How do I answer this?

Not only is Behemoth mentioned in the Bible, but a sea dwelling monster [dinosaur] is too. He's called Leviathan. He is talked about in the Psalms and Isaiah I think. So, dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible but, since the term "dinosaur" was coined in the 1800s, the ancient Hebrews and Greeks wouldn't have had that word in their vocabulary for us to translate.

There are many Christians who feel that the dinosaurs never went extinct. Which means they're still alive today. All the skeletons that we find are from dinosaurs that didn't make it into the ark to be brought through the treshold of Noah's flood. They also believe that the Earth was completely different back then and the flood changed the climatographry and what not. That explains why the dinos back they got huge and not so much today. One guy that I read believed that Adam, along with other humans were around eight or nine feet tall! Basketball would be quite boring if that were the case. Perhaps, OP, you could mention some of that? To get more information, you could look up some of John Whitcomb's writings.

As for the scientific discoveries in the last 200 years by science compared to the last 2000 years of Christianity, I have to remind you that the goal of Christianity isn't scientific discovery. This is why the creation account is so brief. God didn't want to get into that. Christianity's main purpose and goal is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's it. If discoveries are made along the way, great! But, Christ won't reward us for that, just our service to him. I remember this quote well from college, in my theology class, "the Bible isn't a science book."

I don't know about all of us Christians being drones or anything of that sort. There are, naturally, those who follow Christianity because their parents did [just like there are people who are atheists because their parents were]. Remember that there are those of us in the Christian faith because we investigated the issues and came to the conclusion that it was true. Christianity won't die out anytime soon, let alone in a generation! For Christianity to die out one billion plus people would have to all keel over or decide not to have kids anymore!

there are many creatures that aren't mentioned in the Bible.i'm certain that is because animals don't need spiritual guidance or forgiveness of their sins.their soul's sake isn't dependent on how they treat their fellow man or how righteous their thoughts and actions are.they don't have to choose between goodness and love or evil and hatred.i not only believe in God,i love Him,trust Him,and thank Him for the life He gave me and the life He gave us all through His son Jesus.i also believe humans and dinos lived at the same time.however,that's not what's important,is it?it's better to be flamed here than hell.i never knew there were soooo many atheists until i came to ats.now i understand why the state of humanity is what it is and not what it should be.people who can believe in dinosaurs and not in God tell your son the Bible is a reference manual for the soul in the kingdom of God and not for the history of the animal kingdom.ihope he grows up to be a righteous man and wonderful paleontologist.it's good to question things ,even the Bible.becauseyou can't be wrong if you're searching the truthful answer to anything.to stop searching would be wrong.

reply to post by ChemBreather


No, 90% of the Bible is not unfulfilled prophecy. That's too high I think to even be the number of prophecies period, fulfilled or unfulfilled. Any prophecy that is left though, has to deal basically from the tribulation period onward, so it would all be fulfilled rather quickly.

I think you should let your child grow up, and make his own assumptions and beliefs. In my view, you are pretty much doing what the muslims does to their children - Forcing their religion down on them.

God doesn't excist, get used to it and send the kid to a regular school.

In case your not trolling, go to GLP instead, thats were the nutties are

reply to post by SantaClaus


The Easter Bunny and Santa are taught no where in Christianity. They're just symbols that have sprung up over time and have become accepted traditions.

A preacher once told me the devil but the bones in the ground to make non-believers.

The same preacher also gave this answer,I asked when Cain killed Able and left to the land of nod were he found a wife,where did the wife come from? He said it must have been a bigfoot.

Originally posted by Nola213
That museum video was disgusting.

Its truly disturbing isn't it?

To me that museum video is like a diluted form of child abuse.

Don't children have the right to be protected from religious cultists who just purposefully misrepresent 'opinion and mythology' as factual in context?

Whats wrong with promoting the positive attributes of objective freethinking and critical reasoning - why not afford children the luxury of arriving at their own conclusions?

Children at that age intrinsically trust adults to tell them the truth -not to abuse objective knowledge with tales of talking animals and 6000 year old vegetable eating dinosaurs as 'actual history'.

I think the two adults in the video are a danger to young children everywhere.


