Are Dinosaurs in the Bible? Mailbag Question with Special Guest Noah Merrick

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone Church

in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan Merrick,

and it's our prayer that this message strengthens

your faith and draws you closer to Christ. Let's

dive in. All right. Hello. Welcome to the Christ

Our Cornerstone Church podcast. This is a mailbag

edition. Where I don't preach a sermon but I

do answer questions that come in and today is

kind of a special one because we got a question

and the question that came in was one of a little

bit more difficult one in the sense of like I

I know that I know my limits when it comes to

theology and creation and I happen to have a

a someone that that specializes in this area.

And so. Today, we're going to be talking about

dinosaurs and specifically dinosaurs, creation,

Noah's flood, Noah's Ark and all that stuff.

And so I figured the best thing I can do is bring

on my son, Noah, who loves and has studied dinosaurs

and the flood account and all of the things.

Here's the deal. I. Only have one microphone

because we could not find the other microphone,

so we're going to be swapping this microphone

back and forth, so bear with us. So, Noah, good

to see you. Thanks for coming into my office

slash podcast studio, and we're going to get

started with talking about dinosaurs. So, Noah,

hello. Hello. And you have to probably come closer.

I don't pull stuff off here. All right. So, Noah,

the question came in and it said, Pastor Logan.

That's why you could you do a podcast on dinosaurs?

I said anything in particular, and they said,

I'm just curious of where they fit into the Bible.

Did they die in the flood and were they on the

ark? So Noah, we both agree dinosaurs are in

the Bible. We see that with in Job. Right. If

you want to. So in the Book of Job, when it talks

about behemoth, it describes it as it eats grass

like an ox. It has it's super big. And most people

are like in. biblical translators are like, oh,

it's an elephant or a hippo. But then I don't

remember which verse it is. It might be like

13. It says he makes his tail like a cedar tree.

And in my Bible, it says it's probably just an

exaggeration. Well, how are we exaggerating that?

But there's only one animal that God created

that is on land that ever had a tail like that.

So when you say your Bible says it's probably

an exaggeration, you mean with the notes at the

bottom, right? Not in the actual passage on the

bottom says that the cedar tree thing is probably

just an exaggeration, which to me, I'm like,

why would we be exaggerating the tale of an elephant

being like a cedar tree? But the dinosaur that

fits that most would be like a brachiosaurus

or any of like the long necked dinosaurs. If

you've seen the movie Jurassic Park, it's just

the first one that they see when they arrive

on the island. Jurassic Park, another thing that

you're very versed in and getting detailed about.

You've read the book when you were in sixth grade,

you've seen all of the movies, you collect all

the things. So with behemoth. Behemoth could

could behemoth also be what's what's the dinosaur?

that has like the the like the the tail that's

like has the the round rocks or whatever. Yeah,

the club at the end. So that would be Anglia

source. I think it is possible that it could

honestly be any of the big herbivores. But just

because of like the size, how it emphasizes like

this thing is big, this thing is super strong,

it's massive, it fits the long necks better.

And specifically, I would say it's maybe a Titanosaurus,

which was like the biggest long neck dinosaur

that we know of. And that to me is like, I'm

not saying like, oh, like, that's definitely

what it is. But me and my nerd said, I'm like,

well, this is the biggest one. I just like to

think that this is the one that Job saw. So that's

behemoth. And then I have talked. in service

before about why I think Jonah was swallowed

up by Leviathan and they believe Leviathan was

a dinosaur is a dinosaur, right? Well, not in

what scientifically want to be a dinosaur because

dinosaurs are any land reptile that its legs

are under. That's why I like chameleons, turtles.

you will snakes don't have legs. So that's why

they're canceled out. But their legs and limbs

are on the sides of their bodies rather than

under. And it also has to do with like the type

of hip bone that they have because there's hip

bone, like there's bird hip bones, dinosaurs,

and then there's reptile, though a lot of the

bird hip ones are probably just birds to begin

with. So Leviathan. would probably be if it is

something that is now extinct like a plesiosaurus

which is like it has basically the body of a

seal but a long neck in a lizard head probably

seen or if you've seen you've seen the Jurassic

World movie the big one in the aquatic exhibit

that eats the sharks mosasaurus is another one

and there's even other stuff that's just really

massive that could very well be Leviathan. And

because it describes it as spinning fire. If

we take that literal that is like actually like

that means that there were things in the water

that could have breathes fire and even on the

land that breathes fire. So real life dragons.

