In this episode, the group discusses whether dinosaurs even existed as well as if, where, and how the Bible talks about them?
References:
- Job, Chapters 40 and 41
Derek’s Articles
What about Dinosaurs? Transcript
00:00:00:07 – 00:00:22:03
Derek
What about dinosaurs? Today on Where We Begin.
00:00:22:03 – 00:00:25:20
Derek
Welcome back to Where We Begin. And oh, boy, do we have a good one today.
00:00:26:07 – 00:00:26:14
Lou
Oh.
00:00:27:10 – 00:00:40:02
Derek
I’m really excited. Also, I’m Derek. This is Alycia, Lou and Xandra. Also, this is a podcast that answers some of the toughest objections to Christianity today. Sorry, I’m doing such a poor job today at this.
00:00:40:02 – 00:00:40:19
Lou
No, you’re doing great, Derek
00:00:40:20 – 00:00:41:23
Xandra
It’s just all mixed together like a tossed salad or something.
00:00:42:07 – 00:01:01:07
Derek
Yeah. So I want to start today’s episode, after that very rough start, with a true or false. I just want you to, you know, don’t elaborate. I know this is very hard for you all. Does life find a way?
00:01:03:22 – 00:01:05:07
Alycia
It’s like a little Jurassic Park here.
00:01:10:04 – 00:01:10:17
Xandra
True.
00:01:11:08 – 00:01:12:02
Alycia
Oh, can we answer?
00:01:12:10 – 00:01:15:10
Lou
Life do. Life do make a way.
00:01:15:10 – 00:01:19:02
Derek
Life do make a way. Good.
00:01:19:02 – 00:01:19:15
Lou
It do.
00:01:19:15 – 00:01:25:08
Alycia
I don’t know. I’m kind of in a true, false kind of dichotomy. I’m thinking sometimes it does –
00:01:25:08 – 00:01:26:18
Derek
[Buzzer sound] It’s good. You can answer.
00:01:27:12 – 00:01:28:12
Alycia
That’s what I got.
00:01:28:12 – 00:01:31:04
Derek
Yeah. Essentially. Yeah, that was a dumb question.
00:01:31:19 – 00:01:32:06
Lou
I didn’t even understand it.
00:01:32:14 – 00:01:35:17
Derek
It is the Jurassic Park question.
00:01:35:17 – 00:01:36:07
Lou
Oh, got it.
00:01:36:07 – 00:01:47:12
Derek
Because, you know, coming up, you know, this show, many people don’t know this week is actually sponsored by Jurassic World: Dominion opening on June 10th. And – is that illegal? Can I actually say that?
00:01:47:12 – 00:01:52:09
Lou
Jeff Goldblum is in it. And that makes me wanna watch it because I –
00:01:52:09 – 00:01:53:01
Derek
Laura Dern.
00:01:53:01 – 00:01:55:09
Lou
I know, but it went from one and –
00:01:55:10 – 00:01:56:14
Derek
Sam Neill.
00:01:56:19 – 00:01:57:03
Alycia
The whole cast is coming back.
00:01:57:03 – 00:01:57:11
Derek
– I think is back in it.
00:01:57:11 – 00:01:58:09
Lou
It’s worth watching.
00:01:58:09 – 00:02:04:10
Derek
So it’s exciting. It’s exciting. But what you can – so, ok ,so that is fun. I’m looking forward to that.
00:02:05:16 – 00:02:06:09
Lou
You want to go together?
00:02:06:23 – 00:02:09:02
Alycia
Oh, that’d be so cute.
00:02:09:02 – 00:02:09:15
Derek
Double date?
00:02:10:06 – 00:02:10:23
Lou
Double Dutch.
00:02:11:19 – 00:02:27:18
Derek
OK, I’m going to need to Google that later. I don’t know what I’m agreeing to right now. But so essentially there’s a hint in the question that today we’re talking about dinosaurs. Are you excited?
00:02:27:18 – 00:02:28:12
Xandra
I love dinosaurs.
00:02:28:12 – 00:02:29:16
Derek
I know you do. Who doesn’t?
