Christians' Views on Cavemen and Dinosaurs

Picture courtesy of...

Question: Do Christians think cavemen, dinosaurs, and other prehistoric creatures existed? I wonder, since obviously most don't believe in evolution, how fossils of such creatures are explained? Especially Neanderthal fossils?

  

My Reply:

Actually, even though many of us don't believe in evolution, we do believe that cavemen and "prehistoric" creatures existed...not only because of the evidence though, but also because the Bible even mentions them.

Cavemen:
In Genesis when Lot and his daughters were running from the destruction of Sodom, they asked the Lord if they could instead live among those in the caves, for safety from those in the surrounding towns. Also, in Judges 6, due to the continuous attacks from surrounding nations, the Israelites were forced to live in the caves.

Dinosaurs:

1. "Answers In Genesis" has done several reports on this.
2. During creation, God created all the creatures, and brought them to Adam to name. They also lived together in the garden, and no doubt outside of it once everybody and everything was kicked out.
3. Several dinosaurs are mentioned throughout the Bible, only they don't have names like T-Rex, or even the name "Dinosaur". Instead, they have names from back then. Check out Job 40:15-24 for details on the "Behemoth", and Job 41:1-34 for the "Leviathan". Granted, scientists have tried relating them to modern day hippos and crocks, but if you'll look at the description, such is not actually possible. In fact, many Christians are beginning to believe that even dragons (flying, fire-breathing, etc.) once existed, some having to do with the descriptions of such in the Bible.
4. The Bible also says that the animals were created before humans.  Some have suggested the idea that dinosaurs were before man, and that this part in Genesis 1 confirms such a possibility.
5. The Bible also mentions that God created the world, and that there was a place called, "Eden", and that in it, God had placed a garden.  In this garden was where humans and all the animals brought to humans lived.  But since fossils have been found worldwide, some have also suggested the idea of dinosaurs living OUTSIDE Eden's garden at a time, whether before or during the existence of humans, and whether before or after humans were kicked out of the garden.

Some other online resources you could check out include:

http://www.bible.ca/tracks/b-dinosaurs-mentioned-in-bible.htm

What Causes Non-Existence?

Picture Courtesy of...

Question:
What causes non-existence?

My Reply:
In ancient times, if you wanted to completely destroy somebody, you'd wipe their name out of history.  For example, there's that one guy in the Bible who, when the Ark of God began to fall from the wagon, he stretched out his hand to catch it, and God smite him...what was his name?  That's right, we don't know, for even his name was to be forgotten...as if he never existed.  This was also the case for many among enemies.  Sometimes we'd only know them for their titles, and sometimes they aren't even mentioned at all so as to wipe them out of remembrance completely.

Although, if you're asking what causes non-existence, as in as if you really never existed, then my answer would be "abstinence", for if you were never created, then you never existed.

---Pastor Andy

Creating Eve

Question:

Why did God need one of Adam's ribs to create Eve?

My Reply:

Actually, the word used in the Hebrew isn't "rib", but "side". The word's also used in Exodus and other places in describing the side rooms of the tent.
I think it all had something to do with recognizing the female as an equal companion to the male.
When God brought Eve to Adam, Adam recognized her as his equal companion, or “suitable partner”, not somebody under him. So I don't believe that God particularly NEEDED to use one of Adam's ribs, but chose to take a part of Adam's side in order to help Adam (and people later on) see this.  For if God wanted the Female to rule over the Male, then God possibly would've done well by taking out a part of Adam's head or brain (which I'm sure would have some great jokes added to it today).  Or, if the Male was to rule over her, then maybe God would've done better to take a part of the male's foot.


I guess the question though is why use a part of Adam at all? Why not just create her out of the dirt as He did with Adam and the animals?  If think that if God wanted woman to be made in secondary importance to man, then from the dirt would've been good, for then people could say, "God made the male first out of the dirt, and the woman was made from the same source AFTER the male." But instead, God took a part out of Adam's side, showing that she is Adam's equal companion.

---Pastor Andy

Question of Creation

Picture Courtesy of...

Question:

Philosophically speaking, what (other than God) existed before everything came into existence?

My Reply:

Philosophically-speaking, Theologically-speaking, technically-speaking, and however else, nothing (other than God) existed before everything came into existence.  (John 1:3).


Added Oct. 25, 2010: I received a philosophical view from a friend on Facebook for this question.  He suggested that before anything existed (other than God), we existed.  Now, before you pull the New Age or Mormon cards, let me explain what he's saying: Jeremiah 1:5 gives reference to God knowing us before we were born.  Genesis also tells us that when God created, it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, but a well-thought out plan.  We also know that the Salvation plan with Jesus dying and being resurrected was not plan B, but plan A from before the days of creation. So philosophically and theologically speaking, in the mind and eyes of God, we existed before we were created.

Although we need to remember that we did NOT exist in the spirit or any other form before being born. Also, as Genesis 2:7 and Job 33:4 remind us, we are not actually "alive" until God breathes breath into us. So in our understanding of existence, the actual or physical existence, no, we did not exist before creation.

But now here's what's going through my brain as I type this:

• We did NOT exist before creation, for humans were the last to be created.
• Yes, we exist in God, and He had us in mind before creating, but it was not until He "breathed" into us that we were given life.
• I have to wonder about the part where God said, "let us create man in our own image..."  Not so much the image part, but the part about Him saying, "Let us create"...so humans didn't really exist then, either, pointing to my first answer.
• But yes, it's correct to say that we exist in God, and that the whole point of creation included humans, and so in that sense, we did exist.

