Where, Oh Where Did the Dinosaurs Go?

February 4th


Then God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst f the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so”(Gen. 1:6, 7)

The explanation for where the dinosaurs went is so simple it made me chuckle in amazement when I first heard it. They aren’t all gone. One needs to know a couple of things that science discovered long ages past, but didn’t convey very effectively to us until recently. Reptiles continue to grow as long as they live. Before the flood, Genesis 1:6, 7 tells us there was a canopy of water above earth that shielded the earth from the harmful rays of the sun. That shield resulted in man being able to live many more years than he lived after the flood (nine hundred years was common). The reason the earth was completely inundated with water in a mere forty days and nights was that the floodgates of heaven opened and poured down upon it. And, of course, Mount Everest wasn't 23, 622 feet high 4,500 years ago. Because of the flood, the canopy disappeared. The flood caused the earth to experience its first tilt. The northern pole tiled away from the sun causing the ice age. The glaciers formed during that ice age actually only came as far south as somewhere in Minnesota. That glacial line is still visible in some satellite photos.

The removal of the waters above the earth meant no more protection from the harmful rays from the sun. All one has to do is read the account of man after the flood to realize his life span began diminishing almost immediately after it ended. Noah lived a total of 950 years. He was already 600 years old when the flood began. Shem only lived 600 years. By the time we get to Terah (eight generations later), Abraham’s father, we discover he only lived 200 years. When dinosaurs lived a long time, they naturally got a lot bigger. The word dinosaur is actually only a few hundred years old (early 1800s). Apparently some of them still lived quite long because we read about how knights became heroes in Europe as late as 1500 A.D. by slaying fire breathing dragons. Those who think such tales were fiction might want to read Job 41, especially verse 19-21 where Job is speaking about Leviathan,

"Out of his mouth go burning torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth. In his neck lodges strength, and dismay leaps before him."

Of course some stories about medieval Europe were exaggerated and some where entirely fiction, but the evidence for the existence of dragons (the bible calls them, among other names, Leviathan) is extensive. Actually Isaiah calls Leviathan “the dragon who lives in the sea.” (Is. 27:1) The Loch Ness Monster might well be a surviving straggler who is still living at depths most would never venture and thus never see. Maybe they’re all gone. Frankly, I don’t know. Those who lived in the deepest depths of the sea would have had a much better chance of surviving until modern times. The point is that all modern reptiles live shortened lives and thus never get very large. Forty year old alligators have reached 17’5’’ in length and weighed in at 1000 pounds. Imagine how big they would get in 900 years. And it seems logical any remaining large landlocked reptiles would have been hunted to distinction long ago.

Certainly, the existence of dragons (aka dinosaurs) during Noah’s life would have been certain. The next question is, “How did he get two of each kind of them into the Ark?” That’s an easy one. A ten year old reptile would have been rather small. He didn’t need to take a nine foot tall dragon into the ark. He likely took all young animals with him to repopulate the earth after the flood. Finally, we should know the ark was 450’ long, 75’ wide, and 45’ high (Gen. 6:14-16). A cubit was 18 inches. That means the ark was 1 million 518 thousand cubic feet of space. It was large enough to easily house two of every kind of unclean animals and seven pairs of clean animals that roamed the earth 4500 years ago (Gen. 6:19; 7:2).

I believe having the above information helps us on many levels as Christians. Sometimes sincere seekers of truth are misled by naysayers who propound foolish theories as if they were scientific facts. Sometimes Christians are discouraged in their faith by the same foolishness. I wrote a couple of articles that got printed in the local paper dealing with this topic a short while back. A local pharmacist attacked me mercilessly for suggesting the earth is not 93 million years old. It was a glorious testimony to God that he made no attempt to disprove the information I presented. He just wanted to discredit me for suggesting evolutionary science is not actually science. The entire community got to read about a Christian witnessing to the masses in that publicly printed exchange of words. All it cost me was a little time to address an issue that I continue to believe is one we need to address as Christians every time we get a chance to do so. If you are a true disciple of Jesus, I pray the above information will strengthen your resolve to find someone today to tell about the glorious things God has done for you.