Dinosaurs and the Bible
Is it possible to study the dinosaurs (and other fossils) from a perspective consistent with the biblical account of creation?
Is it possible to study the dinosaurs (and other fossils) from a perspective consistent with the biblical account of creation?
Most Christians, however, believe that dinosaurs were destroyed during the flood. Others believe that this particular group of animals had been altered so drastically by sin that they were not allowed on the ark and so their kind was totally lost.
There is significant scientific data consistent with the biblical record of history, EZT represents one scientific theory that seems to explain historical data from the Bible and data from paleontology thought to challenge the Biblical record.
There is broad agreement among Christian earth scientists who trust the biblical account that the general aspect of the fossil record is catastrophic—one of destruction and death.
Recent research suggests dinosaurs were not as heavy as previously thought.
How do dinosaurs fit into a biblical worldview?
Ever since it was discovered in 1861, Archaeopteryx lithographica has been a controversial fossil. Its remarkable finding has provided certain credibility to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Archaeopteryx has a mixture of characteristics found in birds, reptiles, and theropod dinosaurs, and for that reason, scientists are divided regarding its origin, flight capacity, and position in the alleged evolutionary sequence from reptiles to birds.
Ecological Zonation Theory suggests that the order of fossils in sedimentary basins reflects landscapes sequentially eroded by rising Flood waters.
Currently evolutionary geology explains the fossil record as the result of slow processes and change occurring over long periods of time. However, an increasing number of rock formations and fossil occurrences previously interpreted within such an evolutionary framework must be reinterpreted as the result of rapid, or even catastrophic, processes operating on a different time scale.
The known history of birds appears consistent with the idea that they were created. These new and spectacular avian fossils suggest is that the original creation produced a much greater variety of birds than previously imagined.
Paraconformities suggest that little time was involved in the deposition of the sedimentary layers, and these are the layers that harbor the fossil record.
Fossils speak of catastrophic burial by water in many areas of the world, thus contradicting the uniformitarian model. A growing number of modern geologists concur with this view, although they may not accept the theory of a universal flood. Those of us who rely in the biblical story of a universal flood find in the fossil record abundant evidence that the surface of the earth once experienced the convulsions of a catastrophic destruction.
Trilobites are complex, elaborately segmented forms with jointed appendages and swimmerets, antennae, compound eyes, and cephalized, or head-to-tail, nervous systems.
How can we accommodate the paleontological record with Scripture? If our approach to science is as it should be, we can acknowledge that there are still many unanswered questions for all sides, and we should have no fear of deeper investigation in science the data are not all in.
This section focuses on South American fossil vertebrates, excluding marine fish. Extinct families will be emphasized here, as living families were considered in Part 1.
Coconino Sandstone research has demonstrated how catastrophists can use their theory to develop specific hypotheses about a geologic feature (the Coconino Sandstone), and successfully carry out scientific research to test that hypothesis. This is one criteria that science used to determine the scientific value of any theory.
The unnatural mixture and the rapid stratigraphic shifts of fauna seem to require catastrophic water transport into the area. The large geographic extent precludes a local event. Creationists suggest that a world-wide flood could produce results as seen in the Santana Formation and is a better explanatory model.