A question about dinosaurs

[Piratelady]

This may be a really silly question but it is something that I have been wondering for about 5 years now.
I have a Christian friend who I met in art school and one time she did a painting of Noah's Arc. She had the arc full of all the animals but it also had a unicorn and a dinosaur standing off in the distance because they had missed the arc. She was showing the painting to myself and her best friend who is also a Christian and her friend asked her about the unicorn and dinosaur. My friend replied "Well, the dinosaurs didn't get on the arc right? That's why they died out." Her friend, who went to the same Christian school and church as my friend, LAUGHED at my friend and said "That's not what happened!"
I was quite shocked and confused about her reaction but never asked her what she believed really happened. I never asked my friend either, I am always nervous to ask people about their religion because I am worried I will offend them somehow. I really don't want to offend anyone, I am just really curious.
So, anyway,I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the subject. What happened to the dinosaurs? Did they existed? Any other input would also be appreciated
Thanks,
Piratelady

 

[Ave Maria]

If the story of Noah's Ark happened as the Bible says it did then there were some of all species on Noah's Ark.

On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark, they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind--every bird, every winged creature.
(Gen 7:13-14 NRSV-CE)

As you can see, every kind of animal was on the ark so that would have included dinosaurs if they weren't already extinct. That said, I am a Theistic Evolutionist so I believe that dinosaurs were extinct by the time humans came on the scene.

 

[Incariol]

This may be a really silly question but it is something that I have been wondering for about 5 years now.
I have a Christian friend who I met in art school and one time she did a painting of Noah's Arc. She had the arc full of all the animals but it also had a unicorn and a dinosaur standing off in the distance because they had missed the arc. She was showing the painting to myself and her best friend who is also a Christian and her friend asked her about the unicorn and dinosaur. My friend replied "Well, the dinosaurs didn't get on the arc right? That's why they died out." Her friend, who went to the same Christian school and church as my friend, LAUGHED at my friend and said "That's not what happened!"
I was quite shocked and confused about her reaction but never asked her what she believed really happened. I never asked my friend either, I am always nervous to ask people about their religion because I am worried I will offend them somehow. I really don't want to offend anyone, I am just really curious.
So, anyway,I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the subject. What happened to the dinosaurs? Did they existed? Any other input would also be appreciated
Thanks,
Piratelady

The dinosaurs died out several million years before humanity evolved. There is no evidence of unicorns that I know of.

A literal global flood would cause a genetic bottleneck.

Sent from my iPod touch using Forum Runner

 

[Freedom63]

This may be a really silly question but it is something that I have been wondering for about 5 years now.
I have a Christian friend who I met in art school and one time she did a painting of Noah's Arc. She had the arc full of all the animals but it also had a unicorn and a dinosaur standing off in the distance because they had missed the arc. She was showing the painting to myself and her best friend who is also a Christian and her friend asked her about the unicorn and dinosaur. My friend replied "Well, the dinosaurs didn't get on the arc right? That's why they died out." Her friend, who went to the same Christian school and church as my friend, LAUGHED at my friend and said "That's not what happened!"
I was quite shocked and confused about her reaction but never asked her what she believed really happened. I never asked my friend either, I am always nervous to ask people about their religion because I am worried I will offend them somehow. I really don't want to offend anyone, I am just really curious.
So, anyway,I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the subject. What happened to the dinosaurs? Did they existed? Any other input would also be appreciated
Thanks,
Piratelady

Hmm let's see. You have a new account set up today, a handle of "Piratelady", and declare to be an atheist.

Nope...don't think I am taking the bait on this one. LOL

 

[Yarddog]

So, anyway,I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the subject. What happened to the dinosaurs? Did they existed? Any other input would also be appreciated
Thanks,
Piratelady

Evidence shows that they did. Many Churches do not teach a young Earth. The Catholic Church allows us to believe in either a young or old earth.

I personally believe that the Genesis account is not an literal account in places but is symbolic of Jesus, Christians, and other items which would occur. As an example, the flood represents baptism and the washing away of the sins of the world. I also believe that the many different animals represent the many different peoples of the world which are now saved through Christianity.

To show how scripture uses animals to represent different ethnic groups, we can look at Act 10, where Peter is told to spread the Gospel to the "Gentiles", which in Greek is "ethnos".

11 He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners.

12 In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky.

13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.”

14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”
-------------------------------------------
27 While he conversed with him, he went in and found many people gathered together

28 and said to them, “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean."
-------------------------------------------

This was the beginning of spreading the Gospel to all nations. If we look at the animals as being different nations or peoples then we can realize the great message in the account of Noah's Ark.

