Genesis Apologetics K8 Student Zone Dinosaurs (3-5 grade)

Well, hello and welcome to The Zone. I'm your host, Big Wave Dave. Today, we're going to talk about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were some of the coolest creatures that ever roamed the earth. They were amazing.

Dinosaurs as Created by God

So, you know, people have different ideas about dinosaurs. Some people believe that dinosaurs evolved over millions of years, while other people like me believe that they were created by God. Now, have you ever wondered, what does the Bible have to say about dinosaurs?

Is there any information about them in here? Well, yes, there is, but you have to know where to look. We're going to talk about the five C's of dinosaurs. Let's get started. So, the first C is that dinosaurs were created by God.

How do we know they were created? Well, the Bible tells us. For example, in Exodus 2011, we learned that God made everything in just six days. Now, in Genesis 124, we find out that on day six of creation week, God created all the creatures that move along the ground.

Now, did dinosaurs move along the ground? Yes, they did, which means according to the Bible, dinosaurs were created on day six. You know, there's another way to tell that dinosaurs were created. Check this out.

This is my amazing Rorosaurus. He's really cool. His arms move, he walks, his tail wags, and of course he roars. I really love to chase the cat with him, but shh, don't tell anybody. So, I've got a couple questions for you.

Do you think that my Rorosaurus made itself? Well, of course not. That's silly, right? Or maybe there was an explosion in a toy factory, kaboom, and out popped my Rorosaurus? That's pretty silly, right?

Obviously, somebody really smart made this guy, but you know what? Compared to the real thing, he ain't nothing. Let's talk about real dinosaurs. So, this is a skeleton of a large sauropod dinosaur. Now, right off the bat, you can notice something.

Notice how the tail and the head and the neck balance each other out, and it's all balanced on these four strong legs. What an amazing design. In fact, it's such a good idea that we've used it to build bridges, including some amazing bridges like this one.

So, let me ask you a question. Do you think that that bridge created itself? Well, of course not. Obviously, somebody really smart made that bridge. Well, you know what? Somebody really smart made dinosaurs, too.

Dinosaurs Cursed by the Fall

So, the first C is dinosaurs were created by God. The second is that dinosaurs were cursed by the fall. You see, in the beginning, when God first created everything, it was amazing. It was perfect. Everybody got along.

Adam and Eve were hanging out in the garden with the animals, including the dinosaurs. And best of all, they got to walk with God every day. That would have been so amazing. I so wish I could be there.

You know, the Bible also tells us that in the beginning, all the animals ate green plants for food. I know what you might be thinking. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You mean even the mighty T-Rex ate plants?

I mean, look at those big teeth. Everybody knows that teeth like that are for fighting and biting, right? Hmm, let's play a game. What animal does this skull belong to? Now, I'm going to give you some choices.

Are you ready? Is it belong to a mountain lion, a bear, a meat-eating dinosaur, or none of the above? Okay, shout out your answer. If you said none of the above, you are right. This skull belongs to a fruit bat.

He uses those big sharp chompers to bite into fruit. You see, you can't always tell what an animal eats by its teeth. And did you know that some crocodiles eat fruit even today? Well, obviously they eat meat too, but here's the point.

They can use those sharp teeth to eat just about anything they want to. Now, let's get back to that T-Rex. Before the fall, before Adam and Eve sinned, he could have used those sharp teeth to bite into tasty treats like watermelon or cantaloupe or maybe something like this coconut here.

Man, it's really hard. I mean, how else would you get something like this open without a sharp knife? That would be really tough. Of course, after Adam and Eve sinned, all that changed. Now the dinosaurs did use their teeth to fight and eat each other.

Kind of sad, really. Okay, dinosaurs were created by God. They were cursed by the fall. And here's the third one. Catastrophe. That's a really big word. What does it mean? It means something big and terrible that happened.

The Flood and the Fossil Record

So this is a question that I get all the time. What caused dinosaurs to go extinct? And of course, one of the most common theories is that an asteroid slammed into the earth and wiped them out. But as a Christian, I always want to ask, what does the Bible have to say about it, right?

See, the Bible tells us that after Adam and Eve sinned, the world became a very dark place. The animals and the people were fighting and killing each other. It was terrible. It was so bad that God decided that he was going to wipe everything out and start all over.

So he sent a global flood. Only Noah, his family, and the animals that were on the ark survived. What that means is that according to the Bible, most of the dinosaurs were wiped out in a flood. Now, when I tell people that for the first time, they're like, whoa, dude, really?

I mean, that is so weird. What a weird idea. You got any evidence for that? Guess what? We do. Let's talk about the fossil record. We have billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the world.

Speaking of fossils, let me show you some of my favorites. This is the toe bone of a brachiosaurus. A toe bone. Look how big it is. These creatures were massive. Talk about big feet. This one over here is a vertebrae or a backbone from a very large plant eating dinosaur called a Camarasaurus.

Now, just to give you an idea, the bones in our back are probably about this big. You can see from the size of this just how massive some of these creatures were. Wow. These are really cool fossils, but do we have any proof that they were made by the flood?

