Thank you for the question about dinosaurs, “I heard that the dinosaurs were created before Adam and Eve, but I thought it only took 7 days to create them. Why?”
The Bible is being challenged for its content and being highly contested as to its truthfulness and or historicity. The question of the existence of dinosaurs and their age is part of that challenge today.
Geologists and paleontologists have dated the earth and the species to millions of years while the Bible claims that all life forms made by the Creator God ended on the sixth day of creation (Gen. 1:31–2:3).
Here are some thoughts for one’s consideration:
A. The creation of animals were on the sixth day.
Genesis 1 says this, “And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along“ the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages).
The Bible records that God created on the sixth day three kinds of creatures: wild animals, livestocks and creatures that move along the ground. If one accepts the biblical text, then the wild animals would include the dinosaurs in contrast to sheep or cattle. God created the sea life on the fifth day with the command to fill the waters. This accounts for lower form to higher from of creatures.
B. The designation of days.
The debate within the Christian scholars is the “day” a literal 24 hour period or an indefinite period of time, beside that there is the debate of the “young creation” of earth or the current creation of earth. Without getting into the pros and cons of those views, one can read about them on the internet.
I accept the Biblical text as it is is written by God. God created the universe and earth in six days. Man measures the age of the universe by the speed of light which is tentatively dated to 14 billion light years. Can there be another measurement than the speed of light? As of now, physicists are not aware but that does not mean that it does not exist.
It didn’t take God 14 billion years to send light to earth. God spoke and it came into being. If I may use a crude analogy that a man with his dump trunk dump several loads of dirt on the side of road. And ant came across that road and found that mountain of dirt. In his calculation from an ant perspective, it would have taken thousands/millions of ant years to move the mountain of dirt to where it is. The man dumped all that dirt in a few hours while the ant calculated that it would have taken thousands/millions of year to move it where it is. Both are correct. We are using human instruments to measure an omnipotent act of God through time.
C. The dating of the dinosaur fossils.
I state a disclaimer since I am not a geologist or paleontologist, but from what I read dating of the earth and fossils are from geological ages and radioactive dating.
As I looked at the fossil charts, geologist and paleontologist would concur that life began from simpler form to more complex form. The creation account already stated that God created simple life form on the ocean to complex creatures on land. Geologist confirms that but the dating is the issue of millions of years to days.
It is my conjecture that the Flood destroyed all land animals including the dinosaurs. Being enormous in size, they were among the first to be drowned and buried when the depths of the ocean were released and the skies poured its constant rain. They were buried in the mudslides with other animals on top of them. Thus layers were developed and compounded when the earth was drained of its water adding more layers with sea creatures as shell life were buried first then the larger mammoths. The change in climate after the Flood affected the animals that left Noah’s ark.
As to radioactive dating surrounding the fossils, again it is a conjecture that the dirt being poured over the land animals were already dated since God created the earth. The soil or ground had age in them. When God created the animals and man from the ground, there were already decomposition otherwise the trees and plants wouldn’t have any nutrients from the soil. Trees were made mature as well as the animals. Thus the radioactive dating of the soil may have been affected by the water that covered the earth, being submerged before it rose out of the water, the Flood and the subsequent change in weather patterns and volcanic explosion may affected the radioactive dating.
It would seem reasonable that if God made the earth core as molten, there would be layers in the earth crust. The cooler layers would be closer to the surface of the earth. The difference between the geologists and the biblical account is the body of water tha covered the earth’s surface. Scripture does not state how the body of water came about in covering the earth but that it’s presence was very early in the formation of the earth. Geologist now believe that there is/are a body of water in the earth’s crust. Did any of the factors affect the radioactive dating of the soil on the earth as the formation of the earth, the water covering the earth at creation and the Flood beside the tectonic shifts and volcanic activities that followed the Flood? Further research may give us some understanding of the earth’s formation and crust.
SUMMARY: Genesis 1 states that God created lower forms of life to higher forms life. Science and the Bible are in agreement but the difference is the dating of the life forms. God created things in time and through time with age in them being affected by the waters that covered the earth and the Flood.
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