What the Bible says about dinosaurs, monkeys and aliens: answer for children

Bible Questions and Answers

Published 05/17/2017

The Bible and Dinosaurs - Does Scripture Mention Ancient Animals? Is it true that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, but the Bible only starts at 6,000 years ago? Is the Bible misleading because it doesn't mention dinosaurs? Why did dinosaurs become extinct on earth?

I recently watched a video in which Kent Hovind argues that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time - in the same era. He even provides evidence in the form of an ancient tablet where dinosaur-like animals are depicted alongside humans. I have also heard some Christian teachers claim that the hippopotamus and leviathan in the biblical book of Job refer to dinosaurs.

Answer:

Preface for Parents

After visiting natural science museums, and simply reading books, watching movies, communicating with each other, church-going children of primary and secondary school age may well ask questions: how does what they learned fit in with the truths of the Christian faith? If they ask their parents such questions, then this is very good: it means they have contact with their parents, which means they trust their parents. But answering such questions is not easy.

Firstly, we are, as a rule, talking about non-dogmatized things, about which there is no unity of opinion in the Church. And here parents should be careful not to pass off their personal opinion as a general church position. Secondly, even a child’s question, which is very simple in its formulation, may require a rather complex answer, and may provoke a conversation about such philosophical concepts that children have not yet grown up to understand. Therefore, when answering, you need to look for the measure that is available specifically to your child. An answer that is too complex or “loaded” may turn out to be incomprehensible, but too simple, too primitive can cause a feeling of dissatisfaction, a suspicion that adults are hiding something or that they actually have nothing to say.

But still, we offer several answers to the most common children's questions - not as a “how-to”, but as a guide for parents. Our answer options may be useful to them, but in any case they will have to look for specific words on their own, taking into account the characteristics of each child.

Did humans and dinosaurs live at the same time?

Unfortunately, Kent Hovind is not a useful resource for finding answers to questions about the book of Genesis, including questions about the age of the Earth. He says he is based on science, but in fact he himself is anti-science. He considers himself a scientist, but he has no accredited scientific degrees at all. He has worked as an evangelist and theme park director. Kent Hovind was convicted of willful tax evasion and is hardly a man of good Christian character. He denies almost every scientific principle that does not coincide with his belief that the Earth is young.

If there are other worlds besides our world, then who created them? Our God or some other gods?

Modern science cannot say anything reliably about whether there are other worlds, other universes besides ours. Various assumptions have been put forward, but none of them have yet been proven. And if science cannot tell us anything definite about the existence of other worlds, then religion still doesn’t say anything about it. She doesn’t speak because it’s simply not her topic. Religion does not say anything about mathematical theorems or the breathing patterns of worms. These are questions that science deals with.

Religion is all built on the Revelation of God, that is, on what God told people - both through His prophets, and Himself, having incarnated and become a man, while remaining God. And here’s what’s important: He told people only what they really needed to know in order to follow the path of salvation. Everything else - including how the world He created works - God did not tell. Not because this is some kind of forbidden secret, but simply because if people are interested in it, then they themselves will gradually, by developing science, figure it out. Including the question of the existence of other worlds.

But even if other worlds are ever really discovered and scientifically proven that they exist, we will still say that they were created by God. Not by some other gods, but by our God, the only one, because there are no other gods - our faith is based on this. And the world in this case can also be considered one, simply divided into different parts, “compartments” - approximately like different apartments in a large house.

Were there dinosaurs and what does the Bible say about them?

Christians and non-Christians alike want to know how clearly we can answer the evolutionist interpretation of the so-called age of dinosaurs from the perspective of the Bible and science.

Perhaps someone will object: “There is nothing in Scripture about dinosaurs!” The word "dinosaur", coined by Sir Richard Owen, did not appear until 1841. It is clear that it cannot be found in biblical translations that appeared earlier (for example, the traditional English text appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Geneva Bible and the King James Bible were printed). However, the Bible does tell us a lot of important information about dinosaurs.

The first dinosaur-like creatures were created during Creation Week about 6 thousand years ago.

Land lizards (dinosaurs themselves) appeared on the sixth day of creation week, at the same time as humans. If aquatic lizards existed, then they were created a day earlier, along with all waterfowl (plesiosaur) and winged (pterosaur) reptiles.

Before the Fall there was no suffering or death in the world; Dinosaurs originally lived side by side with humans and other created animals.

Because of Adam's sin, the entire creation (including the dinosaurs) was cursed and put into "bondage to corruption" (Romans 8:21).

All pulmonary vertebrate land animals (including dinosaurs) that did not end up in Noah's Ark drowned during the Great Flood about 4,500 years ago. However, this does not mean that all dinosaurs became extinct, because a couple of each kind entered the Ark.

From the place where the Ark landed (“mountains of Ararat,” Genesis 8:4, present-day Middle East), lung-bearing land animals (including dinosaurs) spread across the Earth.

After the Flood, fear and trembling of man gripped all animals without exception, and man was given permission to eat meat (Genesis 9:2–4).

Description of Dinosaurs in the Bible

Scripture often speaks indirectly about animals that may have been dinosaurs, and the book of Job contains a detailed description of a dinosaur-like creature.

Hippopotamus

The Bible talks about creatures that resemble dinosaurs. The Bible uses names such as "behemoth" and "tannin." The word "hippopotamus" means a giant, royal animal, and the word "tannin" includes dragon-like and giant sea creatures like whales, giant octopuses and squids, as well as marine reptiles like plesiosaurs, which are now almost extinct.

