Slaying the Dragon Myth

Featured in Answers Magazine
Also available in Español

Creationists are seeing increasing success in convincing the public that dinosaurs did not die out 65 million years ago and were actually contemporaneous with humans.

While evolutionists chafe at what they call scientific illiteracy, recent secular reports have unwittingly aided the creationist position.

A Popular Science article suggests that dragons are not necessarily mythological but have a biology based in the “real world” (although not all dragon characteristics are found in a single creature).1 The article states that “most classic dragon characteristics do exist in other species.” Some beetles, for example, display something akin to breathing fire when they shoot chemicals from their abdomen and burn a threatening creature (or human). In addition, studies of fossil pterosaurs show that they had dragon-style wings.

Saint George and the Dragon

Creationists have a logical explanation for dragon legends and argue that these creatures are not mythological at all. Some Bible versions mention “dragons” in several places, and many different and widely separated cultures have legends of people encountering dragons. Although they are sometimes fanciful, these accounts depict dragons as dinosaur-like. But the most compelling case for real historical dragon-human interaction is found in Genesis: land animals were created on Day Six of Creation Week, as was Adam, and so dinosaurs (also known as dragons) were made alongside man.

Answers Magazine

January – March 2011

This issue of Answers points a telescope at the heavens. Explore evidences that the universe is young, from blue stars to spiral galaxies. Get up-to-date on the search for extraterrestrial life, and be the first to read Dr. Jason Lisle’s new model explaining distant starlight. You also don’t want to miss articles on living fossils and other wonders of our own planet that point to a recent creation and global Flood.

Browse Issue Subscribe

Footnotes

  1. Bjorn Carey, “If Evolution Had Taken a Different Turn, Could Dragons Have Existed?,” Popular Science, July 27, 2010, http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/if-evolution-had-taken-different-turn-could-dragons-have-existed.

Newsletter

Get the latest answers emailed to you.

Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

Learn more

  • Customer Service 800.778.3390