Why doesn't the bible mention dinosaurs?

Working with a patient today, the conversation somehow turned to religion, it has a habit of doing that with me, and he asked me if I was Catholic. I told him no, I was Orthodox and he jokingly said, that makes sense since you have that bald spot on top. I said that my “tonsure” must have been God’s way of setting me up to be a priest. We chuckled, and he became very serious. “I have a question for you.” My antenna went up, because something like this usually precedes a seminal question that has been a stumbling block for a person’s faith. He continued, “Why doesn’t the bible talk about the cavemen and dinosaurs?” Sharing this with my wife later, she said that that was a question she had when she was little.

Questions like this, however, are completely valid. They sadly represent the lack of theological understanding many Christians have; I’ve seen this time and again whether they’re Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, Baptist, you name it. Without getting on my soapbox, it is the responsibility of all Christians to understand their faith, and moreover, for those with the calling to teach, to understand and teach, not just preach.

Back to the question, I told him that the bible does not talk about cavemen and dinosaurs for the same reason it does not talk about llamas, emu, or condors; the bible is the Word of God through which He shows us His heart, mind, love, and desires for us. It is not a comprehensive, encyclopedic history of the world; it is the story of His creation, love for us, and illustration of the path we must take to draw near to Him, and that is through submission to and emulation of Christ. The bible was written for us, so that we can understand the Father; it is not a history of the earth. Man was given dominion over all creation, “…fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1.28) The bible is written for us as a guide to worship and discipleship, we are above all creatures so they need not be enumerated.

Seeing the ponderous look on his face, I knew what his response was going to be. “How come every time I’ve asked that question in church, no one has the answer?” “I don’t know,” I told him, “too many people feel defensive about their faith and give weak answers. We have to be bold in proclaiming, and understanding our faith.” He thanked me, and then reached out and kissed my hand. “That means something, you know.” I certainly do.

There is no bogeyman and you have no special powers

There is no bogeyman and you have no special powers; that should have been the title of my sermon this weekend. I preached on John 20, the story of our Lord appearing to all the Apostles, except Thomas who was out of town. Many have taken a cursory look at this passage from the “Doubting Thomas” perspective, but there is a deeper truth; and that is that Christ meets us where we are so that we can acknowledge “My Lord and my God”. But I digress; part of the passage recounts Christ breathing the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and commissioning them. Christ gave the power and authority, not the bogeyman; he didn’t enable some unseen force in the Apostles. All power and authority comes from our Lord, Jesus Christ.  John 20:22 “…He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

I note this because there were three illustrations of parishioners believing unconsciously (I hope,) from years of poor church education, just the opposite. They believed or were concerned that a prayer for restoration of a family, a television show, or a cross necklace are endowed with some special power. Following are the examples that are very concerning to me as a Pastor not only for the health of the congregation, but the state of theological understanding, or lack thereof, and its inferred fear in individuals. As a mea culpa, our congregation is less than two years old, so we can not take credit for our parishioners’ education over the past few decades. 

During the service, I prayed for a lady to have her family restored and saved, with Love pervading their relationships, etc. etc.  After the service, the lady thanked me, but asked that I not include a restoration of her ex-husband to the family because she didn’t want to be with him again. So many issues here with picking and choosing how you want God to work in your life and not trusting that God works for your good out of His love.  What struck me most, however, was that she thought that my prayer had the power to bring her [evil] ex-husband back into the family. Thinking that I , or anyone, could tell God how to answer a prayer.  Isaiah 40:21 “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” God works to our benefit through his Love and Power. When we pray for restoration, we ask for his Light to be manifest in our lives. I do not have the power to filter God’s love for some people in a family, but not others.

