# Job and the Dinosaurs



## Peairtach (Mar 5, 2011)

> 15"Behold, Behemoth,
> which I made as I made you;
> he eats grass like an ox.
> 16Behold, his strength in his loins,
> ...





> 1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
> or press down his tongue with a cord?
> 2Can you put a rope in his nose
> or pierce his jaw with a hook?
> ...



This is useful evidence of the existence of dinosaurs in the time of Job.



> 18His sneezings flash forth light,
> and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
> 19Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
> sparks of fire leap forth.
> ...


But verses 18-21 would necessitate an apologetic within an apologetic on behalf of dragon-like dinosaurs having existed at one time. Either these words are to be taken non-literally, which seems unlikely in the context, or there were at one time creatures that could do this i.e. breath fire.

If these words regarding fire-breathing weren't there, it would be a better apologetic for the co-existence of dinosaurs and man, at least according to our current state of knowledge/perception of, dinosaurs and dragons.


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## Edward (Mar 5, 2011)

Why should one be willing to make assumptions about the physiology of dinosaurs when there is no evidence contrary to scripture? They could easily contained reservoirs of methane gas (see modern day sheep for methane producing engines) so the only question would be a method of ignition. And there is no scientific evidence that there wasn't such a mechanism. So I'm unwilling to assume that these passages can't be taken literally. And later stories of dragons were either made from the whole cloth, or would appear to reference these animals.


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## LawrenceU (Mar 5, 2011)

I have read articles from non-creationist paleontologists who have hypothesised that some of the large herbivorous dinosaurs may have very well ignited methane gas through either vents in the skull, nostrils, or orally. This was in pre-internet days. I have a photo copy of the article somewhere in the boxes in my attic. (Oh, for a study again. . . .)


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## goodnews (Mar 5, 2011)

There's no reason not to take the descriptions literally. And history and observed phenomena today only strengthen what I'm saying. It's difficult to explain why so many ancient civilizations (many aren't actually that ancient) have dragon myths without concluding that dragons indeed existed during man's history. And, most of these ancient civilizations probably had no contact with one another making the likelihood of the recent existence of these creatures very likely. Also, there are a couple of creatures living today (one is the bomardier (sp?) beetle) who use streams of noxious gas as defense mechanisms.


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## Peairtach (Mar 5, 2011)

> I have read articles from non-creationist paleontologists who have hypothesised that some of the large herbivorous dinosaurs may have very well ignited methane gas through either vents in the skull, nostrils, or orally. This was in pre-internet days. I have a photo copy of the article somewhere in the boxes in my attic. (Oh, for a study again. . . .)



Well it's interesting that it is not just a belief of some creationists.

It still means that citing the passage as evidence of dinosaurs is not enough. You have to persuade people that there were fire-breathing dinosaurs.


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