What About Dinosaurs?

ViaCrucis

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I've heard from some people that the method scientists use to date dinosaurs is flawed and that dinosaurs are actually only thousands of years old. Another theory is that God created the world with the dinosaurs already dead and fossilized.

The methodologies we use to date things involve a number of methods which all corroborate with one another. Radiometric dating, specifically carbon dating, is the method most people are aware of; but carbon dating works upward to several thousand years ago. That's because what is being measured is the rate of decay from carbon14 to carbon12, carbon14 is an unstable isotrope of the carbon atom and so slowly decays into carbon12, a stable isotrope of the carbon atom. A lot of the carbon in living things is carbon14, and so after something dies the carbon is no longer being replenished, and so begins to decay. We know the rate of that decay, that is, the time it takes for that decay to happen--so we can measure the time by measuring the ratio of carbon14 to carbon12. The same basic thing is done with other forms of radiometric dating, for example potassium over very long periods of time decays into argon. And for very, very long time frames, we can measure the rate of decay of uranium into lead.

But other forms of dating include dendrochronology, that is, measuring the age of trees by the number of growth rings they have. Also ice core dating, antarctic ice builds up layer upon layer every year and so the layers of ice from an ice core sample can be counted.

So there's no single method, but a lot of different methods, and which are corroborating with one another. So when there is a lot of data and evidence that is consistently pointing toward the same thing, that is when we can start to be reasonably confident about what the evidence is showing us.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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solid_core

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Human colonization of our world certainly took time --- we first left Africa 60-100K YBP but by 50K YBP Europe and Asia and Australia were all reached and by 12K YBP the Americas were as well. New Zealand was just 1000 YBP and Hawaii just 600 YBP. We reached the moon 50 years ago but didn't stay to colonize.
But only Homo sapiens is from Africa, right? Other humans like neandhertals were not.
 
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Jude1:3Contendforthefaith

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?



.
 
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JackRT

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But only Homo sapiens is from Africa, right? Other humans like neandhertals were not.

Yes, Neandertals and Denisovians occupied Europe and Asia but never made it to Australia, the America or Africa. There is evidence of limited cross breeding with Homo Sapiens.
 
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jahel

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God’s manifold wisdom that is for the church to figure out and proclaim to the heavenly principles, includes how a play thing of God is used to entice others to attempt to harness the power of Leviathan. After which a new creation commence(s)(d) on new grounds Psalms 104:19-30, Psalms 2
 
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Akita Suggagaki

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It is full of natural history. Have you never read it before?
Can you give a few examples other than the Genesis stories?

I think the greater error is expecting the Bible to be something it is not. Why an all or nothing approach? We dont expect the sports page to tell us a lot about the weather. Nor the weather news to tell us much about world news. Why must everything in the Bible be taken as literal historical. Was the prophet Jonah really swallowed by a whale and then spit out? Did Job actually exist? I do not need those to be literal, rather they are literary. I appreciate that.
 
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zoidar

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?

The main thing the Bible is about is the condition of man, man's need of salvation. The Bible speaks about this from the beginning til end. There is no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible. Knowledge about dinosaurs is not needed to understand the condition of man. Science explains "how", the Bible explains "why".

Christ love,
Peter
 
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bling

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?
God made Adam, so on day one how old did he look?
If you could trace everything back to 10,000 years ago, could anyone not scientifically "know" there has to be a God?
The existence of God has always take the least amount of faith, but it does require "faith". With just that little faith you are humbled (even the lowliest mature adult on earth can belief in a Benevolent Creator) and that humility is enough to allow you to accept pure charity. (Humility is needed!)
 
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doctorwho29

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The Bible does mention them in the book of Job. Behemoth and Leviathan match dinosaur descriptions. Also dating methods used on dinosaur bones are rather suspect at times and always built on assumptions. Solid science actually uses them to point to a younger earth (example: soft tissue still in the fossils that should have rotted by secular dating estimates)
 
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Maria Billingsley

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?
There are two camps, young and old earth Christians. I, for one am an old earth Christian. I don't take the creation story in six literal days but consider them time periods. Since all the creatures were created by the fifth day, according to old earth theory, they could have lived millions of years before man was made.
 
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Kenny'sID

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The subject at hand is one of the few things in the bible I haven't been able to make sense of.