 

[leftyatbest]

eah, the proof is in the pudding. You seem sincere in your question but most people on this forum will instantly mark you as an atheist troll and ignore this thread. Sorry to tell you. Welcome to the forum though. I suggest lurking for a while and just chiming in on topics you are interested in.

 

[Freedom63]

eah, the proof is in the pudding. You seem sincere in your question but most people on this forum will instantly mark you as an atheist troll and ignore this thread. Sorry to tell you. Welcome to the forum though. I suggest lurking for a while and just chiming in on topics you are interested in.

1. - Forum rules do not allow atheists in the "Theology (Christian Only)" section.
2. - The content of the OP's question would seem to clearly speak for itself. I mean come on...a scenario bringing unicorns, dinosaurs, and the ark together like that?

 

[leftyatbest]

Thats true, we aren't even supposed to be posting here, in fact I've gotten in trouble for it more than a few times on completely innocent posts that had nothing to do with atheism.

 

[Yarddog]

Though the Op is posted by an atheist, the question does not challenge the existence of God. It seems to be asking a legitimate question which was brought about by listening to her Christian friends.

She seems quite nice and very respectful. Something many atheists and Christians need help with.

God Bless

 

[Piratelady]

Hmm let's see. You have a new account set up today, a handle of "Piratelady", and declare to be an atheist.

Nope...don't think I am taking the bait on this one. LOL

Aww I definitely understand.
I was a bit worried that people were going to think I was a troll or something. I was having a hard time sleeping last night and this question is something that I started thinking about. I just decided that since I could not sleep I might as well do some internet surfing. I have two Christian friends but I never talk about religion with them, mostly because I am always afraid I will offend them even if that is not my intention. I know that people are very sensitive about their believes and I am not trying to step on anyone's toes. I just wanted to find out what the Christian belief system is around the issue of dinosaurs because I know peoples opinions can differ so much person to person and wanted to get multiple people's answers.
Anyway didn't mean to make you nervous
Piratelady

 

[Piratelady]

eah, the proof is in the pudding. You seem sincere in your question but most people on this forum will instantly mark you as an atheist troll and ignore this thread. Sorry to tell you. Welcome to the forum though. I suggest lurking for a while and just chiming in on topics you are interested in.

Yeah I was worried that people were going to think I was a troll. After looking around at other threads though people seemed to be friendly enough so I took the chance. This really is a serious question, I don't live in a place where Christianity is very prominent (well most people here ARE christian but its not common to talk about it) so most of all I know about it is either from my two Christian friends (who I don't really discuss religion with anyway) or from reading things online.

 

[Piratelady]

2. - The content of the OP's question would seem to clearly speak for itself. I mean come on...a scenario bringing unicorns, dinosaurs, and the ark together like that?

Dude, this really is a true story. I could probably get my friend to send me a picture of the painting even if you guys are interested. I'm not here to go about trolling :\ it really is a legit question.

 

[Freedom63]

Aww I definitely understand.
I was a bit worried that people were going to think I was a troll or something. I was having a hard time sleeping last night and this question is something that I started thinking about. I just decided that since I could not sleep I might as well do some internet surfing. I have two Christian friends but I never talk about religion with them, mostly because I am always afraid I will offend them even if that is not my intention. I know that people are very sensitive about their believes and I am not trying to step on anyone's toes. I just wanted to find out what the Christian belief system is around the issue of dinosaurs because I know peoples opinions can differ so much person to person and wanted to get multiple people's answers.
Anyway didn't mean to make you nervous
Piratelady

I am glad you are back. If you are genuine (not trying to insult, just have seem a great many trolls simply here for laughs) then you will not find a single answer to your question.

I myself am a Theistic Evolutionist. I believe God created everything and He did it through some form of evolution as science suggests. This means the dinosaurs are real but were long extinct by the time man arrived on the earth, there is no evidence unicorns ever existed, and Noah's flood was either a major local event or simply a metaphor for a greater truth. Science can prove that such a genetic bottleneck did not occur some 4000 years ago...but one has to seek to understand science to recognize the proof. In my belief structure God and science are not enemies.

Of course there are many on these boards who will tell you that the universe is only 6000 years old and all was created in 6 literal 24 hour days, that Noah's flood was real and completely global in scope, and the the bible must be accepted as literal and factual truth in every detail or your faith is void. Naturally I personally reject such dogma as ridiculousness.

What do Christians Believe? The only true common denominator in my opinion is that God loves us and sent His Son to redeem us. This represents His purpose for mankind.

 

[Piratelady]

Evidence shows that they did. Many Churches do not teach a young Earth. The Catholic Church allows us to believe in either a young or old earth.

