Creation vs. Dinosaurs

[Jedikiller]

Hey there I'm here to ask the never-ending question. If God created the earth in 7 days (minus 1 for a break) what about the dinosaurs and the facts that the earth is millions of years old?

I have my own opinion, but before I give it I would like to know what other churches opinions are.

[Satori]

Jedikiller said:

Hey there I'm here to ask the never-ending question. If God created the earth in 7 days (minus 1 for a break)

He didn't. That was never meant to be taken literally.

what about the dinosaurs and the facts that the earth is millions of years old?

What about them? They existed and they don't any more, most likely exterminated by a meteor strike that changed the world's climate.

I've heard all the rubbish about God 'planting' the dinosaur bones to make it look like the Earth's millions of years old which - if it were true - would at least show that God has a sense of humour!

I think there's only an unenlightened 'fringe' of dogmatic sects that actually still believe the world was created in 6 days and is only 5000 years old.

[Electron]

Hi. Well, you know how much kids love dinosaurs? My church believes that god was around 7 (god) years old when he got to that bit of his creation roughly 50 million (human) years ago.

Seriously though, is there any other inerpretaion possible? Life had been evolving into ever larger forms over hundreds of millions of years making the most of the plentiful resources available. No mysteries. Period.

[Jedikiller]

The thing I'm asking is that God was creating the world and then right when he was done Adam and Eve went upon it (according to the bible) and ya. From there until now it's been only about 6000 years. How did the dinosaur bones get there, if (in the bible) the earth is only 6 years old? Like I said before, I DO have my own opinion, but i would like to know other opinions as well. Thanks to all of you who have ALREADY posted your opinions.

[Areopagite]

Satori said:

I think there's only an unenlightened 'fringe' of dogmatic sects that actually still believe the world was created in 6 days and is only 5000 years old.

I feel that perhaps your judgement is skewed. I would hardly call those who believe that the earth was created in six days a "fringe" element. Also, what of the many creation scientists who have made valid points in this area? Are they also "unenlightened" due to the fact that they simply disagree with you?

[Electron]

Areopagite said:

I feel that perhaps your judgement is skewed. I would hardly call those who believe that the earth was created in six days a "fringe" element. Also, what of the many creation scientists who have made valid points in this area? Are they also "unenlightened" due to the fact that they simply disagree with you?

May I ask what progress had been made in creation science in the last 10 years? If I've missed something I'd dearly like to find out about it.

[Satori]

Areopagite said:

I feel that perhaps your judgement is skewed. I would hardly call those who believe that the earth was created in six days a "fringe" element.

Well I think you are a 'fringe'. I would suggest that most Christians have shed that literalist view now. If I'm wrong about that then I apologise, but most Christians I know certainly have no truck with literalist creationism.

Also, what of the many creation scientists who have made valid points in this area? Are they also "unenlightened" due to the fact that they simply disagree with you?

Do I need to remind you of a recent conversation about orthodoxy?

Scientific orthodoxy firmly rejects that the world was created in 6 days (as does common sense). There will, of course, always be some that disagree.

I simply can't conceive of anyone believing in it these days. Oddly I find it more bizarre that some people do still believe in 6 day creationism than most other religious dogma. For example I'd probably accept that Christ was the Son of God before I believed in a 6 day creation myth!

[Electron]

When I spoke of the roots of religion being in government the six day creation was also somewhere in the back of my mind - the splitting of the week into six days plus the sabbath is highly suggestive of a human degree of order, introduced for a specific human purpose.

[Jedikiller]

Ok here's my take. So I believe that the Earth was created in 6 days. I believe that Christ and Michael did do what the bible says they did.

Then Adam and Eve were placed on the Earth in the Garden of Eden. We don't know how long they were in there for. They might have been in there for a day. They might have been in there for billions of years.

I believe that while they were in the Garden the earth was still being formed, but God was allowing it to be formed naturally. The dinosaurs were roaming the Earth and everything was happening naturally. Adam and Eve were just pretty much living in a bubble where nothing happened. There was no contention or anything. Then, once Adam and Eve (well Eve then Adam) partook (sp?) of the forbiden fruit God had to kick them out of the Garden.

Before he did that the whole face of the Earth was changed. I'm thinking that he sent the meteor to the earth and took out all the dinosaurs and changed the earth and stuff and then he opened the gates to the Garden and allowed them to go onto the rest of the Earth.

[Electron]

Jedikiller said:

Ok here's my take. So I believe that the Earth was created in 6 days. I believe that Christ and Michael did do what the bible says they did.

Then Adam and Eve were placed on the Earth in the Garden of Eden. We don't know how long they were in there for. They might have been in there for a day. They might have been in there for billions of years.

I believe that while they were in the Garden the earth was still being formed, but God was allowing it to be formed naturally. The dinosaurs were roaming the Earth and everything was happening naturally. Adam and Eve were just pretty much living in a bubble where nothing happened. There was no contention or anything. Then, once Adam and Eve (well Eve then Adam) partook (sp?) of the forbiden fruit God had to kick them out of the Garden.

Before he did that the whole face of the Earth was changed. I'm thinking that he sent the meteor to the earth and took out all the dinosaurs and changed the earth and stuff and then he opened the gates to the Garden and allowed them to go onto the rest of the Earth.

Good for you That's the wonderful thing about religion, you can believe in absolutely anything you like. The more crazy stuff you can dream up the better. I like the idea of a couple of humans, with their ageing genes switched off, lounging around with dinosaurs peering in at them through an impenetrable force-field. You ought to write a book based on it!

[scottishpunk]

Creation and Dinosaurs are not mutually exclusive ideas. I believe in a literal 6 day creation, and I believe that the earth is only about 6000-7000 years old. (I could be wrong on the age of the earth, but, hey, this board is about ideas and opinions, right?) What's to say that God couldn't have created the dinosaurs when he created all other animals? That makes sense to me.

As to the fossil record, I believe that there is a lot of guess-work that goes into that, and that there isn't any verifiable proof that the different fossils are whatever age they are supposed to be. I tend to think they are a lot newer than that.

As to what killed the dinosaurs, I tend to believe that they were not able to adapt to the environmental changes that occurred in the world after the flood... That's my theory, anyways.