Myth 7: “Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, did not walk with man, and are not mentioned in the Bible.”

Below is a summary of Myth 7. For the full chapter on this topic, download the Seven Myths book here.

Myth number 7 is: “Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, did not walk with man, and are not mentioned in the Bible.” The secular viewpoint on dinosaurs directly opposes what the Bible teaches. In a nutshell, the secular idea is that dinosaurs evolved through death of the unfit and survival of the fittest random mutants starting about 220 million years ago and ending at a supposed extinction event about 65 million years ago. This view invokes the trinity of time, chance, and death as the creators of dinosaurs.

According to biblical history, however, dinosaurs were intentionally designed by God, each made to reproduce after its own kind, and were spontaneously placed on Earth just thousands of years ago. The following Bible passages outline some dinosaur basics:

1. God created all living things. Therefore, God created dinosaurs (Genesis 1; Exodus 20:11; Colossians 1:16; John 1:3).
2. God created all land-dwelling, air-breathing animals on the 6th Day of Creation, right before He created man (Genesis 1:24–25).
3. Tallying the genealogies in Genesis 1–11, this 6th Day occurred about 6,000 years ago, so dinosaurs were placed here fully-formed (in several different “kinds”) at that time.
4. Adam’s first job from God was to name all the animals (including dinosaurs) after they were all created (Genesis 2:20).
5. After God created all animals, He gave Adam and Eve the charge of taking dominion over every living creature: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (v. 28). All of God’s creatures were present when this dominion order was given.
6. The book of Job describes two dinosaur-like creatures: Leviathan and Behemoth. Behemoth is given the title of God’s “chief” or “first in rank” over all God’s creative works (Job 40:19). A plain interpretation of the 13 characteristics that describe this animal match a sauropod dinosaur that was “made along with” man (verse 40:15).
7. All land-dwelling, air-breathing animals died in a worldwide Flood (except those on Noah’s Ark) about 4,400 years ago (Genesis 6:7, 7:20–23). Part of the reason for this worldwide extinction event was that “all flesh” (including animals) had “corrupted their way on the Earth” (Genesis 6:12).
8. Not all animal “kinds” that got off the Ark after the Flood survived for long in the new, post-Flood world (e.g., many dinosaurs). While we don’t know the details, many animal kinds (and probably most of the dinosaurs) quickly went extinct after the Flood. Some dinosaurs, however, survived for centuries after the Flood, and contributed to the dragon myths and legends that exist all over the world (see section below on dragons).

Which of these two viewpoints on dinosaurs is correct? Were all varieties of dinosaurs the products of time, chance, and “survival of the fittest” millions of years ago? Or, were they placed here by an intentional, all-powerful God who spoke them into existence, and then later wiped out in the Global Flood described in Genesis? Our Dinosaur book explores 13 lines of reasoning that provide evidence that the historical view of Genesis is accurate. Rather than dinosaurs being used to “prove” evolution, dinosaur design and the dinosaur fossil record actually fits the “biblical hypothesis” better than the one provided by evolution!