One of the most comprehensive descriptions of a dinosaur-like creature is described in chapter 40 of the Book of Job:

“Behold the hippopotamus whom I created, just as I created you; he eats grass like an ox; behold, his strength is in his loins, and his strength in the muscles of his belly; turns his tail like a cedar; the veins on his thighs are intertwined; his legs are like copper pipes; his bones are like iron rods; this is the height of God’s ways; only He who created him can bring His sword closer to him; the mountains bring him food, and there all the beasts of the field play; he lies down under shady trees, under the shelter of reeds and in swamps; shady trees cover it with their shadow; willows and streams surround it; behold, he drinks from the river and is in no hurry; remains calm, even if the Jordan rushes to his mouth. Will someone take him in front of him and pierce his nose with a hook?” (Job 40:10-19).The Book of Job is an ancient book written after the Flood, approximately 2000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Here God is describing the king of land animals, like the huge dinosaurs Diplodocus or Apatosaurus. It was a majestic animal with large and strong bones and muscles and feeding on giant plants. The Behemoth had nothing to fear. He was huge, and his long and powerful tail was like a cedar tree - one of the most powerful trees of the ancient world. It so happened that over time the biblical “hippos” became extinct or were exterminated, and people forgot about them. It was only about 150 years ago that museums began to assemble their bones into huge, majestic exhibits. Today, many people mistakenly believe that the “hippopotamus” mentioned in the Bible is none other than an elephant or hippopotamus (hippopotamus). However, they do not correspond to the description of the biblical “hippopotamus”, since neither the tail of an elephant nor the tail of a hippopotamus resembles a cedar trunk in appearance.

Leviathan

What kind of animal is Leviathan? Huge size, strong jaws, large teeth, the ability to move quickly under water - all this sheds light on what kind of animal it is. It is quite possible that this is Kronosaurus or something similar to Kronosaurus. It was one of the most magnificent sea creatures. Of course, it was not exactly a dinosaur, but it was something resembling a reptile with huge sharp teeth.

The most incredible thing is that, most likely, such animals still existed during the time of King David. Psalm 103:25-26 mentions Leviathan, saying, “This is a great and spacious sea: there are reptiles there, of which there is no number, the small and the great animals; there are ships sailing, there is this leviathan, whom You created to play in it.”

Most likely, we are talking about the Mediterranean Sea. It is interesting that many navigational journals contain reports and reports about “sea serpents”, which in appearance resemble ancient pliosaurs and mosasaurs. They looked like huge lizards or crocodiles with fins or webbed feet. Fossil remains confirm that the dorsal bones were very flexible. It is quite possible that they could swim, making snake-like movements.

A similar creature was spotted by a German submarine during the First World War. Captain Georg Von Faustner describes what happened as follows:

“On July 30, 1915, we torpedoed the British steamer Iberine, which was heading into the North Atlantic with a large cargo. The steamer began to sink quickly at a right angle. 25 seconds after diving under water, a huge explosion was heard. A few minutes later, the wreckage of the steamer was thrown to the surface with enormous force and thrown 20-30 meters out of the water, between which we saw a huge sea animal (in convulsions and convulsions).” I was in the observation tower with my officers, the chief engineer, the navigator and the helmsman. Each of us simultaneously screamed and pointed at the sea monster. None of us knew what it was. The animal sank within 10-15 seconds, so we didn't even have time to photograph it. It was approximately 20 meters long, shaped like a crocodile and had four limbs with webbed feet and a long tail that tapered at the end.

Kent Hovind, American evangelist and young earth creationist - "Leviathan - the fire-breathing dragon"

How did dinosaurs fit on the ark?

Given the variety of dinosaur species that existed and the enormous size of some of them (for example, the seismosaur - Seismosaurus - was 40 meters long, judging by the reconstruction based on the remains), the question arises: how did they all fit into Noah's ark? To give the correct answer, you need to take into account several circumstances.

There Were Only About 55 Created Genera of Dinosaurs

Noah did not need to take with him all the species of animals (“species” is a category notorious for its vagueness), but only one pair from each created kind. That's why dinosaurs were selected according to the same principle. Thus, Noah’s Ark included not about 668 species of dinosaurs, but only representatives of “kinds” (Genesis 6:20), which, according to calculations, were only 55. Although people, when they hear the word “dinosaurs,” usually imagine huge representatives of ancient lizards , most dinosaurs were relatively small. Compsognathus, for example, was no larger than a chicken. And the size of an average dinosaur did not exceed the size of a small sheep.

The ark was huge

According to Genesis 6:14–16, the ark was not the small craft it is often portrayed as. It was large enough to accommodate as many animals as needed, including dinosaurs.

Only young individuals could enter the ark

But even despite the real enormous size of the Ark, the largest dinosaurs known to us would hardly have squeezed through the entrance to it. However, this does not mean that there were no large dinosaurs on the ship at all. It would be more logical to take into the ark not the “elderly couple of brachiosaurs,” but young individuals of the same genus, who were destined to reproduce and populate the Earth after the Flood. Keep in mind that God Himself chose the couples of each kind and brought them to the ark (Genesis 6:20), so Noah did not need to “drive” the dinosaurs (or other animals and birds) into place.

But weren’t the huge dinosaurs’ “babies” large?

To date, many dinosaur eggs have been discovered, the largest of which reaches approximately 50 cm in length. Thus, barely hatching from the egg, the babies of the largest dinosaurs were less than a meter tall. Scientists studying growth rings in dinosaur bones have discovered that the reptiles had a "teenage growth spurt."

For example, in the impressively sized Apatosaurus, this jump began at the age of approximately five years, weighing only one ton (about the same as a goby). During the growth spurt, the animal gained more than five tons per year, and by the age of 12–13 years, weighing 25 tons, the growth curve leveled off. Other dinosaurs—like the 1,700-pound Maiasaura and the 20-pound Syntarsus and Psittacosaurus—had the same sigmoidal (S-shaped) growth curve.

Dinosaur growth rates calculated from animal growth rings indicate that juveniles of large dinosaurs could easily fit on the ark. God knew which species would grow immediately after leaving the ark, and He chose them accordingly. This explanation also addresses skeptics' objections to the size and diet of the large dinosaurs while on the ark. In short, when the dinosaurs were on board, they were small in size. And the growth spurt after leaving the ark allowed them to quickly outgrow those who could hunt them. To summarize, Noah could fit dinosaurs of all kinds into the Ark without much difficulty because:

— the average size of most dinosaurs was no larger than that of a sheep;

— even large dinosaurs were small before their growth spurt;

— There were relatively few genera of dinosaurs (compared to the number of “species”) - about 55;

— the ark was quite large.

So what really happened to the dinosaurs?

Evolutionary scientists offer a number of explanations for what they think happened to dinosaurs. Here is just a partial list of hypotheses:

— A long time ago, a large asteroid crashed into our planet.

— A whole group of difficult-to-verify plants became extinct, and the animals eating these plants died from chronic stagnation in the stomach, which, in turn, led to the death of the predators eating them.

— Dinosaurs became addicted to plants containing narcotic substances.