The final prayer of the service is a blessing that includes “be you protected by the Cross of Jesus, now and through the coming week”.  A parishioner, who has been a Christian for over 40 years, had lost or misplaced a cross her mother gave her years before. She had not worn it in years, but had been trying to find it for a couple of weeks. We prayed for her last week that she would find it; a day or so later she was going through a box and found it; Praise God for answering prayers. However, she said she wears it now so that she is protected from evil. I had to explain to her that the cross is not a talisman. There is no power imbued to that piece of silver; she was not bare of protection before, nor would she have more protection now. Our protection comes from God and living the faith of a disciple as we’ve been taught in scripture.

Last, and perhaps most concerning – or maybe not since all of these are examples of superstition, a variant of witchcraft, and certainly “bad churching” for decades, was a very nice, faithful, prayerful lady who came forward for prayer for her son in-law. The details are not necessary, but suffice to say he has some deep psychological/spiritual illness issues that will only be resolved through our Savior’s love. In the after-service, she said that part of her son in-law’s issues was related to his father’s suicide. This is probably the case, even though he was an adult with a family at the time. What was disconcerting was that the father, a resistance fighter in World War II, and a sufferer of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) saw a television program on Kurt Cobain’s  suicide. You may recall that Cobain, a rock star with LSD and heroin addictions, history of bipolar disorder, and prior suicide attempts, had a close encounter with his shotgun, kindly leaving a suicide note behind. The lady said that it must have been a “demon” that came from the television to influence her son in-law’s father to then go in the bedroom to take his own life with a shotgun. Uhhh, sorry to inform you but demons don’t jump out of the television, except in the mediocre horror film, “Ghost in the Machine.” Certainly there are demonic possessions, and in our weakness we are influenced by Satan, which may have been the sad case here. But a demon transporting itself through the television? I don’t think so.

It is truly sad to see that there is so much false doctrine, spiritualism, and witchcraft-like belief in the church today.  The scripture is full of warnings about false teachers (Matthew 7:15, 2 Peter 2:1-3) and these people who have been Christians for most of their lives should know better. But with no one to correct them, decades of bad theology by those selling Christianity based on emotion, primal urges, power struggles, ego and the like, this will continue. I am concerned that folks like these three parishioners will be sorted as goats, not sheep (Matthew 25) when the final day of judgment comes. Until then, it is the responsibility of all in the position of teaching to teach and preach the Gospel message alone. We do not need to entice people with aspirations of power [through the holy spirit] or the need for avoiding things in which demons might reside [like “bad” movies.] The truth is that we are all focused on our flesh, we all fall short of what God has intended for us, and can never deserve our salvation. We have to submit to Christ’ lordship, pray for guidance, be prayerful in all things, and follow the examples of our Savior and the Apostles, none of whom would withhold prayer, wear a talisman, or think that a demon would jump out of an inanimate object at them.

Location, Vocation and God's Will

All Christians desire to go through life doing God’s will. Questions arise, however, in the activities we do, where we chose to live, and how we spend our time; in essence are these choices we make doing God’s will, or are we serving ourselves while paying lip service to it being for God’s glory.

We need to consider three areas with regards to how we live our lives and God’s will. We are directed to live our lives in accordance with Christ’s example and to not be “of the world” Ephesians 5:1-20. We move towards achieving this by being prayerful in all things, that is to always have God’s will and Christ’s purpose and life in mind. 1 Thessalonians 5:11-18.  The result of this is that we bear fruit Galatians 5:22, and live the proper way Colossians 1:9-12.

The question of where we live and what we do for a vocation are more difficult decisions, not directly answered by scripture. However, we can rest assured that if we are obedient and sincere in living the life of a disciple, and striving to always draw nearer to God, hearing his voice, the decisions of location and vocation will become clear.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Prov. 3:5-6).

Henry Blackaby has written extensively on how we can better hear what God is saying to us. He summarizes,

1)     “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.

2)      Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3)      I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined.

4)      Next, I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5)      I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
 
So while we may consider and move towards a direction of location and/or vocation in our lives, we have assurance that if we do this with our heart, ear, actions, and intentions inclined towards our Lord, we will be in the right place, doing work and bearing fruit in a manner that glorifies Him who has made all things possible.