00:02:29:21 – 00:02:32:16
Lou
I’m just going to put my mic away. I’m done talking.
00:02:34:19 – 00:02:36:07
Xandra
You don’t like dinosaurs?
00:02:36:07 – 00:02:36:19
Lou
No.
00:02:37:17 – 00:02:41:18
Xandra
Why? What’s wrong with you? Dinosaur are great.
00:02:42:19 – 00:02:51:22
Derek
I feel a real affinity to it because – big bodies, little arms. I feel like kind of a dinosaur myself. So, you know, they all have the.
00:02:52:18 – 00:02:54:03
Xandra
It’s got those little claws.
00:02:54:03 – 00:03:04:11
Derek
Yeah. Yeah. Little claws. They are adorable. Let’s just – I actually have a planter my wife bought for me at one time on my desk. It’s a dinosaur. I don’t remember what kind but you’ve seen it.
00:03:04:11 – 00:03:05:06
Xandra
I have?
00:03:05:06 – 00:03:06:00
Derek
It’s the kind that –
00:03:06:00 – 00:03:07:06
Xandra
Its a parasaurolophus.
00:03:07:06 – 00:03:07:22
Derek
There we. Go.
00:03:07:22 – 00:03:10:12
Xandra
Yeah, I saw it on you desk and I said, “Why is there a parasaurolophus on your desk?”
00:03:10:12 – 00:03:18:17
Derek
Parasaurolophus, which means “weird head .” I don’t know if it means that, but they do have weird heads. That’s why I said that. Just to clarify.
00:03:19:00 – 00:03:21:12
Xandra
Oh, you’re thinking of – I’ll be quiet.
00:03:21:12 – 00:04:35:14
Derek
OK, um, ok. I might be wrong. So what we are talking about, essentially the question is this, but what about dinosaurs? Because this is the question that comes up when people are asking about the Bible and essentially trying to say the Bible is obsolete. Because, you know, if you look at Genesis, if you look at the creation accounts, not just there, but, you know, in Job and in the book of Psalms, there are other creation accounts given. One thing we don’t see is dinosaurs and yet in our history, we unearthed all these dinosaurs. And suddenly this whole class of animals that died out long before we were here, um, maybe depending on your view on how old the earth is, but are suddenly there and it’s clear that the Biblical authors have no concept of dinosaurs and they should have mentioned them. So, let’s start with that. I mean what – yeah, essentially, what is – for someone who asks this or maybe someone who is answering it, what’s at stake here in this question? Because it’s really it’s not just about dinosaurs. Xandra, if you want to start off.
00:04:35:16 – 00:05:18:20
Xandra
Yeah. I guess one of the things that might be at stake is people might say, well, are you willing to sacrifice the Scripture for the sake of staying along with mainstream science? And if you really believed in the Scripture, like, you would be able to question science. Because after all, science is always changing. We’re sitting on top of this huge mountain of discarded theories that at one time or another, throughout human history, everybody believed. You know, like the earth is flat or like the the earth is at the center of our solar system rather than our sun or other theories you know? So, I think that might be one thing that’s at stake is just how seriously are we taking the scriptures for whoever might be asking that question? But yeah, I don’t know.
00:05:19:15 – 00:05:46:06
Alycia
Yeah. And because I think, you know, it comes down to like, you know, the coexistence. Did dinosaurs coexist with humans? And, you know, these kind of things. And so I think, you know, oftentimes people when they’re reading the Scriptures are trying to say, well, if we read it this way, then where do we place the dinosaurs in all of this? And so I think there’s yeah, there’s all these dynamics as people are trying to sort all that out when it seems like, you know, that if they’re not necessarily mentioned in Scripture and you’d think they would be.
