Dinosaurs in Noah's Ark? In the Garden of Eden?

It's right there in the Bible, says a group in Salt Lake City today to plead its case.

Science has it all wrong, according to the Institute for Creation Research. Dinosaurs lived thousands of years ago, not millions, they or their ancestors walked the Earth with Adam and Eve, and they hitched a ride with Noah, says the Christ-focused creation ministry.

The group will give its presentation "Dinosaurs in the Bible" tonight at 6:30 at Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake, 460 W. Century Drive (4350 South). Admission is free, and the public is invited.

The event was designed to encourage people to get their Bibles out and find out for themselves about the Creation and dinosaurs, said Brett Davis, assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake.

"All through school we are inundated with culture and society's idea about the Creation," Davis said. "They want to destroy the idea of God. . . . Science tries to take it outside the Bible."

Calvary Chapels have several connections to the Institute for Creation Research. The group broadcasts programs on the Calvary Satellite Network and has already made presentations to Calvary Chapels outside Utah.

"The Bible is clear," the ICR Web site states. "The ancestors of every animal that ever lived were created during Creation Week. Each animal type was created 'after this kind,' and all subsequent individual animals, including dinosaurs, descended from these created categories."

Founded in 1970 and located in Santee, Calif., the group is "devoted to research, publication and teaching in those fields of science particularly relevant to the study of origins." Originally, the ICR was formed as the research division of Christian Heritage College, but it became a separate group in 1981.

ICR isn't the only group or persons interested in dinosaurs in the Bible. A Google search on the Internet found more than 107,000 different references to the subject.

The only place dinosaurs could have survived the Flood was on Noah's Ark, says ICR President John D. Morris on the group's Web site. Dinosaurs could have fit in the ark if they were younger and smaller, he says.

But they might not have survived in a post-Flood world with different environmental conditions. Morris believes the dinosaurs just didn't make it to our day, noting that the process of the extinction of some animals still continues.

No one has all the answers, but Morris says the Bible is much better than science. He adds there's a lot of unanswered questions about dinosaurs, and science can't explain dragon legends and cave drawings.