Were Dinosaurs Carnivores ?

Recently we received an email from a friend whose grandson had asked the question:

"What is the evidence that the dinos were plant eaters?

My grandson insists that some were carnivores."

You have likely also wondered about this.

So, after emailing an answer to the questioner, we thought you would like to also know what we said which was:

Re your question: re were dinosaurs meat eaters (carnivores) or plant eaters ...

Well....they started out being PLANT eaters as noted in the following quote from an article on the AIG website. You can read the full article which covers even more topics that this question at THIS LINK

"Were dinosaurs meat-eaters?

"According to the Bible, all animals were originally plant eaters (Gen. 1:30), not carnivores.

You see, the Bible clearly teaches there was no physical death, disease, or bloodshed of the “nephesh” creatures before Adam.

Therefore, the imagined geological ages of millions of years are a man-made myth.

Actually, by following the dates provided in the Bible, the date for Creation must be under 7,000 years, not millions or billions of years.

Therefore, even the menacing T-Rex was meant to eat plants at the beginning.

Although he had very sharp teeth, a lot of animals who have sharp teeth today are not carnivores, but use them to open fruit and eat vegetables.

Having sharp teeth has nothing to do with an animal being a meat-eater or not."

So dinosaurs started out (being so designed by God) to be plant eaters since they were created before Adam and Eve and before they sinned and that sin changed everything.

Adam and Eve and ALLLLLL animals including dinosaurs were initially designed and intended to be plant eaters

But after the sin of Adam and Eve, death began and many many changes to the original plan occurred.

Thus, it is possible and very likely, that after the sin of Adam and Eve, the dinosaurs ate not only plants but also killed other animals and ate them.

But the original intention of God was for them to be PLANT eaters.

After Noah et al left the ark they were told by God that NOW they could also eat meat.

But this was not the original plan for mankind or for animals.

The original plan was for all humans and all animals to be plant eaters

Genesis 1: 29- 30 says:

29 And God said,

Behold, I have given you (Adam and Eve)

every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,

and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;

to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth,

and to every fowl of the air,

and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life,

I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

The instruction in these verses obviously would include the Dinosaurs.

Now that you have read the definitive verses, and so you can see what the Bible teaches in context, let's read the entire chapter.

Genesis 1 (KJV)

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

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.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

________________________________________

So, at the end of Creation week (described here in Genesis Chapter 1) and before the Sin of Adam and Eve, the instructions were clear. All humans and animals (including Dinosaurs) were to be Plant Eaters.

After the sin of Adam and Eve (You can read about this and its consequences in Genesis Chapter 3), things changed and it is very likely that at that time Dinosaurs may have begun to not only eat plants but also other animals.

..