— Climates around the world have become too hot, too cold, too dry or too wet.

— A supernova explosion occurred not far from Earth, as a result of which the Earth was exposed to severe radiation.

— Mammals ate dinosaur eggs.

There are serious problems with the evidence for these alleged events. Take, for example, the theory of a collision with a large asteroid. Why did this event cause only dinosaurs to become extinct, but not ducks, squirrels, beavers, and other animals that coexisted with dinosaurs, as noted above? What can we say about lizards and crocodiles, which are supposedly their closest relatives? Even some evolutionists dispute that such an impact could have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. None of the events proposed by evolutionists can be considered hard evidence (and this is why there are so many opinions about what really happened to dinosaurs).

Creationists theorize that most dinosaurs died and were buried in the Flood described in Genesis 6–8 (and this is supported by ample evidence). Two individuals of each species escaped on the Ark and thus survived the Flood. However, due to a sharp reduction in the number of representatives of each genus, all animals were subjected to various negative impacts, including due to a sharp climate change after the Flood (they had to survive the Ice Age). It is possible that some of the species had unique physiological characteristics that prevented them from adapting quickly enough to environmental changes after the Flood. For example, evolutionists suggest that dinosaurs were neither warm-blooded nor cold-blooded animals, but had some completely different circulatory system. They may also have had a unique metabolic system, different from all modern animals.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons for their extinction, along with other reasons why animals become extinct today (hunting, disease, climate change, habitat changes, etc.).

However, at least a few dinosaurs survived until relatively recent times. For example, this is evidenced by paintings of dinosaurs in Great Britain in the 1400s and stegosaurus carvings in Cambodia that are centuries, not millennia, old. Of course, this evidence is completely ignored by people who believe in the “old age of the Earth” and insist that the last dinosaur died about 65 million years ago, long before the first people appeared on Earth.

However, there is other evidence that literally screams that the age of dinosaur fossils cannot be millions of years old. Thus, in the remains of dinosaurs, soft tissues were found containing not only elastic ligaments and traces of proteins, but also flexible transparent branching blood vessels filled with a substance that can be squeezed out of them, like toothpaste from a tube. And inside these vessels, the remains of red blood cells with nuclei characteristic of reptiles are easily found.

When you put all these facts together, dinosaurs are not a problem for the Christian worldview at all. God created them along with all other animals approximately 6,000 years ago. We discover their fossilized bones along with the remains of other animals that died in the Flood 4,500 years ago. They lived after the Flood, but gradually died out (like many other species).

There is no "great mystery" covering the existence and extinction of dinosaurs when viewed from the perspective of God's Word. In fact, the Bible offers a much better explanation of these events than the evolutionary worldview.

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Why did God create many stars and galaxies there if we are alone in the Universe? What's the point?

Indeed, God created a huge world, with many galaxies, stars, planets, nebulae, black holes... And we, the inhabitants of the small (compared to, for example, Jupiter) planet Earth, revolve around a small (compared to many others) star named the Sun, the question may arise: why is everything else needed, all these innumerable stars and other cosmic objects? Why, if we are alone in the Universe?

You can answer this way: God created such a huge, bright, diverse world for us, people, out of love for us. In ancient times there was such an Orthodox saint, Maximus the Confessor (VII century), and he said that God gave man the world He created, so that man, by studying it, would ascend to the knowledge of God - just as a small child twists and turns a toy, takes it apart, puts it back together, and develops. This world, these billions of stars and planets - they are like an educational toy for us, for humanity.

And it's simply beautiful! Anyone who has seen the starry sky above their heads will never want to lose this beauty, will not want the sky to be forever covered with gray clouds. God loves us - and that’s why he created this beauty for us. Even though for the most part it is not yet available to us, even though we have only just begun to explore the Solar System - but perhaps there is still more to come. We don’t know God’s plans, we don’t know how long humanity will exist, but it is quite possible that someday people will fly to other stars and go beyond the boundaries of our Galaxy.

Do you know what this can be compared to? We live in a city apartment, we seem to have everything we need for life: electricity, water, gas, internet... but we are also drawn outside the apartment: to city streets, to sports grounds, to parks, to theaters and museums, outside the city , to the forest or to the river, to the sea, to the mountains, to other countries... we have a huge world called planet Earth, where there are so many interesting things! Of course, we could live in an apartment, but we want everything else. And if for some reason this rest is not available to us, this does not mean that it is not needed at all! If we never fly to Brazil and see jaguars and armadillos, doesn't that mean we can do without jaguars? Without jaguars, life was much more boring.

It’s the same with all these billions of stars that are still inaccessible to us: they are beautiful, they make our life more interesting, and without them we would be somehow dull. But they exist, these stars and galaxies, and this is God’s gift to us. Moreover, the gift, as they say, is “for growth.”

Is science always right?

Of course not! Science generally cannot always be right, because scientific knowledge is not something frozen once and for all, it can change and be refined. Scientists can be wrong on some issues, and then admit their mistakes. The funniest example: in the Middle Ages, scientists believed that insects had eight legs, because the great Greek scientist Aristotle wrote so in ancient times, whose authority was unquestioned for almost two thousand years. And it simply never occurred to anyone to doubt, to catch a grasshopper or a fly and count how many legs there were. Or, later, in the 18th century, scientists were not some charlatans, but respected, serious scientists! - they believed that there was such an invisible substance, caloric, and it was this that transferred heat. And then, in the 18th century, French academics believed that no stones could fall from the sky - that is, they denied that meteorites sometimes fall to Earth.

But scientific knowledge is structured in such a way that scientists constantly question what is considered unshakable, endlessly check seemingly firmly established facts, and look for other explanations for them that more accurately describe what we observe. Therefore, if science is now wrong on some issue, this does not mean that it will continue to be wrong. An error will be corrected, an inaccurate theory will be replaced by a more accurate one, what was previously considered a universal law will be recognized as just a special case of something more general.

But here’s another important thing: science cannot (and does not try) to explain everything that exists in life. There are things that science simply does not deal with, does not consider. For example, love between people, a feeling of beauty, those feelings that paintings, music, poetry evoke in us.

