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In the Creation Story, where do the dinosaurs come in?
- Elsbeth
Dear Elsbeth:
Although Genesis describes the world being created in days, we know this is simply a way of expressing the passage of time. Many scientists believe the dinosaurs first appeared on earth about 225 million years ago, and became extinct about 65 million years ago. Human beings appeared on the earth about two to three million years ago. In other words, the dinosaurs would have been extinct by the time human beings were created.
There are some other Christian churches, not Catholic ones, which challenge the findings of modern science, and believe the earth was created in thousands, rather than billions of years. These groups generally believe that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible. In various parts of the Bible--Job and Deuteronomy, for example--there are references to Dragons, Behemoths, and Leviathans, which certain groups of Christians assume are forms of dinosaurs.
The Catholic Church, however, regards the writers of Genesis, not as scientists, but as inspired authors communicating the great religious truths concerning Creation, the Fall, and Redemption. One of the main purposes of their writing was to reveal God as the loving Creator of the universe and everything in it. The Catholic Church is most interested in the scientific view of how the universe was created, and even has its own group of 70 well-known scientists who meet with the Pope to discuss new discoveries in astronomy, medicine, physics, biology and so. The Church, however, does not take sides in the various scientific disputes on the origins of the universe and of animal and plant life. The Church sees God as the creator of all the processes of life, including evolutionary ones, if indeed that is how plant, animal and human life came to be developed.
God bless,
Father Norbert