The Stone Age

Shayenne
Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
This might be a strange question, but recently, my oldest daughter was saved. She was agnostic at most, and since hanging out alot with her boyfriend and his family, who are christians, she had alot of questions of course, and I was happy to learn she wanted to start going to his church and learning about God, and having some questions answered.

But the one thing on her mind are the dinosaurs. I know this is strange, and I really don't have answers with this one, but why aren't they in the bible?? I know it was b.c., before christ, but if God was always around, and always will be around, why is there no mention about what it was like before christ, even though God was around. She wants to know what exactly happened...did God make them, did he destroy them, why is this part of life not mentioned in the bible. I have no clue how to answer her questions, I do believe in a creator, and there is an afterlife, I was raised Catholic, but what are your theories on how the dinosaurs came about and what God's role was with them???


Hugsss!
~Donna
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Comments

  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    I have a theory but I know
    I have a theory but I know it differs from some so don't feel like fighting today. I don't think it matters anyway.
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    Marcia527 said:

    I have a theory but I know
    I have a theory but I know it differs from some so don't feel like fighting today. I don't think it matters anyway.

    Well...
    ..I didn't think this would start any fights, and to my daughter it seems to matter.
  • AKAngel
    AKAngel Member Posts: 74 Member
    It's not typical
    It's rare that I'd refer a person to a fiction writer for an answer but, in this case it's a way to merge science with religion....Piers Antony wrote a series about the Incarnations of Immortality, about living personifications of Death, Fate, Time, War, Nature, the Devil, and God. But the book that gave me perspective was "And Eternity..." Now you don't have to read all the series, but sometimes it helps, and this book is the last in it, but the important point was this...it is our perspective as living, thinking humans that clutters that fact of faith and creation. To the Lord, 6 days of creation and 70 billion years are as one...His one day of creation could have been 6 million years, because NO ONE can actually know the perspective of God. So when we as humans say He took 6 days, because we only have our perspective of time and its relavence, we take it literally as 6 days. When the Bible in its infantcy was being written, they hadn't even discovered that the world was round, let alone how many species were out there...so how could they say specifically what all God created? They couldn't, even with the Divine will guiding their hands. They weren't capable of that level of understanding...so we've grown over the many centuries, and while our level of understanding has grown, there is still a lot for us to learn. The best that we can do though, is take some things as a matter of faith. If you believe that God created the world and all in it..just believe it, stop asking why and where and how come. As was asked of Job, 'Were you there when I created the world?' (paraphrasing)
    Hope that helps.....
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    AKAngel said:

    It's not typical
    It's rare that I'd refer a person to a fiction writer for an answer but, in this case it's a way to merge science with religion....Piers Antony wrote a series about the Incarnations of Immortality, about living personifications of Death, Fate, Time, War, Nature, the Devil, and God. But the book that gave me perspective was "And Eternity..." Now you don't have to read all the series, but sometimes it helps, and this book is the last in it, but the important point was this...it is our perspective as living, thinking humans that clutters that fact of faith and creation. To the Lord, 6 days of creation and 70 billion years are as one...His one day of creation could have been 6 million years, because NO ONE can actually know the perspective of God. So when we as humans say He took 6 days, because we only have our perspective of time and its relavence, we take it literally as 6 days. When the Bible in its infantcy was being written, they hadn't even discovered that the world was round, let alone how many species were out there...so how could they say specifically what all God created? They couldn't, even with the Divine will guiding their hands. They weren't capable of that level of understanding...so we've grown over the many centuries, and while our level of understanding has grown, there is still a lot for us to learn. The best that we can do though, is take some things as a matter of faith. If you believe that God created the world and all in it..just believe it, stop asking why and where and how come. As was asked of Job, 'Were you there when I created the world?' (paraphrasing)
    Hope that helps.....

    It's Hard....
    ..To tell a 19 year old to just have faith, they just look at me with 2 heads, you know, they all just want an explanation for everything. But thanks your your reply, I'm asking more this for my daughter, not me, I have faith, I don't need to see to believe, but some kids questions just want some kind of answer, and now she even has my 15 year old asking about it...she makes things so complicated haha...she confuses me.
  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    Shayenne said:

    Well...
    ..I didn't think this would start any fights, and to my daughter it seems to matter.

