For years, people have wondered what exactly happened to the dinosaurs. On top of that, some debate the probability of the existence of dinosaurs altogether. Yet, what if there’s a possible, biblical explanation as to why these creatures disappeared?
Apologist and scientist Ken Ham says the answer to the dinosaurs’ extinction is quite simple: They died.
Ham points out how the name of these creatures first came about in 1841 by Sir Richard Owen after discovering the bones of animals known as the Igaunodon and the Megalosaurus. These creatures skeletal systems appeared to be dramatically different than other land-dwelling creatures.
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“Dinosaur came from two Greek words; ‘denos’ and ‘sorus’ which means ‘terrible lizard,’” Ham says.
When we think of dinosaurs, we tend to think of massive beasts too great for humans to kill. The discussion of dinosaurs have left some Christians saying it’s impossible for them to have existed, and for others, they have been a reason used to not believe in the Bible at all. However, these “terrible lizards” can and do complement Scripture.
“A lot of Christians say, ‘How do you fit dinosaurs into the Bible?’ Well, you don’t do that. We’ve got to start with God’s Word because we have a revelation given to us from God and in Genesis 1 to 11 that is the foundational history for everything to understand the origin of all the basic entities of life in the universe,” Ham says.
Ham reminds us that the dinosaurs would have fallen under the same category of being created by God on the sixth day like any other animal. Ham believes there would have been at least a thousand different types of animals that would have needed to fit onto the ark.
“They came off the ark after the flood. Those that were drowned during the flood, some of them were turned into fossils,” Ham says.
Ham says that while many will disagree with him, the world’s climate would have been altered following the flood. He believes the earth has seen all kinds of climate changes throughout the years, including the Ice Age period. It’s quite possible that what happened with the dinosaurs has to do with these changes over the years.
“There’s been all sorts of climate changes, not caused by man…so the flood caused massive climate change and as climates have changed over the years there have been animals in different places that for many reasons have become extinct,” Ham says.
Ham also cites reasons of disease and hunting for possible reasons as to what happened to the dinosaurs. Further descriptions of other creatures that were hunted known as dragons tend to fit the bill of what dinosaurs most likely looked like.
“There’s no real mystery when you start from God’s Word and build a biblical worldview to understand dinosaurs,” Ham says.
By looking at the start of creation along with other natural causes and phenomena, Ham concludes that the existence of dinosaurs and Scripture are not contrary to each other, but instead they can complement one another in the framework of how God designed our world.
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