That's pretty cool. Actually, in Isaiah, He mentions

like flying dragons, which those would be like

pterodactyl they'd be like pterosaurs so the

Bible has like several areas where it touches

on things that sound like When everybody just

categorizes as dinosaurs So Do you think that

when God created everything now we we let me

go ahead and preface it like this for those that

are listening We don't know. We weren't there

at creation. But I know you read all the things

in regards to dinosaurs, and you have a lot of

feelings. You and I have many discussions on

where we disagree on dinosaurs, the Bible. I

do believe that the Bible does discuss dinosaurs,

and we just differ on some other things. Do you

think that dinosaurs were created in the creation

account or are they created separately in the

creation account? What do you think? So I think

that they were made on day six just because of

my these things were animals that existed. And

day six, it says that God made every creeping,

crawling beast of the field, all that stuff.

So to me, I'm like, well, day six. And so, when

it comes to the next part of the question, which

was, were they in the flood, all the things,

were they on the Ark? Because we've been to the

Ark encounter. They do say that there were dinosaurs

on the Ark. I asked you today, I said, I think

it's ridiculous. I don't agree with that. You

said, Well, dad, you're an idiot. No, he did.

He did. He did. He did not say that. But he pushed

back and I said, we talked about kinds, kinds

of animals like we have wolves that ultimately

would become a kind of dog. Right. Like so. And

I said, well, we don't really have that with

dinosaurs. And that's where you went in. We're

like, well, dinosaur isn't a kind. So go into

a little bit of that. Yes. So kind. I don't know

what the Hebrew word is, but it We don't really

know what it means. It's like either like family

species genus. It could be whatever We're just

taking it to mean like what can interbreed so

like foxes wolves dogs They can all breed together.

So that's why we have a dog kind dinosaurs you

have I Guess I was talking about sauropods earlier.

That would be like a kind but within that you

have different types that may not have been able

to interbreed, just like in real life, you have

stuff that can be categorized as fish, but not

all fish can interbreed together like a shark

can't breed with a goldfish, but it's technically

a fish. So I forgot the question because I was

just. Yeah. So from there, we want to ask. Were

they on the ark because I got us off just saying

like you where you and I kind of disagree on

different things I don't think they were on the

ark you do. Why do you think they were on the

ark and we'll go from there? Yes, so I believe

that they were on the ark because God said take

two of every kind of animal So that means that

there were dinosaurs that did die in the flood

because obviously Noah didn't take Every single

animal that was around at the time onto the ark

But also, I think a lot of the reason why everyone

struggles so much with that idea is they picture

like these massive the size of a house dinosaurs.

But really, like it would have just they were

juveniles. I know it wouldn't have taken grown

adults because grown adults would have been close

to the end of their. Peak breeding time, like

when they could have children, it would make

more sense if they were younger, because when

they got off, they still would have had years

and years and years that they could use. to have

babies. So like most of the animals on the ark

were like the size of a beagle. And then the

dinosaurs were probably only like they were like

they were teenagers. They were like maybe the

size of a car, like a truck. They weren't they

weren't super big. So that's why I'm like, yes,

some did die in the flood. There's a lot of famous

fossils that only work if they would have died

in the flood. And the way you get a fossil is

once it dies, it has to be buried like instantly,

because it cannot get because oxygen scavengers

all that would find it. And when it starts to

decompose bones, there's little holes in your

bones, pores in that absorbs all the dirt has

to be like specific kind of mud. And then it

turns basically into rock. Some of the most famous

ones is like An ancient like fish species like

halfway giving birth. It's like basically halfway

out There's another one where two dinosaurs are

fighting in both of them. It's like it was just

in the process of giving birth they were just

fighting like if it was something like a Meteorite

like that was sending all this dust. They would

have seen the giant meteorite like coming down.

They would have known a flood. It's just like

all this water and all this dirt because the

Bible says that the depths burst open so that

the ground like split apart and all the water

like rushed out and it was raining so there's

no time to react to that it's just like you see

it you're dead whatever but then there were some

that were on the ark that when they got off um

and that's like a whole other thing if we okay

yes so the Arc is what caused the ice age. Yeah.

So here's where we're going with this. So the

question then becomes, OK, so there were dinosaurs.

We know they're fossils. We know dinosaurs existed.

So dinosaurs were on the on the arc. Why aren't

they here now? What would have happened to them?

Why are they not here now? So that's where we

get to the ice age before the flood. You think

like, oh, like it didn't rain. It was a desert.

Not like sand and like all that kind of desert,

like the geographical, like little to no rainfall.

The climate before the flood was like subtropical.

It was like a big humidity dome. And when you

have all this water that just was 10 ,000 feet

of water that was over the earth, you are just

like cooling the atmosphere. So when you get

off, you're going to have Cool summers and you're

going to have warm oceans, which would have allowed

for a ton of rain, not rainfall, snowfall, five

hundred years of snow and then seven, two hundred

years of melt in the northern regions. So as

they would have spread across. There would have

been less food of the dietary things that they

would have eaten. So all you have all these herbivores

not having what they were used to eating. And

when those die of hunger. You have all these

carnivores that eat have to eat a lot of meat.