    Donna
    You crack me up, and I might add, just at the right time. You have a knack/gift for that. Anyway, only thing I can come up with is they were extinct before man and there was nobody around to write about them or if man was around then he didn't know how to write or document their history. Its the unknown, kinda like cancer, it is the unknown that plays in our minds and it is the unknown we want answers to. Does this make any sense?

    Hugs - Tina
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    Shayenne said:

    Well...
    ..I didn't think this would start any fights, and to my daughter it seems to matter.

    Well,
    Sorry. If you want the christian answer, google 'dinosaurs bible' and you'll get a lot of answers. One is http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_dinosaurs_not_mentioned_in_the_Bible

    I don't think it matters what I think.
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    geotina said:

    Donna
    You crack me up, and I might add, just at the right time. You have a knack/gift for that. Anyway, only thing I can come up with is they were extinct before man and there was nobody around to write about them or if man was around then he didn't know how to write or document their history. Its the unknown, kinda like cancer, it is the unknown that plays in our minds and it is the unknown we want answers to. Does this make any sense?

    Hugs - Tina

    Hey Tina!
    Yep! it does make sense to me as well, I think what my daughter is looking for is if God was actually around then, or if there was some kind of God then who made the dinosaurs, and even cavemen, I don't even know why she is asking these sort of things, but I have no clue how to answer, and thanks Marcia, of course I care what ya think, and thanks for helping, I'll just tell her to google it instead of wanting to talk about it to me lol...

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna
  • dianetavegia
    dianetavegia Member Posts: 1,942 Member
    Behemouth
    Job 40:15 "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. 16 See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. 17 He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. 18 His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron. 19 He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword. 20 Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there. 21 He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. 22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him. 23 Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth, 24 Though he takes it in his eyes, Or one pierces his nose with a snare.


    The Great Behemoth ate grass and has a tail the size of a cedar tree. I love Answers in Genesis. Here's a link to a page that should help a lot!

    Dinosaurs and the Bible: Click Here
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    Saved from what?
    I decided to delete what I wrote since it would not have helped you in any way.


    -phil

    I had to add something to this discussion
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member

    Behemouth
    Job 40:15 "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. 16 See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. 17 He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. 18 His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron. 19 He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword. 20 Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there. 21 He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. 22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him. 23 Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth, 24 Though he takes it in his eyes, Or one pierces his nose with a snare.


    The Great Behemoth ate grass and has a tail the size of a cedar tree. I love Answers in Genesis. Here's a link to a page that should help a lot!

    Dinosaurs and the Bible: Click Here

    Ever Since
    Religion divorced itself from science a few hundred years ago. It's a shame because religion WAS the science of it's day. Once man started to provide true answers to things that until then were considered unknowable like that the earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. Those who went against the church's word were killed or thrown in jail.

    Like when Galileo Galilei, whom the Inquisition had convicted of heresy in 1633 for teaching that the Earth goes around the sun, spent years in exile.

    So, it is pointless to try to look for answers about dinosaurs in a book like the bible. The bible is a collection of stories that while they often offer good ideas about how to treat other (except when they call for the killing of homosexuals and stuff like that) is is hardly a book that has anything to do with science. So it looks like it comes down to believing that the world is only 6000 years old or believing that is is billions of years old. You can't have it both ways

    The linked article writes this:
    "The story we have all heard from movies, television, newspapers, and most magazines and textbooks is that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. According to evolutionists, the dinosaurs “ruled the Earth” for 140 million years, dying out about 65 million years ago. However, scientists do not dig up anything labeled with those ages. They only uncover dead dinosaurs (i.e., their bones), and their bones do not have labels attached telling how old they are. The idea of millions of years of evolution is just the evolutionists’ story about the past.(scientists can carbon-date bones to see how old they are) No scientist was there to see the dinosaurs live through this supposed dinosaur age. In fact, there is no proof whatsoever that the world and its fossil layers are millions of years old. No scientist observed dinosaurs die. Scientists only find the bones in the here and now, and because many of them are evolutionists, they try to fit the story of the dinosaurs into their view.
    Other scientists, called creation scientists, have a different idea about when dinosaurs lived. They believe they can solve any of the supposed dinosaur mysteries and show how the evidence fits wonderfully with their ideas about the past, beliefs that come from the Bible.