00:05:47:09 – 00:06:40:11
Derek
Yeah. And so I do want to get to the specific answer of dinosaurs. I know, because that’s a fun topic. Um, but it is probably helpful first to, you know, maybe just elaborate. What do we think something like the account in Genesis, and there may be different answers from each of you on this. What is it attempting to accomplish? Like is this an issue of essentially we just don’t understand what type of literature Genesis is? We don’t understand what its purpose is. Should it have had dinosaurs in it? Or not? Like, I feel like that’s part of the question too. Like what – how would we respond to that? What is Genesis actually doing and is that a fair accusation that there aren’t dinosaurs in it. Therefore the Bible cannot be true?
00:06:42:02 – 00:08:24:02
Xandra
I think a lot of this comes back to how you’re approaching the Scriptures. And Genesis tells us a story about the Creator who created everything. In the beginning, God. He was in the beginning, which is a huge claim. And I think we get really tied up in, you know, trying to figure out the different days and like, OK, well, how did this happen scientifically or how did this come from that? Or, you know, other things are, you know, people approach other parts of Genesis like Noah’s Flood, for example, in the same way. And they’ll really come at it with saying, OK, what does this tell us about the science versus what is this just trying to tell us generally, first of all? And so I think a lot of what we see in Genesis talks about humans’ role as stewards of the earth. You know, and like the Noah story, I think also is very clear about how we are meant to be stewards of God’s creation. And care for it. And that’s a beautiful picture. And if we get all tied up on like, were there dinosaurs on the ark or what happened there? I think we can maybe get derailed a little bit from what that is supposed to be teaching us as children of God. So, I’m a scientist, obviously, I love – well, I’m not a scientist, I’m trained in the sciences and I absolutely love the sciences. And I think there are a lot of scriptures that have pointed me back to science and they say, wow, the congruence here is incredible, but I don’t go to Scriptures with the same mindset that I would go to like my biochemistry textbook or something like that. I don’t think that that’s the appropriate way to view Scripture, personally.
00:08:24:20 – 00:09:45:19
Derek
Yeah, thanks. No, that’s really good. It’s interesting that, again, there are lots of things that are not mentioned in the Bible. You know, it’s not really this – it’s not an Encyclopedia Britannica, which you can Google and find out what that used to be. But it is – but for some reason, dinosaurs have been the sort of ‘one thing’ that has stuck as – Oh, but since those aren’t in there this is a major problem. But essentially it’s not even that they’re not in there. So, I know there are different views on this, but the issue is perhaps with, and I wasn’t even planning on going this direction, but now I do feel sort of led to go this direction and, but this really is the major question. It’s sort of only addressing a young Earth view, right? I mean, that’s essentially the problem. If you’re a Christian that has an older view of the Earth, there’s really no issue. There might be the issue of why would God do it like that? Nature seems, you know, red in tooth and claw. But essentially the issue is really just – in a young earth perspective, which just means that the Earth was created in six literal days, roughly 6-8000 years ago.
00:09:45:20 – 00:09:46:14
Alycia
24 hour days.
00:09:46:14 – 00:10:27:16
Derek
That there’s just so much incongruence with what – you know, through carbon dating and everything – the picture that emerges from the scientific data that view can’t be sort of reconciled. So what I mean is that, I don’t know if anyone here is as a Young Earth Creationist and I don’t, you know, they’re our brothers and sisters. We love them. I don’t think anyone is. But would they have an answer to that. I mean, or is it just they’re not as old as we think they are? Or maybe if you don’t want to go there, what would be your answer to that? Is there an issue with it?
00:10:27:17 – 00:11:04:10
Xandra
I think just – a lot of people I’ve spoken with who are on the Young Earth viewpoint, they do have answers for it. And if you go to the Creation Museum, you’ll see, you know, displays of Eve and there’s a velociraptor walking around behind her, like eating plants because they believe the dinosaurs were there and they had the pointy teeth and the scary claws and everything but they were just eating plants. And they have answers for things like, you know, Noah’s Ark, that he could have rolled dinosaur eggs up on to the Ark rather than having them walk two by two. Because we know that you couldn’t have physically fit those creatures on the ark.
00:11:04:11 – 00:11:04:19
Derek
Right?
00:11:05:08 – 00:11:07:08
Xandra
So, I mean, there are answers for it.