Wow, my brain's starting to hurt. Maybe I should lay off from the philosophy-based questions for a bit, lol.

---Pastor Andy

Wisdom Teeth: a point AGAINST both sides?

Picture Courtesy of...

Question:

Creation: Wisdom teeth are a pain in the @ss. God would not have designed us with such an obvious flaw. 
Evolution: If evolution works towards improvement, why did we evolve with such wonky teeth?
Wisdom teeth are just annoying, and the fact that most people need to have them removed is evidence against both sides of the origin argument.
(I do realize that both arguments are faulty. This is more a rant about wisdom teeth than an intellectual endeavor.)

My Reply:

What IS the point of Wisdom Teeth?  Good question.  You may even want to go on and ask why they're called "Wisdom" teeth, if having them in doesn't make you any wiser, and having them taken out doesn't make you any dumber.

Technically speaking though, there are a lot of parts on our bodies that for the longest time, we didn't think we needed. I remember being in grade school, and nobody knew what the gal-bladder did...they thought it was useless...now we know that it produces bile, and why we need bile produced. We look at the pancreas and wonder what it does...or the appendix. I think we learned what one does, and figured the other out recently, too.
They also said we can live on 1 kidney, but now they find that you'll age quicker if you do, and have several more health difficulties than if you had both.
I have no doubt the wisdom teeth are similar...isn't the reason we have them taken out because they come in sideways? I just heard today that elephants go through a bunch of sets of teeth because the plant food they eat shaves off the enamel. Maybe the change in our diets have something to do with them needing to come out...I can't imagine there were people for the past 10,000 years walking around with toothaches.

---Pastor Andy

What are some things that are without limits?

Picture Courtesy of...

Question:

What are some things that are without limits?

My Reply:

1. Eternal life
2. God's love for His creation
3. The Devil's evil-ness
4. Space/sky (the universe)
5. A corner in a circle ;)

---Pastor Andy

Who Created God?

Question: Who created God and what were things like thousands of years before God existed?

My Reply:

There was none before God...He's always existed.  Here, check this out:

When we think of eternity or forever, we see a beginning point, and no ending: 

o---------------------->

But for God, there was no beginning point, and will be no ending point:

<--------------------->

See, we can't comprehend anything like this because we only know of everything having a beginning.  But God has no beginning.
Hurts the brain when you try to think about it.

---Pastor Andy

Are All People Created Equal?

Question:

I know people say that we are created equal and all, but I mean like, what about competition? If we were created equal, then why do we compete to see who is better than the other person?  People look different, so why do some people consider one person better looking than another? I don’t understand how people are supposed to be equal if both people have different personalities.

What about money? I mean, just because someone has more money than another person, they think that they are better. So how exactly are we all equal to one another?  And if ALL people are created, then you are saying we are equal to Jesus and that every one is equal to mass murderers such as Hitler and the like. But then, how are we created equal to the mentally incapable and the newborn babies that die at birth? How exactly are all people created equal? Don't tell me it’s in the Bible because its not. Or if it is tell me the verse. You can’t!

My Reply:

Your question is about creation in words, but your explanation is about culture and status set by worldly standards. For example, when it comes to money, money is NOT something that sets our equality or status in CREATION...it sets our status in the culture...worldly standards.

Although we were all CREATED equal, none of us were created to be equal to Jesus.  Jesus is God. If we were to be equal to Jesus, then that would be to say that we were created equal to God. But if that were the case, then we would be God (or gods), too...but we're not.  Also, Jesus wasn't created...Jesus has always been.  So in terms of us being created, we were created in God's image...equally.

As for equality with mass-murders...you know, let me ask you something. Is it fair to say that babies who died at birth are equal with us, but also to say that we're not equal with mass-murderers?

You wanted scripture that talks about us being created equal. Look at Romans 3:23. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You might say we were all created equally-screwed. Verse 24 tells us also that all "are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

So we're all created equally into sin, and all equally able to receive righteousness and salvation from this sin through Jesus Christ, regardless if you're a mass-murderer, Hitler, Mother Theresa, the Pope, or just somebody trying to figure out why the world's cultures continue to shun the equality in which we were all originally created.  It's when culture and humanity take what God equally created, and turn it into their interpretations of how it "should" be, that this equality is destroyed. 

But we were all CREATED equal.

---Pastor Andy

Equal sign courtesy of: http://www.polyvore.com/equal_sign_image_picture_sarahwentz/thing?id=228016

Order of Creation?

Question:

 If the Bible is true, then whom did God create first, the animals (as it says in Genesis 1) or humans (as it says in Genesis 2)?

My Reply:

Actually, the Bible IS Truth, and I've heard this argument before. Basically, you're reading the scriptures for the wrong purposes if you think they're different. Let me explain.

Reading Genesis With the Right Purposes

God created the animals first, as Genesis 1 says. But you have to understand the purposes for the writings of each, and the order of the animals' creation isn't for Genesis 1 nor 2:

Focus of Genesis 1

Genesis 1 focuses on the creation story and the first mention of the Holy Spirit, but most of all, the Sabbath. In the same way that God worked 6 days and rested on the 7th, so it should be also for us.

Focus of Genesis 2

Genesis 2 focuses on the uniting of opposite genders, and the reason for creating the female.

 ---Pastor Andy

Picture courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/localandbitter/380313730/