Dinosaurs
By Doug Schofield
Do you believe in the God of
the Bible?
Do you believe that the
Bible is His inspired word?
Do you believe Genesis
chapter 1 which states that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth...and all living things..”? If you
answered yes to these questions, then you’d better get ready to defend your
faith.
The power and magnificence of His creation is truly
incredible, isn’t it? I hope you’ve
never seen a tornado up close. They
concentrate an awesome amount of power in a small space in a very short
time. The devastation in the wake of a
powerful tornado can equal the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina in a
highly concentrated form. It is
impressive, to say the least. Just
imagine what would happen if a tornado should stay in one place for a long
period of time, over, say…a print shop.
Just imagine a print shop, with all the trays of type, the barrels of
ink; the paper stock room, the bindery - and a tornado spinning, churning,
mixing it all up until all of a sudden, the whirlwind lifted up and went away,
leaving in its place, just by chance, a complete unabridged dictionary of the
English language.
It contains every known and recognized word in the
English language, in perfect alphabetical order, complete with pronunciation
guide and several definitions that describe the meaning of each word when used
as various parts of speech. Not only
that, but every word in the definitions is spelled correctly too! And it all came about by chance, as a result
of the powerful force of a tornado. How
long do you think it would take? Most
tornados stay on the ground for only a few minutes. Do you think that dictionary could be
produced by random chance if the tornado stayed in place over the print shop
for say 5 hours? How about 5 days; 5
years – no, it couldn’t possible happen, not even in 500 million years. To suggest that it could is totally
absurd! Preposterous! You’d have to be
completely crazy to believe something like that.
Yet, we are being asked to believe an even more
incredible lie; the lie of evolution. No more than that dictionary, or a clock
or an automobile came about by mere chance, did you nor I nor the earth nor the
universe just happen – not even over vast imaginary ages of time!
Consider the human body with all its systems: the
skin, the circulatory system the pulmonary system, the nervous system, the
muscles and skeleton, the eyes, ears, taste buds, brain. Just by chance? Consider the DNA ladder in each molecule of
every cell (and there are billions and billions of them) – if decoded into
text, the DNA code from just one cell would more than fill an entire set of
encyclopedia Britannica. And there is a
decoding system too; that’s what makes redheads have red hair, some able to
roll their tongue or wiggle their ears.
When you consider all of this, and all of the intricate systems of the
earth, indeed of the entire universe, you know there HAD to be a designer – a
creator; just as you know that there was for the dictionary.
Evolutionary Terrorists are attacking our children. Their attacks on the very young are subtle,
and so cutesy that we willingly bring them into our homes without realizing the
implications. Parents who use Barney as
a babysitter owe it to their little ones to teach them the truth about
dinosaurs and about creation by the God of Heaven.
Our colleges, and even some high schools to a somewhat
lesser degree, are more open with their attacks on the Bible account of
creation. An article in the Chicago
Tribune dated Dec 18, 2005 tells how that many of our supposedly Christian educational
institutions are teaching the lies of evolution and there are some even in the
brotherhood of the Lord’s church that are embracing so-called ‘theistic
evolution’.
Or, how about this: On
Here’s
the critical point: theistic evolutionists, like those teaching in some of our
most trusted and highly regarded Christian universities, insist that the
Genesis account of creation is just a mythical way of explaining the
unknown. They say it didn’t really
happen that way, but a man who openly denied the existence of God has discovered
the answer to the origin of life. (How
incredible a leap is that?) They go on
to insist that the rest of the Bible, or at least some of it, is factual – the
atoning blood of Jesus, forgiveness of sins, do unto others and all that; but
say that we must discern between that which is of religious significance and
the so-called facts of modern science.
They fail to acknowledge that almost all of those so-called facts have
been successfully challenged and disproved.
Most importantly, they destroy the credibility of the Bible. It is either what it claims to be, the
inspired infallible word of the God of Heaven, or it is not. It all stands or falls together. Once they begin to chip away at its
credibility, or its authority on any point, then the remainder of it becomes
increasingly vulnerable and ultimately irrelevant. These scientists and professors, including
those among them who claim to be Christians are shaking a defiant fist in the
face of God and calling Him a liar. God
said that He made the universe - and the scriptures tell us that it is
impossible for God to lie, (Hebrews
Evolutionists claim that the earth is billions of years
old to mask the incredulity of their lies.
We know that God created Adam and Eve as full-grown, mature adults – he
told them to reproduce. He created the
fruit trees in the garden as full grown mature trees, able to bear fruit for
Adam and Eve to eat. Certainly He could
make a mature earth – and I believe He could make a million year old rock, if
He needed one.
Somewhere, evolutionists have come up with the idea
that if they hide the implausible lie of evolution in vast ages of time that it
will somehow make it more believable, or at least make it of such magnitude
that ordinary thinking persons wouldn’t dare question it. They are wrong.
