On one hand you state that you’re drawing a scientific understanding of creation from Scripture.
Other way around. Scripture clearly states, from thousands of years ago, the understanding we have of the universe now. It is phrased in a way a non-technical society can understand, but it is there.
Let me step back and ask a couple of questions. Did Adam have a father, or was he created by God and in His image from the dust?
Not done Genesis 2 yet. Working on it, and I will, again, be referencing the King James Version. Sorry if that seems a bit of a cop out at the moment, but I don’t particularly like releasing a post before it is ready.
Did death exist before sin?
It did. Why should it not? We all have our allotted term. we are told that. Everything dies in the end - even stars and rocks.
These questions become very problematic if you don’t take Scripture at face value.
I find no real problem with these. Scripture tells us the truth. The evidence of the world shows that it is right. Some people need evidence. While I admire immensely people who simply believe, I am more the proverbial guy from Missouri. “Show me.”
Now God may have pulled the biggest practical joke on us of all time. I find that something I cannot believe. He is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life. He’d not lie.
I'm interested in your reasoning from Scripture on this. In its simplest form "The wages of sin is death". So how could death exist before sin? Romans 5:12-21 also speaks of sin and death. Sin came into the world by one man. Sin was not in the world at creation. Sin came from outside the world. Sin caused death to enter the race. And both SIN and DEATH came by ADAM'S TRANSGRESSION OF GEN. 2:17.
Just curious as to why you believe death existed before sin? THere would be no reason for death.
You wrote, “Some people need evidence.” I’m the same way.
You wrote, “God may have pulled the biggest practical joke on us of all time.” I’m not following you. What would the “joke” be? That He really did create “all this” in less than a week?
From your response, I take it that you don’t believe there was an Adam. And that there wasn’t an Eve. And that there’s no “Original Sin.” And that Scripture prophesies that the serpent’s head will be crushed by Jesus. And that God did not clothe Adam and Eve in animal skins. And that there’s consequently no need for a “Second Adam.”
Christian doctrine becomes very convoluted if you don’t accept some foundational things about creation and our place in it.
Two things to ponder as you continue going through Genesis:
1) Was Adam created with the appearance of age?
2) How much water is stored within the mantle of the earth? Is it more or less than all the water in the oceans?