More precisely, there are scientists who are trying to explore this too, to explain all human feelings and thoughts with the help of physics and chemistry. But with the help of physics and chemistry we can only explain what happens in our body when we feel something. But the feelings and thoughts themselves cannot be reduced to physics and chemistry. This is the same as explaining how a poet writes a poem: “here he takes white paper, takes a pencil, the lead scratches the paper, small particles of graphite peel off from it, leaving a mark on the paper...” But is it really possible to explain in this way why the poet decided to write exactly “I remember a wonderful moment” and not “Frost and sun, a wonderful day” or “A lonely sail is white”?

And, of course, science does not consider faith in God; science does not say anything about angels, about heaven and hell, about miracles. If this, of course, is real science, and not some kind of fake science. And such fakes have occurred in the past, and still do. And besides, there are people who are sure that nothing exists at all except what science can study. No love, no beauty, no God. In fact, this opinion is never scientific. This is a philosophical doctrine called scientism (from the English word science), but it has nothing to do with real sciences - physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry and so on.

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Sunday, December 04, 2021 11:09 + to quote book 1. ORIGIN OF DINOSAURS

A. WHERE DID DINOSAURS COME FROM?

Dinosaurs were created by God, as were all plants, animals and humans. The day on which God created dinosaurs can be read in Genesis 1:20-25. The Lord God created the entire universe in 6 days, as evidenced not only by Genesis 1, but also Exodus 20:11 and John 1:3). Moreover, man and dinosaurs lived at the same time, and not millions and billions of years before the appearance of man.

B. IS THERE A MENTION ABOUT DINOSAURS IN THE BIBLE?

HIPPOPOTAMUS

One of the most comprehensive descriptions of a dinosaur-like creature is described in chapter 40 of the Book of Job:

This is the hippopotamus that I created, just like you; he eats grass like an ox; behold, his strength is in his loins, and his strength in the muscles of his belly; turns his tail like a cedar; the veins on his thighs are intertwined; his legs are like copper pipes; his bones are like iron rods; this is the height of God’s ways; only He who created him can bring His sword closer to him; the mountains bring him food, and there all the beasts of the field play; he lies down under shady trees, under the shelter of reeds and in swamps; shady trees cover it with their shadow; willows and streams surround it; behold, he drinks from the river and is in no hurry; remains calm, even if the Jordan rushes to his mouth. Will someone take him before his eyes and pierce his nose with a hook? — Job 40:10-19

The Behemoth had nothing to fear. He was huge, and his long and powerful tail was like a cedar tree - one of the most powerful trees of the ancient world.

It so happened that over time the biblical “hippos” became extinct or were exterminated, and people forgot about them. It was only about 150 years ago that museums began to assemble their bones into huge, majestic exhibits. Today, many people mistakenly believe that the “hippopotamus” mentioned in the Bible is none other than an elephant or hippopotamus (hippopotamus). However, they do not correspond to the description of the biblical “hippopotamus”, since neither the tail of an elephant nor the tail of a hippopotamus resembles a cedar trunk in appearance.

LEVIATHAN

The most incredible thing is that, most likely, such animals still existed during the time of King David. Psalm 103:25-26 mentions Leviathan, saying, “This is a great and spacious sea: there are reptiles there, of which there is no number, the small and the great animals; there are ships sailing, there is this leviathan, whom You created to play in it.”

A similar creature was spotted by a German submarine during the First World War. Captain Georg Von Faustner describes what happened as follows:

2. DEFINITION OF THE TERM “DINOSAUR”

The word "dinosaur" is often misused. Most people consider all ancient reptiles to be dinosaurs, including flying reptiles and huge ancient animals.

The name "dinosauria" was invented by Dr. Richard Owen, a friend of the famous French scientist Dr. Georg Cuvier. Owen was the first to use the word in his 1941 scientific work, A Report on British Reptile Remains. The term "dinosaur" consists of two Greek words: "dinos" - incredibly large and "saurus" - lizard. Thus, the word "dinosaur" literally means "incredibly large lizard."

Eventually, scientists around the world borrowed this word, and now it is known to every person on earth, including small children. Most paleontologists, although not all, classify dinosaurs as reptiles. This is due to the similarities in the structure of their bones, teeth, skin and bony plates present in some dinosaur remains found. And although there is still no exact definition of who is classified as a dinosaur and who is not, nevertheless, there is a general agreement about the creatures that are commonly called dinosaurs.

3. DINOSAURS AND DRAGONS

There are many records and testimonies of ancient people about mysterious creatures that resemble reptiles in appearance, which once abundantly inhabited the earth. Obviously, there were a lot of them and of different types and sizes: both large and small. They had their own names. For example, ancient Europeans called them “dragons.” The description of dragons is almost identical to the description of dinosaurs. Ancient legends about dragons most likely arose from memories of dinosaurs. Scientists around the world agree that all legends are based on facts, and not just a figment of the imagination. It is no coincidence that legends and images of dinosaurs can be found in any part of the world: in Africa, India, Europe, as well as in the Middle and Far East, North and South America, and so on. Mentions of dinosaurs are present in the very first written evidence of history.

Of course, the content of some stories is pure fiction, as are the traits and properties that people endowed with “dragons.” Thus, the man tried to draw the attention of listeners to the uniqueness of these animals and emphasize the heroic qualities of the hunters. Other stories seem not only implausible, but even fabulous or mystical. However, many legends deserve our attention and trust.

All available drawings, records, legends and other available facts about dinosaurs indicate that people for many years lived in close proximity to dinosaurs: they saw them, drew them on rocks, hunted them, used their bones, internal organs and enzymes for the preparation of medicines and so on.

4. NAMES AND CLASSIFICATIONS

It is not known exactly how many varieties of dinosaurs there were. The numbers range from 250 to 550 or more (one study cited the figure as 500 thousand). Some scientists classify dinosaurs by their scanty remains, others by teeth only, and still others by vertebrae. Excavation and research of dinosaur remains is a very expensive pleasure. Today (more precisely, in 1981), humanity has about 5,000 fragments of dinosaur skeletons at its disposal. There are three main groups of dinosaurs: land dinosaurs (such as Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus), water-fowling dinosaurs (such as Plesiosaurus) and flying dinosaurs (such as Pterodactyl).

CONCLUSION:

The Lord God created dinosaurs. Most of them died during the Great Flood. Only a small number of dinosaurs that were on the ark with Noah and his family survived. After the Flood, dinosaurs were not rare animals, but over the years they became fewer and fewer as people hunted them.

