Going With the Consensus

"I am a Christian . . . How do I confront the following topics: 1) dinosaurs. I have been made aware of a few mentions in the bible where beasts are described in a way that could be referencing dinosaurs. But what about the notion that all these "periods" (jurassic, etc.) have been established with ages? Paleontologists need something to base their assumptions on not only how old a particular fossil is, but also how long and how old a particular period is. Are all paleontologists in agreement on ages of the earth? Why does there seem to be no debate here among them on these dates. 2) A story broke yesterday in the news about a meteorite found along an Oregon road that is estimated at 4.5 billion years old. I watched the news clip on it. As a Christian, we feel that the earth is not that old, so why is this reported without any refute to the aging? How do we as Christians argue this?" rnt77

I believe that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible (see Job 40:15-24). The creatures spoken of are said to be the biggest God created, and we are even told as to why they went extinct (Job 40:19 KJV). You may not agree with me, but that’s okay. I could be wrong.

The "periods" confirm the Bible rather than discredit it--rapid appearance of life (creation), rapid death (Noahic flood), etc.

Paleontologists are not all in agreement about the earth's age, but most believe that it's around 4.5 billion years old. However, they don’t know how old it is. They simply have faith in Radiometric dating.

I, like many others, don't believe it's that old because I don't have faith in their method of determining the age of rocks. This is because I believe that when God created rocks, they were made with an appearance of age.

When He created trees, He no doubt made them with the appearance of maturity. When He made man, He made him as a fully grown man, not as a baby. So, any scientist looking at the first man just after he was created would understandably be convinced that he was 20-30 years old, when he was in truth only minutes old.

Regarding your thought that no one refutes the age of the earth. Sadly, the media paint anyone who does believe that the earth is younger than 4.5 billion years, as being a "flat-earther." This is nothing new. When the consensus was that the earth was flat, anyone who believed otherwise was mocked. When Galileo believed differently about geocentricity than most, he was treated as an outcast by the powerful Catholic church.

I would rather be with the minority and be right, than go with the consensus and be wrong, and I'm sure I am not alone in that conviction.