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Like 1 Corinthians 15:21, Romans 5:12 is another verse used to support the doctrine of Original Sin.  However, does this verse mean that there was no death before Adam?  That is important to answer, because if there was no death before Adam, then Evolution would be false, and the Earth would by necessity be young… and science would be turned on its ear.

The first verse on Original Sin that I addressed is 1 Corinthians 15:21, which reads:
21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
However, the context of this verse was a reference back to Daniel 12:2:
2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: …

1 Corinthians 15:21 is one of the verses used to prove that because of Original Sin, the earth is young.  Here is the verse:
21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
The reasoning is as follows:

Given: Jesus died for our sins
Given: Adam introduced sin
Given: God said that when Adam sinned, he would die
Therefore: Death resulted from Adam’s sin
Therefore: There was no death until Adam sinned.
Therefore: Evolution could not have occurred. 
Therefore: The Earth is young.

And 1 Corinthians 15:21 is offered as confirmation of this simple proof.  However, does this verse really confirm this proof?  Or might it actually disprove it?  1 Corinthians 15 is a long chapter that Paul wrote in order to cut through some misconceptions …

In Genesis 2 - A recall of Genesis 1?, I introduce my interpretation of Genesis 2 as mostly a continuation of Genesis 1, not a mere rehash.  Obviously, I am not the first one to ever suggest Genesis 2 occurred after Day 7, but I have not read elsewhere of the possibility that Adam’s creation in Genesis 2 provides the context for Evolution in Genesis 1, and then picks up from there.  My rationale is based on how well the combination of Genesis 1 and 2 map to the scientific record.

Genesis 2:4-6 describe the earth 4.5 billion years ago.
At that time, there was only earth to work with.
Genesis 2:7 says God used earth to form Adam… God’s work …

While I really like how I ended Reconciling Evolution with Scripture (Part 3), I realize that there are issues I have left dangling in the wind.  For example, exactly what is I believe?  And what do I call it?

I ask these sort of humorously, because I have done enough debating to see the opportunity I left for parsing my words for details that might “get” me on a technicality.

First of all, let me clarify that when I say I believe evolution, my own thinking has evolved somewhat in my own meaning.  I apologize for the confusion if you have been reading posts from the past few years of mine …

In Reconciling Evolution with Scripture and Reconciling Evolution with Scripture (Part 2), I have attempted to establish that no matter what mechanism resulted in the seeming “evolution of species” apparently recorded in the fossil record, the result was God’s will.  In Reconciling Evolution with Scripture I wrote the following:
I then realized that after homo sapiens were created, it seems that evolution kind of stopped… I mean, it’s possible more species still formed, but but not humanoid!  And so it meant that God started creating man at Day 1, and stopped after Day 6.  …

Continuing on with our line of inquiry from Reconciling Evolution with Scripture, it is instructive to review exactly what Young Earthers tend to find wrong with Evolution: the idea that the fortuitous changes recorded in the fossil record could possibly be random.  Nobody argues with the concept of Natural Selection itself, which deals the survivability of a species once a change has occurred. What people do argue against however is the idea that these changes can occur on their own and at random.  There are several approaches to this, several particular criticisms, and several responses to each, and I do not think I need to cover them all. However, I don’t have …

One of the most difficult parts of my Creation studies has been the topic of Evolution.  What to believe? And it’s more than just figuring out a theory that fits the evidence, it’s prayerfully working out what God actually did.

Most of the problems with Evolution stem from a combination of two things: our tremendous knowledge of what is in the fossil record, and our lack of knowledge of what is NOT in the fossil record.  Why is something missing from the record? Well, it’s either because it just never got fossilized or it’s because it never existed.  So, how do you know which it is?

Science takes what is known and theorizes the unknown.  That is what it does.  Unfortunately, I …

Genesis 2
 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
When did God rest?  In Day 6 - When did it end?, I suggested that the creation of Homo Sapiens Sapiens was a reasonable date for ending Day 6: 200,000 years ago.  So then, when …

Genesis 2
 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
In Day 5 - Determining a Date (Part 2), I make the case the KT impact removed the hindrance to a a more modern, flourishing, fish and bird population.  This was 65 million years ago, when fish started to flourish.  Mammals actually started to flourish …

 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 27 So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.

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