Where do dinosaurs fit in the time scale of a young earth?
According to the evolutionary time scale, most dinosaurs (e.g., excluding the Komodo dragon of Indonesia, thought by some to be a remote relative of the dinosaurs) disappeared 65 million years ago, long before man came onto the scene. So, where do dinosaurs fit into the Biblical time scale?
First, we have to clear up some errors taught by evolutionists:
Error #1: Man and Dinosaur Did Not Co-exist
The following is a quote from The Genesis Flood, by Whitcomb and Morris:
For example, there is the case of the human footprints that have frequently been found in supposedly very ancient strata. Man, of course, is supposed to have evolved only in the late Tertiary, at the earliest, and therefore to be only about one million years old. But what appear to be human footprints have been found in rocks from as early as the Carboniferous Period, supposedly some 250,000,000 years old. Says Ingalls:
On sites reaching from Virginia and Pennsylvania, through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and westward toward the Rocky Mountains, prints similar to those shown above [referring to several accompanying pictures], from 5 to 10 inches long, have been found on the surface of exposed rocks, and more and more keep turning up as the years go by.
These prints give every evidence of having been made by human feet, at a time when the rocks were soft mud. As indicated in the quotation, this sort of thing is not a rare occurrence but is found rather frequently. However, geologists refuse to accept the evidence at face value, because it would mean either that modern man lived in the earliest years of the postulated evolutionary history or that this history must be condensed to a duration measured by the history of man. Neither alternative is acceptable. Ingalls says:
If man, or even his ape ancestor, or even that ape ancestor’s early mammalian ancestor, existed as far back as in the Carboniferous Period in any shape, then the whole science of geology is so completely wrong that all the geologists will resign their jobs and take up truck driving. Hence for the present at least, science rejects the attractive explanation that man made these mysterious prints in the mud of the Carboniferous Period with his feet.
[End of Quote]
Whenever anyone uses science as a tool against the Bible, he must realize that science has been sharpened, filtered and changed in order to be the best tool possible against the Bible. In other words, science is not "truth", but often, narrowly interpreted speculation.
Error #2: The Bible Never Mentions Dinosaurs
Job 41 says the following about Leviathan, a fierce and deadly beast:
"His sneezings flash forth lightning,"
"smoke goes out of his nostrils,"
"his breath kindles coals,"
"a flame goes out of his mouth,"
"though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin."
"He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood."
"He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. He leaves a shining wake behind him."
"His undersides are like sharp potsherds; He spreads pointed marks in the mire."
Keep these quotes in the context of the Book of Job: These record the words of God spoken to Job to prove that God is Almighty, and Job is not. To do this, God wouldn't have chosen a mythical monster Job had never seen. He chose a common beast Job would know of: the fire-breathing dragon. This same creature is also known in ancient China, India, Western Europe, Northern Africa and possibly Central America (the Mayans).
Error #3: The Bible Is Not Reliable
Many unbelievers might point to the Biblical account of fire-breathing dragons as proof that the Bible is merely fiction and fairy tale. The following is quoted from Leviathan, by Huggins (I apologize to my readers for leaving this is its fictional format, rather than abstracting the historical data -- it reads better as written. The speakers in the following text are a modern-day Norwegian, named Thor, and an American, named Connor):
"Many of the largest dragons were observed in England, India, and North Africa. In the ancient world, Africa was infamous for large leviathans. And during the height of the Roman Empire, when Rome controlled North Africa, there was even a Roman Legion that engaged a leviathan in battle."
"When?" Connor asked. He had a need for specifics.
Thor didn’t hesitate. "In A.D. 67 the Roman historian Octavus Livy wrote that he personally witnessed a savage and bloody battle between a single leviathan and the Eighth Roman Legion, led by General Scipio Regulus. The battle occurred in what is now Libya and lasted for almost a week. Livy wrote that over three thousand Roman soldiers were killed in the encounter."
Connor stared a moment. "That’s incredible. The Romans were disciplined fighters." He paused again. "What started the battle?"
