A Friend Asked about Where Dinosaurs Fit in with the Creation Story

[Michie]

A friend wrote to me about a friend of his and asked me for advice. He wrote, “I saw a childhood friend over the weekend … he comes from very solid Christian parents and grew up in the church, but doesn’t believe anymore. His main issue is that no one can answer his question where dinosaurs came from before the Garden of Eden and ultimately before the earth was made. He says if someone was able to answer this, it would really help him.”

So, I responded:

I hope this is helpful for your friend. It sounds like he was raised with a literalistic view of Genesis being six literal days. If so, I understand his dilemma. Hopefully, this will help him look beyond his old Sunday School classes . It is a big topic and one that is debated. I will try not to be too wordy and complicated, but also not too simple to insult his intelligence.

There are those who hold a literal six days of creation that took place 6,000 years ago and thus we have a “young earth.” Other Christians hold a view that God created over a long period of time and the “days” of Genesis refer to time periods and explained in a way that pre-scientific people could understand.

Intelligent design means that even though God may have used evolutionary processes to develop the world, nature and man, it was done over time by his design, not by chance.

Continued below.
A Friend Asked about Where Dinosaurs Fit in with the Creation Story – Defenders of the Catholic Faith

 

[eleos1954]

A friend wrote to me about a friend of his and asked me for advice. He wrote, “I saw a childhood friend over the weekend … he comes from very solid Christian parents and grew up in the church, but doesn’t believe anymore. His main issue is that no one can answer his question where dinosaurs came from before the Garden of Eden and ultimately before the earth was made. He says if someone was able to answer this, it would really help him.”

So, I responded:

I hope this is helpful for your friend. It sounds like he was raised with a literalistic view of Genesis being six literal days. If so, I understand his dilemma. Hopefully, this will help him look beyond his old Sunday School classes . It is a big topic and one that is debated. I will try not to be too wordy and complicated, but also not too simple to insult his intelligence.

There are those who hold a literal six days of creation that took place 6,000 years ago and thus we have a “young earth.” Other Christians hold a view that God created over a long period of time and the “days” of Genesis refer to time periods and explained in a way that pre-scientific people could understand.

Intelligent design means that even though God may have used evolutionary processes to develop the world, nature and man, it was done over time by his design, not by chance.

Continued below.
A Friend Asked about Where Dinosaurs Fit in with the Creation Story – Defenders of the Catholic Faith

Intelligent design means that even though God may have used evolutionary processes to develop the world, nature and man, it was done over time by his design, not by chance.

I don't find anything in His Word that supports Him using evolution. God spoke
and it happened is what it says.

Speaking things into existence is solely within God’s power and exclusively His right. When God created the world, He simply spoke, and light appeared (Genesis 1:3); the sky was formed (verses 7–8); dry land emerged (verse 9); vegetation sprang up (verse 11); the sun, moon, and stars appeared (verses 14–15); fish and birds materialized (verses 20–21); and animal life appeared (verse 24). God’s act of creation shows His unique and mighty power in a way that can never be duplicated.

The Bible has something to say with respect to the origin of dinosaurs. The first chapter of Genesis tells us that God created all the animals on the fifth and sixth day of creation.