Were Adam and Eve born before dinosaurs?
This must be a burning question, as I seem to be asked something about this pretty often. I can settle the debate. The answer is no. In fact, Adam and Eve were never born at all according to the book of Genesis. Adam was formed out of the “clay of the ground” and Eve was built up from one of Adam’s ribs (Gen 2:7, 22). Does that mean Adam and Eve did not have belly buttons? I don’t know.
The book of Genesis actually has two slightly different yet complementary accounts of creation. The first one states that animals were created before humans. The second one seems to say animals were created after Adam as possible partners for him. Why the different stories? I think this gets to my point. Genesis was not written as a historical or scientific account of creation, but as a poetic explanation of who created us and who we are as human beings. Specific details of “how” we were created are not the point of the stories at all.
No one was around to record history during the creation (see Job 38:4), and science had not yet come about either. People of ancient times when Genesis was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit knew nothing of things like the Big Bang, molecules, or cellular biology. For God to explain creation in scientific terms, it would not have helpful. Only now in the past couple centuries or so do we think in such scientific terms.
Modern science seems to tell us that the earth is about 4.6 billion years old. Dinosaur fossils seem to date back from 65 to 230 million years ago. Human DNA evidence seems to say humans originated only 200,000 years ago. Thus, mainstream science also says “no” to the question. Humans came long after the dinosaurs had come and gone. Of course, there are always dissenting scientific voices about this, but as of now, these are the best guesses we have scientifically.
The Church lets science do its job, so it is OK for us to believe all this. The Church does not conflict with science. Truth cannot conflict with truth. Faith and science should complement each other, not antagonize. The Genesis account of Adam and Eve answers questions of faith, not science. Humankind is created by God in His image. Even if our bodies might have been formed out the “clay of the earth” by such a process as evolution over millions of years, our souls are created by God and are unique among all creation. And just like Adam and Eve, we are created in God’s image, and we too fall rather easily from God’s grace. As for the earth being created in six days, remember what it says in 2 Pet 3:8, “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years.”
-Fr. Greg
If you would like submit a question, please write it out and place it in the “Ask a Priest” box in the vestibule or email me at frgreg@kc.rr.com.
