I am sure it has been asked....

but I missed it. Can someone explain Dinosaurs and how they fit into religion.

 

God created dinosaurs. That's how they fit in. Quit trying to pick a fight.

 

What fight? All the creation stories I have read have never says anything about them. To say God did does not explain how they fit in. If that is your opinion thanks. But I seek more information.

 

The Bible refers to many the common animals we know today. The list includes lions, wolves, bears, sheep, cattle and dogs along with various kinds of birds, rodents, reptiles, and insects. What is interesting is that this extensive list includes three animals that we no longer recognize. These three are (in the original Hebrew language) tanniyn, b@hemowth (yes, it’s spelled correctly—at least as close as we can get in Roman characters), and livyathan.

Although we alter the spelling of behemoth and Leviathan slightly, we still use those same words in bibles today. However, tanniyn is always translated into another word when we write it in English. Tanniyn occurs 28 times in the Bible and is normally translated “dragon.” It is also translated “serpent,” “sea monster,” “dinosaur,” “great creature,” and “reptile.” Behemoth and Leviathan are relatively specific creatures, perhaps each was a single kind of animal. Tanniyn is a more general term, and it can be thought of as the original version of the word “dinosaur.” The word “dinosaur” was originally coined in 1841, more than three thousand years after the Bible first referred to “Tanniyn.”

 

Brain's post can be found here: http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/dinos.shtml

 

Ok. 28 times What sections ofthe bible does it appear and in what context. Understanding that may words can now be associated with the old terms. Using in a time & place. Such as "The warriors rode a behemoth beasts." Which I would understand as beast that were very large. And could consider a type of animal. Refering to text that may state horse, cow or elephants. Which were commonly riden during battles and used for labor.

 

Go read a Bible.

 

the page vito linked has a bunch of the particular verses. i think they're really trying hard to make dinos work in a biblical context in that they get incredibly literal with descriptions to rule out known animals (read the leviathan one). but of course, they fail to retain that critical eye when applying the description to dinos. leviathan breathes fire. dunno which dinosaur does that.

 

I do not see them as describing dinosaurs. Understanding that the term was taken from Hebrew. Which would be correct as one of the first true fossil hunters was also a cleric. I would lean toward these except of the descriptions seem to be first person. We look at fossils today and have readjusted our thinking. Meaning: Before dinosaurs were these slow and dull looking aniamls. Now we can detect color pigments in the skin. I would think that this would be noted though their description. Using computors we animate them into movement based on the bones structure. Even looking at Histories of other cultures in other parts of the world. They describe some of the same type creatures in the present tense.

 

Regardless, the Bible says God made all of the animals of the world. Then made man to rule over them. If your basing it off a timeline, it wasn't done in days but millions of years. The earth is older than 3000 years. Parts of the Bible are literal and parts are figurative. Your arguing semantics in order to discredit it, but can't provide any definitive reason as to it being wrong. For example time is different everywhere a day on earth is shorter than a day on Jupiter. So for that sake how long is a day in heaven? That's a number you can't quantify. So the Bible saying God made the earth and everything in it in 7 days isn't necessarily wrong if those are days in heaven. That time period could be millions of earth years. God making Adam from the ground doesn't have to be literal. He could've been formed from single cell organisms that came from the ground. Adam wasn't the first human (like) being on earth. The Bible tells of how his son Cain goes to a city after killing Able. Well if its just Adam, Eve, and their kids what city could he have gone to? See its not all literal. The key to the Bible is to get the important message from it rather than attacking it. God sent his son to die for us. By having faith in that we are forgiven of our sins and allowed passage into heaven. Without that we aren't worthy to enter Heaven.