I sent the following question to the E-watchman's question and answers page last week (as well as starting a thread about it here). Here is the question and E-watchman's reply:
If the bible supposedly gives the true history of the world since the beginning, why doesn't it mention Dinosaurs? What is the society's view of the dinosaurs? Does the GB take the view that fossils are there to test our faith, or do they have another explanation? Also do you know what the society's view of UFO's / extra terrestrial life? |
The Bible does mention dinosaurs. Genesis 1:21 refers to "the great sea monsters" that Jehovah produced on the 5th creative day. An alternative rendering for "sea monsters" is great reptiles. That is exactly what dinosaurs were--great reptiles. Apparently, Jehovah created the giant reptiles to serve the ecology by converting massive amounts of verdant plant material into compost and topsoil. At some point, though, Jehovah's purpose concerning the great reptiles was concluded. Whether the dinosaurs were destroyed by some great extinction event before the deluge, or whether by the great deluge itself, certainly the fossil record bears much evidence of a global cataclysm that drastically changed the earth and caused the great reptilian monsters to suddenly vanish. As far as UFOs are concerned, I can't recall that the Watchtower has written much on that topic. But, I am certain that they view UFO's as originating with the demons. |
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The bible mentions "sea monsters". Ok fair enough, but what about the large numbers of dinosaurs that lived on the land? Why use "great reptiles" as an alternative? Just using the term "sea monsters" is a bit vague as to their appearance (reptillian or not), and also implies that the only dinosaurs were those that lived in the sea. Shouldn't "great reptiles" be used at all times to avoid confusion? I've heared that early crocodiles and shark like creatures existed towards the end of the cretacious period - in which case why oh why did Jehovah/Yahweh/YHVH/ Santa Claus allow them to survive and evolve. Could he not have spared the brontosaurus?
I take it that "the great deluge" means the great flood, which once again shows the WTS's disregard for science and history (the supposed flood being a few thousand years ago while the dinosaurs met their end 65 million years ago)
If you can, Listen to the late, great Bill Hicks' "dinosaurs in the bible" stand-up routine. Funny as f**k!