I don't have any numbers in front of me....I can tell you antecdotally that I've met a lot of people who claim to be believers, and I can't tell you of one that I've ever heard suggest anything remotely close to that. I would be shocked if the number were that high.
Unless the respondents represented by the pale green line, polled last year, think that all the dinosaurs were created & died out in the first dozen years or so before Adam & Eve showed up (assuming the great majority of that subset also believe the earth itself is <10k years old, else why agree with that particular number?), prepare to be shocked. According to Gallup: Churchgoers' responses:
aghast -- interesting stuff. i suppose i don't come into contact with this "issue" much, then. i'm part of a tiny church where stuff like this is never discussed...i have to say, in my mind i don't think of the Bible and dinosaurs crossing paths at all, except to say that I believe there was a Creator of all of it. But timelines are of no concern to me....and these issues seem so unimportant when I consider how difficult it is to merely attempt to follow the example of Jesus. i just can't imagine it even coming up in the context of my church. when i interface with other churches, it's usually because they're interested as to how we're attracting young people while they're dying off. or it's to have them join us with resources (money, time, people, etc) to reach out to pockets of need in our community. they ask us to speak in to their church leadership on a variety of issues; which is always interesting because we're very small and they're often huge. but i suppose these sorts of issues....like dinosaurs (which seriously makes me laugh, even just saying) never comes up. that's why i always love these threads with Jesus riding dinosaurs...because it's so freaking random to me.
Yep. I would think the cognitive dissonance of imagining people throwing stones at stampeding brontosaurs would help to undermine the literalist interpretation of a 6000 year old world, but apparently a plurality of Americans don't seem to care. What can you do?
That’s interesting, MadMax – because JUST YESTERDAY, our pastor did a whole sermon on this very important issue. I believe it was the 7th in a 12-part series called “Dinosaurs Didn’t Exist” and I can tell you that it sowed much dissension within our congregation. Several of our friends have more than once commented that they are thinking of leaving the church as a result.
I can't tell if you're being serious, but if you are: what did he say about all the fossils we've found?
And all the evidence about them just happens to suggest that they are now-extinct animals that lived millions of years ago? Why would God put them on the earth in such a context?
I have no clue, I am just saying what the general answer seems to be. Folks that ignore the fact they existed at all, will probably also say "God works in mysterious ways".
Dinosaurs did really exist! I grew up in an uber-Christian home that believed the earth was only 6000 years old and I was obsessed with dinosaurs from the time I was 5 until the time I was 9 or so. I had my Dinosaur Encyclopedia with pronounciation guide and all vital statistics... I loved the original Land Before Time, man dinosaurs were so cool. I think its downright hilarious that a lot of Christians believe without a shadow of doubt that God created the Heavens and the Earth in six 24 hour periods and then took the next 24 hours to chill out and have a Coke. Strictly going by Christian logic, God is infallible, omniscient, omnipotent, etc... He cannot constrained by time and space, and therefor would have no logical reason to obey a precept He created for the purpose of putting limitations and boundaries on human existence... right? You'd blow your mind up trying to think too hard about it, but basically I think if God truly does exist its downright ignorant to assume he would have created all existence in exactly 144 hours and then suddenly Adam existed and that was 6000 years ago.
Like I said earlier, all those who say dinosaurs never existed hasn't done their research or have an agenda. Also, there is no "scientific" research to prove the earth is several millions of years old. The best method we have is carbon dating which at most has put the earth's age somewhere in the late-teen thousands.
Is Kristen Stewart in her "late-teen thousands" yet? If so, I'd [redacted] her dinosaur. If not, uh, nevermind.
My dad was friends with a couple of shady people, known as the J-hov witnesses. Thank god my mother was catholic and I was raised catholic. I remember them condemning "The land before time" and saying that the evidence of bones was planted. May my god have mercy on those people. However, they did illustrate and write totally awesome biblical books for children. I still have my copy of "my book of bible stories".
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rhester - there's a good episode of MonsterQuest on pteradactyls (spelling??) allegedly living in New Guinea. I actually watched it yesterday.
I can't believe no one has commented on the ingenious Bill Hicks video I posted on page two. If you haven't watched it, you should.
MadMax- I have 2 young men from PaPua New Guinea living with me. They are convinced they have actually seen one. Pretty cool
