Sin death and beyond

SIN, DEATH AND BEYOND: M.M.NINAN
doesn't mean that death is necessarily a bad thing. For example, in order for consumption to
occur, something must die. We know that God gave Adam and Eve freedom to eat of all the
fruit in the Garden but one. Fruit is a living thing, but once Adam ate of it, it would die. It's not a
bad thing that this fruit died, for it provided nourishment to Adam, and thus fulfilled its purpose.
Jesus teaches us this concept in John 12:24. He says, "except a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." And since seeds and fruit
were part of God's original creative act (Gen. 1:11), then it stands to reason that God intended
these to bring forth greater fruit through their death.
Because death did exist, it would be disingenuous for Christians to infer a young earth from
this point alone. Also, this doesn't measure into the evolution debate in either direction. We
must look to other reasons why evolution is false. (For more on this, see our article "Is it more
reasonable to believe in Creation over Evolution".)
I hope this discussion has helped you in your understanding of death and the role it plays in
creation. Although we can't know much of what the world was like before the fall, I think the
evidence is clear that there must certainly have been some kind of death existing. But, like all
of God's creation, He used this for a specific purpose and to His ultimate glory. Let me know if
you have any other questions.
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