Animal Death

This post will address some of the claims made in CAT regarding the Fall and its impact on animal death and human longevity.

RE: PAUL UNDERSTOOD
CAT cites Romans 8:19-21 to support the argument that the curse of Adam’s sin affected all nature. It is true that all of nature is impacted by Adam’s sin but that does not require that animal death be introduced at that point [1]. Most OEC submit that the fall has affected nature in the sense that humanity is no longer the “very good” caretaker. Obvious examples are pollution, unnecessary killing of animals, and the destruction of habitat, to name a few. The introduction of animal death is not the only way to read Romans 8:19-21. A good treatment of this can be found in reference [2].

But CAT goes on to make this most curious comment, “All creation will rejoice when paradise is returned to its Creator” [1]. This is very common YEC assertion that has little to no biblical basis. In fact, it is in direct contradiction to the promises of Scriptures because Eden will not be restored. This is most evident when one considers a literal interpretation of Revelation 21-22 where John writes that this creation will all be replaced by a new and truly perfect creation- the New Heavens and the New Earth- where there is no pain a suffering unlike Eden [3].

RE: VEGETARIAN “CARNIVORES,” ORIGINALLY AND IN THE END
Many OEC and RTB contend that before and after the fall, humans were indeed to eat plants and not meat. But this has nothing to do with any lack of animal death before the fall. But more to do with human life spans. The Bible is very clear that humans lived very long life spans before the time of Abraham. Best we can tell, God had humanity eat vegetables because with human longevity reaching 900 years. Consumption of meat of such lifespan would introduce large amounts of metals and other toxins. Such metals and toxins have little impact on people should their life expectancy be 120 years or less- in fact they can be beneficial, but much longer than this, these metals would hinder the lifespan of peoples. A much more technical treatment of this topic can be found in reference [4].

Concerning the YEC aversion to animals eating other animals, God seems to have little problem with this as seen in the Creation passage of Psalm 104:20-21- “You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.” Here we learn that meat-eaters get their meat meals from God.

RE: MAN ALSO HARMLESS TO ANIMALS
Regarding human consumption of meat, I have already addressed, but the prohibition of the human consumption of meat until Genesis 9 does not mean that humans did not or were incapable of eating meats physiologically before the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9).

RE: LATER FEAR OF MAN
According to CAT “It was not until after the Flood that animals became wary and even terrified of humans.” [1] This claim is made on the basis of Genesis 9:2-3. CAT goes on to call this a “reasonable assumption” that animals were originally created friendly and trusting of man. That does not mean that all animals before the Flood were nice, nice and buddy, buddy with humans. It is more likely that the animals on the ark (the only animals in the area at the time post-Flood) were not afraid of Noah and his family as they were taken care of and feed by them for a long period of time. It is just (if not more) reasonable to assume that God removed the fear of humans from the individual animals that came to the ark. One reason for God to do such as thing would be to ease Noah’s burden in herding, loading, and caring for them. If this were the case, then once the ark animals were released to the wild, God again restored this “flight” instinct.

RE: GRAVEYARD CAME AFTER SIN AND THE FLOOD
CAT makes an interesting claim on page 21, that “it is clear that Adam and Eve were created in a paradise, not a graveyard of dead animals”. Actually, the clear reading of Scriptures show that Adam was created before there was even an Eden. God took the already created man and placed him in this newly created paradise (Genesis 2 with emphasis on verses 8 and 15). CAT goes on to say, again page 21, “There are volumes of excellent evidence [that all evidence of animal death in the form of fossils are a result of the Noahic flood]". Well, yes there is indeed volumes written on this thesis- but none of it is scientifically credible. Addressing the mountain of evidence against this notion is beyond the scope this is entry [5].

RE: THE JOYFUL HOPE OF CHRISTIANS
CAT makes the claim that “THE joyful hope of Christians… [will be that] one day Christ will restore the animals to being vegetarians again. Peace will once again reign” (Emphasis mine) [6]. No, -the- joyful hope of Christians is NOT that all animals will be at a “salad bar”, but that we will be with Him forever- first in reigning with Him in the Messianic Kingdom, then in the New Heavens, the New Earth, and New Jerusalem [7]. Peace will come not because animals will all be vegi-saurs, but because Satan and evil will be defeated and it will be HE that will do the reigning and not "peace" [8].

FOOTNOTES:
[1] CAT pg 20.
[2] http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/romans8.html accessed 6.30.2007
[3] Genesis 3:16- as part of the curse on humanity God tells Eve that her pain will be INCREASED in childbearing. Obviously, there was some pain before the Fall.
[4] http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2001issue05/index.shtml#long_life_spans (accessed 6.20.2007)
[5] A good one stop place to start would be: http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/yeclaims.html#FloodGeo (accessed 7.6.2007)
[6] CAT pg 21.
[7] Revelation 20:1-6, 21-22.
[8] Revelation 19-22.