To this day, individual dinosaurs have survived. The rest was either exterminated by humans, or became extinct due to sudden climate change, or was displaced by civilization and forced to hide from human eyes.

As for extinction, over the past 350 years, scientists have recorded the disappearance of 400 animal species. If simple animals become extinct and disappear from the face of the earth, then what can we say about such exotic creatures as dinosaurs. However, dinosaurs are still found here and there. The largest amount of evidence of modern dinosaurs is collected in African swamps. Over the past 10 years, more than 40 expeditions have been sent there. There are many books written by participants and leaders of these expeditions that claim that dinosaurs still exist.

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They say that a real scientist cannot be a believer, and a real believer cannot be a scientist. Why is this?

Those who say this misunderstand both what faith is and what science is. They think that if a scientist believes in God, then religion forces him to abandon the use of scientific research methods. And they also think that a real scientist considers that only what is described by science exists, and since God is not described by it, then He does not exist.

But this is a misconception. In fact, science and faith talk about different things, and all clashes between them are misunderstandings, when either believers do not quite correctly understand the meaning of their faith, or scientists talk about things that do not belong to science. For example, when in the 16th century the Catholic Church condemned the teaching of Copernicus that the Earth revolves around the Sun, it was wrong: what revolves around what has nothing to do with Christian doctrine. This is about the structure of our world, and not about God, not about the soul, not about angels... Another example: in the 19th century, some scientists, based on the theory of evolution, argued that man was not created by God, but that he himself, independently of God, came into being from an ancient monkey. These scientists were wrong because science can only talk about the origin of the human species - that is, how, through evolution, the human body became what it is. But science cannot say anything about the soul, about the image of God in man - all this does not relate to its subject of research.

Well, if we move from general reasoning to examples, we can cite many cases where scientists, including great scientists, were deeply religious people. The same Nicolaus Copernicus, who put forward the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, was not just a believer, but a priest! And the famous English mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton was also a theologian and wrote theological works. And in our time, there are a lot of believers among scientists, and their faith does not hinder them in any way in their scientific research.

The Church's attitude to paleontology

Science always operates with facts; these facts can be refuted by other facts or their irrefutability can be proven. From this point of view, paleontology as a strictly scientific discipline has always raised questions not only among church leaders, but also among scientists.

In a given branch of scientific knowledge, there is always only a fragment of the remains of a certain animal or a whole complex of these fragments. But this does not provide anything for further scientific analysis, but only food for various reconstructions by specialists in the field of zoology and other sciences.

On the part of the Church, there are well-founded complaints about the methods used in paleontology.

Determining the age of the remains of ancient animals leaves many questions. Modern scientists operate in millions of years, based on dubious dating methods: for example, the age of lava that solidified in Washington state in 1986 is 28 years old, but according to modern methods of measuring its age is 2.8 million years.
There was a case of finding in the remains of a tyrannosaurus, whose age was determined to be 70 million years old, bone cells, soft tissues and even red blood cells. Which is impossible in principle, since all these components decompose in the next hundreds of years at most, but not within tens of millions of years.

The Bible mentions a whale-like animal that washed Jonah up on the shores of Nineveh

Another important point is that the creators of paleontology, Georges Cuvier and Jean Agassiz, were not supporters of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Supporters of creationism, i.e. the creation of the world by God and the immutability of species, point out that paleontologists have not yet found a single intermediate species among the fossil remains of animals. And what evolutionists are trying to present as the development of the species is a fraud.

On the attitude of Orthodoxy to various sciences:

Modern medicine and Orthodoxy
About telegony
Orthodox apologetics

Does science tell us how the world really works?

Here you need to understand what science actually is. This is not only some specific knowledge, but also the ways in which scientists obtain this knowledge. Speaking in adult terms, these methods are called scientific methodology. For example: check the results of all research, perform the same experiments again and again, do not take anyone’s word for anything, prove all statements, and when putting forward a theory, understand what facts could refute it, and if any If the facts come to light, the theory will have to be rejected. You can’t lie by falsifying experimental data. You can't throw away inconvenient facts, you can't be afraid of inconvenient questions. And much more.

Moreover, real science never claims to describe the entire world “as it is.” Scientists make observations of nature, conduct experiments, ponder the results - and put forward some kind of explanation for these results. This explanation is called a hypothesis. They begin to carefully check it: are all the observed facts explained by it? Is it possible to use this hypothesis to predict some as yet undiscovered phenomena? If yes, if a hypothesis gives a clear explanation of existing facts and predicts those that have not yet been discovered, and then they are discovered, then such a hypothesis is already called a theory. But such a theory is just a model of reality, it explains well what we already know on this topic, it makes it possible for practical use - for example, the theory of electricity can be applied to the development of all kinds of electrical devices, from a light bulb to a computer. But no conscientious scientist would say that the generally accepted theory is the ultimate truth, that reality is exactly as the theory claims.

For example, the same heliocentric theory of Copernicus. Despite the dissatisfaction of the Catholic Church, it was quickly accepted because it had practical benefits; with its help it was possible to make astronomical calculations much faster than before. And these calculations were very important for the needs of navigation. Then, a hundred years later, already in the 17th century, this theory was developed by another scientist, Johannes Kepler, and the calculations became not only simpler, but also much more accurate. Then, when Isaac Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation, it became clear why the planets revolve around the Sun this way and not otherwise. But only in the 20th century, when astronautics appeared, did people finally become convinced that the Copernican theory is not just a convenient mathematical model, that the solar system really is structured exactly as Copernicus suggested.

The same applies to any other theory in any other science: a scientific theory does not describe reality itself, but only a model of reality. Whether this model is correct or incorrect does not become clear immediately, but only later. For example, physicists in the 19th century assumed that all outer space was permeated by some invisible substance, the “world ether.” This was a generally accepted theory, with its help the results of various physical experiments and astronomical observations were explained, but only at the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to Albert Einstein, the theory of the ether was abandoned; his theory of relativity was able to better explain the observed facts than the ether. That is, it turns out that for several decades educated people thought that there was ether, that the world was structured exactly like this, with ether, because science claims it. But it turned out, no, science was wrong then. Hence the conclusion: many modern scientific theories will be revised in the future, so you should not believe that the world is exactly as science now believes it to be.