    The Bible, God’s very special book (or collection of books, really), claims that each writer was supernaturally inspired to write exactly what the Creator of all things wanted him to write down for us so that we can know where we (and dinosaurs) came from, why we are here, and what our future will be.(no one who is alive today saw this so how do we know it's true???) The first book in the Bible—Genesis—teaches us many things about how the universe and life came into existence. Genesis tells us that God created everything—the Earth, stars, sun, moon, plants, animals, and the first two people.

    Although the Bible does not tell us exactly how long ago it was that God made the world and its creatures, we can make a good estimate of the date of creation by reading through the Bible and noting some interesting passages:

    God made everything in six days. He did this, by the way, to set a pattern for mankind, which has become our seven day week (as described in Exodus 20:11). God worked for six days and rested for one, as a model for us. Furthermore, Bible scholars will tell you that the Hebrew word for day used in Genesis 1, can only mean an ordinary day in this context.

    We are told God created the first man and woman—Adam and Eve—on Day Six. Many facts about when their children and their children’s children were born are given in Genesis. These genealogies are recorded throughout the Old Testament, up until the time of Christ. They certainly were not chronologies lasting millions of years.(so we are all inbred and came from 2 people?)

    As you add up all of the dates, and accepting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to Earth almost 2000 years ago, we come to the conclusion that the creation of the Earth and animals (including the dinosaurs) occurred only thousands of years ago (perhaps only 6000!), not millions of years. Thus, if the Bible is right (and it is!), dinosaurs must have lived within the past thousands of years."


    In the words of Joseph Campbell Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
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  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    Hi Donna
    There are a few places that talk about Leviathan a dragon and it say that God created him. The reason is does not say anymore on the subject is because the Bible is not a book about what God created but who he created and why so you will not find much about dinosaurs in it. After you passed Genesis the 10th chapter the Bible is all about God trying to lead a world of people back to him that refused his mercy and love, even when He sent his Son all we did was to kill him.
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    Hondo said:

    Hi Donna
    There are a few places that talk about Leviathan a dragon and it say that God created him. The reason is does not say anymore on the subject is because the Bible is not a book about what God created but who he created and why so you will not find much about dinosaurs in it. After you passed Genesis the 10th chapter the Bible is all about God trying to lead a world of people back to him that refused his mercy and love, even when He sent his Son all we did was to kill him.

    Thank You
    ...All for taking the time to post, that was a great one Phil, I do believe in dinosaurs being here, and yes, that's when I got confused and fed up with the Catholics way actually, and always questioned how a loving God would damn Homosexuals, I have alot of gay friends, and I be darned to think these loving people would go to hell because they lay down with man, whatever...

    I'm going to have my daughter come read these posts tomorrow, so I can show her some theories, and go to the websites, it's nice for me to know she now has changed her views, and wants to know more, better late then never I believe lol ;)

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    Shayenne said:

    Thank You
    ...All for taking the time to post, that was a great one Phil, I do believe in dinosaurs being here, and yes, that's when I got confused and fed up with the Catholics way actually, and always questioned how a loving God would damn Homosexuals, I have alot of gay friends, and I be darned to think these loving people would go to hell because they lay down with man, whatever...

    I'm going to have my daughter come read these posts tomorrow, so I can show her some theories, and go to the websites, it's nice for me to know she now has changed her views, and wants to know more, better late then never I believe lol ;)

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna

    Donna
    What's always worked for when people don't know the answer is to say that's it's "part of the mystery of life". One can not realistically look at the question and believe the answer from that web page and not find it totally absurd.

    I do think religion has an important place in the world, it's just that it has not changed in thousands of years while (most) of the human race is aware that science does exist and has been able to provide us with answers to the dinosaur question and many, many more questions.

    Why are there so many races of humans is we all came from Adam and Eve?
    It's a moral about having honor for your parents and mostly to the man upstairs. Anger Him and he'll make us smart as punishment! We all want to believe that when we die we are reunited with our loved ones and with our "Father". It's our nature to want that, that's why the stories were written by man that way.

    There is an interesting book out by Laura Miller(?) about Heaven and how it is looked at and changed over the years. It used to be thought of as a place with angels on clouds with harps and peace and love, now it is (to many) a place where we can go and eat all of the food we want and not get fat. We. as humans (or as Americans at least) have certainly changed what is important to us.

    It comes back to this for me and others.
    In the words of Joseph Campbell Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. I think there is so much to be gained from looking at the myths that the religions present us. It's been very important to the human race but I think one needs to keep it in perspective. It would be like having our doctors use medical books from the Dark Ages to treat our cancer. Maybe it was relevant then but it's not now.