The carbon dating testing methods most widely used are
at best flawed; and they are based upon assumptions, not upon absolute
fact. On the other hand, there are
almost a hundred specific scientific tests which prove beyond a shadow of a
doubt that the earth cannot possibly be more than 10,000 years old!
Measurements of atmospheric helium, the concentration
of elements in the seas, quantities and pressures of natural gas, and hydrogen
in the universe all provide reliable means of estimating the age of the earth
with astounding accuracy. Polystrate
fossils of both plant and animal life provide irrefutable evidence. The earth’s magnetic field is decaying at a
measurable rate, and this shows conclusively that the earth between 6,000 and
10,000 years old at the very most. A
simple study of population dynamics will quickly demonstrate that if man
appeared on the earth 3 million years ago, as evolutionists claim, there simply
wouldn’t be room enough for us all.
The earth is not billions of years old, not even
millions of years, but only a few thousand, 6 maybe 8, but certainly no more
than 10,000 years old. This agrees with
the chronology in the Bible.
The word dinosaur is derived from two Greek words
literally translated terrible lizard.
The word is generally used to refer to a group of extinct land
animals. Such animals are mentioned in
God’s word. In fact, God said that He made dinosaurs at the same time He made
man, (on the sixth day): Job 40:15 “Behold
now behemoth, which I made with thee;
he eateth grass as an ox.”
Job 12:7-10 “But
ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and
they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the
fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought
this? In whose hand is the soul of every
living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
After the flood, God gave man permission to use
animals for food: Gen. 9:2-3 “And the
fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and
upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all
the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat
for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”
It is a fact that men interacted with dinosaurs after
the flood. They were hunted for food:
Psalms 74:13-14 “Thou didst divide the sea by thy
strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in
pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”
In 1924 the Dohney Expedition near the
In 1944 Waldemar Julsrud of
Inca burial stones, thousands of them, have been
discovered with amazingly accurate depictions of Triceratops and Stegosaurus
and various others. The type of artwork
made it easy to date them to the time of the Inca culture, within the last
1,500 years or so. There are written
records of some of the stones dating as late as 1525 AD.
As if the Bible record were not enough, how much more
evidence do we need?
At least 2 species of so-called dinosaurs are
described in Job chapters 40 and 41.
Psalms 104:26-30 “There go the ships: [there is]
that leviathan, [whom] thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest
give [them] their meat in due season.
[That] thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are
filled with good. Thou hidest thy face,
they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their
dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit,
they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”
Isa 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.” Herodotus in 400 BC wrote of flying reptiles - dragons. The stories of the dragons of oriental fame
are not without basis in fact.
Scientists tell us that it is quite possible that some of these
creatures ate vast quantities of green vegetation which quickly converted to
methane gas in their digestive systems.
It is conceivable that when they would occasionally belch and sneeze at
the same time it is possible that a spark from pieces of flint rock embedded
between their teeth would ignite the gas and they would appear to breathe fire.
CLEARLY, the creatures called dinosaurs did live on
earth contemporaneously with mankind.
Besides biblical evidence, there is archeological and historical
evidence to support this FACT.
So what happened to the dinosaurs? Deut 29:29 – we honestly don’t know, for
sure. But the extinction of dinosaurs or
any other species should not be difficult for us to understand. In fact, a number of species have become
extinct during our very lifetime! Some
fell victim to habitat loss; others have been hunted into extinction. Some have been brought back from the brink of
extinction, including the
God’s universe continues to function according to the
natural laws which He established. The
thing that is most important for us to realize is that none of the animal
species will survive this world – they will all become extinct, but man’s
immortal soul will live on for all eternity.
That is the thing about which we need to be concerned. We are all too aware that respect for the
sanctity of the scriptures is eroding all around us. It is important that we continue to study the
Bible and reinforce our faith in its truth.
We must remain ever vigilant. Our
Lord warned about false teachers – that warning applies to teachers in the
church as well as in those educational institutions to which we entrust the
training of our young people.
Deut. 4:9 “...but teach them thy sons, and thy
sons' sons; 6:7 And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and
when thou risest up.” We know that
our children will be fed these lies as fact, and we must be diligent about
teaching them the truth about God’s word.
What are those truths?
1. God created the heavens and the earth and all
living things – including you and me.
2. He gave man the freedom to choose to do good
or evil.
3. Because of His love for mankind, God made
provision for man to be reconciled to Him.
4. Our purpose here on earth is to choose where
we will spend eternity
5. If we choose to spend it with God in Heaven,
then we must be willing to submit to His will and obey His commands.
A. He commands that we believe that Jesus is His
Son.
B. That we confess that faith before others.
C. That we repent of our sins.
D. That we be immersed in water
6. If we obey Him and live faithfully we are
promised an eternal home in Heaven.