Have you ever heard the phrase,
“It is easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times
than to believe a fact that one has never heard before.”
Undoubtedly, millions, or billions, of people have heard their entire lives that,
“Dinosaurs evolved and then went extinct millions of years ago—
tens of millions of years before humans evolved.”
Such purportedly "factual" teachings are then often accompanied by captivating illustrations
of all sorts of dinosaurs, but never with any human beings.
As we’ve been told thousands or millions of times:
“Human beings never lived with dinosaurs, and if you believe otherwise, you’re crazy!"
I suppose, more than any other question that Apologetics Press tackles,
we get more criticism from atheists, evolutionists, and even many Christians
regarding our material on dinosaurs, especially when that material is illustrated.
The impression I’ve gotten from some through the years is:
Then there have been those puzzling times when Christians have been in full agreement that God
indeed created dinosaurs and dinosaur-like aerial and aquatic creatures on days five
and six of Creation, and yet, the moment we show
an illustration of what that may have looked like, some think we’ve gone mad.
The conversation goes something like this:
Questioner: “You can’t show a picture of a dinosaur along with a human being.”
Defender: “Wait. I thought you said you believed that God made dinosaurs during the same Creation
week in which He made elephants, alligators, and human beings?”
Questioner: “I do believe that. But such illustrations look crazy!”
Defender: “Why do they ‘look crazy’?”
Questioner: “I’ve just never seen anything like that…
Plus, you don’t just show humans and dinosaurs in the same picture—you show them close together.
You sometimes show people killing them or even taming them.
That surely never happened.”
Defender: “Why do you think that?”
Questioner: “They were terrifying creatures that humans couldn’t have gotten close to.”
Defender: “What makes you think that?”
Questioner: “Everything I’ve ever read and watched.”
I would like to ask you to consider two things.
First, remember that, "It’s easier to believe a lie that you’ve heard a thousand times
than the truth that you’ve only heard once."
And second, ask yourself, "What should we believe and teach,
and what kind of artwork should we use to illustrate biblical and historical truth
given the following evidence?”
First: An Omnipotent, Omniscient God Exists.
If a person doesn’t believe this most-important, foundational truth,
talking about the subject of dinosaurs and humans will likely be unproductive.
If a person comes to believe in God based upon the evidence for His existence,
as we discuss in many other videos, he should consider that Almighty God
would have the power to create dinosaurs alongside human beings
during the Creation week, if He so chose.
Second: The Bible is the Word of God.
If a person doesn’t believe this second foundational truth,
a discussion of dinosaurs might be somewhat beneficial if the unbeliever could be shown
that the biblical account of Creation doesn’t contradict true history and science,
but the unbeliever would likely be much better served if he were first presented with
the evidence for the inspiration of the Bible, which we also discuss in many other videos.
Third: The Bible Indicates That God Made Everything in Six Days
(Including All Animals and Humans).
According to Exodus 20:11, “In six days the Lord made
the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.”
This statement harmonizes perfectly with Genesis 1 and everything else in Scripture.
The All-Powerful God of the Universe
could have created the Universe in any way He desired,
in whatever order He wanted, and in whatever time frame He chose.
He could have created the world and everything in it in
six billion years, six minutes, or in one millisecond;
He is, after all, God Almighty.
But the question is not what God could have done; it is what He said He did.
And He said that He created everything in six days.
According to the inerrant, inspired Word of God,
the Creator made dinosaurs and humans on the same day of Creation.
Indeed, at one time in history, they lived on Earth at the same time.
Fourth: The Biblical Truth That Dinosaurs and Humans
Once Lived Together Is Supported by History.
Even evolutionists have admitted that people all over the world throughout history talked
about seeing reptilian creatures with scaly, hard, elongated bodies;
long, serpentine necks; long tails; horned, knobby, or crested heads; some with bat-like wings;
and some that went on two legs, while others on four.
Although, undoubtedly, many of these “dragon” stories were exaggerated through the centuries,
(just as our adrenaline-rushing fishing or hunting stories are often exaggerated),
these descriptions of “dragons” sound like dinosaurs or dinosaur-like reptilian creatures.
But modern man only began learning about dinosaurs from the fossil record in the past 200 years.
How could so many people from all over the world throughout history have so accurately described
seeing animals that sound like dinosaurs, if they never actually did see them?
The truth is, biblical history, including the existence of Leviathan
in the days of Job chapter 41,
is in perfect harmony with what history has recorded.
Fifth: The Biblical Truth That Dinosaurs and Humans
Once Lived Together Is Supported by Physical Evidence.
Not only did people talk about seeing dinosaurs and dinosaur-like creatures
(referred to as “dragons”) for thousands of years
(keep in mind that the word “dinosaur” was not coined until the early 1840s),
they also illustrated these animals in drawings and carvings found all over the world.
How could they have illustrated such animals hundreds or thousands of years before
modern man ever learned about these creatures from the fossil record?
Once again, the evidence supports the biblical truth that God made everything,
including dinosaurs and humans, in six days.
Sixth: Dinosaur Bones Have Been Discovered with Soft Tissue in Them.
In the last several years, numerous scientists have reported
unearthing a variety of dinosaur bones from around the world that contain
intact protein fragments, including collagen, hemoglobin, elastin, and laminin.
Such findings fit perfectly with the Creation model:
that God created dinosaurs and humans, not millions of years ago,
but thousands of years ago, on the same day of Creation.
Lastly: Human Beings Have Interacted with All Sorts of Animals Throughout History,
So Why Is It So Hard to Believe That They Also Interacted with Dinosaurs?
Draw a picture of a small man riding a 15,000-pound elephant,
and no one has a problem with it.
Publish a photograph of a trainer sticking her head inside the mouth of a massive,
6,000-pound killer whale in captivity, and most everyone today understands
the reality of the situation, however so dangerous.
Tell your friend about the man at the circus who has tamed lions, tigers, and bears,
or that you watched a TV show of a man playing with crocodiles,
and that’s nothing but old news.
After all, Jesus' brother James wrote 2,000 years ago what his readers knew all too well:
"Every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea,
is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.”
Yet still, even many Christians have a problem with the ancients
being pictured next to certain dinosaurs.
Should creationists and Christians refrain from publishing illustrations
of dinosaurs and humans together because “it makes us look crazy”?
On the contrary, since “a picture is worth a thousand words,"
and since the “thousand words” upon which this picture is based
are true and extremely relevant to the creation-evolution debate
(dinosaurs are, after all, the “poster children” of evolution),
then we believe it’s very appropriate and important for people to hear and see this truth.
For more information on the Bible, Creation and evolution,
visit us at apologeticspress.org.