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Originally posted by Good Wolf
reply to post by Mynaeris

 

We are not saying not to believe! We're saying don't post useless information (in this particular context anyway).

Again we know what it says and we know you believe it, but it's completely irrelevant.

Ahh well maybe you should leave that up to the OP to decide, since THEY are the ones asking advice on how best to answer their 7 year old child's question about dinosaurs in the bible.

Mynaeris was simply providing a possible answer for the question asked.

And one I thought sounded adequate for a 7 year old, despite my opinion on the matter of christianity and god.

Or any religion for that matter.

reply to post by nj2day


lol!
I laughed when I read your post .
How's it going? Haven't seen you around lately.

My advice:
Listen to your kid.
Kids aren't afraid to ask the tough questions - adults are, for fear that their beliefs will be proven false.
Whether you stay religious or not doesn't matter, just don't ignore the obvious flaws that exist in your Bible, and don't teach him to ignore them either.

Originally posted by Mynaeris
I am so amazed that atheists feel that Christians and other religions impinge on their freedom to not believe?

You don't impinge on my freedom to believe, you impinge on your child's freedom to think for his/herself.
That's what we're fighting...
It's what I had to live with for 18 years...

The Bible is right, therefor all this new scientific data must be wrong.
^ that is what is known as ignorance.

Because if you cared about the truth, you would weigh the two and see that one has evidence while the other does not.
You already made your choice before looking at the facts - us atheists are just asking that you don't impose the same lack of knowledge, honesty, and free thought to your children.

No need to raise your voice or get mad. It's really simple.
You explain away Biblical flaws through assumptions - just don't pass that assumption off as fact to your children, because that is being dishonest and you know it.

reply to post by TruthParadox

The Bible is right, therefor all this new scientific data must be wrong.
^ that is what is known as ignorance.

It's more that just ignorance, it's anti-intellectualism.

I find this thread totally disgusting!! Shame on most of you for your answers of anger and beliefs!! The OP was simply asking for help WITH THEIR childs question!!! TSK TSK to most of you for attacking!!!!! I for one have NO IDEA what to believe, (and my husband is an atheist!!)but our 5 year old son came to us one day and asked what happens when you die.........think about it....were we going to terrify our 5 year old with the concept of EMPTINESS and NOTHING EXISTING??????? This is A CHILDS INNOCENT question.....shame on most of you!!!! Even for the fact that my husband is atheist-we answered that you go to a place called heaven....we can explain later as he grows and UNDERSTANDS more of the world around him...but to just let a little child believe in the existence of NOTHING was scarier for him. The OP -I'm sure was just trying to ask for help in answering a CHILDS question......the best way they know how-What is wrong with YOU PEOPLE.... As I stated before....belief is ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS... and those beliefs can be explained once the child grows older....and able to decide on their own....I accept all your beliefs, but don't understand the attacks on others.....

Unless you are from argentinia vinkingant you are not living in a christian country, sorry mate

(actually when i saw this i was slightly suprised. more than i thought : en.wikipedia.org...:State_Religions.svg)

So, that part as to why he is in a christian school is void. So he is in a christian school because you are a christian...

Well: the question is how do you solve the problem? Do you believe that the teachers in school are telling your son the truth? How do you explain contradictory evidence? Do you believe dinosaur bones are
a) a deception of the devil?
b) bones of creatures that didnt fit into the ark
c) bones of an extinct species, who is seperated from man by a few million years
d) ????

Thats the actual question here: what do *you* believe?

reply to post by VIKINGANT


You should really go to a Christian site for that type of advice. All you could expect here is an attack by militant Atheists and Anti-Christians who want to force their beliefs on you and your child.

Some might actually pretend to care about you and respect your faith and your right to believe as you wish, but I doubt they mean it.

There is nothing in the Bible to contradict the Earths past or Evolution for that matter if you read it honestly and without bias. After all, Evolution is being created from the dust is it not?

That single metaphorical day that passes could be a million or a billion years. Nobody knows. The process of creating the Animals obviously involved large amounts of time. There is no contradiction. It is just another false argument placed on us by radical people who enjoy causing division. If Christians did not exist they would be bullying some other group. It is these peoples nature. It is always there way or the highway. Their beliefs are always the only acceptable beliefs. Control freaks are control freaks.

