Our children are often mesmerized by the idea that gigantic dinosaurs once roamed the earth. Dinosaurs also wow adults, as witnessed by the movie Jurassic Park and its sequels.

As students progress through school, they are shown fossil evidence of these "prehistoric" animals and taught that these creatures lived 60 to 70 million years before man "evolved" into existence.

If dinosaurs lived before man, then the Bible account of man's creation is incorrect, or flawed. Classic evolutionists just write off the creation account as a religious myth. Theistic evolutionists attempt to combine faith in the Bible with evolutionary theory by stretching the six days of creation into epochs of time.

But how can Christians deal with the dinosaurs and still believe the Biblical account? There is interesting information, from both science and the Bible, that may challenge contemporary beliefs regarding dinosaurs.

Let's begin by examining the science. Down in Texas, in the Paluxy River bed, searchers have found, together in the same area, fossilized footprints that appear to be from both humans and dinosaurs. Such a discovery suggests that, at some point in history, men and dinosaurs lived together.

This idea also may be supported by Biblical evidence from the Old Testament book, Job. Job is believed to have lived during the period before God gave the Law of Moses, thus in the patriarchal, or earliest, period of Bible history. We base this conclusion on Job's having offered sacrifices for his family members, a duty that, after God gave the Law, was assigned exclusively to the Levitical priesthood. It also draws support from the length of Job's life. He lived 140 years after his trials and, during those trials, was addressed as an older man. This fits well with other Biblical history, which shows that early men's lifetimes were much longer. "So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died." (Genesis 5:27)

Having shown Job to be a man of great antiquity, is there Bible evidence to indicate that, in the dawning years of world history, dinosaurs might have lived contemporary to such a man?

Two passages in Job--40:15-24 and 41:1-34-describe two large and terrible creatures-behemoth and leviathan--that seem more like dragons or dinosaurs than any animal known to live today.

Many center-column references and commentaries seek to identify "behemoth" as an elephant or hippopotamus and "leviathan" as an alligator, crocodile, or whale. But read the descriptions carefully.

The behemoth had a tail that he swung like a cedar. "He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit." (Genesis 40:17) Both elephants and hippos have relatively small, weak tails. God said that He made behemoth along with man, "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox." (Genesis 40:15) "He is the first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near His sword." (Genesis 40:19) The description of behemoth better fits the brontosaurus than any large animal alive today.

Leviathan could hardly be an alligator or crocodile. He is described as uncapturable, impervious to harpoons and fishing spears, possessing fierce teeth and rows of scales like armor, even on his belly. Smoke and fire proceeded from his nostrils and mouth. His neck was extremely strong. He lived at least part of the time in the sea, and his movements made the water seem to boil. Job said that he was made without fear and nothing like him on earth could cause such fear. "On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear. He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the children of pride." (Job 41:33,34) The whale, our largest animal today, doesn't come close to matching this description.

It appears that Job was familiar with animals we have never seen living. The Oriental traditions regarding dragon-like creatures could be based on some historical reality.

So what happened to the dinosaurs? It would appear that they became extinct, while man survived. In science, there is much evidence of many animals that have become extinct and thus, no longer exist. We currently spend billions of dollars to protect "endangered species."

The main point here is not to firmly establish the great creatures of Job's time as dinosaurs. It is to show that creatures unlike anything living today once did live, and that we don't have to throw the Bible away just because we find some big dinosaur bones.

It is evolutionary theory and its assumptions (a faith that time and chance, instead of God, explains all things) that place men and dinosaurs epochs apart in time. True science doesn't require such assumptions, and evidence of dinosaurs needn't undermine anyone's faith in God's word.

Brother Blackaby discusses an issue that has been debated for many years. It is amazing that evolutionists use the term millions of years as though it is a proven fact. Such is not the case. Many different types of animals have, for one reason or another, become extinct. We don't just assume they never lived!

Regarding this subject, people often ask me if dinosaurs were on the ark with Noah. The Bible does not give us a list of all the animals that Noah took on the ark, but it does tell us he took "two--male and female--of every class." Should we assume that meant there were two of every dinosaur type we see depicted today? We may have many questions for which God's word contains no answers. They are God's secrets (Deuteronomy 29:29). Another point to consider is the large, reconstructed dinosaurs in the different museums in our country. I was really taken aback to learn that they used just a small number of discovered bones in reconstructing these huge animals. The rest of the reconstruction depicts how they "believe" the dinosaurs looked! Now who believes in fairy tales? (KMG)