Glad you asked. Check this out. So, one of the things that we have is we have dinosaur graveyards all over the world. This one in Utah has over 2 ,000 bones in it with 11 different kinds of dinosaurs.

They're all in this big mess and they're mixed together with crocodiles and turtles and lizards and frogs and get this, clams. Now, wait a minute. Don't clams live in the water? You're right. They do.

Here's another clue. When we do find dinosaur skeletons intact, a lot of them look like they drowned. Like this guy. Even the mighty T-Rex drowned. Let's think about this. What could drown something as big and powerful as a T-Rex?

Well, I think you know. We even have dinosaurs buried together with fish. We have millions of sea creatures and millions of land creatures all buried together. What could do that? Well, the global flood, just like the Bible teaches.

So, okay. Most of the dinosaurs were wiped out by the flood, but does that mean that some of them were on the ark? Good question. Here's what God said. Now, God told Noah that he would send two of every kind of bird, two of every kind of animal, and two of every kind of creature that moves along the ground to the ark to be kept safe.

So, what that means is that according to the Bible, yes, there were some dinosaurs on the ark. But wait a minute. How could they fit? I mean, we just saw how huge some of these creatures were, like the Brachiosaurus.

How could Noah get him on that ark? He'd just grease him up and give him a good kick and try to get him in there? There is an answer. Let's take a closer look. I'm sure many of you have seen ark like this, and it's cute.

We call this the bathtub ark. Animals are smiling and whatnot, and somebody's got a really, really good at drawing pictures. But here's the problem. This looks nothing like the real ark. The real ark was huge.

Over 510 feet long, 84 feet wide, and get this, as tall as a four-story building. It was massive. Now, this picture here was taken at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. They have a full-sized replica of the ark there.

You have got to go check this thing out. Just to give you an idea of how big it was, do you see those two little dots down in that circle on the right-hand side? Those are people. The real ark was huge.

It had plenty of room for the dinosaurs and all the other animals. Another thing to think about is this. There were only 80 kinds of dinosaurs, and most of them grew no bigger than a big pony. So again, no problem finding room for them on the ark.

What about the Brachiosaurus and other ones like that? What about them? Well, we know from the fossil record that even these huge dinosaurs started out very small. In fact, scientists have found their eggs, and they're only about the size of a football.

Besides, they make a lot of sense to take babies. They're smaller. They weigh less. They eat less. They sleep more. They're easier to take care of. And after all, who would you rather clean up after? Junior or Grandpa?

You'd need a bulldozer to clean up after Grandpa. Yuck! Now, after the dinosaurs got off the ark, the world had completely changed. The dinosaurs struggled to find food, and a lot of them got into fights with people.

Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Human Conflict

Okay, let's move on to our next one. Let's review first. Dinosaurs were created by God. Dinosaurs were cursed by the fall, and most dinosaurs were wiped out in a catastrophe called the Flood. The fourth sea is this, conflicts with humans.

Now, some experts believe that dinosaurs had another name. Do you know what it is? If you said dragons, you're right. Now, speaking of dragons, I want to show you my absolute favorite fossil. Okay, so here's what we're going to do.

In a moment, I'm going to bring him out, and I want you to yell out the first word that comes to your mind. Okay, you ready? All right, here he comes. He's really cool. Ta-da! Now, I don't know about you, but the first word that comes to my mind when I saw this was dragon.

This guy so looks like a dragon, doesn't he? I mean, even down to the sharp teeth. Absolutely amazing. So, what kind of dinosaur was this? Glad you asked. Check this out. So, this guy was found in South Dakota, and some scientists believe that he was a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus, but regardless of what he was, I think you'll agree he looks like a dinosaur.

So, are there any other historical records besides the Bible about dinosaurs? I mean, let's talk about this. Let me ask you a question. Do you have any pets? Do you have a dog, or a cat, or a gorilla, or anything like that?

This is my pet. This is Daisy Duke, and she is so cool. So, I love Daisy, and I take pictures of her, and I tell my friends about her. You know, why? Because she's so cool. Well, were dinosaurs cool? Yeah, they were.

So, if people lived alongside of dinosaurs, don't you think that they would have drawn pictures, or talked about them, or something? Guess what? They did. Let me show you some examples. St. George was famous for slaying a dragon.

Now, what's really interesting about this particular dragon is we know from the fossils that we think that this might have been a Mothasaurus. Wow, what a scary looking creature. Speaking of scared, Alexander the Great and his army were scared by the dragons living in caves.

Now, let's think about this. These guys were tough, strong warriors. What could scare them? Well, I think a dinosaur could do it. Here's another one. This Roman mosaic shows two long-necked dragons. We also have pictures on the side of the Grand Canyon.

What's interesting about this particular one is we can tell from the size and shape it was probably a Demontosaurus. We have one up in Canada, too. These are all over the place. Amazing. Now, this one is my absolute favorite.

Can you see it? This appears to be a sauropod dinosaur surrounded by nine hunters. Wow! So, I have a question. If no human has ever seen dinosaurs, then why do we have dragon legends from all over the world?

