Reptiles Grow in Size as long as they Live

The Bible says that before the flood, men lived as long as 900 years and then some. If men lived that long, why wouldn't the animals? And if they did live that long, note this next fact:

"...a reptile has the potential of growing throughout its life..." (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1984, Vol. 15, p. 279.)

Unlike other animals, the reptile has no "cutoff" mechanism whereby it stops growing in size. So, even if reptiles lived only half as long as pre-flood men, we would have to expect gigantic reptiles before the flood. John MacKay once told me that crocodiles (or was it alligators?) grew at the rate of 20 or so feet per 100 years. If that's the case, there should be giant alligators fossils, right? In 1991, alligator bones were found on the banks of the Amazon River- the skull was almost 5 feet long. Based on this, scientists estimated its height to have been 8 feet and its length 40 feet.

"Professor Carl Frailey, from Overland Park, Kansas, said the creature probably weighed around 12 tonnes. `This would make it about a tonne heavier than Tyrannosaurus Rex... the mightiest of dinosaur predators', he said." (Creation Ex Nihilo, Vol. 14, No. 2)

In short, if reptiles today lived longer, they would be "dinosaurs" in a few hundred years.

Other Giant Fossils

What we don't hear about are all the other giant fossils that have been found.

"Giant animal fossils of many different kinds have been found all over the world. A book called Giants From the Past, published by the National Geographic Society, shows many of these huge creatures of the past no longer exist today. Fossil remains of the hornless rhinoceros indicate it was over 17 feet tall. Pigs grew to be the size of cattle; camels were over 12 feet tall; huge birds towered to a height of over 11 feet; giant beavers grew to be the size of a pig; deer antlers measured over 12 feet in width. Ground sloths which grow to the size of an average monkey today, have been found in the fossil record over 18 feet in length." (The Bible- Key to Understanding the Early Earth, by McLean, Oakland and McLean, p. 59 & 60.)

Isn't it strange how no one feels compelled to explain where these giants fall in the "geologic time frame"? And not only the animals, but plant life was much bigger, as well as man.

"Dinosaur" bones much thicker than Today's Animals

Galileo, in the 17th century, first pointed out the principle of the "scale effect"- a lengthy subject, but one we'll touch on briefly. The "scale effect" concerns simple relationships of length to surface to volume and weight. His diagram here shows that an the bones of an animal 3 times the length of a present-day animal would have to increase in density far more than 3 times in order to support the bulk of the animal due to the gravitational force. He wrote:

"...it would be impossible to fashion skeletons for men, horses or other animals which could exist or carry out their functions proportionately when such animals were increased to immense height- unless the bones were made of much harder and more resistant material than the usual, or were deformed by disproportionate thickening, so that the shape and appearance of the animal would become monstrously gross." (Two New Sciences, by Galileo Galilei; translated by Stillman Drake, p. 127-128.)

The giant bones of the antediluvians- both men and animals, fulfill Galileo's observations. Scientists don't recognize these massive bones as the same "kinds" of animals we have today because their bones are extremely massive.

Why was Everything so much Bigger?

If we go back to the Biblical account, there is some information that is critical to a proper understanding.

GEN 2:5 ...for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth,...6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

There was no rain before the flood- a mist watered the earth. What this indicates is that the temperature never fluctuated more than 10 or so degrees- if it did, the water would condense into rain. But not only was the temperature moderate and constant, the Bible gives another interesting fact:

GEN 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

What does all this mean? The answer is in the next verse:

GEN 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven.

This "firmament" is here called "heaven"- does this mean the "Heaven" that contains God's throne? No. That "Heaven" was already God's habitation and in existence when He created the earth. This "firmament" was the atmosphere around the earth. See Psalms 78:26, 104:12, 147:8 where the same Hebrew word for "heaven" is used. What Genesis 1:6-8 tells us is that God divided the earth's water- some of it was on the earth, while some was set above the atmosphere. And while we don't really know how this entire scenario worked, we do have some basic idea.

A water canopy surrounding the earth would result in what is known as a "greenhouse effect". The entire earth would be of the same, constant temperature. Harmful radiation would be filtered out by this canopy. The sun's warmth would be diffused equally over the earth's surface. In other words, the climate would be perfect; growing conditions would be perfect. Life-spans of all living things would be drasticly increased due to the filtering out of the harmful radiation. This gives a better understanding of this verse:

PSA 67:6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

When the earth is restored to its Edenic state, then will the nutrition again be perfect, complete with the tree of life. And once again, man will grow to the stature God intended him to be:

MAL 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

What does the fossil record show? Animals and plants of tremendous size, as well as sub-tropical vegetation all over the world, including Alaska and Siberia. And then we have the dinosaur bones. What effect would this sort of environment have on reptiles?-

"The ultimate proof that reptilian growth usually works far below maximum capacity comes from what happens when reptiles are kept in cages warmed to their favorite temperature and are continuously provided with food. This turns out to be the only way to accelerate an alligator's rate of growth to the maximum: Keep it warmed all day long, seven days a week, and keep forcing protein rich food into it. Most research scientists couldn't afford to perform such an experiment, but the private sector has come to the rescue. Alligator and crocodile skins sell to a lucrative market for shoes and handbags, and since conservationist measures restricted hunting of wild specimens, enterprising businessmen started to farm them." (The Dinosaur Heresies, by Robert T. Bakker, p. 350.)

Funny isn't it- the "enterprising" alligator farmers unwittingly helped prove the effect of the pre-flood environment on reptiles- accelerated growth. Next...