Genesis

[phl666]

If The Bible is a factual account of history, where do the dinosaurs fit in?

[Loosehead]

About 4000,000,000 years before it!

[Peter Pedant]

it isnt and they dont

otherwise Google catastrophism

[Aschenbach]

But you still get strict Creationists (esp in US) who take Genesis to be a literal version of events rather than a symbolic parable. They deny evolution and the validity of carbon dating etc and believe the world is about 3,000 years old.

Eddie Izzard and Ricky Gervais have done some hilarious material on this subject.

[jno]

don't get carried away loosehead - the first dinosaurs were probably eoraptors, 250,000,000 years ago or thereabouts. Even the earth is probably only about 3,400,000,000 years old. The standard Christian calculation of the creation used to to put it at 4004BC (October 23, to be precise). This may however be incorrect.

[kempie]

Aschenbach - I think you will find that the Earth is 6008 years old.

If it were only 3000 years old i.e. created about 1000 BC and Methuselah (Noah's grandfather) lived for 969 years you will see it would be a tight squeeze.

[Aschenbach]

Yeah whatever kream-pie it's all fiction to me!!!

[kempie]

Arschenblick - to me too ;�)

[Loosehead]

Don't get accurate jno I just plucked a number out of the air. Point is it's a bit of silly question.

[Octavius]

It is a fair question, but one that can be easily explained as has been done previously, here in fact:

  http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History-and-Myths/Question105349.html

If you must refer to the Genesis and the bible, then you should read it.

[magicdice]

the old testament is a cracking read. really, really interesting.

also, that is a big IF

[woofgang]

In fact, when you think about it, there are lots of other history books that are not actually a factual account of history. Writers are wrong, biased, don't know all the facts, rely on the memories of the people who were there, rely on other peoples' accounts and those people may have been wrong, biased etcetera

[Octavius]

magicdice - it is important to know your facts before you discredit them.

[acw]

Aschenbach is right!  Get hold of a copy of Glorious by Eddie Izzard.   Also great stuff on there about electing a new Pope!

[Pinotage]

You've answered your own question. Its not a factual account.

However there are some interesting points - itseems the enitire human race is descended from a hand ful of females.

[Stevee]

The Bible is a matter of Faith not fact. Even if the things recorded actualy happened they were not actualy put down on paper until at least the last decade of the 1st Century.

The dinosaurs lived in Kennels in the back yard

[neill]

I think you have just watched the late great comedian Bill Hicks. It`s a very,very old question. Just leave it there eh? Besides,who really cares? The point should be...In Genesis where is Phil Collins,Mike Rutherford etc.

[brachiopod]

The Earth is a little older, jno, at around 4.6 Ga (That's 4.6 Giga years, or 4 600 000 000 years).

[jno]

You're right, brachiopod - I was misled by an inaccurate internet page. I didn't realise things could be on the internet and not be true. Incidentally, I believe the time of the creation, as calculated by the church, was 9am; but I found that on the internet too. 4.6 Ga it is, give or take a week.

[brachiopod]

Don't know about the 'give or take a week' bit, jno, but current scientific thought points to the formation of the Earth to have occurred around tea -time. It would have happened a day earlier, but it was a bank holiday.

;o)