If we evolved from monkeys, then how are we different from them?

We differ from them primarily in that we have a soul, we have a mind, we have free will, we have the gift of creativity, we have the ability to distinguish between good and evil - that is, this is the image of God in man. And all these things - reason, free will, and so on - are not a natural result of evolution, but rather a gift from God.

The Bible says that “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). These words, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” mean that man has the image of God (which was mentioned a little earlier, Gen. 1:27). What is “dust of the earth”? The Bible does not specify this, but it is not at all necessary to interpret these words literally, that is, as ordinary dust. Here we mean matter in general. And it is quite possible that “dust of the earth” can be understood as the bodies of ancient primates, the ancestors of humans, and modern monkeys. For example, this opinion was held by Saint Theophan the Recluse, who lived at the end of the 19th century. He wrote: “This body - what was it? Clay grouse, or living body? “It was a living body, it was an animal in the form of a man, with an animal soul, and then God breathed His spirit into it...”

Josh More

Whether man, that is, the species Homo sapience, really descended from ancient primates is a matter of science, not faith. Now science believes that yes, that this assumption is proven by many paleontological finds. If we Christians accept this as a scientific theory, will this prevent us from believing in Christ and following the path of salvation? Not at all. And if in the future science finds a different explanation for these facts and explains the origin of the human species differently, then this will not affect our faith in any way. It, our faith, is about something else.

Following the discussions:
The Bible and dinosaurs,
a brief summary of the discussion of the same name

1. ORIGIN OF DINOSAURS

A. WHERE DID DINOSAURS COME FROM? Dinosaurs were created by God, as were all plants, animals and humans. The day God created dinosaurs can be read in Genesis 1:20-25

.
The Lord God created the entire universe in 6 days, as evidenced not only by Genesis 1, but also by Exodus 20:11
and
John 1:3
). Moreover, man and dinosaurs lived at the same time, and not millions and billions of years before the appearance of man.

B. IS THERE A MENTION ABOUT DINOSAURS IN THE BIBLE?

HIPPOPOTAMUS

One of the most comprehensive descriptions of a dinosaur-like creature is described in chapter 40 of the Book of Job:

This is the hippopotamus that I created, just like you;

he eats grass like an ox;

behold, his strength is in his loins, and his strength in the muscles of his belly;

turns his tail like a cedar;

the veins on his thighs are intertwined;

his legs are like copper pipes;

his bones are like iron rods;

this is the height of God’s ways;

only He who created him can bring His sword closer to him;

the mountains bring him food, and there all the beasts of the field play;

he lies down under shady trees, under the shelter of reeds and in swamps;

shady trees cover it with their shadow;

willows and streams surround it;

behold, he drinks from the river and is in no hurry;

remains calm, even if the Jordan rushes to his mouth.

Will someone take him before his eyes and pierce his nose with a hook?

— Job 40:10-19

The Book of Job is an ancient book written after the Flood, approximately 2000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Here God is describing the king of land animals, like the huge dinosaurs Diplodocus or Apatosaurus. It was a majestic animal with large and strong bones and muscles and feeding on giant plants. The Behemoth had nothing to fear. He was huge, and his long and powerful tail was like a cedar tree - one of the most powerful trees of the ancient world.

LEVIATHAN

The Bible mentions Leviathan in chapters 40 and 41 of the book of Job and describes it as the largest inhabitant of the sea. Leviathan could not be caught with hooks, harpoons or nets. “There is no one like him on earth;
he was created fearless” - Job 41:25
What kind of animal is Leviathan? Huge size, strong jaws, large teeth, the ability to move quickly under water - all this sheds light on what kind of animal it is. It is quite possible that this is Kronosaurus or something similar to Kronosaurus. It was one of the most magnificent sea creatures. Of course, it was not exactly a dinosaur, but it was something resembling a reptile with huge sharp teeth.

The most incredible thing is that, most likely, such animals still existed during the time of King David. Psalm 103:25-26

mentions Leviathan, saying:
“This is a great and spacious sea: there are reptiles there, of which there is no number, animals small and large;
there are ships sailing, there is this leviathan, whom You created to play in it . Most likely, we are talking about the Mediterranean Sea. It is interesting that many navigational journals contain reports and reports about “sea serpents”, which in appearance resemble ancient pliosaurs and mosasaurs. They looked like huge lizards or crocodiles with fins or webbed feet. Fossil remains confirm that the dorsal bones were very flexible. It is quite possible that they could swim, making snake-like movements.

A similar creature was spotted by a German submarine during the First World War. Captain Georg Von Faustner describes what happened as follows:

2. DEFINITION OF THE TERM “DINOSAUR”
The word “dinosaur” is often misused. Most people consider all ancient reptiles to be dinosaurs, including flying reptiles and huge ancient animals. The name "dinosauria" was invented by Dr. Richard Owen, a friend of the famous French scientist Dr. Georg Cuvier. Owen was the first to use the word in his 1941 scientific work, A Report on British Reptile Remains. The term "dinosaur" consists of two Greek words: "dinos" - incredibly large and "saurus" - lizard. Thus, the word "dinosaur" literally means "incredibly large lizard."

3. DINOSAURS AND DRAGONS

4. NAMES AND CLASSIFICATIONS

(such as Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus),
water-fowling dinosaurs
(such as Plesiosaurus) and
flying dinosaurs
(such as Pterodactyl).

CONCLUSION:

The Lord God created dinosaurs. Most of them died during the Great Flood. a few dinosaurs survived

who were in the ark with Noah and his family. After the Flood, dinosaurs were not rare animals, but over the years they became fewer and fewer as people hunted them.

Download the entire article in word

We also invite you to read other articles about dinosaurs:

Were there dinosaurs on the Ark?
Modern photographs of dinosaurs
(Dr. Hovind's seminar, Part No. 3).

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Why is the Church against the theory of evolution?

Let's start with the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church does not have any official, church-wide position on this theory. There are different opinions held by believers - both laity and clergy.

Those who are against the theory of evolution believe that it is incompatible with what the Bible tells us about the origin of the world and man. They perceive the biblical story about the creation of the world literally, and they have some reasons for this: indeed, many ancient saints said that these chapters of the book of Genesis should be understood literally: that is, that the world was created in six days, and these days are our ordinary a day with 24 hours. And if so, then there would simply be no time for evolution to occur, because it takes millions of years. They also have another objection to the theory of evolution: after all, in order for evolution to occur, plants and animals must die, but God did not create death, death appeared only after the fall of Adam and Eve.