00:11:07:08 – 00:12:50:11
Alycia
And I would also add – I know because I know – this is a challenging question. So, I think I sway. This is challenging for me because I sway more towards Young Earth theologically. And I don’t know enough about the sciences to say that I wouldn’t accept the other ones. And I think the Young Earth position is probably the most theologically sound. I recognize that there’s people say there’s massive scientific issues with it. And I’m OK with that because I haven’t landed on a view. So, I guess I’m in no man’s land, kind of, on this issue still and I’m like, let’s continue to explore and find out. But I do understand, from the Young Earth perspective, they would say that they would – that there are – that they have fossils where there’s like the bones of dinosaurs and people together or like footprints, and this kind of stuff. And so it shows that dinosaurs and humans did coexist. Now, part of the thing we have to remember is a lot of us have shaped our views of dinosaurs from movies, films, Jurassic Park and these kind of things. And you get the little things like, you know, velociraptors, how they hunt, you know, and like one captures your attention but then the other two come from the side, you know. Can you tell that from bones and skeletons? I don’t know. Xandra would be able to better answer that. But my point is a lot of what we are, what we shape of what dinosaurs are like oftentimes comes from what we’ve seen and portrayed. And that’s also playing a picture – it’s like playing – its impacting how we view these things. And so I think from the Young Earth perspective, they would hold that these animals did coexist with humans. Obviously they’re gone for some reason. You know, was it a meteor or I don’t even know. You know, there’s all these different, I guess, possibilities where they are now, but they would have that as part of their. Yeah.
00:12:50:23 – 00:13:21:15
Xandra
So in – with the – sorry to just really quickly – so with the bones that they thought were fossilized human which they called homo diluvii testis, which was a form of like ancient human being they thought, that was actually a giant salamander that was later found out. An extinct species of salamander. And then for the footprints, one actually that’s also been contested because if you follow the footprints long enough, they get three pointed toes and it’s another form of a really small dinosaur.
00:13:21:21 – 00:13:26:00
Alycia
So you’re saying the Young Earther’s don’t have the dinosaurs and human stuff anymore?
00:13:26:00 – 00:13:26:03
Xandra
Nope.
00:13:26:03 – 00:13:27:04
Alycia
Oh, that’s interesting.
00:13:27:04 – 00:13:43:11
Xandra
That’s been disproven actually, that was disproven a long time ago. But it was republished in a book in 1971 by Morris, who sort of brought a lot of that stuff up in his book about the Genesis flood. So even though that had been disproven in the early 19th century, it reappeared in literature later on.
00:13:43:11 – 00:13:47:00
Alycia
I was going to say, because in the ’90s. Later is when I would have learned.
00:13:47:02 – 00:13:47:12
Xandra
Yeah.
00:13:47:12 – 00:13:48:02
Alycia
Yeah.
00:13:48:05 – 00:13:49:21
Xandra
But anyway, just to throw that our there.
00:13:49:21 – 00:13:55:22
Alycia
That’s a good point. I think that’s a good point because we talked about the museum, right, the Creation Museum and maybe what they have there. So I’d be interested to know what they have there.
00:13:56:04 – 00:14:25:00
Derek
OK, well that was interesting I think because yeah, like we said, if you’re kind of hold to an older view, it’s really not much of an issue other than – the only issue is why aren’t they in the Bible, but they have no issue. But it’s kind of interesting to hear different ways that those groups, just to be fair to all the groups that, you know, we talk about, to what they might actually think. Lou, feel free to chime in.
00:14:25:19 – 00:14:53:00
Lou
This is the class for me. I’m learning. It would be – it would be very ignorant of me to speak when I knew nothing of this topic. And maybe I should be doing more research on this topic. But it’s never once interested me. And I’ve never actually wrestled with the truth of this because I actually take the point of view like this one just doesn’t – I know it matters for some people, and I’m not saying it shouldn’t matter. I’m just saying it’s never been a problem, and it’s not even a question that I ever get from people, so I just don’t really –
00:14:53:00 – 00:14:57:17
Derek
But when you were in your science program, though, did other students ever, I mean, seriously, did other students ever push back?
