Biblical Interpretaton Attempted

The ChristianCourier.com web site contains the statement, "Jesus affirmed that mankind has existed 'from the beginning of the creation' (Mk. 10:6); this certainly excludes the notion that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years before man appeared upon the planet."

This so-called affirmation of dinosaurs co-existing with mankind by Jesus in Chapter 10, Verse 6, of St Mark's gospel was not about mankind and dinosaurs as the Web site claims, rather it dealt with Jesus's teachings about divorce. Jesus said, "But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female." Because of the definitive article, the, that is used in the reference to creation, one must assume that the science book used by Jesus for his education was the Holy Scriptures, particularly the book of Genesis. Jesus's statement about the creation proves that he knew of the biblical story of the creation and that accepted it as an explanation of how there came to be two sexes. In the time of Jesus, evolution was as much a fact as it is today. Jesus and everyone else in his time were simply unaware of evolution. Mark 10:6 does not exclude anything regarding the age of dinosaurs. The fossil record establishes the extinction of dinosaurs millions of years before the evolution of mankind.

Actually, Mark 10:6 possibly excludes the divinity of Jesus. If Jesus is one with an all-knowing, omniscient god, he would have been aware of the role of evolution in the development of sexuality. It is possible, of course, that Jesus was aware of evolution, but chose not to reveal it, because people would be confused by facts too modern for their understanding, and that would have hurt Jesus's credibility. Jesus was by his science education (which was almost none, I would guess) not ahead of his time.

I expect that had dinosaurs and mankind lived at the same time, the bible would have been full of stories about these remarkable creatures, for example: how a Hebrew tribe was devoured and passed into oblivion; how the walls of Jericho and other settlements were built to withstand their carnivorous foraging; how the meat from dinosaurs was unclean, because it was corrupted by the people dinosaurs ate; etc. And, I am sure that the bible would have had many names for dinosaurs besides behemoth, leviathan and dragon because of the great variety of these beasts. Yes, dinosaurs and mankind together would have been a story too big not to tell it in the bible.

The last words of the 'Dinosaurs and the Bible" page in the ChristianCourier Web site sums it up, thusly, "Those who accept the testimony of the Bible are confident that men and dinosaurs did occupy the ancient earth at the same time. We are not dependent upon modern discoveries to confirm that for us. However, when clear evidence does come to light, we should not hesitate to accept it." Yeah, right. If you believe that, you'll believe anything, even dinosaurs and man living on earth at the same time.