I'd simply tell your child that the Dinosaurs lived before Man was created and served their purpose in the creation of the World for us. I'd also admit that we don't know much about that part of creation because there were no records other than the fossils we find. Never be afraid to tell a child, I don't know. IMO

reply to post by rockhndr


You're ok with lying to your child and you're playing us off to be evil?
Maybe your son would prefer you being honest with him instead of lying?
Maybe you could say that you honestly don't know what happens after you die instead of promising him a land of 'milk and honey'...
Do you honestly think that would upset him?

When I have a kid, I'm going to respect him/her enough to be honest. And I know that he/she will grow up to be a much stronger and smarter person because of it.

reply to post by TruthParadox


And so your child can wake up with nightmares from YOUR reality...I am honest with my child about most things-I have 3 children-don't be so degrading...You talk to me about raising children when you don't HAVE ANY???? -lol...give me a break-talk to me when your a little older and DO HAVE CHILDREN!!!! There are SOME things that you just DON'T NEED to let kids in on it all depends on their age and what they can handle...I happen to know MY CHILD would lie awake at night thinking about death and the emptiness that would terrify him, it would fill him with horrible thoughts to tell him that you are buried or burned-your choice-I never said that as he matured I wouldn't explain both sides of the coin-5 years old is awful young to try and explain deep thinking to ANY child who is not capable of grasping such scary thoughts!!!!-(shakes head and walks away...) THINK ABOUT IT and good luck to your childraising skills!!!
Evil...where in my post did I use the word evil...???

[edit on 19-2-2009 by rockhndr]

You know it's funny...I have a 9 yr old boy who over the past year or so has begun to doubt the existence of Santa Claus. He asks me with those sincere child's eyes "Dad is Santa Claus real?" He trusts me with his very being.

I never lie to my child with the exception of Santa Claus and it makes me feel so guilty. Funny huh I can remember those magical mornings on Xmas believing this strange wonderful man brought me some toys because I was a good boy. I also remember the kids on the playground "debunking" (to use an ATS phrase) the Santa lies. Lies, lies, lies there is no Santa and being ridiculed.

Now I say "I don't know, do you think he is real?" He has his doubts but for now he is sticking with "real" but with the option to change his mind.

I am so grateful to a teacher I had in High School who taught me about allegorical stories and the use in the bible.

Also I am so relieved I have the ability to say "I don't know." What a relief.

Are you aware that there are philosophers and linguist who doubt the ability of symbols (words) to capture any measure of the full "truth" about any subject yet we press forward. Some say math is the only "language" to even begin to come close to "truth".

My wife is an atheist and not shy about letting my son know. He says he doesn't care he believes in God anyway! I tell him I don't know the universe is a complicated place but mostly I believe their is God or Spirit in all our surroundings (pantheism) agnosticism. MY son seems to think that makes me a believer in God and he likes that!

reply to post by VIKINGANT


Yes!! You most definitely should rethink what is being taught to your child. I am an avid supporter of the Tanakh, but you have to know that the creation story is an allegory. Isaiah clearly states that the creation process is NOW... not then. He is creating the end from the beginning and Jesus (though, I do not believe in a man name jesus, but rather that he was "representative" of the Word), confirms this in Matthew 5: 17-19. Even science has confirmed the creation process (though Genesis alludes to this, you miss the Truth by buying into the facevalue.. the image) in the Bible through quantum physics.. the problem with taking the bible as literal is that you are missing the very deep Truth that is spoken behind the pictures it draws up in the allegories via words.

You know why the Bible is just a famous text?

Because it taught GENIUS ideas for the time. Every single event in the bible was either in reference the the present time which it was written, or a metaphorical story as others here have said.

The Bible is not a book handed down by a divine one.

It is a continued story that taught this world morales. In a time of oppression and such, a religion of love came about. It changes the worlds views forever onward on how to treat other humans.

THAT is why Christianity is so big.

In Ancient times, "gods" were a big thing. It only made sense to add a "god" to such a "religion".

The Bible is a moral code. Its words are not meant to be taken literal, but figuratively and in the tense in which it was written.

There is no "God" of the universe in reference to the Bible. All he/she/it is that of an idea. A universal symbol.