Dinosaurs:
Extinct
or Merely Fun Sized
by Justin
Holloway
12/13/03
The origin, life, and death of the dinosaurs give support to
Creation
Introduction
Dinosaurs
have captivated the imaginations of people all over the world. It is estimated that there are about 250 to
550 different species of dinosaurs. From
the giant Brachiosaurus to the tiny Ornitholestes, dinosaurs came in all shapes
and sizes. There are two
major groups known as the saurischians and the ornithischians. These groups can be distinguished because of
the different structures of their hips. (Haines 13)
According
to the evolutionary theory dinosaurs, became extinct over 65 million years
ago. This viewpoint is contrary to what
the theory of creation says. Creationists believe that the dinosaurs may have
died out only a few thousand years ago.
The origin, life, and death of the dinosaurs
do give support to Creation not Evolution.
Creation Views
The
Bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and earth, and
everything on the earth in seven days.
God created all the creatures of the sea and of the air on the Fifth day
and the creatures of the land on the Sixth day.
So this means that God created the dinosaurs. The
dinosaurs were alive before the flood and they were also on Noah's
Ark. The marine reptiles such as Liopleurodon, a
pliosaur that was the size of a modern day whale, could have easily survived
the flood.
In the book of Job, God shows Job
two creatures, the behemoth and the leviathan.
Their descriptions are similar to that of several dinosaurs and marine
reptiles. In Job 40 God shows Job the
behemoth, a giant land animal whose description matches that of a large
sauropod such as Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus.
"Look at the behemoth, which
I made along with you and which feed on grass like an ox. What strength he has
in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a
cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God..."
(Job 40: 15-19)
Also in Job 41, Job is shown a sea monster
called the leviathan, whose description matches that of a plesiosaur or a pliosaur.
"Nothing
on earth is his equal--a creature without fear" (Job 41:33)
People
who believe in Creation believe the dinosaurs mostly died out only a few
thousand years ago. Though the dinosaurs
most likely survived the flood, man probably hunted them into near extinction
or total extinction. (Ashcraft, Living Fossils)
Though dinosaurs are thought to be
extinct there have been several recent encounters. This is the account made by a scientist named
Ulysses Aldrovandus:
"The dragon was first seen on May
13, 1572,
hissing like a snake. He had been hiding on the small estate of Master Petronius near Dosius in a place
called Malonolta. At 5 PM, he was caught on a public
highway by a herdsman named Baptista of Camaldulus, near the hedge of a private farm, a mile from
the remote city outskirts of Bologna. Baptista
was following his ox cart home when he noticed the oxen suddenly come to a
stop. He kicked them and shouted at them, but they refused to move and went
down on their knees rather than move forward. At this point, the herdsman
noticed a hissing sound and was startled to see this strange little dragon
ahead of him. Trembling he struck it on the head with his rod and killed it. Aldrovandus was surprised that the reptile did not run when
he saw the man, but instead bravely raised its head and stood its ground."
(Dinosaur Q&A, Italy)
This is an account of what might be a pliosaurs made by a German U-boat Captain
named Georg von Forstner:
"On July
30, 1915,
our U28 torpedoed the British steamer
Iberian carrying a rich cargo in the North Atlantic. The
steamer sank quickly, the bow sticking almost vertically into the air. When it
had gone for about twenty-five seconds there was a violent explosion. A little
later pieces of wreckage, and among them a gigantic sea animal (writhing and
struggling wildly), was shot out of the water to a height of 60 to 100-feet. At
that moment I had with me in the conning tower my officers of the watch, the
chief engineer, the navigator, and the helmsman. Simultaneously we all drew one
another's attention to this wonder of the seas...we were unable to identify it.
We did not have time to take a photograph, for the animal sank out of sight
after ten or fifteen seconds. It was about 60-feet long, was like a crocodile in
shape and had four limbs with powerful webbed feet and a long tail tapering to a
point."
(Dinosaur Q&A, Leviathan)
Evolution Views
Scientists
believe dinosaurs evolved from early reptiles.
This began after the largest extinction to ever happen on Earth. It was
called the Permian extinction in which 90% of the life on Earth perished. There are many theories as to how this happened, one of the most plausible theories about what
caused the Permian extinction is the "desertification on land and stagnation at
sea". (Haines 28)
The
dinosaurs lived from 235 till 65 million years ago. Also dinosaurs were the dominant land animals
for 170 million years. They were not
alive at the same time as humans.
Evolutionists believe the dinosaurs
became extinct 65 million years ago. It
is believed that a 6-mile wide meteor caused the mass extinction, which
happened 65 million years ago. The
explosion the meteor made on impact was about 100 million megatons. The meteor formed a crater that was 125 miles
wide and 10 miles deep. (Haines 280-281)
"Keller said this and other
mass extinctions can be tied to an intensive period of volcanic activity and
resulting greenhouse effects, and probably a series of many asteroid
hits." (Walton, What really happened to the
dinosaurs?) Birds are
thought to have evolved from dinosaurs.
The dinosaur known as Archaeopteryx is thought to be a missing link
between dinosaurs and birds. "And speaking as a dinosaur paleontologist, Norell said not all the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million
years ago. "We just call them birds now,"
he
said." (Walton, What really happened to the
dinosaurs?) So birds can be thought to be modern day dinosaurs.
Conclusion
Creationists
believe the dinosaurs died out with in the last few thousand years, but
evolutionists believe the dinosaurs died out millions of years ago. This is a
pretty large difference in times, thousands verses millions of years. So, I
encourage you to carefully examine the evidence for yourself.
Works Cited
Ashcraft,
Chris. “Dinosaurs and the Biblical Flood” Northwest
Creation Network - educational megasite -.
Northwest Creation Network. 4 January 2004 <http://www.nwcreation.net/dinosaurs.html>.
"Dinosaur Extinction - Compelling New Theory." Dinosaur Extinction. All About GOD
Ministries, Inc. 2 January 2004
<http://www.dinosaur-extinction.com/>.
"Dinosaur
questions and answers - ChristianAnswers.Net -." The
Great Dinosaur Mystery (TM) - Eden Communications -.
Eden
Communications. 4 January
2004 <http://
www.christiananswers.net/dinosaurs/questions.html>
Fastovsky, David E.,
and David B. Wheishampel. The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs.
New York:
Cambridge Press,
1996.
"Genesis Park." Genesis Park4 January
2004 <http://www.genesispark.org/genpark/park /park.htm>.
Haines,
Tim. Walking with Dinosaurs ٠ A Natural
History ٠. London: BBC
Worldwide, 1999.
Horner, John R., and Edwin Dobb. Dinosaur
Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga.
New York:
HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.
Walton,
Marsha. "What really happened to the dinosaurs?" CNN.com
2004. 4 March
2004
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/03/02/coolsc.dinosaurs.extinc
tion/index.html>.
