Did Fido (K9) Die B4 the Fall (G3)?

You may have caught the debate between Marek Kizer and Scarlett Clay on Animal death before the Fall (Gen. 3) on The Gospel Truth show. 

Kizer is a Southern Baptist teenager interested in theology, apologetics and philosophy of religion.  Props to Marek for mentioning Aquinas.  Clay is an educator, artist, and Christian apologist (Ratio Christi).  She knows  English, Art History and enjoys public speaking.  Clay has a Master’s Degree in Christian Apologetics from Biola (formerly Bible Institute Of Los Angeles) and is  currently working on an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Seminary (Louisville).  Consider Gen. 1:28,

 

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

 

Kizer takes this as implying animal death.  Did King David kill all his subjects?  Conservation, invention, exploration, technology and stewardship are implied by this passage - not assassinating Fido.  Calvin's comment on Gen. 1:28 is thought provoking:

 

Some infer, from this passage that men were content with herbs and fruits until the deluge, and that it was even unlawful for them to eat flesh.  And this seems the more probable, because God confines, in some way, the food of mankind within certain limits.  Then after the deluge, he expressly grants them the use of flesh.  These reasons, however are not sufficiently strong: for it may be adduced on the opposite side, that the first men offered sacrifices from their flocks.  This, moreover, is the law of sacrificing rightly, not to offer unto God anything except what he has granted to our use.  Lastly men were clothed in skins; therefore it was lawful for them to kill animals.

When God clothed Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21) that was after the Fall, so was Abel's animal sacrifice (Gen. 4:4).  The permission to eat wagyu steaks was not given until after Noah landed atop Mt. Ararat:

 

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.  The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.  Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." (Gen. 9:1-3)

 

So, before the Flood, you and the animals may eat plants and after the Deluge  you can eat frogs per God's command (Gen. 1:29,30).  Did everyone follow this?  No.  Kizer seems unaware of historic Christian views on the fossil record that I summarized in a prior post (see 13:25 mark of the debate):

 

Tertullian pointed to fossils found on mountains as evidence of the Flood.   Augustine saw fossils as the remains of creatures living before the Flood.  Martin Luther referred to fossils as being the result of the Deluge in his commentary on Genesis.  Agostino Scilla published a work in 1670 on fossils which he illustrated himself which pointed to the Flood as their cause.  Colin Stearn and Robert Carroll, authors of a mainstream paleontology text, freely admit that by the middle of the eighteenth century, “Most [naturalists] attributed them [the fossils] to animals destroyed in the Biblical flood…”

 

Can you point to a single published work that holds to Creation In Six Days (#CISD, 6 real days, roughly 24 hours), a devastating Global Flood and animal death before Adam?  Founders Ministries (aka Southern Baptist Founders Conference) favors the 1689 confession which states:

 

In the beginning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was pleased to create or make the world and all things in it, both visible and invisible, in a six-day period, and all very good.  He did this to manifest the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.

 

Kizer discounts Clay's excellent argument from an article on the Answers in Genesis site:

 

Many believe the earth is millions of years old, holding to a secular geological timescale, which necessarily includes millions of years of animals suffering, dying, and rotting prior to the fall in the Garden of Eden. ... God had declared his creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31) before the fall.  A putrefying animal carcass covered in flies and exuding an abhorrent odor reminds us of the consequences of sin and the horror of rebellion against our Creator.  There’s nothing good about death.

 

Jesus said this in his rebuke against the Pharisees ("woe to you"), "Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. ..." (Lk. 11:50,51).  If the beginning of Earth (not just mankind) and Abel are connected, then our home is young.  How can Death-before-Adam fit with a young earth?

 

Our latest book Is a Young Earth Possible? argues for a youthful world from history and science.  Please check out our website: TotalYouth.us >> "for Total truth, support earth's Youth."

 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him -

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding ...

The wolf will live with the lamb,

    the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

    and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:1,2,6-9)

 

Does that sound like animal death was "very good" as stated at the end of Creation Week (Gen. 1:31)?

