Did God create the dinosaurs?

I have no idea where to put this thread... I saw a few threads about religion here so I hope this is okay in the quiet place.

I was curious as to how christianity views the dinosaurs... did God create them as just another creature to walk the Earth? I've never heard anything but does the Bible ever refer to creatures that existed before Humans?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You know what, they never really touch on the dinosaurs. There is vague mention in the bible about large creatures that roamed the earth. But I forget where it talks of them. I really have no clue.

How ya doing, buddy?

No, dinosaurs never existed.

God only created oil and fossils because he/she is a practical joker.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The Creator saw a purpose for them long after their extinction: to be the subject of an image which increases the quality of a thread if posted multiple times.

How ya doing, buddy?

Well, I dunno crap about this either way, but I guess one might say God created the dinosaurs and the beginnings of life (sans man) when He created "the Heavens and the Earth" or wutev, then took already established life down a peg to make way for man with that big Godlike space eraser we call a catastrophic meteor. Thats my guess anyway.

My other guess is that God destroyed the dinosaurs because in his omnipotence he foresaw the coming of the Nazis and knew that they'd be unstoppable if they harnessed the power of riding on dinosaurs. This along with the Hollow Earth theory is the basis for a lot of my day to day reasoning.

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Originally Posted by coeccias

The Creator saw a purpose for them long after their extinction: to be the subject of an image which increases the quality of a thread if posted multiple times.

Link me to another thread on this topic please.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I've encountered a few different views on Christianity and dinosaurs. One view is from a Christian who believes God created life through evolution, so his beliefs (and the beliefs of other like-minded individuals) seem to similar to those of regular evolutionists. God started the chain of events by creating the common ancestor that led to the dinosaurs and, eventually, to mankind.

Other Christians I've encountered, who believe the Earth to be between 6,000 and 10,000 years old, believe that dinosaurs were created alongside man and were destroyed in the Flood in Genesis. How they get around the whole carbon-dating thing is beyond me.

Lastly, I've encountered at least one Christian who says that dinosaurs are Satan's creations to lead us away from God. Apparently Satan planted their bones in the ground to deceive us. I guess that person believes that dinosaurs never existed or something.

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God clearly planted those dinosaur bones in the earth just so that we'd one day have a discussion like this. That and to make digging into the earth somewhat exciting.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Yggdrasil

God clearly planted those dinosaur bones in the earth just so that we'd one day have a discussion like this. That and to make digging into the earth somewhat exciting.

If only God had planted Gears in the dinosaurs stead.


I only know of two Christian theories and they are God put the bones there to 'test' us and that dinosaurs coexisted with humans which is 'proven' in some museum in Kentucky I believe.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Christianity is such a contradiction.

You know, I tried to to put an exclamation of disbelief in front of that sentence but I couldn't do it without saying God, Oh God, Jesus, Christ, Jesus Christ, Oh Lord, Lordy Lordy and any other iteration.

The most common belief I've heard is that God killed them with the flood, not a giant meteor.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Everyone knows fossils are just to test our faith and reveal who the true believers are so God can reward them.

Anything in Christianity prior to Jesus' arrival is a joking pile of contradictions anyway, and after that it primarily consists of people using Jesus' name but ignoring his "the greatest commandment is to love thy neighbor" policy.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Two letters: No.

Wow, I didn't realise this place was so atheist/etc, very interesting.

- Spike

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Spikey

Two letters: No.

Wow, I didn't realise this place was so atheist/etc, very interesting.

- Spike

Oh, we have our share of Bible thumpers.

But they have no conclusive explanation for dinosaurs. Obviously, there is some reason we're finding bones and footprints in the rock but Christianity's best explanation, to date, is that who are we to know the mysteries of the Lord, faith will suffice once again - at least until we each die and the dinosaur remains become a moot point. This defense is like an unnourishing gruel to the body of philosophy.

Armed with no better ammunition than the same ineffective rhetoric, GFF's Christians simply know better than to wander into an argument they can't win. The existence of fossils is pretty fucking empyrical.

I was speaking idiomatically.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You know, that comic was pretty good right up until it just became a condensed version of the bible. Nonetheless it was still a pretty entertaining Forerunner take on the issue of dinosaurs.

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

If only God had planted Gears in the dinosaurs stead.

But alas, He clearly saw fit to do otherwise. Although I'm sure had Gears been put on Earth before us we wouldn't have survived to make posts like this.

FELIPE NO

Genesis often refers to "monsters" and "behemoths", so there's room for speculation there.

