And the fire-breathing dragon [behemoth], and the Loch Ness monster [leviathan], and flying serpents... these are all written in the OT: Numbers, Job, and Psalms to name a few.
How do you explain what Ezekiel wrote in Chapter 1:1 of his book? --granting that this was an ancient man with limited words to describe what it was that he saw: a "wheel inside a wheel"?
Anonymous
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I read your question. I believe in the Bible it is how I live my life or at least try to : ). I still don't understand why I MUST believe in fire-breathing dragons, Loch Ness monster, flying serpents and whatever else you listed. Of course I don't believe in them.
Anonymous
I believe that you are under some very wrong impressions, I'm afraid. The creatures which you describe are not as you might first assume. For example, the unicorn as it is mentioned in the Biblical text is not referring to a mystical, one-horned horse-type creature, but rather some form of a real wild beast, probably the one-horned rhinocerous. And the leviathen could certainly have been some sort of water-type dinousaur. Regarding behemoth, that too could have been a dinosaur. You might be interested to know that there have been some paintings and carvings of dinosaurs drawn by ancient men and women, which would tell us that they actually lived along with dinosaurs, making the description of the ehemoth and leviathen not so unusual (see sources for a link).
Remember, the original Hebrew words the Bible uses to refer to certain things and animals have sometimes become changed in the english language. The original words they used (like unicorn, e.g.) really did mean a certain real beast, but down through time the real meaning got muddled and mythology slowly got attached to it. Dragons, for example, were no doubt constructed by people trying to interpret extinct dinosaur bones.
We must also not rule out certain symbolism, parables and analogies sometimes used to convey a certain message. In revelation symbolism is rampant.
In summation, the Bible does not believe in or talk about mythical unicorns or other mythical creatures. The words merely changed and evolved as mythologies and fables spread throughout the lands. So any attempt at ridiculing the Bible by "believing in mythical creatures" is unsupported by any evidence. I would recommend that you look up the actual Hebrew words which the Bible uses to better understand the intent and actual meaning of the word. You can do this by going to the link listed in the sources section.
FairyNanook
Well, if you believe in the Bible, then you must believe in the supernatural. So, believing in something like a fire-breathing dragon isn't really all that much of a stretch. I believe in spiritual beings, both good and evil, that look like nothing i've ever seen before. They could very much appear like a dragon to me, as I've never seen one of those before either.
As to Ezekiel's wheel set in the middle of another wheel, I've read some commentaries which gave me little insight. They all say that what Ezekiel was seeing was far above something he could define in the language of men. That to us, it would be something physically impossible to imagine because we live in a world confined by 3 diminsions, where as God does not.
wildcat
I believe that you are a jerk and unless you are really serious about the book of Ezekiel which I doubt that you are then you don't deserve an answer but you do deserve a good belt whooping!
Sethers
The bible uses a lot of stories to explain certain things not all stories in the bible are needed to be taken so literal.