Creation Station
Amazing Animals
Fire-breathing Dragons
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is about the
fire-breathing Leviathan described in Job 41. The description in Job is
of a terrifying monster that is unstoppable and breathes fire. Fire
breathing is the part of the description that raises the most questions
and receives the most derision, but is it really all that strange?
Animals are capable of doing some amazing things. Electric eels are
capable of generating an electric current powerful enough to stun a
person unconscious. Bombardier beetles are capable of ejecting a
chemical spray at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water,
212 degrees F. What would be necessary for a fire breathing dragon,
dinosaur, would be for it to be capable of producing some kind of
chemical mixture containing phosphorus. Phosphorus is capable of
igniting when it comes in contact with oxygen. What would be required
is for the leviathan to be able to ingest and expel such a chemical
mixture, much the same as the bombardier beetle does.
Is phosphorus the answer to the fire-breathing leviathan? I don’t know.
It is one possible answer. What we can be certain of is that such
things existed, as did many strange things in the past that are
reported to us in the Bible.
