God & The Monsters

As a stay at home dad wanting to do something besides play dolls until my ears bleed I've been spending an unusual amount of time looking at dinosaurs. From New York's Natural History Museum to the La Brea Tar Pits in LA I've been logging a lot of time thinking about these ancient creatures with my preschooler. Preschoolers know dinosaurs are intrinsically problematic:

Why did God make the dinosaurs? How long is a mommy dinosaur pregnant? What did the dinosaurs eat for breakfast? Why did they die away? Why did God let them die?

Ironically, faith needs a healthy dose of agnosticism to survive. When it comes to origins I've resolved that Genesis was not written to satisfy our scientific curiosity and there is room for a variety of scientific possibilities. But that has not relieved me of the theological tensions my preschooler has reminded me of.

While viewing the T-Rex with my little girl I saw these creatures from a new light. As she approached these gigantic scaffolds her face filled with fear and awe. She asked me (again) if the dinosaurs were "real" and I concurred. While looking at her face it dawned on me that dinosaurs are the closest thing we have to real monsters. These terrifying, ominous animals will forever be shrouded in a bit of mystery, awe and terror. How do I harmonize a God shaped world designed for man and its creatures with the presence of these terrifying monsters? How do I reconcile God & the monsters?

If you're going to deal with the theological question of these monsters you need to read far beyond Genesis. The end of the book of Job presents animals [whether actual of mythical ] that fit the bill. In Job 41 we read,

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook [...]will he speak with soft words? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your daughters? [...] When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart or the javelin. He counts iron as straw; and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble. Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins [...] On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.

The Bible says the real angst regarding the monsters is deeper than my intellect. The existence of animals that could so easily make toy of me is a reminder that I am not in charge. They are a reminder that God has, for whatever reasons, allowed for ominous chaotic elements to exist in the midst of the order and beauty. They remind me that I will not be able to relegate the foreboding of monsters to children's stories. And they remind me that processes are in place that are beyond my knowledge and that God alone knows the final answer to some things (like whether T-Rex's hunted in packs.)

In the Bible it is the existence, not the absence, of monsters that is to lead us to faith.