of the Bible, but it describes dinosaurs.
The existence of dinosaurs puts doubt into people’s minds about the validity of the Bible. If there were dinosaurs, then Bible believers say the earth is only 6,000 years old, then how can this be so?
Scientists believe that dinosaurs existed between 66 and 245 million years ago. The amount of years does cause skepticism, and aides the theory of a 4.54 billion-year-old planet. Surely there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Soft Dinosaur Tissue
Mary Schweitzer, head of a molecular paleontology department at North Carolina State University, tested the bones of a 68 million-year-old t-rex in 1997. Tests were carried out on the bones to find the most surprising outcome, there is soft tissue.
“What we found was unusual, because it was still soft and still transparent and still flexible,” Schweitzer told LiveScience.
This surprising discovery is still relatively unknown to the public. Bones that are said to be millions of years old still hold the tissue from the dinosaur and it is soft.
Blood Cells
In 2005 The fossil bones from a dinosaur were studied and they show that they contain blood vessels with red blood cells. This on an animal that is tens of millions of years old. Although this does not back-up what we commonly know.
This was discovered by paleontologist Dr. Mary Schweitzer and it has shook-up the science world, leaving them with questions of their own. Even the scientists say that there would be no remaining tissue after 1 million years and are more likely to diminish within a few weeks by microbes.
After the discovery, further tests were carried out on dinosaur bones that were up to the age of 200 million years old. The scientists found that soft tissue was found on half of the samples that they had!
Testing Dinosaurs
Is there a problem with the way that paleontologists carry out tests or are they just focused on other areas?
Schweitzer said in regards to testing;
“The problem is, for 300 years, we thought, ‘Well, the organics are all gone, so why should we look for something that’s not going to be there?’ and nobody looks,” she said.
These words are very telling of what is done, or what is not done. Since nobody has been testing and looking for tissues, they have not been found in the past. How many other instances have dinosaur bones been found with tissue and blood cells, but it had not been found?
Dr. Schweitzer was raised as a Catholic, then became a Christian after the passing of her mother at the age of 16. Before she began her work as a paleontologist, she held the belief that the earth was 6,000 years old.
It was when she met Jack Horner, a paleontology atheist that she rejected her former biblical view of the age of the earth, after 6 months of him convincing her. After her more recent discoveries with dinosaur tissues and blood, I wonder if she has returned the belief that she once had before, and that the earth is not so old and dinosaurs roamed the earth before the flood.
Life After Dinosaur Discovery
Whilst the discovery of the soft tissue and blood cells on the bones of dinosaurs make most people stop and think, are the age of these bones what we thought? Even though scientists have said that the tissues cannot survive beyond 1 million years, popular science articles still claim that the bones are 75 million years old.
The funding that Dr. Schweitzer had at the time of the finds were granted, but now that has changed. She has been lucky enough to find a private funder to keep the laboratory open for the work to continue. Hopefully, she is able to continue to bring new light on this issue.
Where Can I Find Dinosaurs in the Bible?
The word dinosaur is a modern word and dates back to 1841. Many might say there are no dinosaurs in the Bible, but there is a case for such a creature.
A term that could easily fit the dinosaur description would be ‘dragon’ which is mentioned in the Old Testament 22 times, in the New Testament 15 times.
This passage from the Bible, from the book of Job, was written in 2100 BC describes a giant of an animal that can be compared to a dinosaur. This is the Lord’s description of a behemoth;
Job 40:15-19 “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.”
There is no animal like this around today and it certainly has the characteristics of a dinosaur. The key features of a behemoth;
- Eats grass
- Strength of loins
- Force of belly
- Tail, like a cedar tree
- Bones strong as brass
- Bones like iron
- Unapproachable
Another animal that should be mentioned, is a Leviathan. Although this is a sea creature, it is a monstrous size and regarded in the Bible as being uncatchable.
Dinosaurs & Dragons in Cultures
All over the world, there are animals with the same characteristics as a dinosaur. The eastern world still holds the dragon as an iconic figure in Buddhism. Here is a list of the dragons from in culture from around the world;
Asian Dragons
- Arabian dragons
- Armenian dragons
- Chinese dragons
- Babylonian dragons
- Indian dragons
- Tibetan Dragons
- Indonesian/Malay dragons
- Levantine dragons
- Mayan Dragon
- Japanese dragons
- Khmer dragons
- Korean dragons
- Persian dragons
- Philippine dragons
- Sumerian dragons
- Turkish dragons
- Vietnamese dragons
European Dragons
- Albanian dragons
- Catalan dragons
- Chuvash dragons
- English dragons
- French dragons
- Germanic, Icelandic, & Scandinavian dragons
- Greek dragons
- Hungarian dragons
- Leonese and Asturian dragons
- Lithuanian Dragons
- Polish dragons
- Portuguese dragons
- Romanian dragons
- Siberian dragon
- Slavic dragons
- Tatar dragons
- Welsh Dragons
American Dragons
- American dragons
- Aztec dragons
- Mayan dragons
- Brazilian dragons
- Paraguay
- Inca dragons
African Dragons
- Benin dragons
- Egyptian dragons
These dragons are represented all over the world from a time where cultures could not communicate with each other.
Another key point to mention is that dinosaurs are depicted all over the world in cave paintings. Surely all of these representations are not just some mythical legends, but point to a time when giant creatures roamed the earth with humans.
Komodo Dragon
The closest thing on earth today that resembles a dinosaur is a komodo dragon. They are an incredible animal, fierce and ferocious with a poisonous bite.
They are up to 3 meters in length and weigh up to 70 kilograms. They will almost anything, from humans to buffalos, and can live for 30 years. They strike with a fierce bite to inject their poison and follow their prey for miles while the venom kills it.
How are Dinosaurs Referenced in the Bible?
Bible Verses: Leviathan
Job 3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it— those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.
Job 40.25 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook, and tie-down its tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will it make numerous supplications to you, will it speak to you with tender words?
Job 41:1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook, and tie-down its tongue with a rope?
Psalm 74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast.
Isaiah 27:1 At that time the Lord will punish with his destructive, great, and powerful sword Leviathan the fast-moving serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; he will kill the sea monster.
Bible verses: Dragon
Old Testament Dragons
Deuteronomy 32:33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
Nehemiah 2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons and the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
Job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Psalm 44:19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
Psalm 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psalm 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Psalm 148:7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Isaiah 13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Isaiah 34:13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
Isaiah 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Jeremiah 9:11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Jeremiah 10:22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
Jeremiah 14:6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
Jeremiah 49:33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
Jeremiah 51:34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
Jeremiah 51:37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Ezekiel 29:3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
Micah 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
Malachi 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
New Testament Dragons
Revelation 12:1 [ The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon ] Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars.
Revelation 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns.
Revelation 12:4 Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.
Revelation 12:7 [ War in Heaven ] Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Revelation 12:8 But the dragon was not strong enough to prevail, so there was no longer any place left in heaven for him and his angels.
Revelation 12:9 So that huge dragon—the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world—was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.
Revelation 12:13 Now when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
Revelation 12:16 but the earth came to her rescue; the ground opened up and swallowed the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth.
Revelation 12:17 So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep God’s commandments and hold to the testimony about Jesus.
Revelation 12:18 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
Revelation 13:2 Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.
Revelation 13:4 they worshiped the dragon because he had given ruling authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast too, saying: “Who is like the beast?” and “Who is able to make war against him?”
Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.
Revelation 16:13 Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Revelation 20:2 He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and tied him up for a thousand years.
“As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.”
Psalm
18.30