Foolish Things

There has been considerable conversation in the comments of this post on the blog of our Pastor and his brother regarding death before sin. Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, David has tried to draw the controversy into a new post, but so far no one has taken the bait.

Yesterday I received the devotional below from The Institute for Creation Research which illustrates perfectly the problems with reinterpreting Genesis to fit an evolutionist worldview. If you reject the notion that only sin leads to death then, eventually, the entire message of the Gospel becomes irrelevant. Now this may not come immediately nor may it affect the faith of the one who believes in such things, but think of those they are passing those beliefs on to — why should they believe the message of the Gospel when the foundation of the Gospel is seen as being mere myth.

I encourage you to read the original posts and comments for a bit more background.

Death by Sin January 13, 2006

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

This very important verse conveys several vital truths. First of all, death came into the world only when sin came into the world. Suffering and death of conscious life, whether animal or human, were not a part of God’s “finished” and “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31, 2:1-3). There was an abundance of food and all other provisions for both people and animals. There was certainly no “struggle for existence” or “survival of the fittest,” for every creature was created “fit” for its own environment.

When Adam sinned, however, it became necessary for God to bring the curse of decay and death not only upon Adam but also upon all his dominion (Genesis 3:17-20; see also Romans 8:20-22; I Corinthians 15:21-22).

Furthermore, there remains no warrant fo r the notion that “Adam” is simply a generic term representing the human race. He was “one man.” In fact, he was “the first man” (I Corinthians 15:45), and Eve was “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). There was certainly no population of evolving hominids becoming “Adam.” In fact, Christ Himself made it clear that Adam and Eve were there “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6, quoting Genesis 1:27).

The entire argument here in Romans 5:12-21 becomes irrelevant if the Genesis record of the Creation and Fall of Adam did not happen precisely as recorded in Genesis 1-3, and this would mean that there is no reality in the saving work of Christ, either.

Such a rejection of the Christian faith is hardly warranted by the fragmentary fossils that have been alleged to support the notion of human evolution. No one should stake his eternal soul on such a will-o’-the-wisp as that! HMM