Dear Steve:
I have never read the Book of Jasher, but while thinking about the
dinosaurs/ark/flood one day a thought occurred to me that comports with
that book, apparently.
First of all I accept implicitly that the earth is only about 6000
years old. The book of Exodus contains something to the effect that
God created the earth and all that is in it in 6 days. For me, this
rules out the possibilty of some pre-existing epoch between Genesis 1:1
and 1:2. (Genesis 1:1 is probably just a summary of what follows.)
Secondly, I think it would be difficult or impossible for all the
different kinds of Dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals to fit on the
ark.
I know some creationists say the dinosaurs and other aniamals could
have been brought on as juveniles, but I have always been kind of
embarrased to say I believe that. For one thing the Bible says nothing
about that, and secondly if that was an option why not bring in all the
animals as juveniles, or even as eggs for that matter.
I know again that some creationists use a very loose definition of
‘kind’ such that all dinosaurs may have been reprsented by very few
pairs.
But at the end of the day, there really were lots of sauropods that
were so large that even one adult paid could not have been accomodated.
If as you mention from Jasher, mankind had learned how to crossbreed
species, then perhaps the dinosaurs, at least many of them, were the
result of this.
Mankind had apparently itself become corrupted by this practise. Only
Noah and his family were perfection their generations, i.e. geneology.
The crossbred humans were not saved on the ark, even though in some respects they may have become different species.
Possibly the dinosaurs and other strange creatures had a simlilar
status and did not need to be saved. That could explain their absence
from the ark, and their annihilaition in the flood.
Does this seem plausible?
Dave
MYREPLY
Dear David,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Creation account in the book of Genesis. While I believe that all species now on the earth were created approximately 6,000 years ago, I do not believe that the earth itself is 6,000 years old. Genesis 1:1 states that “in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Job 38:1-11 discusses this same original creation of the earth and states the angels were already in existence and shouted for joy when it was made. The original earth had to be beautiful and perfect. Isaiah 45:18, another biblical reference to the original creation of the earth, states God made it to be inhabited and that it was not originally created “tohu” (a Hebrew word for a waste or empty place which is without form, etc). However, Genesis 1:2 records this originally beautiful, inhabited earth became a “tohu” wasteland at some point after its initial perfect creation. The earth was already in existence and the oceans also existed in Genesis 1:2 before Creation Week began in verse 3. However, Genesis 1:2 shows us the earth had turned into a desolate, blackened state before God began to create an Eden on the earth after a global catastrophe.
It is my belief that it was Lucifer’s rebellion which resulted in a heavenly war that destroyed the dinosaurs and other life forms that were originally on the earth. Isaiah 14:14 records that Lucifer rose above the clouds as he ascended toward heaven to rebel against God. Since the earth had clouds in its atmosphere prior to Lucifer’s rebellion, there had to be an atmosphere and water-vapor formation on the earth prior to Lucifer’s rebellion. Ezekiel 28:15 records that Lucifer was “perfect” when he was created. What God makes “perfect” would take a very, very long time to become corrupted, which is one reason why I believe in a very, very old earth. I recommend that you read my article “Is the Earth 6,000 Years Old?”, which examines the subjects of the age of the earth, Creation Week, the dinosaurs, Lucifer’s rebellion, etc. That article is available at the articles menu at this website.
Steve
