Lutheran Science Institute

Dinosaurs

Dinosaur Fossils Explained

Dinosaurs have been used as poster children to proclaim the evolution story. There is absolutely no reason for the Christian to be bothered by dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are some of God's amazing creatures. Even though there are countless extinct creatures, only one type of extinct creature seems to challenge the faith of some Christians.

We find dinosaur fossils all over the world. There are at least three explanations for dinosaurs which conform to Scripture:

1. Dinosaurs were real creatures which God created during creation week (Genesis 1:20-26). Dinosaurs were on the ark, but became extinct after the flood, possibly due to a changed environment, and due to hunting by people. The world-wide sedimentary rock layers containing fossils which we observe are what would be expected, based on a planet-wide flood. There was plenty of room on the ark for all the dinosaurs (actually far more room than needed). For an estimate of the number of animals on the ark, see page 31 of the Fall 2016 LSI Journal.

This position held by most creationists.

2. Dinosaurs were real creatures which God created during creation week (Genesis 1:20-26). Dinosaurs became extinct before the flood, and were therefore not on the ark. Those holding this position must accept that large numbers of dinosaurs died and become fossils during the few thousand years before the flood, that somehow, countless sea creatures died and became fossils in some of those same rock layers, and that God miraculously preserved the world-wide sedimentary rock layers and their fossils during a planetary flood.

This position held by a small number of creationists.

3. Dinosaurs were NOT real creatures. God created sedimentary rock strata and the fossils they contain during creation week. Those holding this position reason that God created the fossil remains of creatures which never existed, such as dinosaurs and trilobites. Those holding this position must accept that that God also created fossils of real creatures (many types which still live today) and mixed them in with the dinosaur fossils. They must accept that God miraculously preserved these world-wide sedimentary rock layers and their fossils during a planetary flood.

This position held by a small number of creationists.

See the 2023 article:
A Scriptural Case for Dinosaur Origins

See the 2020 article:
Did Dinosaurs Roam the Earth?
Many answer “Yes.”
They probably attribute most fossils to the Flood.
Some answer “No.”
They probably attribute most fossils to special creation by God.

Disclaimer

Views expressed on this website are those of the author and not necessarily the view of LSI.

What Should I Teach About Dinosaurs?
2022 by Mark Bergemann
pages 1-27 in the fall 2022 LSI Journal.

Includes classroom activities and curriculum summary by grade level (preschool - adult)

Dinosuars, God's Creatures
1991 and 2018 by Paul Boehlke,

A 1991 article with a 2018 companion update article.

Students can learn that dinosaur science is very typical science. In fact, we are teaching our students little science if we do not let them see hints of its inner workings. Science is always a creative and selective use of evidence to build a reasonable, natural explanation. There are many assumptions. There are many inferences. There are cases of searching until you find what you need to fit and support your favorite ideas. Science is a human construction.

New Dinosaur Family Tree
2018 by Mark Bergemann
part of "Fossils in the Gelogic Column"
pages 17-32 in the spring LSI Journal

"Where to place a given creature on evolution’s tree of life is often rather arbitrary, since so much rests on interpretation of which features are the most, and which are the least, important. ... Since 1887, dinosaurs have been classified as being 'lizard-hipped' or 'bird-hipped.' This new study throws that long-held scientific fact out the window. ...What happened to cause the questioning of 130 years of dividing dinos between lizard-hipped and bird-hipped? Were new fossils found?

Geologic Column
2018 by Mark Bergemann, 12 pages

Like much of Evolution Theory, the Geologic Column is a mixture of reality and fabrication. The vast time evolutionists assign to the column is the problem, not the rock layers and fossils in the column, nor their sequence.

Dinosaurs: Feathers or Scales?
Mark Bergemann, Pages 27-31, LSI Journal Spring 2016

Excerpt: Did some dinosaurs have feathers like birds, or did all dinosaurs have scales like lizards? New evidence is constantly found in the quest to answer this question. The Milwaukee Public Museum hosted the traveling “Ultimate Dinosaurs” exhibit in March 2016, so I paid $24 admission to see how the above question was answered.

Creation-Evolution Q&A
Warren Krug, LSI Journal 2013.
Question #11: Were dinosaurs real and, if so, does the Bible mention them?

Excerpt: The Book of Job does mention two fierce creatures whose descriptions do not match modern animals – the behemoth in chapter 40, which some Bible scholars think may have been a dinosaur of the Sauropod type, and the leviathan in chapter 41 which sounds like a prehistoric monster which spent time in the sea, perhaps a Kronosaurus. In addition, the Bible – particularly the KJV version – often mentions “dragons.” The many literary descriptions of dragons down through the ages closely match those of the larger dinosaurs. This raises the possibility that dragon stories and references, both biblical and non-biblical, may have originated from some real life interactions of humans with actual dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs in the Bible
Warren Krug, LSI Journal March, 2000. This excellent article is written from position #1.

Excerpt: What are Bible-believing Christians to think of dinosaurs? Over the years not all Christians have accepted their existence. Even today we hear a voice or two claiming that the dinosaur fossils are fossils directly created by God and placed in the ground merely to test our faith. However, the discovery of vast numbers of bones, tracks, and other fossils of creatures not known to exist today are not so easy to dismiss, nor is it at all necessary to do so. Not only is there nothing we really know about dinosaurs that conflicts in any way with the Bible and a traditional, Biblical understanding of the history of the world, but the Bible may actually contain direct support for a belief in the existence of dinosaurs.