Now whether they were created and destroyed somewhere within the Seven Days or if, as some believe, they died out at the Flood, I cannot hardly speculate.

This also opens a huge can of worms as to the "actual meaning" of the Seven Days as well...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The bible never mentioned dinosaurs as far as I can recall or maybe it did very vaguely. I do remember a hefty discussion some day when a Jehovah Witness tried to talk me into the idea about evolution and how it was all a big hoax; basically all the fossils/remains exist to filter out the non-believers much like Yggdrasil, guyinrubbersuit and Arainach mentioned. The conversation turned into a long lecture about science and facts for about half an hour and after that, the man told me that the non-believers who refuse to accept Christianity will all be destroyed. That is when Jesus' so called "age of new reign" will begin or something.

So I guess according to the Jehovah guy, the answer is no.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've created a short film, detailing the events explaining the dinosaurs as they are depicted in the Torah. Hope this helps.



There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by kat

You know, I tried to to put an exclamation of disbelief in front of that sentence but I couldn't do it without saying God, Oh God, Jesus, Christ, Jesus Christ, Oh Lord, Lordy Lordy and any other iteration.

Try, "Oh for crying out loud...." That works......

Piers Anthony gives the best explanation:

God created all living creatures, and used evolution as his tool. God is Eternal, so time means nothing for Him. One of His days equals 1 million of our years.

Unfortunately, modern humans have a difficult time imagining things the way they were, because our frame of reference is what is NOW.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You know, I have this sort of personal philosophy: God used science in his creation of the universe and the earth took place over billions of years, and the dinosaurs were as such created by him through biological evolution. Instead of trying to fit an entire semesters' course of biology, history, archeology, and so forth into a single book, it was probably easier to describe his work to Mankind in terms they could understand. Its the same thing when we try and explain complex ideas or situations to a child. We leave out most details and let them know in simple language of what's going on.

Do you think a simple biblical era Man will understand complex mathematical equations, or large scale governing dynamics of planetary rotations and quantum mechanics? Its easier to just tell to the scripture writer "Behold, and I said, let there be light" as opposed to...

Quote:

Science can be thought of as a way of interpreting God's revelation found in nature. If Dinosaurs never existed during the age of Mankind, then it would seem to be logical that God wouldn't mention much or anything of them. Afterall, while he did create them at one point, they were not life that was around at the time of the biblical era in any recognizable form.

I know this will probably be instantly contested by people here, but it makes a lot more sense to me then "God planted them for the lulz".

--edit--
Leknaat beat me, and summarized it in a shorter way to boot

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

People are trying way to hard to fit the empirical observation to a Judaeo-Christian world view. The Snake Goddess of China that crated man should have given equal consideration.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Magi

People are trying way to hard to fit the empirical observation to a Judaeo-Christian world view. The Snake Goddess of China that crated man should have given equal consideration.

Okay, don't make me bring out my "same God, different names" argument....

DN: Sorry about that. But, I didn't have that really cool pic as an example....

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Leknaat

Okay, don't make me bring out my "same God, different names" argument....

Oh, a Unitarian, we are all fucked.

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Originally Posted by Crash Landon

Oh, we have our share of Bible thumpers.

But they have no conclusive explanation for dinosaurs. Obviously, there is some reason we're finding bones and footprints in the rock but Christianity's best explanation, to date, is that who are we to know the mysteries of the Lord, faith will suffice once again - at least until we each die and the dinosaur remains become a moot point. This defense is like an unnourishing gruel to the body of philosophy.

Armed with no better ammunition than the same ineffective rhetoric, GFF's Christians simply know better than to wander into an argument they can't win. The existence of fossils is pretty fucking empyrical.

Time for a Long-winded TL;DR post.

Don't lie, Crash. You know as well as I do that any political palace debate is like one big doggie pile initially, which quickly digresses into a big pedantic squabble over the definition of terms, should the victim choose to continue posting. If someone dares to pipe up and express a dissenting opinion, they are washed away by a deluge of invectives resembling an army of a hundred angry firehoses. Contrarily to what you have said, I have heard many a theist argue that the majority of compelling evidence backs their side of the debate. Let's think about this, if you didn't find the argument for atheism most compelling, you wouldn't 'subscribe' to that philosophy. I think it is presumptuous of you to claim the intellectual high ground simply because at GFF, atheists outnumber theists and overwhelm their victims with copious amounts of insults and copy - pasta from such 'reputable' web sources as talk origins. (Forum bullying, on MY internet? Not surprising.)