Other Orthodox people are confident that there is nothing in the idea of evolution that contradicts Christian teaching. They do not believe that the Lord created the world in exactly six ordinary days; the word “day”, which sounds in the biblical story of the creation of the world, can be understood differently: as a certain stage, the duration of which is unknown to us: maybe it’s billions of years. As for death, which is necessary for evolution to occur, they assume that “death” in the Bible only means the death of people, and when a flower withers or a fish dies, this is not death, but simply the cessation of life. And then there are no contradictions with the text of the Bible.

Which one is right? Each of us decides for ourselves. But it is important that both are Orthodox Christians, that they have the right to think as they think, that neither one nor the other can be accused of heresy. You can be a good Christian, follow the path of salvation, both accepting the theory of evolution and not accepting it.

But at the same time, you need to understand this: there is the theory of evolution itself, that is, a purely scientific theory, and there are people who, from the theory of evolution, draw conclusions that there is no God, that no one created man, but that he simply evolved naturally from a monkey , and therefore religion is harmful and stupid fairy tales. Moreover, such conclusions were and (still are sometimes found) in school textbooks. And the Church, of course, objects to such views, because here we are no longer talking about science, but about our faith. Yes, both in the past and now some people are trying to use the theory of evolution to fight religion. That is why many church people are so wary of this theory and consider it a weapon of our enemies. Although in fact it is not scientific theories in biology that are to blame, but those who simply hide behind them for completely non-scientific purposes.

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Hello, dear subscribers!

I apologize for the long silence. In this issue I have two news and one interesting article for you.

First news: let me invite you to visit the website of the author-performer Svetlana Malova https://www.smalova.ru. The songs and music are really very worthy, all the songs are freely available.

Second news: The famous preacher Alexander Lisichny opened his blog on LiveJournal https://pastor-a7d.livejournal.com I invite all LiveJournal users to go there and make friends.

And now the article:

What does the Bible say about dinosaurs?

Raul Esperante, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Geological Research Institute, Loma Linda, California

Translation by Olga Milyukova (especially for the site mosadvent.ru)

Several years ago, while I was lecturing at an Adventist university, a pastor came to me and asked, “Please could you talk to my wife and convince her that dinosaurs really existed?” This request was not a joke. This pastor's wife was a schoolteacher who refused to teach her students that dinosaurs ever existed. I immediately realized that behind her dinosaur denial was a struggle to understand a mystery that baffles some and captivates others: How do we fit the past existence (and extinction) of dinosaurs into a biblical context? Unfortunately, this denial of the existence of dinosaurs has become more widespread than we would like to admit, and this is despite our modern scientific society, as well as advanced research in all fields, including geology and paleontology! But these specific sciences seem out of place in our schools and colleges, and our youth are unlikely to think about them when choosing a future profession. As a Christian and paleontologist, I must encounter daily the widespread concept of biological evolution based on millions of years. And I can understand that some people are afraid of being involved in a philosophy that is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. However, it is possible to study fossils, rocks, and evolution without giving up your faith. If we appreciate the beauty and mystery of the creation of the earth and subsequent history, then much depends on what and how teachers and pastors teach in our schools and churches. In this article, I offer a path for students, teachers, parents, and pastors to think productively about the place of dinosaurs within the biblical paradigm in faith-affirming ways.

Museum dinosaur

If you've ever visited a natural history museum, you've probably seen grand and massive dinosaur skeletons. In other places you can see the recreated appearance of dinosaurs. In the case of television documentaries, dinosaurs can appear alive and real. When viewing such recreations of an image, the viewer needs to take into account certain features. The first thing we must accept is that at some point in the earth's history, dinosaurs existed, and in some places they were quite numerous. Paleontologists have found evidence of their existence in sedimentary rocks on every continent, including Antarctica. Bones, eggs, nests and footprints were found. These tracks and tracks are very common and cannot be objectively related to any other creation other than what we today call dinosaurs. The second thing we need to understand is that the skeletons displayed in a museum are usually not real bones, but replicas. The original bones are too valuable and fragile to be presented to the general public. Therefore, they are usually kept in a secure location within the museum. In addition, skeletons presented as complete in a museum are most often assembled from replicas of bones from different specimens, which were sometimes found at considerable distances from each other. This does not mean that the skeletons were simply thoughtlessly thrown together. Paleontologists are able to reconstruct the body architecture of dinosaurs, even if they could not have all the skeletal elements of that particular specimen, and thus the copies we see in the museum are reasonably reliable. Some nearly complete specimens exist, such as Tyrannosaurus rex on display at the Chicago Open Air Museum. The recreated images that you saw on TV, however, are rather speculative, especially when it comes to skin coloring, physiology, behavior, and so on.

Disappearance of the Dinosaurs

In the geological column, dinosaur remains appear in layers of rock that paleontologists call Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. These layers of sedimentary rocks are piled on top of each other and have specific characteristics, including such specific species as shellfish, reptiles, fish, dinosaurs and microscopic organisms (algae, for example) that fill the oceans. Some paleontologists believe that dinosaurs, as well as other groups of animals and plants, suddenly disappeared as a result of the explosion of a giant meteorite 65 million years ago. Others doubt this model for various reasons. Most creation scientists believe that dinosaurs disappeared along with other species during the Flood described in the book of Genesis. This scenario could include a meteorite falling, resulting in a giant tsunami, volcanic activity, and the release of carbon dioxide, sulfides and other chemicals harmful to plants and animals. Therefore, the idea of a meteorite falling to earth does not necessarily contradict the biblical model of the Flood. Despite the disagreement among scientists as to what caused the dinosaurs to disappear, the media and pseudoscientific press decided that the meteorite theory was the only correct explanation. But this is far from reality. Dinosaurs disappeared, but we don't know when or why. However, the possibility of their disappearance during the Genesis Flood (whether or not due to a meteorite) can be considered a plausible scientific hypothesis and deserves consideration.

