“For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” – 2 Peter 3:5-6
The world that we live in today was once vastly different, our modern world resulting from a major catastrophic event that forever changed the earth’s climate and biodiversity. Scripture describes a time when the entire earth was enclosed with a firmament or canopy of water. There were no clouds or water vapor floating around the sky, and hence there was no precipitation of any kind. That is to say; all of the elements that we call ‘weather’ were noticeably absent – no rain, snow, fog or wind. The earth was watered by a mist that would rise from underground reservoirs through the ground. What then was called ‘earth’ was really the middle layer between two nourishing and protective layers of water. The flood described in Genesis resulted from the breaking of these two layers of water. Both the water canopy above and the ‘fountains of the deep’ capsized and erupted, leaving the middle layer caught in a destructive deluge.
What must the environment have been like in the world that once was? The temperature worldwide would not have been fractured with the microclimates that typify our modern world, but would have been homogeneous all across the earth. This homogeneous and moist climate would have given rise to a worldwide tropical environment lush with biodiversity. Like the rainforests in the Amazon, locations in our world rich with biodiversity are supported by a broad base of vegetation. The vegetation is like the bottom of a pyramid in the food chain – the broader the base in an environment, the more life that environment can support. In order for an environment to support massive grazing animals and predators like the dinosaurs, there must have been a huge base of vegetation!
The question of what happened to the dinosaurs is really more a question of what happened to the environment. In today’s world there are few places on the earth that could even support such life. It is not really surprising that the largest animals and predators in our world are still found in the densest jungles and tropical climates. Even though many large species may have survived the flood, the sad truth is that our destroyed would simply wasn’t able to support them anymore. The book of Job which is the oldest book of the Bible describes along with other well known animals a large grazing creature that ‘moved its tail like a cedar’. Contrary to many Bible scholars, there is nothing alive today that even remotely fits the description of this animal. Some have suggested that it is only a metaphorical description, but this doesn’t really make sense contextually as it is described next to other animals known today.
Every now and then when I turn the ignition on my car I think about the dinosaurs. Have you ever wondered why there are so many fossil fuel deposits in the earth? There is only one way to create fossil fuels – and that is to bury large amounts of organic material and subject it to pressure over time. Normally when things die they decompose on the earth’s surface very quickly, and never have the time to be converted into fossil fuels. The flood described in Genesis would have buried massive amounts of organic material all across the earth. There is a strong possibility that you are driving around everyday using what remains of the Dinosaurs!
Evolutionists often like to describe earth’s history as one of ever increasing biodiversity. The fossil record however and even our own modern observations seem to indicate otherwise. Every year species go extinct and are not created, and it seems that will be the trend in the future. This observation is consistent with scripture, as it tells us that the earth ‘waxes old like a garment’. We are living in a dying world! The God that made the earth however is not dead, but very much alive to all who call on His name. Psalm 145: 18 tells us, “The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to call that call upon him in truth.”