They don't have their prey of choice anymore.

So because of all the atmospheric change and

then also man didn't eat meat before the flood.

It wasn't until after the flood that God was

like, hey, all these things, you can eat them.

So on top of that, because I was a thing, you

have all these other people groups that are like,

OK, this is a big animal. Let's try eating it.

So you're saying between the Ice Age and hunting,

that's what killed off the remainder of the dinosaurs

type things. What do are there anything now that

are alive that are that that would have been

a dinosaur? Yeah, like, like, is there something

like, like an alligator is an alligator or crocodile

considered a modern day dinosaur? Their legs

are on the sides of their body. Secular scientists

would be like, yeah, it's birds. But because

we don't believe that dinosaurs evolved into

birds, there is no living thing that is a dinosaur,

which is also why, like, if you know anything

about, like, Clauss's genesis, Genetics, they're

trying to bring back the mammoth. The only reason

that they can do any of the stuff that they're

doing is because it has a modern descendent.

They're using Indian elephants, the dire wolves

are using wolves. And even though it's not a

full thing, it's like point like zero two percent.

Not exactly, but it's like barely anything of

that animal. The reason why we can't do the same

for dinosaurs is because we don't have a modern

dissonant dinosaurs. That makes sense. That makes

a lot of sense. OK. I think we've pretty much

kind of covered. I mean, is there any final thoughts

that you're like, yeah, in a matter of 20 minutes,

we have tried to answer the question. So, yes,

dinosaurs were in the Bible. Yes, dinosaurs lived

with man like they weren't two different. uh

um times in in in the in the timeline you know

uh um like we know that dinosaurs and man were

together i don't remember fossil wise i think

that we have found some stuff where it's like

uh modern animals that existed with man that

in the secular worldview didn't exist until man

did or in the same fossil layer as dinosaurs,

which for us, if you start at the bottom of fossil

layer, you have all these aquatic animals and

you slowly go up, man's at the top. Well, in

the case of a flood, if you slowly go up, it's

the animals in the upper layers could have gotten

higher to avoid the floodwaters. I'm but also

even like in like the Middle Ages in Marco Polo,

Marco Polo, despite having some Time starts like

oh, no, he was exaggerating. He was a liar like

said that when he was on his journey He saw like

essentially a velociraptor in a cave hissing

at him. There's like cave drawings like on the

Indians have stuff of Dinosaurs, I think it's

the Indians that have like a dinosaur like spinning

something. I'm pretty sure the Egyptians have

stuff People in Peru like and cultures all over

the world have like these cave drawings or carvings

or images of stuff that looked like dinosaurs.

So. Real fast. We just need to discuss the difference

between macro evolution, micro evolution, because

we believe in micro evolution. We don't believe

in macro evolution. So explain the difference

between macro and micro. So micro evolution is

where it stays in the same species. It's actually

what Charles Darwin had originally proposed.

If you look at his origin of species, the famous

finches, that's micro evolution. It was still

a finch. It was just a tiny change in the beak.

So going back to like wolves and wolves becoming,

you know, we can go foxes and dogs and They can

stay within their kind, but it's not like macro

evolution. And they use like for the micro like

farming stuff, it'd be like if when a cow goes

to a colder climate, if it starts developing

like. A thicker, thicker coat or thicker hooves

like that is micro because it's still a cow.

Macro is what like the most popular form of evolution

is, which is like. The goo turned into a fish

which turned into a frog which turned into a

monkey which turned into a man like completely

different species and there is like there is

no modern day or ever evidence like oh yeah this

thing could become this thing which is why like

it really struggles for like a hypothesis because

you have to actually be able to like witness

it for you to be like yeah like this makes sense.

because science has to be observable and evolution

is not observable. And even if you were to create,

try to recreate it all, it's still man being

able to control all of the factors to be. So

we don't, that's why we don't believe in macro

evolution. Okay. Hopefully that helps briefly

just kind of answer just those three questions

of Yes, there were dinosaurs in the Bible. Yes,

they were part of creation story. Yes, they were

in the flood and there were some on the arc.

Anything else you want to share? All right. Well,

if you guys do have any other questions in regards

to that or if it sparks more, please let us know.

I'm sure Noah would love to come back. Thanks

so much for listening. My name is Pastor Logan

Merrick and I get the chance to pastor the local

church, Christ our cornerstone church. In O 'Neill,

Nebraska, we would love to have you if you are

ever in the area. Looking forward to this Sunday

as I will continue part two to my sermon that

was from this past Easter, which was about Christ,

Lord, liar or lunatic. Have a great rest of your

week. We'll see you Sunday. Bye bye.