Dinosaurs and Dragons

So I am reading this book online titled, "Old Earth, Why Not?" written by James Nienhius. Its an informative read that was written to refute many claims made by evolutionist. I wanted to share with you some of the things that I read in the first chapter. The author lists several references to prove that large reptiles did in fact walk the earth with humans and not millions or billions of years ago. Check it out......

Claim 1: Dinosaurs Died Out About 65 Million Years Ago

"If you accept this premise, there should be no known human contact with dinosaurs in history. You judge if there has been recent interaction between humans and “dinosaurs.” The word “dinosaur” was not used until 1841, when a British scientist, Sir Richard Owen, while studying the fossils of large reptiles, decided they were a new order of animal, and named them dinosaurs (which means terrible lizards).

From The History of the British Kings, we learn that King Morvidus (who ruled around 330 B.C.) was devoured by a large reptilian monster. The account states that the creature “gulped down the body of Morvidus as a big fish swallows a little one.”

A monster at Buries in Suffolk, England is reported in a chronicle from 1405 A.D. “Close to the town of Buries, near Sudbury, there has lately appeared, to the great hurt of the countryside, a dragon, vast in body, with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length. Having slaughtered the shepherd of a flock, it devoured many sheep.” After failed attempts by local archers to kill the beast, due to its tough hide: . . . “in order to destroy him, all the country people around were summoned. When the dragon saw that he was again to be assailed by arrows, he fled into a marsh or mere and there hid himself among the long reeds, and was no more seen.”

British government officials reported in 1793 A.D. “In the end of November and beginning of December, many of the country people observed…dragons, appearing in the north and flying rapidly towards the east, from which they concluded, and their conjectures were right, that . . . boisterous weather would follow.” *** Did you notice here that the government officials are speaking of the migration habits of these dragons as a sign of coming weather. The officials are speaking of these dragons in a very matter of fact common way.

Hundreds of sightings of the “Loch Ness Monster” have made news; but over forty sightings on Loch Morar, and other sightings on Lochs Lomond, Awe, and Rannoch have not made the news. Over 100 townships of Britain have reported dragons throughout their histories.

Apollonius of Tyana, traveler and historian from 2,000 years ago, noted that “. . . the whole of India is filled with enormous dragons, in marshes and mountains.” He said that the marsh dragons were 30 cubits (about 60 feet) long, sluggish, with black skin, and fewer scales than the mountain dragons. Apollonius chronicled these mountain dragons as being golden in color, of great length, fast as a river, and killers of elephants.

The Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, said that in India the elephants are constantly at war with the dragons. He noted that the dragons would leap from trees onto passing elephants, bite their trunks and eyes, and coil about them. The elephants tried to scrape the dragons off on the trees, but the dragons’ coiling constriction and venom killed the elephants.

Marco Polo, upon his return from Asia, reported of families raising dragons, yoking them to royal chariots for special occasions, and using dragon parts for medicinal purposes. Interestingly, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are animals, eleven of which are everyday, extant creatures (rat, horse, dog, ox, rabbit, tiger, snake, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.) The twelfth is the dragon. Why would the Chinese include the “mythological” dragon with these common living animals?

Herodotus, a Greek historian from around 400 B.C., wrote that serpents soared in the skies of Arabia. (This winged serpent, called by the natives “Kongamato,” apparently still flies in southern Africa.

The Sioux Indians of America tell of a 20-foot wingspan flying creature being hit by lightning, and made pictures of this creature; this may be is the infamous “Thunderbird” which has been in American Indian lore for centuries.

Two Arizona cowboys, as reported in the “Tombstone Epitaph” newspaper, killed a large flying reptile in 1890. The creature reportedly had an eight foot alligator-like head with a mouth full of teeth. The cowboys cut off its wing tip (which was a tough membrane, like a bat’s) for a trophy.

Nerluc, France was renamed in honor of a dragon killing. The animal reportedly was larger than an ox with long, sharp horns.

The well-known old European science book, “Historia Animalium,” says that dragons were not extinct in the 1500’s A.D., but were very rare and relatively small.

In South America, burial stones from the Ica Stones reveal creatures that look like triceratops, pterosaurs, and tyrannosaurus rexes coexisting with humans.

On Dec.11, 1999 villagers near Boboa, New Guinea saw a huge swimming lizard, as reported in “The Independent” newspaper of Papua, New Guinea. The newspaper also declared that the following day, a pastor and church elder saw the animal not far from the first sighting. The creature was described as having a body “as long as a dump truck and nearly two meters wide, with a long neck and long slender tail.” It was walking on hind legs “as thick as a coconut palms’ tree trunk,” and had two smaller forelegs. The head was similar in shape to a cow’s, with large eyes and “sharp teeth as long as fingers.” The skin was like a crocodile, and it had “largish scoops on its back.”

The Roman historian, Dio (also known as Cassius), wrote that one day, when Regulus, a Roman consul (third century B.C.), was fighting against Carthage (North Africa), a dragon suddenly crept up and settled behind the wall of the Roman army. The Romans killed it by order of Regulus, skinned it, and sent the hide to the Roman Senate. When the dragon was measured by order of the Senate, it turned to be an amazing 120 feet long, and the thickness was fitting to the length.

So what are to make of all of this? One thing we as defenders of the Bible use as evidence for its divine inspiration and Truth is the fact that it was written by so many different authors on several different continents over so many years with the same common theme. Well, look at what I just gave you. I gave you references to dragons and dinosaurs living with humans from several different sources on 5 different continents spanning over 2400 years! I know it may be a little "out-there" for some of you to believe in dragons living with humans but if you believe your Bible is the unflawed Word of God then you wouldn't even need these references. Just check out chapters 38-41 of the book of Job. In these chapters God is directly speaking to Job declaring His greatness and power through descriptions of His creation. God describes many different animals in these chapters and gives general descriptions of each one. In chapter 41, God describes the Leviathan. Read it and please try and convince me that the Leviathan is not a dragon. Don't come at me with talks of mythology or speaking metaphorically because God described every other animal here in general terms so why would we speak metaphorically about this one particular animal? Nope, not buying it. So did dinosaurs die out millions or billions of years ago therefore never walking on this earth with mankind? I'm going to lean towards a "no" on this one.

-TEvans