The Baptist Beacon

JURASSIC PARK

by Elder Timothy Binion

Director Steven Spielberg presented through cinema, a triumph of imagination, the movie entitled "Jurassic Park". The movie features a theme park of living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. Modern science and now Hollywood have put forth false information concerning the subject of evolution and particularly dinosaurs. Bible believers deal with the popularized evolutionary theory by pointing their children to Genesis 1:1. By faith we believe God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh (Genesis 1 & 2). Everything including the dinosaurs was spoken into existence by the almighty God during this week of creation. This refutes any teaching of a slow development over a long period of time.

Everything came into existence fully grown, immediately following God's command. God did not create a seed and wait for it to grow into an oak tree, He created an oak tree with age already built in it. Likewise God created a man and not a child completely bypassing years of development. When scientists declare that the world has 70,000,000 year old features, when in reality it is only about 6,000 years old they unknowingly give glory to the creative ability of God.

Dinosaur bones did not come out of the ground labeled, nor is there a reliable system of dating these findings. A Paleontologist will tell you that the age of a bone is determined by the age of the rock it is found in. A Geologist will tell you that there is no way to find out the age of a rock found in sedimentary because sedimentary rock does not have the proper features to use carbon 14 or potassium. So, they determine how old the sediment rock is by determining the age of the fossil (or bone). Have you ever heard such a circle of insanity? It is easy to see that the dating system is completely unreliable for dating rocks or bones found in sedimentary rock (Scientific Creationism by Henry Morris and The Growth of a Prehistorical Time Scale).

God created the dinosaurs on the sixth day along with everything else that creepeth upon the earth, as recorded in Genesis 1:24_26. However, after about 1700 years God chose, because of the sins of man, to destroy every creeping thing from the face of the earth. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and was instructed to build a great ark for his preservation. The Lord told Noah in Genesis 6:17 "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." This judgment brought a drastic change upon the earth, shortening the life span of man and eliminating a large portion of the animal kingdom. This great deluge is an important part of our earth's history.

According to Genesis 2:5_6 it had never rained and the earth was watered with a mist. It seems that before the flood the whole environmental system was different. It has been suggested by Christian Scientists that a vapor canopy covered the entire world producing a green house effect. A vapor canopy would have trapped the earth's heat evenly distributing it around the globe.

The flood was caused by two main sources. First the fountains of the great deep and secondly the windows of heaven (Genesis 7:11). Pressurized waters from the sky and pressurized waters underground meeting at the earth's surface would cause fossilization and rock sediment. Fossilization can only occur under the rare circumstances of enormous Highdronamic contristiezam like we read about in Genesis 7. If this Vapor canopy collapsed (windows of heaven), then heat would have permanently escaped in the higher latitudes and be replaced by masses of super cool air. This might explain why scientists have found mammoths frozen solid, standing upright with food still in their mouths.

God instructed Noah to take with him on the ark everything that creepeth upon the earth. "Everything that creepeth" in this passage means "everything that creepeth", this would naturally include the dinosaurs. Though I doubt a large representative was used to preserve the species. Noah built an ark that would house the entire animal kingdom. Taxonomist and Zoometrist estimate that all present day animals from mice to elephants could be transported in not more than 150 box cars. However, the ark was 1,400,000 square feet which is the equivalent of 520 modern day box cars. If all the animals not extinct today could fit on one deck of Noah's ark, were the other two decks empty? No, I believe dinosaurs occupied some of this space on the ark but had a difficult time adapting to the environmental changes that resulted from the flood.

After the flood, Noah and his family received new instructions on how to live and survive in a cold climate pattern environment. We read in chapter nine where God said: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Because of cold and heat, summer and winter, and its effect upon vegetation, man was given meat as a new source of food supply. Cold blooded animals like the dinosaurs would now have to migrate to the warm climate areas in order to survive.

The idea that men and dinosaurs coexisted has plenty of scientific and Biblical proof. The Oldest book in the Bible (perhaps the oldest book in the world) is the book of Job. Although we are not sure when Job lived, evidence points to sometime before Abraham, and after Noah. The internal evidence of the book's antiquity may be determined by the longevity of Jobs life (140 + years (Job 42:16), the similarities of how wealth was measured (Gen. 12:16; Job 1:3), a family priesthood, and the fact that there is no mention of the Abrahamic Covenant.

In the Book of Job two gigantic creatures are described, Behemoth (Job 40:15_24) and Leviathan (Job 41: 1_34). Could these be ancient names for what we now call Diplodocus, Brontosaurus, Brochiosaurus or even the 100 ton Supersaurus? As you read these passages notice that Job saw Behemoth as a large beast (moth) with the tail like a cedar tree (v17) and he stood like a horizontal tower (v16). Leviathan is described in Job chapter 41 as having reptilian characteristics: Air_breathing (v18_21); Amphibious (v 30_32); Toothed (v 14). Notice also that Leviathan was irrepressible (v 8_11) and incomparable (v 33).

The proximity of where Job saw these animals would have been the best climate for a dinosaur to survive. Behemoth (or this Supersaurus) could have migrated from Ararat to the Jordan River and might have been the species representative that Noah housed on the ark.

Scientific evidence may also be found proving a coexistence of man and dinosaurs. Recently scientists discovered footprints of man and dinosaur fossilized side by side. A picture and more information about this finding may be found in the following books and articles: Paluxy River Footprints of Dinosaurs and Men Together; The Genesis Flood pages 167 & 174_175; John D. Morris UP With Creation and National Geographic (August, 1978 pp.178,184) "A New Look at Dinosaurs"

One cannot deny the existence of dinosaurs. These massive beasts that once inhabited the earth were created by God and declare the work of a powerful creator. Job was awestruck and humbled when he saw the dinosaurs Behemoth and Leviathan because they were so large and powerful. He said; "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" Job 42:6. A "true" response of a visitor from "Jurassic Park".