Also, stands2reason, what do you mean by posting "theist!=Christian". It's my understanding that a theistic evolutionist believes that God worked through evolution to bring about the world as we know it. Is that a correct definition?
Did plant death happen before the Fall? How about cell death?
If life now is exactly like it was for Adam and Eve, there would have to be cell death, but isn't cell replacement a requirement to keep a human living, not to have them die. Our dead cells aren't replaced as we age, so perhaps there was no need for replacement for Adam and Eve because they were not heading toward an ultimate death (before the Curse).
Plant decay...Like my answer above, if life now is exactly the same for Adam and Eve, then there would be decay if several days go by between their creation and when they are trampled on, or however they meet their end. But there is no way to know the conditions in the Garden of Eden, except that it was "very good".
My biggest "hang up" is with the human beings though because that affects the rest of the story of the Bible.
That means that not all theists are Christians. The terms aren't interchangeable.
So? Just because he died a physical death does not mean there was no physical death prior to the fall.
In fact, if you believe humans and animals weren't susceptible to physical death before the fall, what is the purpose of the Tree of Life in the garden?
Do theistic evolutionist believe he did not die a physical death?
Christian theistic evolutionists believe he died physically and suffered both spiritually and physically.
My biggest "hang up" is with the human beings though because that affects the rest of the story of the Bible.
Well, there must have been animal death before the fall. We know from the fossil record that billions of animal organisms had been dying for hundreds of millions of years before humans even existed. I don't see why this is a problem, because the relevent passage on death and sin in Romans 5 refers specifically to human death.
Now I think it is possibe to postulate that God gave the first two fully human individuals the supernatural grace of immortality, as symbolized by the tree of life, and that he withdrew it when they sinned. There's no way science could ever disprove that, and it is consistent with the Bible.
I think it's also plausible to postulate that with the fall came spiritual death (that humans always were subject to physical death), and that is consistent with Romans 5 as well. I'm inclined to think this is the more likely interpretation, but either one is plausible.