 

#AnimalDeath #Adam #Fall #Wagyu #MarekKizer #ScarlettClay #TrueTruth  #Genesis #Calvin #1689 #NDB4A #YoungEarthPossible #ChurchHistory #fossils #Abel #Noah #Flood #CISD

500 Years of the Reformation (What Do You Know About Luther?)

Tomorrow we celebrate the beginning of the Reformation when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door.  He was baptized when he was one day old on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours (d. 397 AD) and so was named Martin.

St. Martin actually met Caesar Julian (Julian the Apostate) while in the Roman army.   Martin refused to fight and told the emperor "I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight."  He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but later was released.  Where did this happen?  In Worms, Germany‼  Truly, the Lord is in control of history (Is. 46:10).  Another Martin opposed authority boldly with gospel truth in Worms.

The Renaissance, printing and nationalism all helped make way for the Reformation.   The end of the Little Ice Age helped spread Luther's views to Northern Europe.

Luther's wife Katie had an interesting way of getting her point across:

She was solicitous of her husband and guarded his times of prayer and study, nursed his infirmities, mothered his students, cheered him in dejection, and worried about him when he travelled. They helped each other focus on God, despite life’s troubles. One day, when Luther was depressed, Katie put on a black dress. Luther asked her: “Are you going to a funeral?” “No,” she responded, “but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning!”

Erwin Lutzer wrote Rescuing the Gospel: The Story and Significance of the Reformation and says this in the book (p. xiv):

Here is an audio piece by Max McLean where her describes the Diet of Worms and performs Luther's "Here I Stand" speech.  Truth for Life (Alistair Begg) has put out a great booklet on the 5 Solas of the Reformation:

1. Sola Scriptura: by Scripture alone

2. Solus Christus: by Christ alone

3. Sola Gratia: by grace alone

4. Sola Fide: by faith alone

5. Soli Deo Gloria: glory to God alone

What are some of the consequences of the Reformation?  The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America in search of freedom for their faith.  Methodists John Wesley and George Whitefield (d. 1770) had a tremendous impact on the spiritual health of our nation.  Thus, 1517 let to 1776 and the Constitution.  In 1904, the German sociologist Max Weber wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism arguing that hard work and saving your money has a Reformed heritage.

A number of academics have made the argument that the Reformation gave impetus to modern science.  Reijer Hooykaas, who wrote Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, said this:

Modern science arose when the consequences of the biblical conceptionof reality were fully accepted.  In the 16th and 17th centuries science wasled out of the blind alley into which it had got through the philosophy ofAntiquity and the Middle Ages.  New horizons were opened.  The pictureof the world as an organism was replaced by that of the world as amechanism.  It is not generated but made; it is not self-supporting, but itneeds maintenance.

Speaking of science, what did the reformers think of the age of the earth?  Luther held that this planet was around six millennia old.  Hugh Latimer (d. 1555) was martyred by fire for his Reformed faith along with Nicholas Ridley.  Latimer famously told Ridley “we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England as I trust shall never be put out.”  Latimer said that "all learned men" accepted a young earth of around 6,000 years. [1]  John Calvin said that "... the duration of the world, now declining to its ultimate end, has not yet attained six thousand years." [2]

Be sure to get your copy of YES - Young EarthScience today.  It protests against Old Earth Fallacies (OEF) and contends for a youthful world from history, philosophy and science.

Reformation Resources (Books):

The Anatomy of a Hybrid by Leonard Verduin (Church-State issues)

The Torch of the Testimony by John W. Kennedy (Bible-believers through history)

The Anabaptist Story by William Roscoe Estep

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas 

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther - Roland Baintan

Reformation Resources (Videos):

Martin Luther - Heretic (BBC)

Martin Luther (1953)

A Man Named Luther

Luther - the Life and Legacy of the GermanReformer

Notes:

1)  quoted in “A Brief Overview of the Exegesis of Genesis 1-11: Luther to Lyell” by David Hall in Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), p. 55.

2)  quoted in "Luther, Calvin and Wesley on the Genesis of Natural Evil" by Thane Ury in Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), p. 406.

Bible Astronomy for Brainiacs

Jeremiah indicates that the cosmos is expanding: “He has stretched out the heavens” (Jer. 10:12). There are a number of verses that indicate that the universe is expanding. [1]

Psalm 89:37 speaks of the moon as “a faithful witness in heaven.” That is, the moon is a witness to the sun’s light. The moon reflects light; it is not a lightsource itself.

