David… if you just take the Bible on its own (ignoring any foreknowledge of the existence of dinosaurs), then there’s no reasonable way that one would come to assume that there was once millions of giant lizard-things roaming the Earth, of dozens of different species, shapes, colors, etc.
However, CC’s (Crazy Creationists… hehe! I made a funny! Okay, so it wasn’t funny…) probably feel the need to grasp at straws in their attempt to prove that the Universe is only a few thousand years old, especially since that all other evidence (and common sense) says otherwise.
Have you read the Bible recently? I don’t think that creating the universe old is inconsistant with a god that would tell someone eat of everything but the fruit of this tree or you will surely die and then get all pissed that they had to see for themselves.
I don’t see how it is out of character considering the story of Abraham. This old couple change their name and he helps them have a kid and then tells the guy, kill this boy the way I tell you. No reason given other than “I said so!” from god and Abraham does so and that is a good thing? At least Andromeda’s pop was getting something for sacrificing her. It always makes me wonder if there were other old couples and Abraham was just the one that obeyed.
What is so different about creating the world old partly as a test of faith? I think Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice pegs this god pretty well.
You seem to be under the impression that Abraham actually killed his son Isaac. This is not the case.
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It was a test. A real toughie, sure, but a test.
Later on in Genesis, Isaac grows up, marries a nice girl named Rebekah, has two fine sons, named Jacob and Esau, and lives to a ripe old age, beloved and respected by all.
His boys, however, are another story. Jacob’s a tricky devil, who cheats his brother out of his inheritance, and is cheated in turn by his father-in-law, who tricks him into marrying both his daughters instead of just the pretty younger one. With these two ladies, Jacob has 12 sons, one of whom, named Joseph, annoys his brothers so much that one day they sell him into slavery, taking his beautiful multicolored coat back to their father Jacob as proof that he’s been torn apart by wild animals. The slavers take Joseph to Egypt, where he has many fine adventures. Ring any bells yet?
So that’s who Isaac was, Joseph’s granddad. If he’d been sacrificed, we never would have had an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical called “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, and Donny Osmond would have had to look for a real job when his variety show was canceled. Makes you think, don’t it?
This has nothing to do with dinosaurs, but in my english class, we discussed the leviathan mentioned in Job as either Satan or a representation of evil. Granted a rather secular source, but methinks the meaning is more “symbolic” than “dinosaur”.
I am and was not under the impression that Abraham did sacrifice his son, only that he was ready and willing to do so. I apologizing for not being clear.
The point i was trying to make is that a god that tests like that may well have put dinosaurs here as another test.
This has little to do with the OP, but it’s an interesting sidebar nonetheless. I have here a religious tract that I never thought would come in handy.
It’s called “Refuting Evolution”, by Jonathan Sarfati, and is full of the rationalisation I’d expect in such a book.
I noted, however, that the author doesn’t actually dispute the existence of dinosaurs, just the possibility that they evolved into anything we know now. According to him, they were killed in the great flood.
He also uses the speed of the decay of the Earth’s magnetic field, the build-up of helium in our atmosphere, and the non-existence of Stage 3 supernovae to disprove that the universe is billions of years old.
I’m not sure what point you are trying to make with this passage; the word “disprove” bothers me. Are you suggesting that those topics actually do disprove the ancient age of the universe? If so, I can come up with some debunking and some counterarguments.