Purpose of Death Part 2 - Animal Death

We have not yet proved this, but if you will, assume for the moment that God created life billions of years ago. It is a fair question to ask why God would use the death of organisms and animals in his good and very good creation? The PC position is that the death of lower organisms over a roughly 4 billion year period of time was used by God to:

1. transform the earth into an environment fit for higher life forms
2. provide the natural resources that would be needed by humans
3. natural ecology
4. population control for herbivores and food for carnivores

Transforming the Earth
There were lots of changes that were needed in the transition from the primordial earth to the earth which supports advanced life. The faint sun paradox is probably the best example. It can be researched in full at this link:

http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2002issue10/index.shtml#faint_sun

To summarize, the early earth’s sun was much hotter than it is now. As it aged it cooled. However as less and less heat is generated by the sun, the earth and its atmosphere needed to adjust in sync with the changes. It is postulated that God used photosynthetic plants, bacteria and methanogens (methane consuming bacteria) along with plate tectonics and volcanic activity to transform the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to the exact amount needed at each epoch of time corresponding to the luminosity of the sun. Note this is a theory on how God may have done this – subject to further study, and we would not claim that this is absolutely without doubt the way God did this.

Providing Resources for Humanity
When bacteria and other small creatures died and were buried before being eaten by other creatures, they would take water, methane, and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and chemically transform them into fats, sugars, starches, proteins, and carbonates. When buried, they form a wealth of biodeposits such as limestone, marble, fossil fuels, and concentrated metal ores.

Natural Ecology, Population Control, and Food for Predators
Life and death and decay form an integral part of natural ecology at work. The food chain in a given ecosystem is fine-tuned for the optimal survival of the entire system. Take for example an isolated island with a group of herbivores but no predators. It would not take long for the island to be stripped bare of vegetation as an exponential growth in herbivore population occurs. Predation is essential to a lively ecology.

Dr. Ross summarizes this point well.

The timing of humanity’s arrival—near the end of life’s long tenure on Earth—may appear tragic at first glance. But a longer look suggests it may be viewed as a gift. Scanning the horizon of civilization—farms, ranches, towns, cities, and all the transportation and communication arteries linking them—one sees a plethora of building materials derived from nearly 4 billion years of life and death: gems, sand, steel, asphalt, concrete, copper, limestone, marble, plastics, etc. Most of the energy that drives civilization comes from biodeposits—oil, coal, wood, kerogen, natural gas, and so forth. Many of the fertilizers that support agricultural production also come from biodeposits—phosphates, nitrates, and such.

Such bountiful provisions powerfully indicate a Provider who carefully planned and prepared the planet through the ages for human life. They speak of a purpose for the human race. The Bible reveals a purpose that involves, yet goes beyond, the current “heavens and Earth.” [1]

In addition, stay tuned for a more detailed study in our section addressing the theological issues of animal earth.

Notes:
[1] http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2002issue10/index.shtml#faint_sun

The Purpose of Death - Part 1 - The Models

The next section of the book continues with the list of reasons why the issue of the age of the earth is not a trivial pursuit based on the purpose of death. This is a very large topic and the responses will be spread out amongst the following topics:

Part 1 - The models
Part 2 - The purpose of animal death
Part 3 - The purpose of human death
Part 4 - The problem of evil
Part 5 - The problem of evil and free will
Part 6 - The problem of evil and a sovereign God

The purpose of death argument goes like this (summarized from CAT-19)

• Why did God send physical death to the world?
• Many people fear death, and non-Christians have a problem with evil and a good God.
• Why would God create a world filled with suffering and death?
• Answer - he didn’t - he created a perfect world free from death.
• Death was a judgment in response to man’s sin (rebellion against God)
• In love, Jesus died in our place and was victorious over death.
• If you adhere to any physical death prior to the Fall, then you undermine the atonement and the Gospel.

There are some problems with this presentation. We do not agree that God created the world from the beginning free from physical death, nor do we agree that all death was a result of sin. However we do affirm the simple Gospel message that Christ died and was victorious over death.

This blog has already shown in other entries that the original creation was not a perfect paradise. It was perfect, but it was so in light of the purpose and plan of the Creator. It is true that many people fear death. And it’s true that many non-Christians look at evil, suffering, death in the world and have questions about the nature of God that would allow these things. These are valid questions that need to be addressed - and we will address these Lord willing.

This argument is distilled into two competing models:

The (CAT) YEC model is this:

• all death was a result of sin
• the purpose of all death was God’s consequence for sin
• death spread to the entire creation
• death is an enemy
• Jesus died in our place and was victorious over death.
• Some day, all death will be destroyed

The OEC model is this:

• Pre-fall animal death occurred from the very beginning and served God’s morally pure purpose
• Human death (spiritual and physical) was a direct result of Adam’s sin.
• Human physical death was brought about primarily by the removal of access to the tree of life.
• Human spiritual death was brought about instantly in response to Adam’s sin.
• Death is an enemy.
• Jesus died in our place, and was victorious over both physical and spiritual death.
• Some day, all death will be destroyed

YEC often fail to distinguish between the two usages of death seen in the scriptures when applied to humans. The OEC model accounts for both types of death. The YEC model lumps them together. Even so, notice the point of agreement. The gospel message is essentially the same since we affirm that human death was a result of the fall. The agreement is this:

YEC: Animal and human death was the result of human sin.
OEC: ...........Human death was the result of human sin.

The only difference is that YEC take it a step further to say that ALL death was a result of sin. So at this point the argument is one of scope – but it is not one that impacts the atonement nor does it impact the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ because we both agree with the base condition.

Now that we’ve looked at the models of death, the following blog entry on this topic will cover the purposes of animal death in our world today.

Notes:
[1] We will not attempt to solve the controversy over election. Whether Calvinistic, or Arminian, or you've never thought about it - Jesus ultimately died for His elect. And the election occurred at the beginning of time itself. Countless saints have wrestled with election - is it God looking through the corridors of time, or is it God's sovereign choice to the praise of His Glory?... We will leave this controversy for another time and another blog...