    It's an interesting question Donna, I do not ever see me having to deal with this but it's an interesting question.
    -phil
  • dianetavegia
    dianetavegia Member Posts: 1,942 Member
    Leviathan
    Leviathan was a fire breathing animal and very interesting. He must have been huge because Job and other writers talked about being unable to capture or control him.

    God does not hate homosexuals! God hates any sin and all sin is the same. In fact, in James 2:10 it says whoever keeps all the law yet sins in one area, he is just as guilty as if he'd broken all the commandments. I'm not perfect and am just thankful that my sin penalty was paid at Calvary!

    Job 41:7-34 7 Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion, or drive harpoons into his huge head? 8 If you so much as lay a hand on him, you won't live to tell the story. 9 What hope would you have with such a creature? Why, one look at him would do you in! 10 If you can't hold your own against his glowering visage, how, then, do you expect to stand up to me? 11 Who could confront me and get by with it? I'm in charge of all this - I run this universe! 12 "But I've more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast, his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape. 13 Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin or putting those jaws into bit and bridle? 14 And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth? 15 His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride. 16 Nothing can get through that proud skin - impervious to weapons and weather, 17 The thickest and toughest of hides, impenetrable! 18 "He snorts and the world lights up with fire, he blinks and the dawn breaks. 19 Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch. 20 Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot. 21 He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth. 22 All muscle he is - sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death. 23 Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body - 24 As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable. 25 Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence. 26 Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly. 27 Iron bars are so much straw to him, bronze weapons beneath notice. 28 Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops. 29 A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling; he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke. 30 His belly is armor-plated, inexorable - unstoppable as a barge. 31 He roils deep ocean the way you'd boil water, he whips the sea like you'd whip an egg into batter. 32 With a luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard! 33 There's nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature! 34 He surveys all the high and mighty - king of the ocean, king of the deep!"
  • Leviathan
    Leviathan was a fire breathing animal and very interesting. He must have been huge because Job and other writers talked about being unable to capture or control him.

    God does not hate homosexuals! God hates any sin and all sin is the same. In fact, in James 2:10 it says whoever keeps all the law yet sins in one area, he is just as guilty as if he'd broken all the commandments. I'm not perfect and am just thankful that my sin penalty was paid at Calvary!

    Job 41:7-34 7 Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion, or drive harpoons into his huge head? 8 If you so much as lay a hand on him, you won't live to tell the story. 9 What hope would you have with such a creature? Why, one look at him would do you in! 10 If you can't hold your own against his glowering visage, how, then, do you expect to stand up to me? 11 Who could confront me and get by with it? I'm in charge of all this - I run this universe! 12 "But I've more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast, his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape. 13 Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin or putting those jaws into bit and bridle? 14 And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth? 15 His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride. 16 Nothing can get through that proud skin - impervious to weapons and weather, 17 The thickest and toughest of hides, impenetrable! 18 "He snorts and the world lights up with fire, he blinks and the dawn breaks. 19 Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch. 20 Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot. 21 He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth. 22 All muscle he is - sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death. 23 Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body - 24 As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable. 25 Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence. 26 Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly. 27 Iron bars are so much straw to him, bronze weapons beneath notice. 28 Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops. 29 A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling; he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke. 30 His belly is armor-plated, inexorable - unstoppable as a barge. 31 He roils deep ocean the way you'd boil water, he whips the sea like you'd whip an egg into batter. 32 With a luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard! 33 There's nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature! 34 He surveys all the high and mighty - king of the ocean, king of the deep!"

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  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    unknown said:

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    I believe you can't
    I believe you can't stereotype people. We are individuals and not everyone in the same group will think exactly alike. They might have common goals or believe mostly the same (talking about people attending churches) or they wouldn't continue to attend. There is also some churches that split into two because groups disagree. I've seen this happen.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    You said it was ok
    to say what I think...I don't believe that dinosaurs lived at the same time as people did on earth so any mention of them in the bible must be interpreted that way by some human. Or added to. Anybody quoting scripture doesn't prove anything to me. I've heard it before and seen how some people twist it to say what they want. I've seen where a pastor said it's sinful to watch tv, wear jewelry (even wedding bands), listen to other churches doctrine or wear short hair for women and long for men. I could go on. They got all this from scripture. I don't believe in it. I'd rather skip the middle man and go directly to the source.