Turn on your child’s favorite science show or open up a book about dinosaurs and your child will immediately hear that the earth is millions of years old and that dinosaurs lived long before any humans were alive. Eventually your child is going to ask you how the Bible and the story of creation fit in with the claims that dinosaurs are millions of years old.
How old is the earth? When were dinosaurs created? Why don’t they exist today? Answering these questions from a Biblical worldview can give your child greater confidence in God’s Word and his or her faith in Christ.
Dinosaurs and the Bible
In 1841, Sir Richard Owen coined the term dinosaur which means “terrible lizard.” Do you know what people probably called dinosaurs before this? They called them dragons. Let’s take a look at when dinosaurs (or dragons) were created and why they don’t exist today. The best place to start looking for answers is in the Bible.
The Bible says that God created the earth in six days (Genesis 1) and that land animals were created on day six along with Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:24-27). That means that dinosaurs were created on the sixth day of creation about 6,000 years ago. How do I know that the earth is around 6,000 years old? Well, God gives us a timeline right in the Bible. If we look at Genesis chapter 5 we see a list of Adam’s descendants up to Noah along with how long they lived. If we add up all those dates (plus more dates that God gives us in the Bible after Noah) we will see that the earth is around 6,000 years old. God’s Word is amazing.
The Bible also tells us that the dinosaurs were originally plant eaters like all the other creatures that God created. (Genesis 1:30) After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world and some animals became carnivores or omnivores including many of the dinosaurs.
What Happened to the Dinosaurs?
So what happened to the dinosaur? God’s Word tells us that God sent a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 6-8) and that only Noah, his family and the animals that he brought on the ark were spared. Because Noah was commanded by God to bring two of every kind of creature on the ark (Genesis 6:19-20), he would have brought dinosaurs as well. Your first question probably has something to do with squeezing all those animals and large dinosaurs on a boat. Am I right?
First, we need to know that the ark was not a tiny boat with animal heads sticking out of the windows. God instructed Noah to build a massive structure that could hold not only the animals but also all the food along with Noah and his family. (Genesis 6: 14-16) Secondly, Noah would have taken younger and much smaller dinosaurs on the boat so that they would be able to mature and reproduce after the flood.
After the flood, the earth was not the same and it was probably difficult for the dinosaurs to find enough food to survive. The climate changed and the earth entered the Ice Age. Since the dinosaurs were most likely reptiles, it would have been challenging for them to stay warm enough to live. No one knows for sure what happened to the dinosaurs but we do know that the dinosaurs aren’t the only animals to become extinct. Many animals over the years have died off due to all sorts of causes.
What we do know is that God created the dinosaurs on day six of creation around 6,ooo years ago and that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans. The Bible even mentions a dinosaur. Job chapter 40 verses 15 to 24 speaks of a dinosaur named Behemoth.
As a parent, you can confidently answer your child’s questions about dinosaurs knowing that God’s Word is infallible and profitable for answering all of life’s questions.
Resources and Books About Dinosaurs
There are some excellent resources available to help you teach your child about dinosaurs from a Biblical worldview. Answers in Genesis for Kids is a website that helps kids find answers to tough questions they might have about God, the Bible and even dinosaurs. The AiG bookstore is filled with lots of great children’s books about dinosaurs.
Here are a few books that my children and I really enjoy.
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