00:14:57:23 – 00:14:59:16
Lou
I like how you worded, “My science program.”
00:14:59:17 – 00:15:02:06
Derek
Your science degree certificate.
00:15:02:06 – 00:15:08:16
Lou
My yeah, my degree. My degree in molecular biology. And yes, we did not go into dinosaurs very much, if I’m being honest.
00:15:08:16 – 00:15:15:01
Derek
But you weren’t questioned on that? Just, as like the Christian in the, you know, when people found out you were a Christian, you weren’t –
00:15:15:01 – 00:15:31:03
Lou
I mean, I went to a Christian college. Yeah. I remember learning about this in high school, at a public high school, but it was yeah, I don’t know. It just – sorry. That’s why – I’m not trying to be – I was just like, I feel like anything I’d have to say would just be me just pontificating.
00:15:31:04 – 00:15:32:08
Derek
Essentially what just happened.
00:15:32:12 – 00:15:39:15
Lou
Exactly. I’m just wasting a minute and a half on this podcast. You know, I will speak when I feel like I have something to say. You know this.
00:15:39:23 – 00:15:40:18
Alycia
We do know this.
00:15:40:18 – 00:16:15:13
Derek
Yes. Yeah. So OK, so let’s now – let’s just get to the very specific question. Why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs? Or does the Bible mention dinosaurs? Like, if it doesn’t, why not? But does it? Are there things that we’ve missed where some of these creatures are actually, potentially, obviously it’s not 100% clear or that would be a slam dunk for us, but yeah essentially, is it somewhere in the text?
00:16:17:02 – 00:16:20:09
Xandra
Some people point to Job and, Alycia, are you looking that up?
00:16:20:09 – 00:16:20:20
Alycia
Yeah, its fine.
00:16:20:20 – 00:16:21:17
Xandra
Ok, are you there?
00:16:21:18 – 00:16:22:08
Alycia
It’s yeah, but go ahead.
00:16:22:08 – 00:16:23:06
Xandra
Go ahead read it, yeah.
00:16:23:15 – 00:16:31:04
Alycia
Well, no, no. I mean go ahead. I was just – I mean, there’s kind of two sections, right? I love Job. First of all, if you know anything about me, I love Job. Job and James.
00:16:31:10 – 00:16:38:12
Derek
All the Js: Jesus, Job, James. Beets, Bears, Battlestar Galactica. Yeah.
00:16:39:15 – 00:17:15:11
Alycia
So you know, I think some of the question comes in like chapter 40 and chapter 41. Where in chapter 40 you have this animal who is described – the Behemoth, right? And it’s pretty wild because it’s got sinews and it says its tail sways like cedar. The sinews of its thighs are close knit, its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. So it sounds like pretty crazy and massive and pretty strong. But then it says it feeds on grass like an ox, which is interesting. So you get this animal that seems to be really big and massive, but yet it feeds on. Huh?
00:17:15:22 – 00:17:21:17
Lou
So I’ll chime in. This is Little Foot. That’s describing whatever the dinosaur. What is that one? It’s a big ‘ole
00:17:21:17 – 00:17:22:20
Derek
The Land Before Time.
00:17:22:20 – 00:17:25:09
Lou
But what is that type of dinosaur? You know, long neck.
00:17:25:22 – 00:17:27:07
Alycia
The brontosaurus? Brachiosaurus?
00:17:27:07 – 00:17:27:14
Xandra
Yeah.
00:17:27:23 – 00:17:29:08
Lou
The real long and tall – it looks like a –
00:17:29:08 – 00:17:29:11
Xandra
Brachiosaur?
00:17:29:21 – 00:17:34:14
Lou
That’s it. Yeah, big old tree trunk and it eats leaves. Tree stars.
00:17:34:17 – 00:17:36:18
Xandra
OK, all right. Thanks, Lou, for that contribution.
00:17:37:10 – 00:17:37:14
Derek
Yeah.
00:17:38:02 – 00:17:38:21
Alycia
Thank you, Lou.
