Death before Eden?

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On Thu, 26 Oct 1995 18:43:08 -0500 (CDT), you wrote:

>As a scientist, I am often faced with data from geology and anthropology
>which claims that there were animals on the earth that lived and died
>hundreds of thousands of years ago. Yet the Bible seems to say that Eden
>existed approximately six thousand years ago. The question I ponder is -
>was there death before Eden, or did death come into the world only as a
>result of Adam's sin? How can we reconcile the fossil record, if we believe
>it, with what the Bible says in Genesis.
>I have some ideas - would you like to share yours :-)

Dear higher-fire Member,
 
Death came to Adam, the father of the present human race as the result
of sin.

As our current generation cannot spiritually live without the
infilling of the Holy Spirit, so neither could Adam sustain life
without fellowship with God in the realm and manner of life which God
purposed for him. 

Whether or not we acknowledge other humanoid species or a pre-Adamic
race, we accept that God did NOT make us, (nor our forbearers to whom
God has offered the riches of His fellowship), as an ALL TERRAIN
VEHICLE of sorts, free to wander from his original purpose. Our lives
are only eternal when connected to the true vine. Sad as it may seem,
perhaps human life has sanctity only when touched by God and restored
to life through the new birth. With this in mind, remember, it is
God's will that ALL should be saved.

Adam's connection was broken when he transgressed against God's very
nature, entering into unbelief. Later, Israel died in the wilderness
because of unbelief.

Death itself is nearly as old as life, but we see no reason in
scripture to believe that either the plant or animal kingdom ever was
promised imortality. That is, if grass was to bting forth after its
kind, then it was through a seed, which must have died to do so.

This knowledge and the plain statements of archeology together leave
me with a very narrow berth concerning the possible explainations.
Unpleasantly, as a man of God, I feel restricted from extensive
speculation on that explaination. As they say, it never hurt to "just
believe the word". In many cases we have rich Bible knowledge to dig
out. However, in my mind, this is not one where there are clear
statements, nevertheless clear conclusions are available.

-- http://www.pcnet.com/~mbasset/life.htm
The Whole Gospel to the Whole World    -   Life Tabernacle UPC
"Preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ,
with all confidence, no man forbidding ... " - Acts 28:31