Populations increase over time. If we were able to record this increase on film, on rewinding the film we would eventually arrive at a time when there was only a single pair. This shows that the Adam and Eve story is a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation. Once we accept the concept of design and a master designer, questions may arise as to why a master designer would create a creature with such an enormous potential like man and yet limit the full use of this potential by the short life span man possesses in comparison with lower forms of life. This has resulted in the human creation being subjected to futility.

This Question Demands an Answer.

There are many religious books around but none of them explain why humankind is in this situation. They are mostly books that attempt to tell us how we should live. Only the Bible explains how life started and how mankind came to be in this frustrating condition. It also also gives us hope for the future.

(Romans 8:20-21) . . “.For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will but through him that subjected it, on the basis of hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.” .

The Bible itself explains that God has provided this record so that we could gain the answer to many questions that science by itself would be unable to answer. Let us consider what it says.

(Timothy 3:15-17) 15 “and that from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.”

The indication is that it was never God’s intention that man should have this futile kind of existence but God says that man brought this on himself.

(Deuteronomy 32:4-5) . . .“A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; Righteous and upright is he. 5 They have acted ruinously on their own part; They are not his children, the defect is their own. A generation crooked and twisted!”

Why do humans recognize the highest moral values of love and justice even though they may choose to ignore them. Someone may choose to steal but if someone steals from him, he feels that he has been done an injustice. These high values are not a matter of opinion but reflect values that the creator himself possesses to the ultimate degree. This inborn knowledge was necessary, if we were to possess free will. Therefore our ability to understand legal matters such as true justice are actually God-given.

Why God has permitted us to undergo all this frustration.

We may ask why God has permitted this condition to continue for so long, but we need to understand how it appears from God’s perspective. It is well known that our perception of time is related to our age. The older we get the more the days and years seem to fly past. A year to a child seems very long but to an old man it seems very short. Therefore to a timeless creator a thousand years is just like a day. So what God considers to be a very short time, is perceived by man as a very long time. This fact is corroborated by the Bible.

(2 Peter 3:8 ) 8 “However, let this one fact not be escaping YOUR notice, beloved ones, that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day”

Because of our short lifespan we are apt to get impatient and give up believing in God’s promises. That is why it is important to check the prophecies in the bible so as to determine where we are in relation to the God’s purposes for man.

How Death entered the Picture

The Bible indicates  that Adam and Eve were created perfect.

(Deuteronomy 32:4) . “The Rock, perfect is his activity,”. . .

What does perfection mean?

If you wanted a perfect shirt of dress, would you have it made from stainless steel, because you did not want it to wear out? A shirt or dress made of stainless steel, would wear out our skins, and so be inadequate. Perfection therefore implies, the ability to fully fulfill the purpose for which it was designed. In Adam’s case, although perfect, he had to eat and drink and breathe air. He was not immortal. He would die if these needs were not satisfied. Death could also occur due to external factors, such as accidents although his body was designed to perform minor repairs to itself.  Just as a house has to be maintained if it is to last, so Adam would have had to be maintained to live indefinably.

Scientific observation has revealed that there is a law in the universe known as the 2nd law of thermodynamics. This law states that all processes run down and have to be maintained if they are to last. The law is based on the behavior of energy. To accomplish maintenance, energy has to be put into a system. This means that to create and maintain a  universe, our creator would have to be the source of unlimited energy.  After creation had occurred the 2nd law would doubtless apply and so if no energy was put into the system to maintain it the universe would ultimately die. this agrees with the Bible’s assessment.

(Isaiah 40:25-26) . . .“But to whom can YOU people liken me so that I should be made his equal?” says the Holy One. 26 “Raise YOUR eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one [of them] is missing.

Adam was not therefore created to live independent of his creator. Like all creation he was in a sense subject to the 2nd law. He would have to be maintained if he was to live indefinitely. For Adam to live indefinitely depended on God taking care of him for eternity. Is it logical to conclude that God would do this, if Adam ignored his direction?  Adam possessed freedom of choice, (a test of Adam’s obedience was necessary before God guaranteed to maintain him). The Bible shows that by Adam and Eve’s disobedience they destroyed their relationship with their creator. Their living independent of God has resulted in the human race running down and dying in obedience to the 2nd law. Unlike lower forms of life whose limited lifespan, fulfill their function in the ecology of the earth, humans lost their perfection, through disobedience, damaging their bodies and passed this damage on to their offspring by the laws of inheritance. That is why the original Hebrew word, translated “sin”meant “to miss the mark”.

(Romans 7:21-23) . . .I find, then, this law in my case: that when I wish to do what is right, what is bad is present with me. 22 I really delight in the law of God according to the man I am within, 23 but I behold in my members another law warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive to sin’s law that is in my members. . .

If Adam’s children had been born before he sinned then his children would have still been born perfect, unaffected by inherited imperfection. and responsible for their own choices as perfect humans.  However, because both Adam and Eve sinned before their children were conceived therefore we all have inherited the defects that they brought on themselves. Is God to blame for this? No! We pass on our genes to our children. We can pass on both good and bad characteristics. If we contract aids through our own misconduct, we can pass it on to our children. Is God then to blame? No! Adam and Eve’s disobedience were the cause of our present condition.

The obvious conclusion then is that the human race has been steadily deteriorating since Adam’s creation. Scientifically this is possible because cosmic rays and other forms of radiation can pass through our cells and in the process are able to collide and damage the genes in the cell. If this occurs within our sex cells then the damage is passed on. Over the many centuries this has accumulated and this is why the Bible shows that our life spans have decreased over the centuries.

Adam lived for 930 years whereas the Bible shows that our average is in the region of 70 or 80 years today, however God has made an arrangement to rectify the situation. What we can notice is that the flood of Noah’s day produced a marked drop in the life spans of individuals. By examining my  article “the Scientific Accuracy of Genesis” we see that God raised a canopy of water above the atmosphere that collapsed at the flood, flooding the  earth with water, The book“The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch” by Donald Patten, from which this illustration was borrowed explains the reason for this drop in ages in this way. The canopy shielded the earth from the ozone layer. Once the canopy collapsed, the ozone began to be mixed in with our atmosphere by the action of the trade winds. He explained that experiments involving the effects of ozone on living creatures showed that it reduces longevity. He further explains that the reason why pre-flood animals were so large was because of their increased longevity. Humans were also affected by this mix of ozone into our atmosphere resulting in a decrease  in longevity. This explains why our lives are so short when compared with Adam.

Unfortunately for us the circumstances surrounding Adam’s disobedience involved spirit sons of God that had been created before he created our material universe. This meant that rebellion entered the universe raising certain universal issues. These have to be settled before God actually proceeds to bring about the change. Many of the problems that face mankind today are signs that the settlement of this issue is close at hand.

I have examined the universal issue in another article but one thing is certain, the settlement of the Issue will mean that the human race will once again have the future that Adam squandered for us. As the universal issue involves us if we are to individually benefit we need to understand and support God’s side of the issue therefore  accurate knowledge regarding the issue is a necessary requirement. I recommend that you continue with the universal issue.

continued in ..”A Universal Issue” >>

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