1º(B.A. Bible/Biology)*
MAKING SENSE OF DINOSAURS AND THE BIBLE
The Bible doesn't mention everything under the Sun, but, interestingly, the Bible does give a description of a land animal in the Book of Job 40:15-24 that can only refer to what we now know as a "dinosaur." The passage in Job says that the animal which God calls "Behemoth" has a tail like a cedar tree (no land animal today has a tail like a cedar tree), and bones that are like tubes of bronze and limbs like the bars of iron.
Dinosaurs may well have existed in the time of Job who lived only a few hundred years after the worldwide flood described in Genesis. Dinosaurs were created in the sixth day of creation week along with other beasts and man.
Before the worldwide flood, Noah was commanded to build an ark to save a remnant of human kind and other land forms of life. According to Genesis 6:14-16, the Ark was at least 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. It was one long box that would be stable and couldn't capsize or overturn during the ravaging period of the flood.
Noah wasn't required to take every animal into the Ark, only two of each "kind," male and female of the land animals. Many of the sea animals would have been able to survive through the flood. The first pair of dogs in the Ark would have carried the recessive and dominant genes for producing all the varieties of dogs we have today. The same would be the case with all the other animals. God says in Genesis 1 ten different times that all life must reproduce after its "kind." We know from science that there are genetic limits to biological variations in natural species. A dog will always be a dog no matter how many varieties come into being. The genetic and biological similarities between all forms of life are due to a common Designer (God) Who designed similar functions for similar purposes in all of the various forms of life.
What about “Junk” DNA? The latest science shows that “Junk DNA” isn’t junk after all! It’s we who were ignorant of how useful these segments of DNA really are. Recent scientific research published in scientific journals such as Nature and RNA has revealed that the “non-coding” segments of DNA are essential in regulating gene expression (i.e. how, when, and where genes are expressed in the body).
God had created species as complete and fully functioning from the very beginning. They couldn't survive any other way. A half-evolved dog, for example, wouldn't be able to survive. Darwinian evolutionary theory would have us believe that, by the random forces of nature, partially-evolved species came into existence along with partially-evolved skin, muscles, nerves, tissues, organs and then survived over millions of years as they eventually became complete. What utter nonsense!
Noah didn't have to seek for the animals. God said He would bring the animals to Noah. God may very well have caused the animals to hibernate in the Ark so feeding and taking care of them wouldn't have to be a problem. No doubt, dinosaurs would have very easily fit in the Ark.
We can surmise from the Bible that conditions on the earth were ideal before the flood, but after the flood the world was a hostile place where severe competition was necessary for animals to survive. God had placed the genes in natural species for limited adaptation in so that they could survive through the changing environment on earth after the flood.
Genesis 7 says that much of the water that flooded the whole world came from under the ground. We know even today of vast reservoirs of water that are under the earth. Obviously, if the Genesis account is true, there was much greater amount of water underground in the earth's past. Genesis 7 says that this water burst through the surface of the earth. The colossal effect changed the entire topography and climate of the earth. A major consequence of such a flood would have also been the Ice Age.
The Old Testament (i.e. Psalm 104) describes God as raising high mountains from the earth after the worldwide flood so that the waters would recede into the ocean basins. The tremendous velocity and pressure from such receding water is what most likely caused the formation of the majestic Grand Canyon packed with its billions of fossils.
The Bible says that the Ark landed somewhere in the mountains of Ararat where the modern nation of Turkey is now located. There have been reports from individual mountain climbers of having seen the Ark. The eyewitnesses claim that the Ark had split in two. But, there is no concrete evidence yet of the Ark's existence.
If we should find the Ark, it would definitely be strong evidence for a worldwide flood. But, even without discovering the Ark we have physical evidence for a worldwide flood from the billions of fossils of plants and of animals in the earth.
Visit my latest Internet site: THE SCIENCE SUPPORTING CREATION (This site answers many arguments, both old and new, that have been used by evolutionists to support their theory)
Author of the popular Internet article, TRADITIONAL DOCTRINE OF HELL EVOLVED FROM GREEK ROOTS
*The author, Babu G. Ranganathan, has his bachelor's degree with concentrations in theology and biology and has been recognized for his writings on religion and science in the 24th edition of Marquis "Who's Who In The East."