Dinosaurs and people

Much has been written and there has been much debate regarding some of the evidence that supposedly showed dinosaur and human remains being found together. Evidence included human footprints next to dinosaur tracks, as well as prehistoric paintings in caves and on pottery, where human figures are placed next to unusual creations, very similar to modern recreations of these giant reptiles. However, rigorous scientific analysis has shown that this evidence has been misinterpreted.

Let's analyze, for example, the supposed "human" tracks next to dinosaur tracks found in the Paluxy River bed in Texas. A few years ago, some scientists enthusiastically proclaimed that solid evidence had been found against the theory of evolution and confirmation of the Flood. Intrigued by these claims, some evolutionary and creation scientists have studied the traces found in the rocks in detail. At this particular location, the channel and bank have many imprints created by water erosion. We are able to distinguish real dinosaur footprints from pseudo-footprints left in rocks due to water circulation. With a little imagination, we can mistake such prints for the tracks of any animal. Laboratory tests were also carried out. If the print is genuine, we should expect compaction of the underlying rock layers under the weight of the animal. To check, the prints were cut crosswise, but the expected deformation was not found. Therefore, scientists concluded that the shape was not a real human footprint, but the result of erosion, or some natural phenomenon, or a fake made by man. Further research showed that some of the “footprints” and drawings were deliberately placed by fanatical defenders of the idea of the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs. This type of unfortunate forgery may have been perpetrated by overzealous Creation and Flood believers wanting to provide irrefutable proof of their beliefs; either it was done to manipulate believers for their own purposes, or in order to make money. There have also been cases where scholars who do not accept the biblical account of earth's history have thus been given an advantage over these naive fact-manipulating fanatics, causing ridicule and rejection among the academic world. Tampering with fossils and other “evidence” is detrimental to the true research of creation scientists. Therefore, it was these scientists who learned to be the most careful and precise in their statements.

Dinosaurs and the Bible

The story of Creation, described in the first chapter of Genesis, tells of God creating all the sea animals and birds on the fifth day and the remaining animals on the sixth. And while reptiles are mentioned among the animals created, dinosaurs are not specifically mentioned. This should not surprise us, since in the time of Moses (the author of the book of Genesis), the word “dinosaur” did not yet exist. Yes, he was not obliged to mention dinosaurs separately, just as he did not mention many other groups of animals and plants. For example, Genesis tells us nothing about beetles, sharks, starfish, mosses, algae, and a huge number of other groups of organisms. Just because dinosaurs are not mentioned by name in the Bible does not prove that God did not create them. It is also not proof that God did not create them and how strange the copies of their skeletons look in the museum. Nowadays there are many other animals that are no less strange in appearance, such as deep-sea anglerfish, platypuses, kangaroos - and they do not attract too much attention. Some people believe that dinosaurs are the result of the sin of Adam and Eve, but the Bible does not shed the slightest light on this issue. The Bible also does not tell us which animals were changed as a result of sin, or what type of change was likely to occur. Most creation scientists believe that dinosaurs went extinct during or shortly after the Flood. Moreover, the Bible does not give us a clue to the fate of these animals. The fact that dinosaurs became extinct during the global catastrophe we call the Flood is a hypothesis that we should seriously consider, but only within the framework of scientific research, due to the silence of the Bible on this topic. Geological and paleontological data must prove the truth of this hypothesis, but there is no need to force the Bible to say something that it does not say at all. And lastly, there are people who believe that dinosaurs continued to exist for some time after the Flood, that they disappeared gradually because they could not get used to the new conditions of existence. This is also possible: several dinosaurs were taken on the ark, but after the Flood they disappeared while exploring a new habitat. The Bible mentions two strange creatures - the hippopotamus (Job 40:15-18) and the leviathan (Job 41:1), which some interpret as dinosaurs surviving the Flood. However, most biblical scholars do not accept this explanation, and the words "hippopotamus" and "leviathan" are translated as "hippopotamus" and "crocodile" respectively, and therefore believe that these biblical passages do not say anything about dinosaurs.

Conclusion

The Holy Scriptures do not mention the existence of dinosaurs - at least as we now imagine them - neither before nor after the Flood described in the book. Being. The Bible does not explain why it does not mention these reptiles. This is very important, even though the Bible probably doesn't say anything about dinosaurs, that doesn't mean they never existed. Just because we can't explain it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. They are simply creatures and phenomena about which the Bible says nothing, but which give us new scope for scientific research by examining fossils and other data. We need to teach our students and church members that dinosaurs existed. We have clear evidence of this: we have bones, teeth, eggs, footprints and even imprints of their skin. In addition, we know that at some point in Earth's history, dinosaurs disappeared. They could have died out before, during or after the Flood described in the book. Being. Like other creatures found in fossils, the appearance and disappearance of dinosaurs is shrouded in mystery. Therefore, their study requires careful and honest analysis, but an interested and talented Christian would be able to do this. Dinosaurs do not challenge our faith, and recognizing their existence does not compromise our conscience.

Original article ministrymagazine.org

Why doesn't the Old Testament say anything about dinosaurs?

Because the Old Testament is not a textbook on zoology and paleontology. It is about the relationship between God and man. It says only what is important for our salvation - that is, how man was created, what he was like before the Fall and what he became after, how God acted so that fallen man could return to Him.

Everything else in the Old Testament is not mentioned - not because it did not happen, but because it is not so important for our salvation. For example, the Old Testament doesn’t say a word about domestic cats, although nowadays everyone does nothing but post pictures of their cats on social networks.

Do aliens exist?

This is extremely doubtful. In reality, we only know about aliens from science fiction books, but these are just the fantasies of writers. You should not think that everything described in fiction actually exists. There is no serious evidence that there are aliens. Science has not found any traces of them. And the science fiction writers who write about them don’t believe in them themselves, they use them as an allegory, as a way to talk about purely human problems from a different angle.

Andrés Nieto Porras

At the same time, in general, life (in the form of some bacteria, maybe plants) on other planets is possible in principle; such an assumption does not contradict modern science. And if someday scientists announce that some simple forms of life have been found somewhere on the satellites of Saturn or Jupiter, there will be no shock for us Christians, this will not contradict our faith in any way. But mold is one thing, and intelligent life is quite another. This would pose very serious theological questions for us.

But so far all discussions about aliens are just a mind game. You can imagine anything - even pink flying ponies, even academic crocodiles. However, if we begin to seriously believe in our ideas, then this can end badly.