How Do Dinosaurs Fit Into Genesis?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PrisonerOfChrist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PrisonerOfChrist

Guest
“And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so” - Genesis 1:30

I understand from this verse all creatures were originally created to be plant eaters and it wasn’t until after the fall they ate meat.

What about dinosaurs? Fossils confirm some dinosaurs were meat eaters before man was even created?
 
Last edited:
Dinosaurs were wiped out before the age of mammals. Carnivores also existed in the garden of Eden as narrated in Genesis.
We are Carnivores also.
 
PrisonerOfChrist said:
I understand from this verse all creatures were originally created to be plant eaters and it wasn’t until after the fall they ate meat.
Click to expand...
It doesn’t necessarily follow from this verse. The word “only” doesn’t appear.
 
Rabbi Shimon continued the discussion saying, “And out of the ground Hashem Elohim formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the air” (Genesis 2:19). Woe to [the people of] the world whose hearts are closed, whose eyes are shut and who do not look into the secrets of the Torah and perceive that the “beast of the field” and the “bird of the air” allude to the ignorant. Even those who have a living Nefesh [soul], are of no service to the Shechinah in exile or to Moses who is with Her. For all the time that the Shechinah is in exile, Moses did not move away from Her. – Zohar, Bereshit A, 274
Click to expand...
The creation story of Genesis is about God’s creation of man. It has nothing to do with the dinosaurs, or with any other animal.
 
Last edited:
You may be trying to force science to fit a story designed to explain God’s love in the creative act…after all, it starts with light, yet the moon, sun, and stars were created later…so science and chronology maybe troublesome if reading Genesis 1 and 2 as a science or history text,
 
PrisonerOfChrist said:
What about dinosaurs? Fossils confirm some dinosaurs were meat eaters before man was even created?
Click to expand...
Genesis 1 (and 2) is an allegory - it’s intention is to tell us a story about how God is and about our relationship with Him. To put it another way, there wasn’t an angel or other celestial being recording what was happening (and struggling to spell hippopotamus). So that’s why there aren’t any dinosaurs and why the lions weren’t bust eating the antelope while Adam’s back was turned!
 
MasterHaster said:
Why did the writer of Genesis not simply state God created the universe instead of a scientifically false narrative that causes controversy and confusion to this day?
Click to expand...
Its not a false narrative, because it was not written as a science text…and even if it were, over the centuries it would have had to been updated to keep up with scientific knowledge.

And any controversy or confusion, specifically among Catholics, is because of a lack of catechesis and understanding on Church teaching considering the story of creation (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 279-289).
 
What’s wrong with controversy and confusion? If you don’t ask questions, you’ll never find the answers. Out of darkness cometh light.
 
Last edited:
I would say the only controversy and confusion come from people who have not read or ascended to the Catholic Church’s interpretation of the passage.

And the reason the author of Genesis did not simply say “God created the universe” is because there are truths in every passage, and the passages as a whole. You see through the creation account a procession of created things with man being created last, much like a royal procession with all the servants coming first and the king coming last, or like the entrance of the priest at mass with all the servers and lectors coming first and the priest coming in last. The genesis account is emphasizing the priestly and kingly function of man over all of creation. That is something you don’t get by shortening and generalizing the text to be more “scientific”
Peace
 
There may be a troll in the house…hopefully, I’m wrong, but my patience is low this morning, so I’m out of this thread.
 
The apologist’s at Catholic Answers have answered questions about dinosaurs in the past here:

40.png
Why did God create dinosaurs? Ask an Apologist
I’m trying to answer a question posed to me by an atheist and I’m stumped. Why did God create dinosaurs? If prevailing evolutionary theories are true, why would God create dinosaurs that we would never see in person but only in the fossil record?
Click to expand...
40.png
Dinosaurs Ask an Apologist
My 11 year old son ask me a question the other day I could not seem to give a complete answer to. He asked me if dinosaurs lived before Adam and Eve and if so how long? My other son is also very into dinosaurs and we read lots of books about them. They give different reasons for why dinosaurs are no longer on the earth and I wonder what the correct response is to that. Could someone these dinosaur dilemas for me?
Click to expand...
40.png
Which came first: Adam and Eve, or the dinosaurs? Ask an Apologist
I was recently asked by a skeptical high school student this question and I’m not sure how to answer it: "Which came first: Adam and Eve, or the dinosaurs?" My thought was that the dinosaurs came first because God created the animals first. Since we don’t believe in a strict interpretation of the creation story in Genesis, could the dinosaurs simply be part of God-controlled evolution and earth setting up? What could I say to explain why the dinosaurs even existed? I don’t want to give a faul…
Click to expand...
40.png
Dinosaurs? Ask an Apologist
Have the Church, Church Fathers or any Catholic theologians written any documents or essays on dinosaurs? I would like to read any documents on this subject, if they exist. Thanks! Unvrsl_Sldr
Click to expand...
Also, another Catholic apologist (from the St. Philip Institute who is also a scientist) has written an article about dinosaurs here:

 
MasterHaster said:
Why did the writer of Genesis not simply state God created the universe…
Click to expand...
That is really the overarching theme of the creation story.
MasterHaster said:
…instead of a scientifically false narrative that causes controversy and confusion to this day?
Click to expand...
The creation story was written at a time when an allegorical story telling method was used to explain things. Today, we are more accustomed to hard data, but that was definitely not how things were 2500+ years ago.

The controversy and confusion comes from people. It doesn’t come from God. Furthermore, the point of the creation story was to explain, among other things, that God created the universe. Some people may try to use the creation story to get answers to questions that it was not meant to address. Any resulting confusion from dong that is not the fault of the author of the creation story or the fault of God.
 
We have found dino soft tissue and dino bones C14 dated to 28,000 years ago.
 
One thing I’ve noticed about my time on internet forums. No good-none-can come from “discussions” about evolution and if The Book of Genesis is to be taken literally or not. The includes conversations about dinosaurs.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top