What do you suppose was God's purpose for creating the dinosaurs?

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Was it to condition the earth to eventually support mammals and other later creatures?
 
So that when we are gardening and those cute little lizards emerge from their hiding places, we can threaten to grab them by the tails, and squirt them with the water hose, while reflecting on how fearsome they would be, if they were the size of a house instead of a cigar or a Sharpie pen 🦎 ◀️ 🦕
 
Weave said:
It is the Lord’s Chicken.
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The last time Jesus came back he asked for fish. The next time he just might ask for a chicken sandwich, and if he does, I would try to get him one from Chik-fil-A.
 
To fascinate Paleontologist, to excite kids with toys and adults with movies… To throw a speed bump to creationists
 
Because God is endlessly creative and interesting in His designs. He creates all sorts of weird things, including humans. Glory by to God!
 
St. Augustine explains an acceptable interpretation of Creation in Book 6 of his “Literal Meaning of Genesis,": which I think is helpful here.

He explains that the six days represent not literal days, but a scheme or plan of creation. The actual creation during those “days” was instantaneous and of things in potency and causation, but not necessarily their final visible form which would be shaped later over time. For example, he places the actual formation of man’s body after the seventh day (which explains why there is two creation accounts of man in Genesis):

St. Augustine
There can be no doubt, then, that the work whereby man was formed from the slime of the earth and a wife fashioned for him from his side belongs not to that creation by which all thing were made together, after completing which, God rested, but to that work of God which takes place with the unfolding of the ages as He works even now.
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This interpretation works well with concepts like an old universe, the big bang, and evolution–ie God created all things at once in potency (the big bang) and then formed them over time (old universe, evolution). St. Augustine elsewhere compares this formation of things to how mountains and rivers are shaped over time. Even with man, Genesis doesn’t say how long it took God to form man from the slime of the earth after the seventh day.

I think dinosaurs are simply part of this “shaping” that continues even today.
 
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It’s never been clear to me that once God set creation - and evolution as well - into motion, He explicitly willed each distinct species and sub-species into being. My belief is that His plan was in many respects to let creation take its course. On the other hand, if He did will each distinct species into being, I wish someone would tell me what He was thinking when it came to carpenter ants and ticks - just to name two questionable corners of creation.
 
Pitcairn17 said:
It’s never been clear to me that once God set creation - and evolution as well - into motion, He explicitly willed each distinct species and sub-species into being.
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But isn’t that the really beautiful part of it? Rather than going down a list and saying “Okay, now it’s time for Chimpanzees to branch off” He (it seems to me) did the equivalent of striking one cue ball and clearing every pool table that ever was or will be built of balls in a single shot. And then some, as they say.
Pitcairn17 said:
someone would tell me what He was thinking when it came to carpenter ants and ticks
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I can only fall back on “His ways are not our ways” and hope to understand eventually.
 
Genesis315 said:
St. Augustine explains an acceptable interpretation of Creation in Book 6 of his “Literal Meaning of Genesis,": which I think is helpful here.

He explains that the six days represent not literal days, but a scheme or plan of creation. The actual creation during those “days” was instantaneous and of things in potency and causation, but not necessarily their final visible form which would be shaped later over time. For example, he places the actual formation of man’s body after the seventh day (which explains why there is two creation accounts of man in Genesis):

St. Augustine
There can be no doubt, then, that the work whereby man was formed from the slime of the earth and a wife fashioned for him from his side belongs not to that creation by which all thing were made together, after completing which, God rested, but to that work of God which takes place with the unfolding of the ages as He works even now.
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That is a very reasonable explanation. And it should put an end, once and for all, to the conflict between creationists and evolutionists. BOTH happened.
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Pitcairn17 said:
It’s never been clear to me that once God set creation - and evolution as well - into motion, He explicitly willed each distinct species and sub-species into being. My belief is that His plan was in many respects to let creation take its course. On the other hand, if He did will each distinct species into being, I wish someone would tell me what He was thinking when it came to carpenter ants and ticks - just to name two questionable corners of creation.
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I tend to believe along your lines – that God put into place the mechanisms and processes through which and by which creation could evolve, then he lets it unfold accordingly with minimal intervention. This, too, was and is part of his plan.

That’s why there exists such processes as natural selection – it’s one means by which God has allowed creation to unfold and evolve. Maybe not the only means, as many processes and mechanisms are involved.

As for carpenter ants and ticks – well, in his wisdom maybe God realized that humans, as stewards over the earth, would need to be able to have varying degrees of control over their environment, and some elements over which they could never have complete control. Perhaps this was meant to keep us humble.

More likely, these creatures which we find annoying and loathsome make their own positive contribution to nature by providing food for other creatures. For example, the graceful swallows that we enjoy watching would starve to death if it wasn’t for mosquitoes and other flying insects that they catch and eat on the wing, and feed to their young. Many of these we find annoying and even disgusting, but they’re here for a purpose and a reason. It isn’t necessarily all about US.

There’s also a measure of give and take. There are trade-offs. If we didn’t have mosquitoes, ants, flies, ticks and other pesky insects to put up with, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the birds and other creatures which they benefit.
 
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JanR said:
Was it to condition the earth to eventually support mammals and other later creatures?
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Maybe… The world was warmer and very lush - and large herbifores were needed to trim the foliage…
 
EndTimes said:
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JanR:
Was it to condition the earth to eventually support mammals and other later creatures?
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Maybe… The world was warmer and very lush - and large herbifores were needed to trim the foliage…
Click to expand...
And another interesting question is why the giant meteor or meteor shower suddenly occurred that caused their extinction. Was that just a natural phenomenon, or did God decide the dinosaurs had outlived their usefulness, and his purposes for their existing, so decided to put an abrupt end to them?

The earth was changing, probably due in large part to their contributions to it, and became more suitable for other lifeforms and less suitable for the dinosaurs. This, too, is part of evolution and natural processes.

There are two kinds of extinction – natural extinction, with which we shouldn’t interfere, and extinctions caused by our poor stewardship (the Passenger Pigeon comes to mind), which we should learn from and take measures to prevent. Understanding which is which is part of our learning curve here on earth.
 
JanR said:
And another interesting question is why the giant meteor or meteor shower suddenly occurred that caused their extinction. Was that just a natural phenomenon, or did God decide the dinosaurs had outlived their usefulness, and his purposes for their existing, so decided to put an abrupt end to them?
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Sure… There’s potentially zillions of ‘interesting WHY? questions’ which could be raised…

That circa 65 MYA event (which also coincides with the gi-gun-do Deccan Traps event
had to have eliminated more ‘things’ than just dinosaurs, yay?

One could form a reasonable argument that all of Creation has become imperfect
due to Satan//Fall of Man…

Fortunately - there’s a New Earth and New Heaven… on its way - yay?
 
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Obviously, the dinosaurs and all other extinct prehistoric creatures were created to give paleontologists like me something to study. And for everyone else to wonder about.
 
EndTimes said:
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JanR:
Was it to condition the earth to eventually support mammals and other later creatures?
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Maybe… The world was warmer and very lush - and large herbifores were needed to trim the foliage…
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Some of the dinosaurs were carnivores, and ate the smaller, less defensive herbivores.
 
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