Why do we have carvings and paintings and drawings of things that look like what we would call dinosaurs? And why do we have writings that seem to describe encounters between humans and dinosaurs? Well, I think the answer is actually quite simple.

Confusion About Dinosaurs in the Bible

People lived with dinosaurs, just like the Bible said. Okay, we're almost there. Let's go through the four C's. Dinosaurs were created by God. They were cursed by the fall. Most of them perished in a catastrophe called the Flood.

And then the remaining, the survivors, had conflicts with humans. Here's the fifth one. Confusion. So, is the word dinosaur found in the Bible? Raise your hand if you say yes. Raise your hand if you say no.

If you said no, you're right. The word dinosaur is not found in the Bible because it is a new word. It wasn't invented until long after the Bible was written. However, the Hebrew word tanin, which can be translated dragon, is found over 20 times in the Old Testament of the King James Version of the Bible.

And let's not forget about this guy, behemoth. So, in Job, God was trying to humble Job by telling him about the creatures that he's created. And he goes on to talk about animals that we would know about and think about.

When he reaches 4015, he mentions a big powerful creature called behemoth. Now, some people say that behemoth might have been a hippo or an elephant, but what about this? In Job 4017, the Bible says that behemoth had a tail that sways like a cedar.

Have you ever seen a cedar? It's a big tall tree. Do elephants and hippos have tails that sway like a cedar tree? No, they don't. They look like this. So, whatever behemoth was, it was not these guys.

What's interesting is if you read the rest of Job, you find out the description sure seems to match what we would call a large sauropod dinosaur. So, what about this? Did dinosaurs evolve into birds? I mean, we hear that all the time, right?

Well, here's the thing. Dinosaurs and birds are completely different creatures, different bones, different lungs, different everything. There's no way that this animal could have changed from one into another.

It's just, quite frankly, impossible. The last time I went to the museum, they had all these kinds of displays and you saw over and over again that the fossil record proves that dinosaurs went extinct over millions of years ago.

Check this out. In 2005, scientists were working with the thigh bone of a T-Rex and they broke it open and they found something very interesting inside. Red blood cells and blood vessels. Soft, squishy stuff in a bone that is supposed to be 70 million years old.

And you know what? It didn't just happen that time. They went back and they started looking at other fossils and over and over again, they found soft, squishy tissues inside of bones that were supposed to be millions of years old.

Wow. We have covered so much. And just to help you remember,.

I found this really cool video. Check this out. Are dinosaurs in the Bible? Well, the word.

Dinosaur didn't come about until Sir Richard Owen coined it in 1841. But the book of Job in the Bible does refer to a massive creature that God called behemoth, which had a tail like a cedar tree. Sounds like a sauropod dinosaur.

God also said he made behemoth at the same time he made humans, which makes a lot of sense when you think about all the dragon legends from around the world. After all, what people called dragons were probably dinosaurs before the word dinosaur existed.

St. George fought a dragon. So did Alexander the Great's army. And Marco Polo saw one while visiting China. In fact, Chinese historians feature dragons alongside other known animals in the Chinese zodiac.

Cave drawings, tapestries and carvings on other continents also show people and dinosaur like creatures side by side. That makes sense since scientists have found original soft tissues like blood vessels and red blood cells in dinosaur bones.

Lab tests have shown that these kinds of materials break down quickly. So these dinosaur bones can be very old. As the Bible says and science confirms, dinosaurs weren't here before humans. They lived at the same time.

Because they were created on the same day. Welcome back. Let's go through the five C's.

One last time. Dinosaurs were created by God. They were cursed by the fall. Most of them perished in a catastrophe called the global flood. The remainders, the survivors from the flood, got into conflicts with humans.

And finally, there was a lot of confusion about dinosaurs. We made it. Give yourselves a hand. Great job. You know, some of you may wonder, why do topics like dinosaurs even matter? I mean, isn't it all about Jesus?

Well, you're right. It is about Jesus. But here's the problem. When people don't believe the Bible, they usually don't believe in Jesus Christ either. And that's a problem because Jesus said someday he's going to come back and he's going to take all the people that love him to a very special place called heaven.

But those that don't believe in Jesus don't get to go. I don't know about you, but that makes me really sad. That's why we have to learn about topics so that we can make, you know, reassure people that the Bible can be trusted.

So at The Zone, we have prepared over 24 topics to help you develop a strong, confident faith. Now to get you started, we're going to give away this free book to the first 200 students that contact us.

Here's what you need to do. Have your parent or guardian go to the website shown on your screen, click on the feedback button, and in the comments section, ask for your free dinosaur book. Please provide your full name, email address, and mailing address.

If you do that, we will send you this book absolutely free. It's our way of thanking you for watching this video. So I would just like to close by acknowledging all these amazing ministries that have helped contribute content for our time together.

I highly encourage you to check them out. They're awesome. Well, that's it for our time together. I'm Big Wave Dave, and I hope to see you again in The Zone. God bless you.