Death Before Adam? -- By: Austin Robbins

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 13:2 (Spring 2000)
Article: Death Before Adam?
Author: Austin Robbins


Death Before Adam?

Austin Robbins

Despite all attempts to do so, there is no way to reconcile evolution and the Biblical account of Creation. Examining the theological basis of the Biblical Creation, Austin Robbins demonstrates there is simply no room for evolutionary thinking.

Evolutionary doctrine is insistent on a very long history for the earth’s formation. Long ages, even exceeding 4.5 billion years, are deemed essential for development of the earth’s crust and formation of living forms from some primeval origin.

The Bible, in contrast, indicates a relatively short history for both the earth and the entire universe. Even a superficial reading of the Biblical account demonstrates apparent conflicts between it and the popular evolutionary views of our society.

Is there any way to reconcile these two opposing view-points? For over a century many have made serious attempts to do so. Underlying all such attempts is an uncritical acceptance of the basic tenets of the evolutionary philosophy, as well as an unspoken (sometimes openly denied) rejection of normal rules of Biblical interpretation.

Man’s Place in Creation

It is not the purpose of this article to address the so-called scientific basis of evolution. The issue here is theological. If God created the universe, and I believe He did, He certainly could have given us details about it. This, too, I believe He did. The question is: “What did He tell us and how does it relate to our understanding of the world’s history?”

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Gn 1:26, KJV).

... and God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gn 1:28, KJV).

The NIV is even clearer for the modern English reader:

Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock and over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gn 1:26).

The words in these passages leave no room for doubt about the extent of man’s dominion over the earth. “Every,” “all,” and the extensive listing of various creatures (including fish, birds, living things, cattle, beasts, creeping things) indicate the totality of man’s rule over the earth.

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