00:17:41:00 – 00:17:43:04
Xandra
Lou’s quoting Land Before Time.
00:17:43:14 – 00:17:43:21
Alycia
Yeah.
00:17:44:00 – 00:17:46:19
Derek
I’m sorry I got him to start speaking earlier, you guys.
00:17:47:16 – 00:17:48:10
Alycia
You had a call on him, Derek.
00:17:48:10 – 00:17:49:12
Derek
He’s having a meltdown, I think.
00:17:49:18 – 00:19:29:18
Alycia
Getting back to the scripture, Lou, no, but what else is interesting about this whole thing is in, I guess, verse 20 in chapter 40, it says, “The hills bring him their produce and all the wild animals play nearby.” So it’s really interesting because it seems to me an animal that the other animals really aren’t scared of because they play nearby. But yet this animal was like really big and massive. And so one of the things that they’ve thought of that this could potentially be in Job, chapter 40, is a hippopotamus. Just because of the fact that it’s really big and it would be weird for – I guess it would be weird for them to – if this was a dinosaur you’d wonder you know was this – you would think it might be a threat to the humans but yet this one doesn’t really seem to be because it’s eating vegetation. But like we talked about, there are dinosaurs that ate vegetation. But then you look at verse 4 or chapter 41, you have this Leviathan, which is like this one that’s in the water with the fishhook and the tongue. And it’s got like it’s shooting fire, all these kind of things, which we actually don’t necessarily – I don’t know of any animal that shoots fire, although there is a beetle that shoots out of really poisonous gas, which is kind of cool. But regardless you have this whole like kind of watery kind of animal. And so, you know, the idea is that is this more like an alligator type thing? So in other words, are these animals that are familiar to the audience, where they could come up to them, versus they’re not going to be necessarily getting that close with, you know, these big giant dinosaurs? So I don’t know if I would say that those are dinosaurs in that regard. But, you know, I guess there’s all kind of possibilities out there.
00:19:30:05 – 00:19:30:12
Derek
Yeah.
00:19:33:08 – 00:19:35:18
Alycia
Xandra?
00:19:35:18 – 00:20:57:18
Xandra
Yeah. I mean, I guess I don’t have a ton to add to that. I would say I find the K-T Boundary really compelling. I don’t know if you guys have heard of the K-T Boundary? So it’s a really fascinating segment in our geological history. And like geology, it’s like the autobiography of the Earth, right? You can go back and see what happened. And on every layer there’s like different ecology, totally different plants and animals. And you go up and there’s another completely different ecology, different things growing. And so there’s one little area that they’ve called the K-T Boundary and it’s made with a composition of iridium, which doesn’t naturally occur on our planet, but it’s very prevalent in meteors and asteroids and things like that. Flying around out there. It’s like a metal. And so you find a lot of that megafauna, like dinosaur kind of megafauna, up to that point. And then after that zero occurrences. So the thought is that there was a mass extinction, potentially, that was caused by a meteor. And that I think has been located somewhere in modern day Mexico. There’s like a huge crater that got that really rich deposit of iridium. So they’re thinking maybe that could have been what happened, that killed the dinosaurs. But again, I think a Young Earth more viewpoint wouldn’t necessarily entertain that possibility. But for me, I’ve always found that a bit compelling and a really interesting part of our geological history.
00:20:58:11 – 00:21:01:19
Alycia
So why wouldn’t the Young Earth find, like, that a meteor could have wiped them out?
00:21:02:14 – 00:22:16:02
Xandra
Because all of the humans would have died. I mean, and also the view with the flood, I think, is really important in that viewpoint. Where the entire globe was covered in a flood and everything went extinct except what was on Noah’s Ark on a planetary scale. Which is why you get – you find like tropical plants fossilized at the top of these really high mountains which doesn’t really make sense. But all of that stuff was published again in the ’60s before we had an understanding of plate tectonics. And so they were trying to use a global flood to explain the extinction of dinosaurs and everything else that happened before they understood, actually, how tectonic plates work. And I think if they had had that piece – they were asking really good questions in the ’60s, you know, and coming against a lot of misconceptions in geology which needed to be asked. And it was great that these were Christian men, and I think mostly Christian men, who were doing this. So. But yeah, they missed the plate tectonic piece, no pun intended. And if they’d had that, I think they would have had a more – a better rounded view and not have gone to the Global Flood thought. Anyway. But that’s another piece of the puzzle.
