...about things that interest me and are (hopefully) edifying!

But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 115:3

Soli Deo Gloria!!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Ancient Adam and the Old Earth

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The Issue

For many Christians, strict Creationism has a seeming weakness that the proponents of evolutionary theory exploit. Why does everything seem older than the 6 - 10K period of time Scriptural Creation is supposed to relate? This has lead to the development of several systematic creation viewpoints; Evolutionary Creationists, Young Earth Creationists, Days as Age Creationist, Creation Scientists, and most recently - Intelligent Design. None of which seem to satisfactorily resolve non-Darwinian-evolutionary, old earth, Adam and Eve biblical evidence, as well as supposed geologic and paleontological evidence and theories.

I have formulated an alternative theory I believe can help resolve many of the questions raised by Christians and non-Christians alike. I call it the Ancient Adam theory.

Creation

In my theory, Creation was completed within the 6 day stricture proclaimed by the Bible. Earth was developed as a complex biosphere that existed now as it did then. All lifeforms existed simultaneously - not products of common descent, but speciated and distinct. Life and death, adaptation, extinction, decomposition, geologic change: all present and sustained by the Master Creator and within His will, however inscrutable that will is.

This was true for all Creation except Man.

Man and the Garden

Man was created and placed in a protected place from destructive, sudden change, the Garden of Eden. He was given great freedom within this protected area and prohibited from only one thing; eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:17)

Please note that there was one other special tree in the Garden: the Tree of Life. Man was not prohibited from eating from this Tree until after the sin of eating from the other Tree. (Gen. 4:22)

Ancient-Adam

There is no Scriptural indication of how much time passed from the end of the Creation period until the Fall. It is my theory that man existed in the Garden communing with God and Creation for multi-eons, sustained by the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Some Theory Weaknesses and Resolutions

On the Creationist, strict Biblical interpretation side, I have found one apparent weakness in my theory. Genesis 5:3 gives the apparent age of Adam as 930 (Gen. 5:5) years, but the count starts with Seth. Where are the firstborn, Cain and Abel? I believe they and many others were born before the Fall (..be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28) and existed as those sustain by the Tree of Life.

Before the fall, years of life were irrelevant, only after their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7) would years be counted or have real meaning. Thus I believe my theory resolves how and who Cain could marry.

I believe it also resolves the "Sons of God" - Nephilim - issue. They were Adam and Eve's pre-Fall children.

I will be updating this as I come across issues - feel free to comment with issues or items of interest.

-JD

2 comments:

jazzycat said...

Have you considered when Satan became a player in the garden? If Satan were not there at the beginning then your theory would be strengthened. In Job it seems that Satan had to get permission from God to go after Job....
Jazzycat

Anonymous said...

google:
old earth young adam
stephen jones
dick fisher
the origins solution
two adams theory

...about things that interest me and are (hopefully) edifying!

But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 115:3

Soli Deo Gloria!!


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