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Posted on 01/22/2013 8:51:08 AM PST by fishtank
No Backdated Punishment in Eden
by James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D. *
At the end of Day Six, God said all was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), which means no death existed on earth because death is not good (Romans 8:20-22, 1 Corinthians 15). No animals died or were eaten before Adam sinned (Genesis 1:29-30, 9:1-4). Likewise, the Bible doesn’t mention the existence, much less the death, of any pre-Adamite subhuman primates before Adam sinned.1
Adam’s sin triggered the curse of death, fulfilling God’s warning (Romans 5:12-21). Only then did Adam experience the death that God had warned about. But dying was not limited to Adam! The animals under his authority (Genesis 1:26-31, Psalm 8) also became cursed with death (Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:20-22).
Theistic evolutionists argue that animal death existed before Adam sinned, alleging that because God foreknew Adam’s sin, He justly imposed death on creation before Adam actually sinned (retroactive punishment).1 Yet the Bible never says that God punished Adam or animals before Adam sinned—to do so would be unjust. To punish a bad choice in advance would negate the decision as a true test of faith and loyalty.
Consider how people are tested by their choices.2 Joseph tested his brothers (Genesis 42-44), not revealing himself until after they made character-revealing choices. Daniel’s three friends were also tested (Daniel 3), yet they could not foreknow whether their godly choices would be rewarded with miraculous deliverance or agonizing martyrdom.
So why do theistic evolutionists teach death before Adam’s sin? They reject the authoritative truth of Genesis and Romans in order to accommodate evolutionary teachings (e.g., eons of death before Adam sinned).3
But the Lord Jesus Christ did not accommodate false teachings when He physically walked this earth. Rather, He healed the blind on the Sabbath (see John 9) to prove that the Pharisees taught bad theology.
Why does it matter? The New Testament directly links sin’s cause and its cure by tying the gospel of salvation to Adam’s sin (Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15). Paul’s definition of the gospel of Christ contextualizes the gospel as being “according to the [Old Testament] scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The gospel depends on the Old Testament being true!
Indeed, the Old Testament is authoritatively relevant, true, and perfect—every “jot and tittle” (Matthew 5:18) of it. Christ Himself said that Moses would judge people after they die according to whether they believed the words of Moses (John 5:45-47).
If the books of Moses, which include Genesis, were authoritatively good enough for the Lord Jesus (Matthew 24:35, John 17:17)—and they were—they are authoritatively good enough for us. What we believe about death being the consequence of Adam’s sin in Eden is a test of our own loyalty to God.
References
Some theistic evolutionists imagine eons of time, with animals and pre-Adamite subhumans dying, before Adam sinned. All of these are imaginary concepts accommodating secularists’ evolutionary dogmas that clash with Genesis. See Dembski, W. 2009. The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Academic, 77, 154-155; Dembski, W. 2011. Christian Theodicy in Light of Genesis and Modern Science. In Ham, K. and G. Hall, eds. Already Compromised. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 173-174, 202.
Consider the amazing testing of Job’s faith in God. Job praised God throughout his undeserved suffering (James 5:11, 1 Peter 4:19), yet he did not foreknow how his suffering would end. Likewise, because God wanted to truly test Adam’s character (as He later tested Job), God did not reveal the consequence of Adam’s sin visibly until Adam actually made his historic choice. Only then did the horrible reality called “death” arrive on earth. Johnson, J. J. S. 2011. Biblical Devastation in the Wake of a “Tranquil Flood.” Acts & Facts. 40 (9): 8-10; Johnson, J. J. S. 2011. Culpable Passivity: The Failure of Going with the Flow. Acts & Facts. 40 (7): 8-10. This controversy challenges Genesis’s perfect authenticity, accuracy, authority, understandability, and authoritative relevance. See also Cooper, W. R. 2011. The Authenticity of Genesis. Portsmouth, UK: Creation Science Movement, 7-27, 33-99, 109-130, 162-359, 369-405.
* Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Cite this article: Johnson, J. J. S. 2013. No Backdated Punishment in Eden. Acts & Facts. 42 (1): 10.
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Last week, I heard Hank Hanegraaf on the radio where he literally raped the book of Genesis.
He said that God punished the earth with sickness and death AHEAD of Adam’s sin, in anticipation of the Fall.
I don’t see that animals didn’t die before Adam sinned in Genesis 1:29-30, 9:1-4.
he literally raped the book of Genesis.
Think about what you just said. People who misuse the word literally figuratively make my head explode.
The only thing I can’t figure out is if this author has any graduate degrees.
