Dinosaurs are sometimes used to try to persuade people that evolution is true.  We are told that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and went extinct long before human beings evolved.  Some evolutionists teach that dinosaurs eventually evolved into birds.  These stories are very entertaining.  But that’s all they are: stories.  The truth about dinosaurs is far more interesting.  What we really know about dinosaurs is not based on evolutionary belief, but on scientific and historical evidence.  The most important history book happens to also be inerrant and inspired by God. This, of course, is the Bible.

The Bible has quite a bit to teach us about dinosaurs.  First, since dinosaurs are land animals (by definition) we know they were made on the sixth day of the creation week.  Genesis 1:24-25, 31 makes it clear that everything that walks on the ground was made on the sixth day.  Scripture also teaches that human beings were made on the sixth day (Genesis 1:26-27, 31).  So logically, it must be true that dinosaurs and people did live at the same time, contrary to what is often promoted at the movies, or sadly even in many textbooks.

Dinosaurs did not live millions of years ago. They lived much more recently.  We know that dinosaur fossils cannot be millions of years old because the Bible teaches that death came into the world only after Adam sinned.  Some people might say that this is only human death, but the Bible makes no such restriction.  In fact, God instituted animal death when Adam and Eve sinned. God sacrificed an animal or animals to provide skins of clothing as a symbolic covering for their sin (Genesis 3:21).

Science also confirms that dinosaurs lived recently, not millions of years ago.  There are a number of cases where soft tissue from dinosaurs has been found still intact.  There is even evidence of dinosaur blood vessels and blood cells.  Science also confirms that dinosaurs fall into distinct created kinds.  We find fossil evidence of variety within each basic kind of dinosaur; but, we don’t find evidence of one basic kind evolving into another basic kind.  The scientific evidence is consistent with biblical creation.

Some people ask why the Bible doesn’t mention dinosaurs specifically.  You won’t find the word “dinosaur” in the Bible for a very good reason. The word “dinosaur” did not yet exist when the Bible was first translated into English.  The King James Version (KJV) was translated in the early 1600s, but the word “dinosaur” wasn’t invented until 1841.  So of course you won’t find that specific word.  But you will find the word “dragon” in the KJV Bible.  And it is possible that many of those references to dragons are in fact dinosaurs, or other similar creatures such as plesiosaurs (which are not true dinosaurs because they are water-dwelling, not land animals).

One specific creature that seems to be a wonderful description of a dinosaur is found in Job 40:15-24.  The creature is referred to as “Behemoth” (the ancient name).  In modern English, it might be called a Diplodocus or Apatosaurus.  These are sauropod dinosaurs – four-footed reptiles with very long necks and long tails.  As far as we know, sauropods were the largest land animals on Earth.  The description of the Behemoth’s tail in verse 17 as being like a cedar tree would certainly match the description of a sauropod.  One thing is for certain: the Behemoth was definitely not an elephant or hippopotamus.  Their tails are tiny.

Besides the biblical record, there are many ancient legends of people encountering dragons.  Could some of these be based on true events of people seeing living dinosaurs?  While these legends are not part of the inerrant Scripture, it seems likely that many of them are based in true history.  Indeed, many of the ancient descriptions of dragons match those of known types of dinosaurs.  Can we really chalk this up to coincidence?  There are even cave paintings of creatures resembling dinosaurs.  Pictures of creatures resembling dinosaurs have been found on antique tombs and ancient pottery.  All these artifacts predate the discoveries of dinosaur fossils.

It would seem that history, historical artifacts, and scientific evidence all confirm what the Bible teaches about dinosaurs.