Some say there were prior Earth Ages, but the way they went to much trouble to make sure we knew in detail, the evening and the morning were the first day and that it was made overwhelmingly clear, the process took 6 days, and 7 counting the day God rested. IOW, it was clearly stated at the end of each step, the evening and the morning were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th day, and so on.

Point being, life could not exist until after the evening and the morning, the water and the basics to support life were established in that week, ruling out a prior earth age, an earth age that would account for so much, letting all this make sense.

I'd guess those things are what the OP is considering when he says it just doesn't work, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't. I'm thinking there is something small that we're missing, something that we were probably supposed to miss, something that would explain the whole thing. As in, the possibility, is the earth really a lot older and some tiny misunderstanding made us miss the fact?

This it the point where our faith has to kick in, and for all we know this is to test that faith.

?
 
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LiquidCat

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?

Dinosaurs are mostly man-made , there was never found full skeleton of dinosaur like you find skeletons of dog or antelope . Animals were large back then so lizards , rhinos , giraffee ect were bigger.
What scientism does today is find 1 tooth and made full skeleton of dinosaur in 3d with skin on it from it lol
 
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Biblewriter

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The Bible is the word of God. And God is both all knowing and absolutely truthful. So evern factual statement in the Bible has to be 100% true and correct, even if it was made only as a side comment in an account that was actually about a different subject.

But the early chapters of Genesis were intended to establish God's right to tell mankind what to do and how to live. These chapters show that He has that right because he made us, and everything around us.

But they are also precisely true and correct in every detail.

Genesis 1:1 tells us that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The next verse tells us that something happened to that creation. The Hebrew word often translated "was" in verse 2, actually meant "became," and so it is usually translated at every other place where it occurrs in the entire creation account.

Verse 2 goes on to describe the condition the earth was in at the time spoken of in that verse. But the Hebrew wording of Isaiah 45:18 explicitly stated that God did not create theearthin the condition described in Genesis 1:2.

However, adding up all the explicitly stated time periods mentioned in the Bible shows that it was about six thousand years from that time until Jesus came. And this number did not just come from Bishop Ussher. This was well known to some of the earliest Christian writers whose works have survived to the present day. But, since Jesus is known to have been here about two tjousand years ago, that is how we know that mankind is about six thousand years old.

How old the earth is, is not stated in scripture.
 
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Original Happy Camper

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Hi faith,

I've always been one to consider that when in doubt, God's word is true. I believe that the earth, the universe and all that is in them, is about 6,000 years old. I find that the Scriptures are quite clear on the matter, but because of the contradictory understanding of the scientific community, many who read the Scriptural account must somehow get the two to match up, or deny one or the other. Me, I'm for denying the works of man over the works of God.

You are correct, I believe, in understanding that there are some flaws in some of the assumptions made by man in formulating ages of the earth and universe. I also think that one very, very important point for believers to consider is that the creation event was as much a miracle of the work of God, as parting a sea so that water stood tall and unaided on both the right hand and left hand of the Israelites as they passed through. Just as much as science cannot 'prove' to me how water could suddenly stand unaided as described in the Scriptural account, science cannot 'prove' to me how and when the universe was created. Science cannot prove to me how a shadow cast by the sun went backwards ten steps or even stood still in the sky for nearly an entire day. Even for the sun to stand still in the sky for 10 minutes would be an impossible task for man to accomplish. However, the Scriptures declare to us that nothing is impossible for God.

As far as the dinosaur issue? If we do know that scientific dating methods are flawed, then why wouldn't that same flawed nature effect the 'scientific' account of dinosaurs? In the book of Job, there is actually a reference that would seem to be describing the large creatures that we know as 'dinosaurs'. This would indicate that Job knew of dinosaurs and that they likely lived during the same time as Job together upon the earth. Consider that in Job's day, there was a lot of uninhabited land upon the earth. It may well be that the entire North and South American continents were uninhabited.
It could also be that much of Russia and northern Europe were very lightly populated and also the island nations of Australia, New Zealand, etc.

Now, I readily admit that this is all just the musings of a warped and wicked human mind, but they are certainly possibilities to be considered by anyone seriously seeking wisdom as to the age of things and the truth of God's word as it applies to all of this study.