00:22:16:02 – 00:22:19:19
Derek
That’s interesting. Please continue to explain the world to us. Every chance you get.
00:22:20:00 – 00:22:31:19
Xandra
No, I just have read so much about rocks because I think rocks are fascinating. I think dinosaurs are fascinating and we didn’t talk about – but I thought of the dinosaur you were thinking of. It’s pachycephalosaurus. that’s the one you’re thinking of with the head.
00:22:32:00 – 00:22:35:16
Derek
It’s got like the part of the head that, like, shoots off the back.
00:22:35:21 – 00:22:38:03
Xandra
Oh, know, that is a parasaurolophus.
00:22:38:03 – 00:22:38:17
Derek
OK.
00:22:38:17 – 00:22:39:07
Xandra
I was right.
00:22:39:15 – 00:22:40:01
Derek
OK.
00:22:40:22 – 00:22:44:19
Xandra
Oh, never mind. We’ll talk more later. About nomenclature of dinosaurs.
00:22:44:19 – 00:23:06:02
Derek
Yeah, well, we’ll figure this out, and then we’ll just let everyone know in the show notes what we ended up finding. No, no, that’s interesting. Now one of the questions, and we’re running out of time here, but this is one – this is a – Lou, this is one I think you can handle. I’d love to hear your response on this, Lou.
00:23:06:02 – 00:23:07:17
Lou
Thanks.
00:23:07:17 – 00:23:22:13
Derek
But I have talked to people before who have said this. That the devil hid dinosaur bones to throw us off.
00:23:22:13 – 00:23:23:07
Lou
It’s a Red Herring.
00:23:23:16 – 00:23:23:22
Derek
To make us.
00:23:23:22 – 00:23:24:21
Lou
To confuse us.
00:23:25:01 – 00:23:27:17
Derek
Yeah. Fossilized Herring. Yes.
00:23:27:17 – 00:23:37:23
Lou
Yeah. I would emphatically say that’s not true. Yeah. That’s about the only thing – I think that’s a ridiculous belief.
00:23:37:23 – 00:23:38:10
Derek
OK.
00:23:38:16 – 00:23:40:04
Alycia
Alrighty. I’ve never even heard that.
00:23:40:04 – 00:23:42:20
Derek
Thank you for honoring the question, first, before you said anything.
00:23:43:18 – 00:23:53:00
Lou
Sorry. There probably is somebody who’s going to offend someone. I just think that’s – that looks like we’re trying to avoid anything science is trying to show us. And I just think it’s a very dangerous idea, that’s all.
00:23:53:09 – 00:24:10:09
Xandra
Plus, it says that God is deceitful. If He would have given like – knowing that would happen, allowed it to happen. Or I’ve read an author who said that God planted it to test our faith. He, like, put dinosaur bones in to test our faith, to make sure we were really believing the Bible. And that says some bad things about God’s character. Yeah, right.
00:24:10:16 – 00:24:15:15
Lou
Yeah. I mean, that is just like gymnastics. That’s hermeneutical gymnastics. Just to try and kind of –
00:24:15:15 – 00:24:49:23
Derek
God tempting us to disbelief. Yeah. Yeah, that’s interesting. Well, I think, just to wrap it, because I know we’ve kind of talked about it a lot, but each of you now, very briefly, just say real quick, what about dinosaurs in the Bible? How would you help someone make sense of like – if you had one or two sentences just to say, think of it like this. Take that sort of weight off your shoulders because I think we’ve had fun with it. But it’s an enduring question because it’s a serious question. So, yeah, what would be your –
00:24:49:23 – 00:25:07:03
Alycia
I think my short answer would be: Dinosaurs existed and I am waiting for the next 10 to 20 years of scientific research to continue to help us learn more about the placement and history and how that all works. And I just don’t want to jump on anything too early.
