Did God Design Eons of Death into the Creation?

If there were eons of pain, suffering, and death before the awful rebellion of Adam brought "death" into the world, then the suffering of our Lord Jesus becomes unnecessary.

Some have suggested that all living things were originally designed by God to die, that over the millions of years in which animal and pre-human life was developing, death played a perfectly natural role in the creation. Some have even taught that the death which God threatened Adam with was a "special" kind of death that applied only to humans.

Necessary death and long ages are exactly what atheistic science would advocate. How can the God who is life create death as part of His own signature? How ludicrous to think God would design death into His creation, and then agonize over the necessity of His own death in order to bring us salvation. Death by the design of God is absolutely foreign to the revealed nature of God (Romans 1:20).

In Genesis 3--the turning point in Scripture--all of the "good" was instantly withdrawn by God, who by His word activated the "groaning and travailing" of the earth and its inhabitants. The ground was cursed, yielding thorns and thistles, surrounding Adam with sorrowful labor for the rest of his life until he himself would return to the earth from which he was fashioned.

But was God lying? Was He now blaming Adam for what He Himself had done? If the death pronounced by God is nothing more than a "symbol" of a greater message, then death can be relegated to a mystical musing that has no tangible meaning.

A most dangerous extension of the "death" equation is that physical death becomes essentially irrelevant in the punishment of sin. Gethsemane's agonizing was for nothing, and the hundreds of warnings, curses, and consequences detailed in Scripture are now twisted into allegorical advice or suggestions.

If there were eons of pain, suffering, and death before the awful rebellion of Adam brought "death" into the world, then the suffering of our Lord Jesus becomes unnecessary. If the "wages of sin" is nothing more than some sort of spiritualized distance from the Creator, then the entire burden of sin becomes nothing more than a mental attitude. Heaven and hell are "what you make of it."

(extracted from Henry Morris III, "The Issues of Death", Acts & Facts, November 2009, Institute of Creation Research)

Parable of a Man and the Immovable Rock

A man was sleeping in his cabin one night when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock at the shore near the man's cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might…

So, obedient to the Lord's request, the man pushed day after day, week after week. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and absoulutely nothing has happened. Don't you know that it is an impossible task? Why not just put in your time, and do the minimum amount of effort. That will be good enough.”

Feeling like a failure, the man decided maybe that's what he should do. However, he thought that since God had asked him to do this task, he would take his failure to God and see what God wanted him to do. “Lord,” he prayed, “You know everything. You know I have been faithful to Your request. But in all all this time, I have not even budged that rock even one inch. Why am I such a failure?”

Compassionately the Lord responded, “My friend, you accepted my request and were faithful to the mission that I gave you, to push against the rock with all of your strength. You have done this. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it.”

“Your task was to push. Look at yourself. Your back, your muscles, your hands are stronger than when you started. You were patient and obedient to my command. Along the way you have grown in faith and wisdom. That's why even in your discouragement, you didn't give in to despair, but you turned to Me for direction. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

(from a Christian newsletter, January 2011)