1. Formed

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

We are all familiar with the first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. The rest of the chapter goes on to describe the most amazing week in earth’s history! As God spoke, plants of all kinds sprouted from the ground, entire galaxies leaped into existence, and then came my two favorite days of the creation week.

On the fifth day, the infinitely creative God designed the most spectacular winged and swimming creatures. Birds, pterosaurs, bats, and flying insects soared across the new world. Whales, fish, marine reptiles such as mosasaurs, and even penguins all glided through the pure, crystal-clear water.

Next came the sixth day. Land animals of all sorts came forth at God’s command. Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and all varieties of creeping things began to explore the newly created paradise. Finally, God created the crown jewel of His creation, human beings, starting with the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve.

Now think about that. Every kind of land-based animal was created on the same day as humans. Dinosaurs are land animals. That means dinosaurs were created by God on day six of the creation week, and they lived together with human beings!

Artist Rendering of Tyrannosaurus rex

When God made these animals, he made them each “according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:24-25). So, every animal (including dinosaurs) reproduces after its own kind. This means that cats make more cats, dogs make more dogs, ceratopsians make more ceratopsians, and tyrannosaurs make more tyrannosaurs. God also arranged dinosaurs into two different groups. These are what we call the saurischians and the ornithischians. Each group has a unique hip structure that differentiates them from one another. These two groups account for all of the hundreds of different types of dinosaurs that we know of today, such as Kentrosaurus, Olorotitan, and of course Tyrannosaurus rex!