to ask Christians about dinosaurs...

[EastYorksLass]

This is a serious question - so I have been thinking a lot lately about whether God exists, the meaning of life and why is the world in such a terrible state... been thinking about going to church but still feel I am on the fence. One question which has really got me thinking (after watching dear old David Attenborough... ) is where do dinosaurs fit into all this. Sorry if this sounds very weird but I would love to hear an explanation!

Yeah it was really funny iirc

Christians against dinosaurs!😂

You know there's more to Christianity and its many denominations than Bishop Usher and nutters, right?

Too big innit. 🙄

I’m a Christian and believe in evolution and dinosaurs. I don’t believe the earth was literally created in 7 days.

Another goady post by someone trying to rubbish Christianity - yawn.

Religions and spiritual beliefs are just that, they are belief systems that do not care or rely on scientific or historical facts.

I was bought up a Catholic albeit a very argumentative one. I once questioned a nun on the creation, about how it would be impossible to create the world in 7 days and I remember her telling me that god created light on the first day, but the sun and moon on day X (can’t remember!) so the ‘days’ before this would not be days as we know it but could have been decades, centuries, millennia etc. Fair enough I thought but that still did not explain how Noah built an ark the size of a mega stadium to fit all the animals on or how stayed alive for over 900 years!

I'm a bit baffled by how evolution can possibly be reconciled with the special nature of humanity in Christianity. Why do only homo sapiens have souls? Do Christians believe that at some point in evolutionary history a mother without a soul have birth to a child with a soul and that souls have been passed on down ever since?

Doyouthinkhecreatedus

We aren’t all young Earth creationists (I.e. those who believe the world was quite literally created out of nothingness in seven days around 4000 years ago).

Many many Christians believe in Evolution, or Intelligent/Guided design. Many many Christians are archaeologists, palaeontologists, scientists of all descriptions.

some people believe the bible is word for word intended to be interpreted literally. Other people believe it is the divinely inspired word of God, which we should interpret using our own intellect and in discussion with other believers and with God in prayer. That some parts of it are metaphorical and others more literal.

all of us believe that Jesus is the son of God, is God, and that through is death and resurrection we can have a personal relationship with God.

we tend to disagree quite a bit about what that involves, what obligations (if any) that places upon us, how we should go about our lives and encourage others to go about theirs. But that’s because we are all imperfect. Most of us try to get along though, and the vast majority of us don’t see dinosaurs or other fossils as anything particularly challenging (or even relevant) to our faith.

personally I think it’s pretty cool that within this incredibly ancient universe with all its history and futures, God decided on this one small rock and this pretty tiny window of time to spend with us. But I’m no theologian, that’s just the way I see it. Fossils are fascinating. Prehistory is awesome. The petrified forest is one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. God is Good.

Yes! Someone who didn't agree with dinosaurs

There are fossil shells found locally called Devil’s Toenails, so this must be true.

Ha, they didn't fit...

Maybe that's why we had the floods, to wipe out the greatest predators

It is at least consistent and makes sense. Once you start from an omnipotent supernatural being you can explain away anything inconvenient by "magic".

(The problem is where did the omnipotent supernatural being itself come from.)

The Creation story is actually a pretty accurate description of evolution for something written thousands of years ago. Obviously not the 'days' bit (though as a pp says 'days' can also be translated as 'periods of time') but the idea of things building gradually and the order in which they happened is quite well described.

What I want to know is where Noah found the penguins 🐧 and polar bears 🐻 to go on his arc. Also how did he feed 2 of ever animal on the planet and who cleaned up all the shit 🤣

Sorry creationism is nothing like evolution, that's a bit of a stretch by anyone's imagination.

At one point most Christians were Creationists. Now it is something left for the most part with Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and the creationist Christians in the USA, largely protestant or non-conformist, I know the Catholic church was anti science and the science that the earth goes round the sun but don't know where it stands 5 centuries later. I am not sure - perhaps people can say - whether there are similar beliefs in the Jewish and Moslem faiths who both use the Old Testament.

I hope this doesn’t sound rude but what do you believe God to me? Is he literally a man in the sky or a metaphorical sort of life force to the universe? Like, do you believe you will one day meet god?

*be

I don't take Genesis literally, but if you look at the creation story ...It begins with light (big bang?)then the creation of living things (pretty much in the order of the

evolution of life) finishing with humans (pain in childbirth the result of increased brain size compared to animals) I am a Catholic teacher and neither I nor anyone

I know ever taught fossils are a trick of satan - though I have met children of Jehovah witnesses that were told this. The Old Testament is interesting but to believe everything in it literally would take quite a lot of mental gymnastics ...

No way are there 31.5 million Christians in the UK - certainly not in any meaningful sense.

One of my family members is a devout Christian and doesn't BELIEVE in dinosaurs?!

Literally what all my Christian friends would say

I'm a Catholic. The dinosaurs lived a long time ago and are extinct now. The Bible was written by humans, and those humans lived in a period where most people wouldn't have access to calendars, clocks, carbon dating etc. therefore we should read the bible with that in mind. The important things to take from it are 'love thy neighbour' and 'do as you would be done by' not whether satan was literally a snake.