Wondering about Bible's Silence on Dinosaurs

 

After reading the account in Genesis 1 outlining God’s act of creation in the first six days of the universe’s existence, believers have at times wondered about the following apparent incompatibilities with known scientific facts:

●     the appearance of the first homo sapiens reportedly occurred much later than six days after the formation of the earth

●     there is no mention of dinosaurs being created during any of the six days although their fossils have been found in many different countries

●   astronomers on the SETI program are actively seeking signs of life in distant galaxies but the Bible is silent on the existence of planets other than the earth cited in Genesis 1:1.

By extrapolation, other associated queries (like why Deuteronomy 4:19 identifies “the sun, the moon and the stars” among “all the host of heaven” but makes no reference to any of the planets) likewise prompt some to wonder whether the Bible is even accurate when scrutinised from a scientific perspective.

 

It has to be pointed out at the very outset that the totality of what God knows is way beyond the comprehension faculties of mortal men and so He disclosed only what His created beings were able to assimilate at the time; for example, the Lord did not explain the rationale for the dietary laws pronounced in the Old Testament but medical science has since found out that routinely eating the majority of the animals classified by Him as unclean is detrimental to long-term health.  Furthermore, scriptures also unequivocally state that there are certain matters that will not be revealed to the human race: Deuteronomy 29:29 declares that “the secret things belong to God ...” while Proverbs 25:2 highlights that “it is the glory of God to conceal a matter ...” and little wonder then that the Bible does not include information deemed by the Lord as out of bounds to His people.

 

In any event, the entire Bible (comprising 66 books) cannot possibly contain every bit of knowledge in existence.  Even the US Library of Congress would find it increasingly difficult to archive all of the significant documents generated by different communities/societies had digital storage not been invented.  Since God intends the Bible to focus on teaching human beings how they are to relate to their Creator and among themselves, there is no room in the rolled-up scrolls (replaced later by the paper-bound versions) of the scriptures to mention when the dinosaurs dominated the earth before they became extinct or elaborate on the creation phases that are labelled as just ‘days’.  Naturally, it will be ridiculous to infer that God was unaware of digital technologies or space travel simply because no such references can be found in any of the biblical records.

 

Nevertheless, the Bible does include nuggets of scientific information that are far ahead of their time in terms of what was known then to mankind.  The most obvious, of course, is the creation act in Genesis 1:1 which science attested to only during the last century with the introduction of the Big Bang theory.  In a similar vein, when Daniel 12:4 foretold that towards “the time of the end … many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”, there was no hint that cross-border travelling and information explosion will be considerably facilitated after the emergence of wide-body jetliners and on-line platforms, respectively, a mere five decades ago.  In fact, God even teases the learned to find out “where is the way to the dwelling of light” (Job 38:19).  Attention should additionally be drawn to how archaeologists managed to unearth ― sometimes with the aid of sensing technology ― completely-buried cities to affirm the Bible’s accounts of ancient empires such as the Assyrians (who had remained largely forgotten during the so-called medieval times).

 

Ultimately, what it boils down to is that the scriptures (which II Timothy 3:16 assures believers as having been God-breathed) can be relied upon as being complete in their record of what God decided to articulate for the benefit of His people.  If, for the sake of discussion, the Lord in His wisdom chose to increase the total page-count of the 66 biblical books, priority ought in all likelihood have been given to the addition of more details on the earthly ministry of Jesus in order for Christians to better understand their Saviour; indeed, John (aka the ‘beloved disciple’) noted that “even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” about the “many other things that Jesus did” (John 21:25).  Viewed from this perspective, what have been excluded ― like dinosaurs (when outlining the sequence of creation events in Genesis 1) and planets (when referring on multiple occasions to the celestial bodies) ― should therefore not give cause for concern.