"Just as you can’t number the stars in the sky nor measure the sand on the seashore, neither will you be able to account for the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve me" (Jer. 33:22, Message). The total number of stars is about 10^22 to 10^24 stars. This fits in well with the number of sand grains on earth (cf. Ge 22:17). [2]

Job apparently refers to the rotation of the earth: "Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place? To take hold on the skirts of the earth, and the wicked are shaken out of it. It turneth itself as clay of a seal and they station themselves as clothed" (Job 38:12-14, YLT).

Jude 13 speaks of planets as “wandering stars.”

Job 38:31 asks, “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” thus indicating that the Pleiades are gravitationally bound which is scientifically accurate. The Pleiades are also mentioned in Job 9:9 and Amos 5:8.

Ezekiel 1:16 speaks of a “wheel inside a wheel.” This reminds us of a gyroscope which provides stability. So, it makes sense that the planets travel around the sun. If the Milky Way did not rotate, it would collapse due to gravitational attraction of the center.

Psalm 84:11 tells us that the Lord is a sun and shield. The sun gives light and heat and helps plants grow. It makes sense that the sun is the center of the solar system. James 1:17 is also consistent with a relatively fixed sun.

Aristarchus (c. 310-230 BC) proposed the heliocentric view and calculated that the moon was 1/3 the size of the earth (actual = ¼) and that the sun was seven times the size of the earth (actual = 109). Objects fall to the earth due to gravity. So, the sun must have more attractive power since it is bigger. The planets revolving around the sun is a very reasonable theory. [3]

Calvin and Luther both rejected heliocentrism. [4] However, Kepler, a firm Bible believer, accepted the Copernican theory. The middle graphic above by Lucas Cranach illustrates the geocentric model. It appeared in the “Luther Bible” of 1534.

Francis Schaeffer points out that the opposition to the Copernican theory was not based on scripture but on Aristotle’s views:

When the Roman Church attacked Copernicus and Galileo (1564-1642), it was not because their teaching actually contained anything contrary to the Bible. The church authorities thought it did, but that was because Aristotelian elements had become part of church orthodoxy, and Galileo’s notion clearly conflicted with them. In fact, Galileo defended the compatibility of Copernicus and the Bible, and this was one of the factors which brought about his trial. [5]

A good synopsis of the Galileo affair may be found in chapter ten of Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s so Great about Christianity?

Compare these amazing affirmations of the Bible’s accuracy with the following statements from the Qur’an:
“…when he reached the setting–place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring…” (sura 18:86, Pickthal).
“The hour drew nigh and the moon was rent in twain” (sura 54:1).

Is there evidence within the solar system that supports Young Earth Science (YES)? YES, there is. Huge dust rings go around the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. According to Frank Low (Univ. of Arizona), “Particles this small can only survive in stable orbits for a few ten-thousands of year before they are pulled apart by the sun.” [6]

Consider the words of Nobel laureate in physics, Arthur Compton, who said,

For myself, faith begins with the realization that supreme intelligence brought the universe into being and created man. It is not difficult for me to have faith, for it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan there is intelligence – and orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of themost majestic statement ever uttered – “In the beginning God.” [7]

You agree, don’t you, that God is in charge? He runs the universe—just look at the stars! (Job 22:12, Message)


Notes:
1) Starlight and Time by Russell Humphreys, 1994, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, p. 66.
2) Astronomy and the Bible by Don DeYoung, 1989, Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, pp. 120, 121.
3) Universe by Design by Danny Faulkner, 2004, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, p. 11.
4) “Some Misconceptions of the Impact of the ‘Enlightenment’ on the Doctrine of Scripture” by John Woodbridge in Hermeneutics, Authority and Canon ed. by D.A. Carson and John Woodbridge, 1986, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, pp. 259, 260.
5) Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer by Francis Schaeffer, 1982, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, Vol. 5: p. 156.
6) quoted in It’s a Young World After All by Paul Ackerman, 1986, Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, 46.
7) DeYoung, pp. 114, 115.