00:25:07:09 – 00:25:07:17
Derek
Yeah.
00:25:10:04 – 00:25:48:12
Lou
Do not try to use Genesis as a science textbook. That’s my strongest encouragement to anyone. I’m not saying it doesn’t give us, sometimes, some scientific answers. But in general, I think Genesis 1 and 2, even up through 11, it is as you were saying earlier, Xandra, it is explaining to us a God behind this whole thing. And I think the more we try to fit science in that, we will get into trouble because I don’t think that’s what Genesis is trying to actually convey to us. I think there’s a lot of poetry and narrative within Genesis, especially I’m just saying the creation story specifically.
00:25:48:12 – 00:25:50:22
Derek
Into what point quickly, what is it? What is it trying to.
00:25:51:19 – 00:26:34:07
Lou
Oh, I think it’s actually – it’s explaining there is a God that did this all. Like, there is a God behind this all. And that is – this wasn’t just some cosmic accident. Because even if you look at the way it’s described, like follow, and again, I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but follow the way it’s written, it’s very poetic intentionally because it’s in – it’s displaying a story because I think trying to describe how God created everything would be one really big thing to do. How beautiful and how big of a thing that that would have to be. I mean, you’re trying to word this in a way for generations of people to know that God did this. That’s what I think Genesis does beautifully. And the more you try to make it into a book on dinosaurs, I think you’re going to get into trouble. And I think we have a history of Christians trying to do that with Scripture.
00:26:34:09 – 00:28:02:13
Xandra
Yeah, I think we are small creatures in a magnificent creation and all of creation testifies to its creator. It all points back to this amazing, masterful mind. Just absolute genius, super intellect. And a God who wields these beautiful worlds far away and distant galaxies that we’ll never see. But he’s a creative God and the Bible tells us that creation was made through him, by him, and for him. So this all belongs to him. So we might get confused and say, why would God create something that I can’t enjoy or I can’t see, like these distant galaxies, or like things that even existed on our planet that we didn’t have the chance to see or experience? And the fact is, we serve a God who loves to create. That’s why we love to create, because we’re made in his image. And so I think as I look at dinosaurs and I, you know, hear about the newest form that’s been discovered and, you know, I look at pictures of fossils, I just think, wow, what an incredible mind created this creature. And again, it goes back to that Mysterium, right? The mystery of God. What was in his mind when he did this? And I like to picture, you know, these creatures. How did they play? What did they sound like? That parasaurolophus on your desk had that long thing because it was a singer. It made songs. That’s what that structure was for.
00:28:02:13 – 00:28:02:18
Derek
Yeah, I love that.
00:28:02:18 – 00:28:13:12
Xandra
It’s just amazing to me to wonder. So, I think it’s not something we need to be afraid of. It’s something we can accept and it can all point us back to worshiping the creator.
00:28:13:15 – 00:29:27:22
Derek
Yes. Amen. Well, a couple last things I’ll add on to this. One, interestingly, the word “dinosaur” didn’t even exist until about 1841 apparently. So, it means “terrible lizard.” So, but we probably know dinosaurs more as “clever girls” now. Again, that’s a that’s a Jurassic Park throwback. But also if people do want to learn a little bit more about maybe what was the point of Genesis, how is it interacting with surrounding cultures? Not to plug my own material, but I do have a series of articles on the website called “The Old Testament. Copying?” Question mark. It’s a question. And we’ll get a link in the show notes for you on that. And that might help kind of get to some of what Lou was talking about with what was just – how is it interacting in its time and what was the point to, you know, to what people were kind of talking about? What was the actual point and is it a science textbook? But anyway, thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed it. We had fun. We love talking about dinosaurs. If you like this one, you feel free to like it, comment, subscribe, share it with people. That really helps us out. And if you want your question answered on the podcast, just email us at wherewebegin@lightengroup.org and we’ll see you next week. Bye.
00:29:31:21 – 00:29:43:06
Derek
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