I personally believe that the Genesis account is not an literal account in places but is symbolic of Jesus, Christians, and other items which would occur. As an example, the flood represents baptism and the washing away of the sins of the world. I also believe that the many different animals represent the many different peoples of the world which are now saved through Christianity.

To show how scripture uses animals to represent different ethnic groups, we can look at Act 10, where Peter is told to spread the Gospel to the "Gentiles", which in Greek is "ethnos".

11 He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners.

12 In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky.

13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.”

14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”
-------------------------------------------
27 While he conversed with him, he went in and found many people gathered together

28 and said to them, “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean."
-------------------------------------------

This was the beginning of spreading the Gospel to all nations. If we look at the animals as being different nations or peoples then we can realize the great message in the account of Noah's Ark.

Thank you! This is a very unique perspective, I have never heard anything like that before and really enjoyed reading it!
I really like to learn about other peoples beliefs, I do have two Christian friends but we rarely discuss religion. The one I have discussed it with translates the bible literally (the friend who did the painting) so I have really only heard the opinion of "everything the bible says is100% true", "the flood happened" and "people lived to be 200 years old" so I am always really interested in hearing what other Christians opinions are on the same topic.
I'm really glad you got back to me, and thank you for not assuming I was a troll (I figured people would so I was a bit nervous to post)

Piratelady

 

[Piratelady]

I am glad you are back. If you are genuine (not trying to insult, just have seem a great many trolls simply here for laughs) then you will not find a single answer to your question.

I myself am a Theistic Evolutionist. I believe God created everything and He did it through some form of evolution as science suggests. This means the dinosaurs are real but were long extinct by the time man arrived on the earth, there is no evidence unicorns ever existed, and Noah's flood was either a major local event or simply a metaphor for a greater truth. Science can prove that such a genetic bottleneck did not occur some 4000 years ago...but one has to seek to understand science to recognize the proof. In my belief structure God and science are not enemies.

Of course there are many on these boards who will tell you that the universe is only 6000 years old and all was created in 6 literal 24 hour days, that Noah's flood was real and completely global in scope, and the the bible must be accepted as literal and factual truth in every detail or your faith is void. Naturally I personally reject such dogma as ridiculousness.

What do Christians Believe? The only true common denominator in my opinion is that God loves us and sent His Son to redeem us. This represents His purpose for mankind.

I definitely understand the worry, trolls can be a pain in the rear and I can imagine you guys get a lot of them

Thanks for getting back to me though
I am happy to hear what you believe and I really love learning about the different opinions people have. I figured since some translate the bible literally and some don't that I would get a range of answers, and that is what I'm looking for. I want to hear ALL beliefs
Honestly, I am not sure if my friend believed that unicorns existed, she may have just put the unicorn in there because of that song where the unicorns were too busy playing to get on the ark, but I can't be sure. She really did believe that the dino's died out because they missed the ark though, I'm not sure if that is still what she believes, I should maybe ask her. However she DOES believes in the literal translation of the bible so that is really the only opinion of it that I have heard and I did expect much more "literal translation of the bible" replies but so far there have not been many.

Thanks again,
Piratelady

 

[Freedom63]

I definitely understand the worry, trolls can be a pain in the rear and I can imagine you guys get a lot of them

Thanks for getting back to me though
I am happy to hear what you believe and I really love learning about the different opinions people have. I figured since some translate the bible literally and some don't that I would get a range of answers, and that is what I'm looking for. I want to hear ALL beliefs
Honestly, I am not sure if my friend believed that unicorns existed, she may have just put the unicorn in there because of that song where the unicorns were too busy playing to get on the ark, but I can't be sure. She really did believe that the dino's died out because they missed the ark though, I'm not sure if that is still what she believes, I should maybe ask her. However she DOES believes in the literal translation of the bible so that is really the only opinion of it that I have heard and I did expect much more "literal translation of the bible" replies but so far there have not been many.

Thanks again,
Piratelady

They will come...believe me the literalists will show up. And that is really fine as I used to be one myself. My problem with some of them is the tendency to declare that if we do not fully embrace the young earth literal creation belief then we cannot be Christians. Those kind really get under my skin...LOL.

 

[dandylion1984]

I have a Christian friend who I met in art school and one time she did a painting of Noah's Arc. She had the arc full of all the animals but it also had a unicorn and a dinosaur standing off in the distance because they had missed the arc. She was showing the painting to myself and her best friend who is also a Christian and her friend asked her about the unicorn and dinosaur. My friend replied "Well, the dinosaurs didn't get on the arc right? That's why they died out." Her friend, who went to the same Christian school and church as my friend, LAUGHED at my friend and said "That's not what happened!"

