Dinosaurs and People

[jds1977]

Ever seen a hippo tail? not much like a cedar lol

 

[Dannager]

Except camels aren't in Peru.

Dinosaurs aren't either, nor were they there at any point in human history, so I fail to see how camels not being there has any effect on the validity of my identification if it has none on your own.

 

[gluadys]

I highly recommend the following book by Adrienne Mayor:
http://www.amazon.com/Fossil-Legend...ef=sr_1_3/104-8625192-2921567?ie=UTF8&s=books
The first Americans were very familiar with dinosaur bones, and very likely incorporated these fossils in their folklore.

So have aliens. And Bigfoot. And ghosts. And unicorns. And fairies.

Indeed.

Indeed, in dealing with any kind of art work, one must also consider the factor of human imagination--including imagination inspired by fossil finds.

After all, it would be very natural to create stories about these strange artifacts. And for artists to create visual renditions of the stories.

 

[manchambo]

Except camels aren't in Peru.

Anyway....

One doesn't have to look too hard to find evidence of dinosaurs or creatures similar to dinosaurs in recent history. The Bible speaks of them (Job 40 and 41), the Cree Indians portrayed them in their artwork, as did the Anasazi, and several other ancient cultures around the world did the same. There is also the Lake Champlain creature and Loch Ness. These types of creatures have been seen throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America, as well as numerous islands dotting the continent of Oceania.

Far too much to just dismiss.

What, to you, would be an acceptable number of unsubstantiated rumors, legends and sightings to "just dismiss"? How did you arrive at your conlusion as to the proper threshold of non-dismissal? And how did you quantify the number of actual such unsubstantiated rumors, legends and sightings to assure yourself that they meet your threshold requirement?

 

[Melethiel]

Ever seen a hippo tail? not much like a cedar lol

the quote in Job is that it "moves like a cedar". Referring to the swaying motion, with a fair bit of hyperbole, not the structure.

 

[Melethiel]

Except camels aren't in Peru.

Anyway....

One doesn't have to look too hard to find evidence of dinosaurs or creatures similar to dinosaurs in recent history. The Bible speaks of them (Job 40 and 41), the Cree Indians portrayed them in their artwork, as did the Anasazi, and several other ancient cultures around the world did the same. There is also the Lake Champlain creature and Loch Ness. These types of creatures have been seen throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America, as well as numerous islands dotting the continent of Oceania.

Far too much to just dismiss.

Many cultures also have stories and paintings of faeries, mermaids, unicorns...too much to just dismiss.

 

[Assyrian]

Except camels aren't in Peru.

Camels come from North America


Meet the North American Camelops or Ice Age Camel


But I think your picture is a llama with a mobile Mayan temple on it's back (Or should that be a Mayan Lama?)

 

[shernren]

Mayan Lama? Is that, like, a relative of the Dalai Lama?

 

[laptoppop]

Many cultures also have stories and paintings of faeries, mermaids, unicorns...too much to just dismiss.

And, of course, dragons.

 

[Jadis40]

And, of course, dragons.

But not the fire-breathing kind...those never existed, except in the pages of fantasy or fictional stories.

I did find this on wikipedia, and found it to be interesting:

There is an alternative West Semitic etymology that may help explain why Tiamat was described as serpentine. In the fragmentary myth of "Astarte and the Tribute of the Sea" there is mention of "Ta-yam-t", which seems to be a reference to a female (*-t, feminine terminator) serpent (*Ta, *Tan) of the Sea (*Yam). If this etymology is correct, it would explain the connection between Tiamat and Lo-tan (Leviathan). [5].

So, got me to thinking, what if the mention of Leviathan in the Book of Job is just a reference back to this myth?

If the book of Job was written after the return from exiles in Babylonia, it would make perfect sense. This idea, in part, is supported by this:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_job

A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of this book. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Psalms 88 and 89), the prevalence of the idea of "wisdom," and the style and character of the composition, it is supposed by some to have been written in the time of King David and King Solomon. Some, however place it in around the time of the Babylonian exile.

I also found this, which brings up, at least in my mind, a more reasonable explanation than God bringing up the subject of dinosaurs (which died off 65 million years ago thanks to the meteor impact in Chicxulub, Mexico.)

Although it is most likely that the passage of Job 41 is describing a crocodile by itself, when we find other supplemental verses coming from other books of the Bible to the passage, we find that Leviathan is not a creature of reality, but a creature of myth. According to the verses of the book of Psalms, we find that Leviathan, as a pseudonymn of the Devil, is mentioned to have seven heads (Psalms 74:13-14). No dinosaur or sea contemporaries of theirs ever had multiple heads. In the passage, we find that God destroyed the creature by smashing Leviathan's heads and throwing his body into the desert for the animals living there to eat. In fact, some biblical scholars aren't sure if the Leviathan of Psalms is the same creature as the Leviathan of the Book of Job. It could have been that the author of Psalms confused the sea beast mentioned in Job with Satan, (one of Satan's nicknames being "the old serpent"), and borrowed from the description of either the Greek Hydra, or the dragon form of the Babylonian progenitor goddess Tiamat (both of whom were said to have at least seven heads).

There's a pretty good picture of a 7-headed hydra here:

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/gallery/mythology/europe/greek_people/hydra.html

 

[shernren]

You might want to follow this thread: http://www.christianforums.com/t3795181 where I'm trying to make a case for some rather unconventional identifications of Behemoth and Leviathan.

 

[JohnBrown]

Wow! I haven't seen this kind of talk since Yahoo Answers! Very interesting take on Creationists. Actually it goes more like this. We (generalizing creationist) believe that the Bible is written by God and take it literally. Because Jesus came and died for us and all accounts about Jesus are true, because, you and I both know the proof is in His creations and in His word as well as in our hearts. We do not believe parts of the Bible and disregard the rest, the stuff that science"proves" to be wrong. The only thing science proves is God is mysterious and work in mysterious ways, which is where faith comes in. Personally I have faith in what God has shown me to be true. Not what man has shown me. So there is the difference. We here what you are saying, we know what you believe. But that is your opinion. Just because you think it's correct, does not mean it is. God bless.

Amen to that...good post!!!