I cannot believe how many times I hear this argument. Luckily I hear it mostly from atheists or agnostics asking me why I believe this… when I don’t. I’m sure Christians who have not taken the time to question enough have used this, and I have heard of preachers using this. PLEASE STOP! In fact, I have a relative who is a devout Christian, believes the Biblical accounts of creation 100%, and yet still asked me “I wonder how the dinosaurs came to be”? I couldn’t believe it. The answer is so simple!
Is the majority of what we consider dinosaurs land-dwelling animals? Yes. On what day of creation were land animals created? Day six. So when were dinosaurs created? Day six. Now, why is this so confusing? Because what else was created on day six? Humans! Dinosaurs and humans co-existed? Yes, of course. Why is this such a problem? I think it is because we have been indoctrinated with media that is evolutionary-biased. But if you are a Christian who already rejects evolution, why do you need to come up with some other excuse for dinosaurs?
There is evidence all over the world of man interacting with what is described as “large lizards” or even “dragons”. The Bible also uses the word “dragon” to describe ancient beasts. There is also evidence of ancient cave drawings and architecture design that incorporated what very plainly resembles what we now call dinosaurs. Today we connect “dragon” with myth or legend, but what if there was some truth to the original stories that became mythicized over the years? Could the dragon tales all over the world actually be a record of humans hunting down and exterminating the dinosaurs? Is the answer to the age old question “what happened to the dinosaurs” as simple as what happens to countless other species every year… we kill them off! No need for some big long convoluted theory upon theory about their extermination… they went extinct like hundreds of species do every single year.
There’s another theory that is not as well documented, but a theory nonetheless that says many types of lizards actually never stop growing until they die… and if humans lived longer ages in the early world, perhaps animals did as well. If animals lived longer lives, and lizards never stop growing… perhaps some of the species of dinosaurs are actually just some of today’s lizards after hundreds of years of growth? Therefore, perhaps some of the dinosaurs did not actually go extinct; they just stopped living as long. Personally I’d probably shy away from this argument overall, but it is intriguing and probably worth more research.
So back to our premise: what about those bones, did God put them there to test our faith? Of course not. Most of them would have been put there during the global flood of Noah’s day. As creationists we need to be prepared with answers, even if those answers are going to clash with the popular consensus.
Grace with Salt 
I think we both agree that erectus/neanderthals/sapiens were the same species who had the common ancestors of Adam and Eve, while oreo, ardi, and the australopiths are extinct apes. But I like to challenge you with questions I don’t have answers for 🙂
At what strata layer do you put the pre/post flood boundary? I think most YEC’s put it at the end of the cretaceous (65m years)? Why do we find erectus fossils going back 2-4m years (using traditional dating) but sapiens don’t appear until 200k years ago? Did Adam, Eve, and Noah most closely match the erectus morphology? Why are there no homo fossils between 65m and 4m years?
Posted by joecoder7 | October 15, 2012, 5:55 pmI haven’t studied that various erectus/neanderthal/sapien histories too much, but yes more than likely Adam/Eve would most closely match erectus. Let’s say erectus emerged 2 million years ago and sapiens 200k years ago. Now lets shrink that 2 million time scale down to 6000 years. That means sapiens emerged approx. 600 years ago, or around 1400 AD. Interesting thought right?
Posted by Tim | October 15, 2012, 10:28 pmWe don’t have any fossil finds that match recorded history events that are erectus. For a strict 6000 year timeline would have to put the entire span of erectus in the several hundred years following a ~2300BC flood.
Posted by joecoder7 | October 15, 2012, 10:40 pmActually might make sense if there really was a single ice age that creationists predict following the flood for several hundred years. Perhaps human characteristics would have adapted during this time period.
Posted by Tim | October 15, 2012, 10:49 pmMaybe so? I’ve heard some YEC scientists argue this. As for me I don’t know enough about geology to say.
Posted by joecoder7 | October 15, 2012, 10:51 pmI never thought God put dinosaur bones there to test our faith. Anyone who thinks so is really ignorant. Ask yourself how God could create beautiful magnificent creatures and not make them living lol. Though I do understand some people’s points. Mainly being…we are at the bottom of the food chain in that regards. Still are with predators like Alligators, and Tigers, and Lions, and Bears oh my, so would it be so different for Dinosaurs? I’m guessing it would be, seeing how there was evidence that Dinos were everywhere. There were a heck of a lot of carnivorous dinosaurs roaming around that it would be silly to think no one was captured and eaten like a rare steak, but yeah. Dinos existed,
Posted by Dave | October 15, 2012, 8:46 pmThat’s a good point. A lot of people say there is no way dinos and humans could have lived together since they would eat all the people, yet we co-exist fine with lions and alligators. Yes I’m sure some people were eaten, but ya know these carniverous animals normally have a set diet and only attack when provoked.
Posted by Tim | October 15, 2012, 10:31 pmA set diet huh? LOL. Well let’s see, it’s Tuesday, so no fatty meats….hmm Ooohhh man, 300 gallons of water?
Posted by Dave | October 15, 2012, 10:49 pm