Name: Dr. James J. S. Johnson
Title: Chief Academic Officer
Specialty: Education, History, Biblical Studies
Dr. James Johnson serves ICR’s legal needs and oversees special projects in Christian education and apologetics. He has taught for three Christian colleges in Texas: LeTourneau University, Dallas Christian College, and Concordia University Texas. Beyond legal topics, he specializes in U.S. and world political history, ethics, ecology, and family history, and is credentialed by ACSI. He received his J.D. in 1984 from the University of North Carolina, which included studies at Duke University Law School, and in 1996 obtained his Th.D. His educational background includes earned degrees in religion and the natural sciences. For his scholarship in biblical languages and their cognates—mostly Hebrew, Aramaic, and Moabite—at Wake Forest University, Dr. Johnson was awarded the American Bible Society Award in 1982.
Yes, I wrote this phrase:
“Last week, I heard Hank Hanegraaf on the radio where he literally raped the book of Genesis.”
Maybe I should have said that he did a full-term abortion on the book of Genesis, in dis-honor of the Roe-v-Wade day.
Hanegraaf might not personally know he is a deceiver, but his teachings and his books are deceptive when it comes to creationism.
That goes for Hugh Ross as well.
Hi F.D.,
You might want to read a selection of articles by Johnson on the ICR website.
The ICR doesn’t have a single person who is an expert on every single aspect of science, which is why they have aggressively hired scholars in the fields of biology, astrophysics, and biblical languuges.
‘Pre-fall’, the ‘ADAM’ may have lived a very long life (compared to today), but they were not immortal.
There would be no reason for God to be concerned that Adam would ALSO eat of the TREE OF LIFE (become as GOD’s or IMMORTAL) if Adam were already immortal.
Pre-fall, Adam had no REASON or NEED to KILL any other creature, as ADAM was in a state of ‘innocence’. Once Adam chose NOT to ‘listen’ to ‘God’, he was no longer in a state of innocence, and the results of that are listed in the Bible. Adam and Eve chose not to listen to God and procreated whenever they wanted to, and not ‘in season’. This is why women experience pain in childbirth.
All of this ‘fall’ didn’t occur in one day, it happened over a long, long period of time. Writing that into Genesis would have made the story MUCH MUCH longer and more complicated, and the POINT might have been missed (and is still missed by some).
As far as the animals (and even ADAM), if you fall off a cliff, unless you are immortal, you die.
Gen. 3:21, God provided coats of fur for Adam and Eve, 1st Blood Sacrifice because of sin.
bobo
“At the end of Day Six, God said all was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), which means no death existed on earth because death is not good “
An extremely illogical conclusion. No where in the Bible does it say ‘death is not good’. Death is ‘good’. Death is completely necessary for ‘life’. Death was the first thing on this planet. Viruses are ‘death’. Viruses are ‘dead’ until they find ‘food’ and they make ‘life’ possible. Without them, life would have ceased on Earth a LONG time ago.
The ‘fall’ of man had to do with mankind NOT following the will of GOD. God gave us ‘free will’, and Lucifer told GOD it was a mistake, because they would choose POORLY. Lucifer was correct. That was proven when Eve and Adam ‘ate the apple’ (which is another figurative simple explanation for something that was a long drawn out process, but no one at the time Genesis was written would have understood it).
I think you meant to write "bacteria" instead of "viruses."
But I agree with your basic objection, and would like to add my assertion that the death of animals (accidental or otherwise - e.g., by other animals, or by men, for nourishment) is non-moral, insofar as animals are without souls.
Regards,
So, tigers ate grass with carnassial teeth (oops, that kills grass) so maybe tigers were green in colour prior to the “fall” for photosynthesis. I wonder how they evolved to their present form...
LOL.
LOL, and cows don't experience pain when they give birth to calves? Some women experience intense orgasms when giving birth naturally. In fact, this has been cited as an evolved mechanism to promote bonding between mother and child, something that modern anaesthesia robs them of, to an extent. I recall a chart comparing the extent of a new mother's unwillingness to breast feed her newborn increasing with anaesthesia usage during the delivery.
Without death there can be no birth. A world like that would be totally static, which is not good.
Thanks for your response.
I meant viruses. Viruses can only ‘live’ by destroying LIVE cells. Bacteria can grow on non-living surfaces, and live BETWEEN cells. Many bacteria are beneficial. There are no ‘beneficial’ viruses.
Here is a pretty good comparison, and explanation of their functions.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Bacteria_vs_Virus
death WAS NOT NECESSARY for life before the fall, that is the point of God declaring his creation good.
there is nothing illogical about that at all.
death WAS NOT NECESSARY for life before the fall, that is the point of God declaring his creation good.
there is nothing illogical about that at all.
death WAS NOT NECESSARY for life before the fall, that is the point of God declaring his creation good.
there is nothing illogical about that at all.
death was not supposed to happen, if it was, then god would not have declared his creation good.
Death is called the enemy, how can you say ‘nowhere is death called not good’.....calling it the enemy is more than enough.
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