“When was the Bible translated into modern English?” I asked Brother Francis, forcing him to reflect back on his theological studies.
“Probably by Tyndale, in the early sixteenth century. The most popular translation was, and still is, the King James Version, finished in 1611. The Catholic Douay-Rheims was completed about the same time frame … 1609, if my memory serves me correctly. And the word dinosaur doesn’t appear in any of them, to my recollection.”
“And does the word Deoxyribonucleic Acid—DNA—appear in any of those translations, Brother Francis?” I asked the rhetorical question while raising an eyebrow at him.
He looked at me askance and then nodded his head before replying. “DNA was not discovered yet, so the word was not in the Bible. Then neither were dinosaur bones yet discovered. Is that what you are driving at, Doc?”
“The first to coin the word dinosaur, which means ‘terrible lizard,’ was a British naturalist by the name of Sir Richard Owen in 1842. That’s over two hundred years after the English Bible was printed.”
“Richard Owen … hmm. Any relation to Kathy … oh, hers is Owens.” He started to chuckle a bit. “What a circus that was a few weeks ago, huh Doc? The major news networks heavily edited out the carnage for their evening reports, but InfoWars and Newsmax replayed all the juicy tidbits.”
“I’m sorry, are you okay on time, Brother Francis?”
“No problem, I’ve got the afternoon off. The first MMA class I teach at the sports complex doesn’t start until 5:00 PM.”
“Would you mind if I stopped by sometime? I would really like to get back into the martial arts again. I studied Isshin ryu for several years in my youth.”
“Hey, no problem, Doc. Would love to have you workout with us.” Francis was reflective for a moment. “Yeah, Isshin ryu—great combo style for street fighting.”
He wiped his brow with his long tunic sleeve. “Let’s move to a bench in the shade.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I expressed, since we were both standing in the sun and the walkway was heating up.
“So, Doc, are you saying that somewhere in the Bible dinosaurs are mentioned?”
“Multiple times. A number of diverse authors such as Job and Daniel have recorded them.”
“Job? I did an extensive report years ago for one of my seminary classes on the book of Job regarding suffering and wisdom, and never came across any theme related to dinosaurs.”
I took out my tablet and asked Brother Francis, “How many times have you been to a 7-Eleven?”
“Gosh, hundreds of times in my life … so far.”
“Well then, draw for me on my tablet the logo, with the proper colors.”
He picked up the stylus and hesitated. He then looked at me with befuddlement and said, “I can’t.”
“I thought you have been to 7-Eleven innumerable times? You’re not lying to me, are you Brother Francis?”
He looked flustered and turned bright crimson.
“Brother Francis, I was just yanking your chain. It’s a common legal tactic used to discredit crime witnesses. We place in our memory bank only what we deem important and necessary. You were simply not looking for dinosaurs in the book of Job when you wrote your paper.”
“You’re right, Doc; I was focused on Job’s suffering and God’s wisdom.”
“Shall we take a peek into Job using my tablet?”
“I’ve got to see this! Job lived after Noah’s Flood, perhaps around 2000 BC, or four thousand years ago, give or take.” He shook his head. “Job and dinosaurs?”
“Remember, the Bible doesn’t use the word dinosaur; the Israelites used words like behemoth and tannin. Keep in mind that God speaks to Job about a number of animals he created—all of which are real: lions, ravens, goats, deer, donkeys, etcetera. Read Job 40:15–19, please.”
I handed my tablet to Brother Francis and he began to read out loud. “‘Look at Behemoth which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. It ranks first among the works of God.’”
He looked up at me and I asked, “Well?”
He looked again at the reading, and then referred to the commentary. “It says in the commentary that behemoth was probably an elephant or a hippopotamus.”
“Brother Francis, is the commentary portion of the Bible inspired?”
“No,” he replied.
“Does an elephant or a hippo have a tail like a massive cedar tree?”
“No, but why would the theologian writing the commentary make such an obvious error?”
“You fell for it; it wasn’t obvious to you, was it? Kinda like the 7-Eleven, huh?”
“You’re right, Doc!” Brother Francis stopped and thought more about it for a moment.
“You know, Doc, when I wrote that paper I remember God telling Job to ‘ask the animals, and they will teach you’. If God is using animals He created as part of his lesson for Job, why would He all of a sudden speak to Job of an animal that was imaginary?”
“Good thinking, Brother Francis. Job would have been confused and discombobulated. Like, ‘hey, Big Guy, run that behemoth thing by me again.’”
We both laughed.
“You know, Doc, I just realized something else. For all those atheists who believe the Bible to be just a book written by a bunch of ancient guys with long beards sitting in the desert making up stories …” He paused for a moment. “How could one of those old prophets write a lesson about suffering, wisdom, and common animals; then throw in an animal that had supposedly died out millions of years ago, when the prophet would never have known dinosaurs existed to begin with anyway … unless, he had really faced one.” His expression was focused and intense. “As you said, dinosaur bones weren’t discovered and named until the 1800s! Or should I say re-discovered!?”
“Why write for a ‘primitive’ audience about an imaginary creature that their readers would not even know what the author was talking about?” I completed Brother Francis’ evaluation.
Brother Francis sat bent over, elbow on his knee, stroking the goatee on his chin. All of a sudden he jumped up and started hopping around like a deranged person, holding his head with both hands, almost screaming, “Oh, oh, oh … I got it, I got it!”