I think I've taken enough sciences in university to have had any confidence in evolutionary theory wrenched right out from under me. If anything, what 'they' don't know was what surprised me the most. Highschool and first year university classes tend to deliver the knowledge in a rather pretty package, and really don't discuss 'the problems'. From a pedagogical standpoint, this makes the most sense because one really must have a solid grounding in basic biology, chemistry, physics, and archeology, before one can seriously get into the minute details of scientific theorem, and really examine the glaring holes in the knowledge collectively acquired by the human race.

**disclaimer** Although I am establishing a clear dichotomy in philosophical thought between atheists and theists, this is a somewhat artificial construct because people's personal beliefs are surprisingly varied. This synthetic duality is being established simply for examining two common tenants of thought. i.e. An atheist does not believe in the existence of a supernatural power while the theist does.

Scientific inconsistencies, problems, etc. aside, there are some elements of thinking that should be considered before launching into a derogatory diatribe against someone who does not share your worldview. Consider this: I think I've often considered this topic of atheism vs theism and the conclusion I've come to is that they are really two contradictory worldviews. When approached from the philosophical standpoint of atheism, theism makes no sense and vice versa. (simple, right? People don't consider this when debating because a debate always begins with the assumption that 'I' am right and the opponent is wrong.)

Because people have such a differing set of expectations or 'norms' from which they view their lives, there are arguments that are taken for granted and not considered in a situation of discussion / debate. Because you have so kindly provided the viewpoint of that atheist, lets see what the other side has to say: You speak of Faith. Well, the Theist 'laughs' at the atheist for having faith that life came from nonlife by a very long and complex series of chemical events happening one after another which eventually results in live forming and being able to sustain and reproduce itself. An all powerful super being just breathing everything into existence seems so much simpler. You know, law of parsimony and all that. Theists 'laugh' at atheists for believing that "although we don't know everything about life yet, humans (scientists) will discover it in due time." Also "it had to happen this way, therefore it is only a matter of time before we uncover the answer. We simply haven't investigated the situation enough."

This is a commonly held viewpoint among atheistic scientists and it is overlooked because it is considered the norm. Of course, in much the same way that a theist assumes that God exists, an atheist assumes that he does not. This is not a bottom up scientific inquiry, (evidence --> conclusion --> Philosophy), this is a philosophical decision. (Evidence ---- |Philosophy| --> Conclusion) The existence of a supernatural being cannot be proven or disproven so the notion of such a figure existing is dismissed for the sake of scientific investigation. This is because science is founded on the principle of discovering naturalistic processes. I think the point of confusion is that people begin to infer that science is by nature atheistic because of this philosophical approach to research.

So that being said, when a theist says 'a supernatural power created all life and by extension of this, dinosaurs' an atheist reacts strongly. A Theist doesn't believe this because he is stupid. An Atheist thinks it is stupid because the notion of a supernatural power is not part of his philosophical worldview. The accepted belief that is taken for granted is that 'all physical manifestations in the universe must have a naturalistic explanation' which stems from the philosophy stance that a 'supernatural power does not exist', something that CANNOT be demonstrated scientifically.

So, in short, my point is this: Whether you believe a supernatural power exists or not is a philosophical decision, not a scientific one. The decision becomes a lense through which you view all facets of life, and when a contradictory idea does not fit the expectations generated by this lense, it is dismissed as being ludicrous. No effort is made to examine an idea from the philosophical lense through which it was created so it obviously makes no sense. Any explanation a Theist would offer for the existence of Dinosaurs would be dismissed because it does not conform to the philosophical expectations of an Atheist. This does not mean that one or more do not exist.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

I only know of two Christian theories and they are God put the bones there to 'test' us and that dinosaurs coexisted with humans which is 'proven' in some museum in Kentucky I believe.

Yeah... I read about that on MSNBC back in January or so and it's called the Creation Museum. It's supposed to be a "walk through science" and proposes Genesis as the de-facto explanation of how life began.

I still like Bill Maher's explanation of this the best:

Originally Posted by Bill Maher

I was just at the newly opened Creation Museum in Kentucky and they have this exhibit of a giant dinosaur with a saddle on his back. Because obviously the world is only 5,000 years old therefore man and dinosaur had to co-exist and, of course, we rode them; a theory that I thought laughable at the age of eight when I saw it on THE FLINTSTONES.

Jam it back in, in the dark.