Some people dread having the sex talk with their kids. I have always dreaded the dinosaur talk.
Until recently.
I re-educated myself on this animal. I had to. Not only is Totally Tots dedicating a month of books to one of God’s most fascinating creatures, but kids (mine included), are so incredibly drawn to knowing about this particular animal.
Don’t you find that curious? Something so amazing can be used to draw our kids into reveling in the awe of God’s creation or turning them away from the Gospel message.
You may either agree or disagree with me regarding where I place dinosaurs in the grand scheme of God’s plan. Either way, I encourage you to do a thorough research of this very important subject that REALLY does have eternal ramifications on not only your world view but your child’s worldview.
(I will have you know that much of what I am going to present to you stems from information I gleaned at a conference our church held called Confound the Wise. It is a ministry founded by Dr. Rick Oliver and Pete Greer.)
Something to Ponder #1: Let me start out by saying, how do we humans know what dinosaurs looked like when we weren’t even around to see them?
I mean, think about it. The above dinosaur skeleton is based off of a FEW bones that were found near each other. Just look at “Caroline.” She has more casts made of what bones scientists think should be there than what they actually found in the ground.
Could you have a portrait drawn of your child if you only gave the artist a finger, an eyebrow, and maybe a nose?
Well, this is exactly what happened to the poor old Brontosaurus. He doesn't re
ally exist! Taken from Paul S. Taylor’s book, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible,
The dinosaur was discovered with the head missing. To make the skeleton complete, a scientist added a skull found three of four miles away. But no one else knew this. The skeleton actually belonged to a type of Diplodocus. The skull was from an Apatosaurus. (pp 12)
Something to Ponder #2: A lot of people, many of them Christians, discredit the existence of dinosaurs. They say that dinosaurs couldn’t have existed because the Bible never mentions them . . . the word dinosaur can not be found in the Bible.
While this is a true statement that the word dinosaur isn’t found in the Bible, consider this. The completed King James Bible was translated into English in 1611.
The word dinosaur wasn’t “coined” until around 1842.
Of course, dinosaur doesn’t exist in the Bible. But you will find it by other names that match a similar description such as dragon (Revelation 12:3), leviathan (Job 41:1), serpent (Isaiah 27:1), monster (Jeremiah 51:34), and behemoth (Job 40:15).
To emphasize how important it is to teach your child about dinosaurs, let me throw this out to you. One of the reasons youth leave the church is because the view they have been taught about evolution, the age of the earth, and dinosaurs doesn’t fit into what the Church or their parents have told them about God’s story of history as found in the Bible.
And this is so sad.
I don’t want to start a heated discussion or argue with anyone. There are plenty of other avenues for that sort of debate-- plenty of books and websites out there. My purpose is to only make you think as a parent. I want to encourage you to educate yourself or someone else will train your child for you.
What kids are learning about evolution, the age of the earth, and dinosaurs isn’t based on fact. Don’t trust PBS Dinosaur Train, the History Chanel, or your school system.
As you do your research, here is a bullet list to use in the meantime to teach your children about dinosaurs using 5 simple words:
- Formed – dinosaurs were formed on Day 6 along with all of the other animals. However, at that time they were ALL plant eaters. Just because you have long teeth doesn’t mean you eat meat.
- Fallen – all of creation experienced the loss of innocence when Adam and Eve sinned. Not all dinosaurs remained kind.
- Flood – dinosaurs were alive on earth. So . . . that must mean that they would have obeyed God’s call to climb on board the ark. But that doesn’t mean that the largest dinosaurs bought a ticket. Couldn’t God be God and have the young, not yet fully grown, dinosaurs take the ramp up into the boat? And contrary to popular belief, the average size of MOST dinosaurs was relatively small. Not to mention, there weren’t thousands of different types of dinosaurs in existence. It was after the flood that we begin to see the demise of dinosaurs. To learn about this, head on over to Answers in Genesis for more on this topic. Additionally, you can learn more about what life was like after the flood here.
- Faded – as dinosaurs disappeared so did people’s memories. The fact is that our memories fade. As the years pass, stories become tall tales. Dinosaurs become something of a myth or legend because they begin to become almost surreal compared with the animals currently on the planet.
- Found – yet we find fossils . . . proof that some sort of animal existed on the earth that we no longer see with our own eyes. We find pictures of them on cave walls and hear stories of them passed down culturally from one generation to the next. And they are mentioned in the Bible.
Is is so hard to believe these creatures existed? Think about what remains of them today . . . the crock monitor, and iguana, a komodo dragon.
Did you know that there is even a little beetle that breathes fire . . . sounds like a dragon if you ask me. Or a unique dinosaur.
God is creative. Dinosaurs are part of His plan. And part of God’s plan is that our children not be hindered and come to Him.
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14)