"Livy writes that the leviathan attacked the Legion without warning," Thor answered. "There was no reason, no provocation. Apparently, Leviathan was a beast of unnatural hostility. That agrees with other historical accounts of its temperament. But once the battle was engaged, it was a battle to the death. Livy recorded that the Legion fought effectively against it, but the leviathan was heavily armored and couldn’t be wounded. Eventually, recognizing a complete defeat of his six thousand men at hand, General Regulus ordered a desperate retreat. The surviving Roman soldiers then built siege engines, like catapults, for hurling heavy stones. Afterwards, they attacked the leviathan again and eventually cornered it in a small canyon, where they crushed it with repeated blows."
"So leviathans were prone to attack people?" Connor asked, uneasy.
"Apparently, yes," Thor replied, brooding. He had become more lcelandic as he continued, darker and more somber. "In the eleventh century it was recorded by Byliny, a respected Ukrainian historian, that a leviathan had terrorized the steppes of Western Russia for decades. It was called Gorynych and was supposedly responsible for slaughtering a large number of villagers. It was finally killed after a savage month-long battle with a legendary Ukrainian hunter named Dobrynja, who hunted the beast down and killed it to avenge his brother’s death."
"Just one man?" Connor broke in. "A single man killed a leviathan?"
Thor shook his head. "I believe, from the oldest and most accurate description of the beast, that what Dobrynja slew was a wyvern and not the biblical Leviathan or mythical dragon." A pause. "It was obviously not a creature equal to the size of the leviathan that attacked the Roman Army in North Africa. That leviathan was almost certainly the heraldic dragon, and no single man who ever lived could defeat such a beast in combat."
A pause to gather his thoughts and Thor went on, "But other battles between foreign armies and the Leviathans, or heraldic dragons, are recorded in the historical documents of India, England, France, China, Japan, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Africa as late as the eighth century. They were recorded by dispassionate historians who had virtually no contact with one another and sought only to leave an accurate record of their times. All of the descriptions of heraldic dragons agree in general, but some commentators noted unusual aspects of the creatures that others did not.
Connor’s brow hardened, concentrated. "Like what?"
Thoughtful, Thor seemed to search his memory. "In Historia Naturalis, written in 1701, it’s recorded that a powerful heraldic dragon was killed on Vatican Hill in 1669 during a savage fight with the army of Rome. It was a bloody engagement because the Romans, no matter how hard pressed, could not very well retreat from their own city and retain their pride. They were forced to stand their ground, to the last man. It is recorded that the brutal conflict lasted an entire day and reportedly reduced the standing militia of Rome to a skeletal crew. And upon the creature’s slow and bloody death, it was examined by the Regulaus-Cassium, prefect of the city. Overall, the surviving description, also recorded by numerous scholars, fits the biblical Leviathan or the heraldic dragon. But the leviathan slain on Vatican Hill was also recorded to have had webbed feet."
"Webbed feet?" Connor asked, frowning. "For swimming?"
"Many leviathans were said to have had webbed feet," Thor continued dispassionately. "And many were said to have had wings."
Connor was expecting that. "For flying, I suppose."
With a nod Thor replied, "In 793 at the monastery of St. Cuthbert, located on the rocky island of Lindisfarne on England’s western coast, over a hundred monks witnessed what they said was a flying leviathan. It had large, dark wings like black leather, and soared low over the monastery throughout the entire sunset. Then it was joined by other flying leviathans. Witness accounts say the sky was eventually filled with them. They said the air was alive with their shadows until the sun was finally gone."
"I suppose they didn’t kill anybody," Connor commented drily, taking another sip of coffee. "Sounds like they were cruising for food."
