[JohnnyM]

I would say that plants died because they were eaten, but saying that plants died means death was in the world is complete sophistry.

The fact of the matter is, that prior to the fall there was no death in the flesh, i.e. man or animal. In fact both man and animal ate only plants at this time.

Gen 1:29-30 Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.

After the fall, was flesh now fair game? Well, we have Abel sacrificing a lamb. We have Adam and Eve being covered in skins, so we do have hints. Scripture also supports this idea of death after the fall. That through Adam sin came into the world, and through this sin, death.

Rom 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

Now right after the flood we have God declaring this:

Gen 9:3 - Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant

So now we see that after the Flood meat could now be eaten, in fact I would say that meat is commanded to be eaten.

JM

[anguish]

In fact both man and animal ate only plants at this time.

In other words, carnivorous animals like lions and sharks got their teeth changed because of the fall, so that they could eat meat? I don't know - reading those verses I cannot infer that animals didn't eat meat, only that they too could eat vegetables.

And if death didn't exist, what method was used for population control? Did flies abstain from mating and did bacteria stop dividing when there were "enough" of them?