Oh, awkward. I've had that conversation. Here's my story:

Me and two friends were hanging out and discussing the cloning of dinosaurs. Somehow we got on the topic of the extinction of dinosaurs and wondering out loud what caused it, when one of my friends, who believes in the bible literally, said, "Well, we already know that. They died in the flood." And me and my other friend (we both believe in theistic evolution) shared an awkward, startled look because even though all three of us went to the same church, we had different beliefs.

Sometimes people (Christians and non-Christians) forget that there is a lot of diversity within Christianity. There are some Christians, like my friend, who believe that a world-wide flood literally happened and there are others, like myself, who believe it is a story about humanity and God but didn't literally happen. And there is a billion different views in between.

 

[ViaCrucis]

This may be a really silly question but it is something that I have been wondering for about 5 years now.
I have a Christian friend who I met in art school and one time she did a painting of Noah's Arc. She had the arc full of all the animals but it also had a unicorn and a dinosaur standing off in the distance because they had missed the arc. She was showing the painting to myself and her best friend who is also a Christian and her friend asked her about the unicorn and dinosaur. My friend replied "Well, the dinosaurs didn't get on the arc right? That's why they died out." Her friend, who went to the same Christian school and church as my friend, LAUGHED at my friend and said "That's not what happened!"
I was quite shocked and confused about her reaction but never asked her what she believed really happened. I never asked my friend either, I am always nervous to ask people about their religion because I am worried I will offend them somehow. I really don't want to offend anyone, I am just really curious.
So, anyway,I was just wondering what all of your thoughts are on the subject. What happened to the dinosaurs? Did they existed? Any other input would also be appreciated
Thanks,
Piratelady

Dinosaurs lived 65+ million years ago (excluding birds, which are still dinosaurs in reality) having died out from a major extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. The major theory is that it was an asteroid or a comet, though from else I've heard on the subject it was likely a combination of factors, including that they were already starting to die off from other environmental factors (the asteroid basically just sealed the deal).

I'm a Theistic Evolutionist (also known as an Evolutionary Creationist). That basically just means that I don't have any difficulty being a Christian and also accepting what the science says. I accept the Bible as inspired, authoritative, and true; but I believe the Bible must be read contextually and critically in order to be read rightly. As such I don't read the early chapters of Genesis as literal history, but as inspired mythology: stories filled with a lot of theological content which serve a narrative purpose in setting the stage for the introduction of God's work with the Jewish people, Israel.

Just to be clear (because a lot of people get confused on this sometimes) it's not that I take the entire Bible to be figurative or mythological, but only that those early chapters of Genesis fit that description due to their literary context. I'm quite comfortable with a literal-historical Abraham, Moses, Exodus, Virgin Birth, Resurrection (etc).

I haven't read all the responses in this thread, but I'm sure others have said much the same. This is a fairly standard position among many different Christians of different backgrounds and denominations; and in fact a non-literal reading of (for example) the Creation Story in Genesis 1 is a very old in Christianity, going back to significant Christian leaders and theologians of the earliest centuries of our religion.

There's no conflict between science and religion in Christianity unless someone forces there to be one

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Yarddog]

Thank you! This is a very unique perspective, I have never heard anything like that before and really enjoyed reading it!
I really like to learn about other peoples beliefs, I do have two Christian friends but we rarely discuss religion. The one I have discussed it with translates the bible literally (the friend who did the painting) so I have really only heard the opinion of "everything the bible says is100% true", "the flood happened" and "people lived to be 200 years old" so I am always really interested in hearing what other Christians opinions are on the same topic.
I'm really glad you got back to me, and thank you for not assuming I was a troll (I figured people would so I was a bit nervous to post)

Piratelady

Hello, I don't assume anything about atheist because I claimed that for a few years. My oldest brother is atheist, my Dad, though not exactly atheist, said that he had no use for religion, and I never heard him speak about religion either.

I was a Baptist who left because of the preaching of the pastor. I rejected God as a young teen but a few years later, God gave me his Holy Spirit late one night in my bedroom. It wasn't for another 10 years before he told me to get baptized and fellowship with other Christians and that is when I became a Catholic. Since then God has taught me so many things about faith and has been revealing the hidden mysteries of scripture.

I believe that 100% true but what that truth is is hidden to many, including myself. A person cannot fully understand scripture using one's brain and must rely on God for understanding.

I really enjoy reading your posts and I would wish that more Christians would be as sweet as you appear to be.

It may not mean much but may God bless you,

Yarddog

 

[forGod1]

I've seen things that make Jesus's existence 100% real.. and you know, dinosaurs aren't make believe. That's how I see it.. because we won't know until death..