19 Nov 06
2 edits
Originally posted by ThinkOfOneI don't see this as a flaw in the Old Testament IF it is indeed true.
Is there a reason that it should?
The assumption is that the Bible should explicitly mention everything that we are interested in. The Bible does not mention the dark side of the moon either. It cannot in fact mention exhaustively the billions and billions of distinct items in the universe just for mentioning's sake.
So what is mentioned is related to the central plan of God. How these things are related to that eternal purpose probably governs their inclusion or not. The Bible does not mention weather on the south pole of the planet Saturn. That doesn't mean that God has no knowledge of such things.
It is also possible that the world before God created man and the creatures which are a part of man's world are not mentioned. This is not a recent belief. This is a belief which predates the science of geology and biology. Some refer to it as "Gap Theory". I a prefer "Destruction / Reconstruction" interpretation of Genesis. But I would not object to "Gap Theory" if it communicates the specifics of what I think the Bible reveals.
At any rate the "gap" refers to an unspecified duration of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. God created the heavens and the earth "in the beginning" and something happened to render the earth waste and void in an unspecified gap of time. In this interval of time there could conceivably be millions of years. I think that the world NOT under man's dominion is of no interest for God to elaborate on in the Bible.
The previous economy and system was not subject to man and was not headed up by man. It was a system under another deputy authority besides man. And its nature may have been totally different from the world we today understand. Since Man is Gods' focus and center in the Bible, these things related to the Pre-Adam world are not mentioned. Or they are only briefly and slightly mentioned only if they have something to do with man's world.
I beleive that the pre-history of Satan is mentioned in connection with the pre-Adamic world. If dinosaurs fall into that pre-Adamic history that might explain why the Bible is silent about that. God is not interested in that because that does not concern man and man's world or man's place in His eternal purpose.
As curious as we are and as much as we cannot stand to not know everything, we have to submit to the fact that God has not told us everything. He has told us what He deems is appropriate for us to know.
"The things that are hidden belong to Jehovah; but the things that are revealed, to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29:29)
19 Nov 06
1 edit
with all respect the answer is a little on the cheap side; i think the fact the dinosuars ruled the earth for over 150 million years is kinda an important point when talking about the history of our planet. to say the bible cannot cover all history is just rubbish - we are not talking a few years here! doesn't this just prove what rubbish the old testament is, how could god create adam and eve first when we know for a fact the dinosaurs ruled the earth long before man arrived... i doubt any christian has a good and relevant answer for that..!
19 Nov 06
Originally posted by rooktakesqueenOh for God's sake, can we get past this once and for all.
why doesn't the old testament not once mention the existence of dinosaurs..?
The Old Testament doesn't mention these things because it is NOT a history text. It is NOT a history of the universe in 10 easy steps.
19 Nov 06
... i doubt any christian has a good and relevant answer for that..![/b]I also doubt if merely rubbish is a relevant answer either. What most cannot phanthom is that Genesis 1:1 is the complete story. Subsquent accounts are quite possibly the story of Re-Creation. The original Hebrew translation of verse 2 and more accurately reads that the Earth was in chaos and without government. How may years are between verse 1 and verse2? Could this have been possibly when the serpents reigned? It can't all be rubbish. Mass extinction in a matter of hours. That sounds more like science fiction than science fact. All probability and all possibility
19 Nov 06
is it fair to say then that god made a mistake with the dinosaurs, after all, why create them and then destroy them? seems a little harsh to me... no one has answered the previous question, the OT states god created the earth, then man, why no mention of the dinosaurs in that... surely that should be included, okay, the OT is not an historical text, but surely that should be included, god created the earth, god created the dinosaurs, god destroyed the dinosaurs, god created man...
20 Nov 06
Originally posted by rooktakesqueenLet me try. The Genesis accounts of creation are not about the "first man and woman." Neither is it about evolution vs creationism. It is about an awareness of God and the relationship that follows. It is intended to be everyone's story. Yes, there were dinosaurs. Yes, there are airplanes. Neither are mentioned in the Bible and that is OK, because the story of the Bible is about more than this.
with all respect the answer is a little on the cheap side; i think the fact the dinosuars ruled the earth for over 150 million years is kinda an important point when talking about the history of our planet. to say the bible cannot cover all history is just rubbish - we are not talking a few years here! doesn't this just prove what rubbish the old test ...[text shortened]... rth long before man arrived... i doubt any christian has a good and relevant answer for that..!