Anyway, for me, I believe that the creatures that we see displayed in our museums as dinosaurs were merely creatures who existed previously in the 6,000 year history of God's creation.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

Dinosaurs and the Flood
Dinosaurs were buried rapidly. They are sometimes found in large numbers, and often have distinct stream orientation, which means that they were washed into position by a flood. Scientists say that floods often happened in the plains where the dinosaurs lived.

However, dinosaur fossil beds sometimes stretch over thousands of square kilometers. These beds are not made from small, seasonal floods.

Some dinosaur fossils were even found in marine deposits, suggesting that they were washed out to sea. Not too long ago, a Scelidosaurus fossil was found surrounded by algae and mollusks. This fossil even had skin tissue.i

Dinosaurs and the Flood | Dinosaurs in the fossil record

Only eight humans survived the flood the rest were destroyed

Genesis 6:5
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

dinosaurs could be the results of messing around with genetics by those humans that existed prior to the flood and due to the fact that GOD had not created them Noah did not take them into the ark. Thus they were destroyed with the humans that created them.

Luke 17:26
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

If you want to conduct groundbreaking but contentious biological research, go to China. Last year, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced he had created the world’s first gene-edited human babies, shocking the world at a time when such practice is illegal in most leading scientific nations.

At the end of July, US-based researcher Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte revealed he had produced the world’s first human-monkey hybrid embryo in China to avoid legal issues in his adopted country.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/genetic-engineering-and-human-animal-hybrids/
 
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Bruce Leiter

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One reason I believe but have some doubt about the bible is because man found dinosaur fossils and other things that confirm the Earth is older than the bible says. So if the bible is true, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? If it's true, then why does it say the earth is only thousands of years old?

How old do you think the Bible says the earth is? Bishop Usher was the person who tried to figure out the age of the earth, but his method was faulty. Biblical history is not modern history. What happened in the Bible actually happened, but modern methods don't work when they are applied to the Bible.

For example, biblical history is history described with a preaching or teaching purpose for a certain audience with a certain purpose. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible for Israel during their desert wanderings to teach them about the unique God who called them out of Egyptian slavery. In other words, the multiple gods of the nations around them are false gods different from the one true God, the Creator of the universe.

Bishop Usher calculated the time of the generations, but he didn't realize that ancient geneologists skipped generations and only described the most relevant ones from their viewpoints. Furthermore, the "days" in Genesis 1 may have been long periods of time. Why do I say that?

First, the word "day" defined the way the Bible, God's Word, uses it is often a long time. Always interpret the Bible's words with the definitions the Bible gives them, not the dictionary.

Second, God didn't create the sun until the fourth day, so the first three day plus couldn't have been 24-hour days. The 24-hour advocates would point to the phrases "the evening and the morning," giving some weight to their position. However, that phrase could also mean the passage of time.

Anyway, I think that creation took a long time because God said for the earth to bring forth life, which had to have taken more than 24 hours. My point is that God definitely created everything including dinosaurs and us--eventually.

One very definite principle of the Bible is the special creation of humans in Genesis 2; we are not descended from some ancestor of the apes and us. God made us in his likeness and image, though that likeness is severely tarnished by Adam's fall into sin.

My advice is that you take the main ideas of the Bible, rightly understood, and fit science into them rather than the other way around. But there will always be mysteries.
 
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JackRT

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Dinosaurs are mostly man-made , there was never found full skeleton of dinosaur like you find skeletons of dog or antelope .

Dinosaur fossils are frequently found incomplete but some are found completely intact.

Animals were large back then so lizards , rhinos , giraffee ect were bigger.

Some were. Your point being?

What scientism does today is find 1 tooth and made full skeleton of dinosaur in 3d with skin on it from it lol

That is quite a dramatic claim. Can you substantiate it?
 
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Maria Billingsley

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The Bible is true, it is science who is lying about evolution, the earth being a globe, and the existence of an outer space where planets, suns/stars, moons. etc.. exist in infinite space moving at thousands of mile an hour. Just one big satanic/science lie.

As for the dinosaurs the Bible does not give an account but they very well could be part of the fallen angelic attempt to corrupt Gods creation bringing about the nephilim as Genesis 6:12 states.

So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

all flesh was corrupted.
Flat earth proponent?
 
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