"I don’t believe the cautious monks gave them a chance." Thor smiled. "But on the French isle of Saint Marguerite a flying leviathan, apparently similar to the biblical Leviathan, was said to have killed over three thousand villagers and seamen and even English knights throughout the Middle Ages. During that period of history it was known as the Tarasque. Incorrectly, I think. I believe it was confused with another leviathan that was said to have inhabited the Rhone River in France throughout the thirteenth century. Its name was Drac, and it was infamous for the blood it shed. The French town of Draguignan was named after it. But I think that Drac’s most vicious attacks were launched against the village of Beaucaire. Many, many people were recorded to have been slain there in its repeated attacks. At least a dozen armies went on campaigns against it, desperate to end its reign of terror. If you doubt me, the specific campaigns are recorded by the French and early Germanic historians Ocino, Ragnarold, and Umberto of Guineve. Thousands of soldiers were killed by Drac in the battles, which lasted over a century."
Connor found himself waiting. "Well, did they kill it?"
"No." Thor shook his head. "All the armies were defeated. Eventually, it is speculated, the dragon died of old age. It would have been well over a hundred years old. But long life is characteristic of reptilian creatures. Even today some reptiles are known to live for well over a hundred years. And many leviathans were reported to have lived for centuries.
Connor’s eyes narrowed. "Could that be accurate history, Thor?" he asked with careful respect. "I mean, it seems fantastic."
"It is foolish to doubt the integrity of men who were regarded by their peers to be utterly trustworthy," Thor commented. "People can scoff only so much at accumulated history before they must bow to intelligent debate. Objectivity must have its place. There are far too many incidents of trustworthy persons witnessing similar sights to disbelieve all accounts. It flies in the face of logic and reason to mindlessly classify everything written about Leviathan as myth or superstition or hysterical paranoia. There is a time when we must trust the reliable, well written accounts of those who were recognized to be scholars and wise men of their time and hold those accounts as the best and most accurate window to the past, regardless of our prejudices."
He chewed a corner of his mustache a moment, adding, "In the Cathedral of Canterbury there is a contemporary chronicle that speaks of a savage fight between two leviathans. It occurred on Friday, September 26, 1449, between the English county borders of Suffolk and Essex and was witnessed by an entire township. It lasted for an hour and stunned witnesses by the ferocity of the conflict. One leviathan was black, the other red. And at the end of the hour-long battle, the black leviathan, badly wounded, retreated into its lair.
"Two of the most respected Englishmen of the fifteenth century, John Steel and Christopher Holder, were present at the scene. Afterwards they gave their unemotional endorsement to verify the account." He paused. "Steel and Holder were known throughout all of England as strong men of superior intelligence and judgment. In all other areas of history, they are revered as such. It is only in this one account that modern men disbelieve them. And why? Because modern men do not wish to believe that leviathans existed. But Steel and Holder were not prone to lie. They would have had no reason to lie. And history repeats itself in this, over and over.
"In 1942 the German U-boat Reichland torpedoed a Norwegian trawler near the Scottish coast. Upon the torpedo’s impact, the U-boat crew witnessed what they later recorded as a great sea serpent of unknown species violently breaching the surface of the ocean. It was witnessed by the U-boat captain and commanding officers, all intelligent men who also had absolutely no reason to lie. They said it was not a whale or similar to any other known mammal. It was a beast of tremendous size, possibly over sixty feet in length with a long neck and tail and a long, wedged head.
"And in 1966 two British paratroopers rowing across the Atlantic in a survival test were awakened. John Ridgeway, one of the crewmen, looked out from the boat and clearly saw what he described as a creature of enormous size, like a serpent, poised over them with its head held high above the waves. Then the creature dove deep and was gone."
Pausing, Thor took another sip of coffee, set the mug down carefully. He focused once more on Connor. "Ridgeway was an experienced soldier, a trained observer. He was held in the highest esteem by his peers, also hard men who only respected other men of superior strength and judgment. He wrote later that he had seen all manner of creature on the trip. Whales, dolphins, flying fish. But he reluctantly had to admit that there was only one explanation for what this thing could have been. A sea serpent. And he was correct. He could only say what he saw with his own eyes. He also had no reason to lie."
[End of Quote]
It is all too easy to have a set of prejudices, such that you neglect any evidence that disagrees with your prejudice. As long as you realize, you are no longer being scientific. That's okay, because there's more than one way to arrive at truth; Just don't call this approach scientific, for it is not.