Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible timeline

1There are a couple of different ideas about this. But that’s all they are: ideas. No one can ever know the facts for sure about where dinosaurs fit with the history of the world—simply because we weren’t there! But here are two popular theories about how dinosaurs might fit into the Bible’s story.

1. Some people think the big ‘sea creatures’ (Job chapter 41) that are mentioned in the Bible are what we now call dinosaurs. The “behemoth” is said to be the strongest of all God’s creatures, a giant whose tail is like a tree (Job chapter 40, verse 15). Nothing like that lives now (that we know of!). But it does sound a bit like a brachiosaurus or a diplodocus . . . The question is: if scientists are right and dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, how could they be in the Bible, which was written only a few thousand years ago? This theory says that one way of reading the Bible’s timeline shows the earth to only be thousands of years old, rather than millions. So, based on that timeline, dinosaurs and humans could have overlapped for a while.
2. The other thought on dinosaurs is that the earth really is millions of years old, just as scientists have dated it to be. In the book of Genesis, we’re told God made the earth in six days. But these six days are not necessarily ‘days’ as we understand them—the word originally used may mean “ages” or “eras”. Each of these eras might have lasted millions of years as God prepared the earth, over a long time, for the best bit of his creation on the final day: humans! Sea creatures were made on ‘day’ five, and land animals were ‘day’ six. Perhaps dinosaurs were part of these eras, living and dying on the earth as part of its preparation for the end of ‘day’ six when God made people. Why did God take such a long time to make the earth when he could have just clicked his fingers? Because he wanted us to understand something important about him: he takes his time, and his timing is perfect. God isn’t a ‘finger-clicking’ genie. He is the God who wants to have a relationship with us that grows and develops over time. He treats us as he treated creation—taking the time to do things properly with us, work with us and make us into the people we’ve always wanted to be.

There are more theories than this about where dinosaurs fit into the Bible’s story. But whatever theory we think makes the most sense, none of us can ever claim to be totally right. We simply have to trust God—knowing that, however he did it, he made everything, including dinosaurs and including us.

— Chris, an Our Daily Bread reader

When first exposed to the creation model of earth history, Christians and non-Christians alike usually ask the same question: "What about the dinosaurs?" It seems that decades of evolutionary brainwashing have led many people to equate dinosaurs with evolution. Dinosaurs have long been an effective tool for teaching evolutionary dogma, but they really did exist, and therefore must somehow fit into the Biblical framework.

The Bible says that all things were created during the six-day creation week (Exodus 20:11, etc.), including dinosaurs. The reptilian dinosaurs were (by definition) land animals which were created on Day Six under the category of "beast of the earth" (Genesis 1:24, 25). There were also large marine reptiles created on Day Five (v. 21). Along with all animals and mankind, they were created to be plant eaters (vs. 29,30), for there was no death before Adam and Eve rebelled against God.

Of the many dinosaur fossils found, almost all give evidence of being plant eaters exclusively. Several of the dinosaur fossil types, however, do possess sharp teeth, sharp claws, spikes, armor plates, etc., perhaps used for a variety of offensive or defensive purposes. Of course scientists can never be certain about a creature's habits when they only have bits of dead ones to study, and most dinosaur fossils are extremely fragmentary, usually consisting of part of a single bone. And many animals alive today that have sharp teeth use them for strictly peaceful ends. But enough is known of dinosaurs to strongly suspect that some of them ate meat.

The Bible doesn't say when they gained that ability, but I feel it does give us a clue. When Adam and Eve rebelled, God pronounced the awful curse of death on all of creation. In doing so, He not only fulfilled His promise that they would begin to die (2:17), but evidently He actually changed the genetic makeup of each "kind" so that all their descendants would forever be different. He changed Eve's body structure (3:16); the plants (v. 18), and the animals, as well (v. 14). Perhaps at this time dinosaurs and other animals acquired or began to acquire body parts designed for aggression or protection. This may be over-speculation, but sin ruins everything, and before long the entire planet was corrupt (6:11,12, 7).

God had told Noah to bring pairs of each kind of land animal on board the Ark, including, evidently, the dinosaurs (7:15). Recognizing that as reptiles, dinosaurs would have continued to grow as long as they lived, implying that the oldest would be the largest, there was plenty of room on board the Ark for the younger ones. Thus the dinosaurs on board the Ark probably would have been young adults, no bigger than a cow perhaps. But the world after the Flood was much different than before, with much less vegetation and a colder, harsher climate, and evidently the dinosaurs gradually died out. Perhaps they were even hunted to extinction, as would be indicated by the many legends of dragons, the descriptions of which closely resemble dinosaurs.

At any rate, Biblical history has an explanation for dinosaurs, their creation, life-style, and extinction. Christian parents are encouraged to use them to teach Biblical truth.

* Dr. John Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Morris, J. 1989. How Do the Dinosaur Fit in? Acts & Facts. 18 (5).