Reasons to Believe and Lions Eating Their Prey

Reasons to Believe (RTB) is an organization that seeks to syncretize the biblical account of creation with certain evolutionary theories, especially the belief in millions and millions of years of earth history. Many organizations (including AiG and ICR) continue to write well-researched critiques of many of RTB’s positions. In this post, I look at one aspect of RTB’s view on animal death before the fall.

In an article entitled, “Animal Death Before the Fall: What Does the Bible Say?” on RTB’s website, Lee Irons defends the position that animals died before the Fall. Irons notes:

According to the fossil record nature was “red in tooth and claw.” In view of the vast ages between the first evidence of life and the appearance of man, this description would necessarily be true prior to the Fall. But this conception of the pre-Fall state presents a jarring contrast with the typical Sunday School picture of Adam and Eve in the garden, dwelling peacefully in an idyllic state, where all the animals were herbivores and the wolf was dwelling with the lamb. (Irons 2001)

Irons goes on to detail why the Scriptures do not preclude animal death before the Fall. For the sake of space, I will only comment on one of Irons’ arguments in this response.

One of his arguments in favor of animal death before the Fall is taken from Psalm 104. Verse 21 says that “the young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God” (ESV). Later, in verses 27-28, we read: “These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” Verses 19-20 speak of the pattern of day and night as it relates to the “beasts of the forest” creeping about. Irons notes that the “poetic meditation [of Psalm 104] then goes beyond the Genesis account and explains that God appointed the day-night cycle so that the beasts of the forest might prowl about at night and hunt for their prey.” He infers that this Psalm means lions ate prey prior to the Fall, contrary to the YEC claim that there was no animal death before the Fall.

Several things are wrong with Irons’ analysis. He says the pattern of night and day (Ps 104:19-20) was set up by God so that man could be safe from predators: “This timing is perfect, for when the carnivorous hunting beasts are asleep during the daytime, man can go about his daytime labors in safety until evening” (Irons 2001). If there was animal death prior to the Fall, but not human death, as Irons (and RTB) asserts, how does the nocturnal hunting habits of carnivores protect mankind from death? Lions (and other animals) maintain the same pattern of resting during the day (Psalm 104:22) in modern times. While this makes human casualties less likely, it certainly does not prevent all such deaths! Rather than seeing this as proof that animal death was present before the Fall, we may take this pattern as an element of common grace after the Fall. If animal death was present prior to the Fall, the only way humans were spared was by the supernatural intervention of God, not the nocturnal habits of predators.

Another error in Irons’ thinking is that God’s blessing upon a certain activity in a fallen world means that such actions were also present prior to the Fall. Irons says that since God blesses carnivores by giving “them their food in due season” (Psalm 104:27), we should believe that carnivorous activity has nothing to do with the Fall. Irons explains:

Such provision is a testament to the goodness of the Creator in caring for His creation…There is no suggestion in this text that we are to view the provision of prey for carnivorous beasts as anything but a blessing from the hand of a good Creator. It is certainly not pictured as an abnormality resulting from the entrance of sin into the world.

Irons’ reasoning is seriously flawed, however. Consider another Psalm in which God blesses an activity which only occurred after the Fall:

He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze…You gave me a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. (Psalm 18:34, 36-37)

Using Irons’ logic, we could say that “there is no suggestion in this text that we are to view [the death of one’s enemies in war] as anything but a blessing from the hand of a good Creator. It is certainly not pictured as an abnormality resulting from the entrance of sin into the world.” However, such a view disregards the clear teaching of Scripture elsewhere.

Irons’ application of God blessing post-Fall activities in support of the presence of such activities before the Fall is specious. God is able to bless activities that entered into creation due to sin, but are not sin themselves (i.e. war, carnivorous behavior among animals, and church discipline). The Fall drastically altered our world. Certain activities were not necessary prior to sin, but now are needful. Corporal punishment of children (Proverbs 13:24; 23:13) is a good example of this. God certainly blesses the faithful use of the rod in children rearing (Proverbs 23:14), but such an activity is only necessary because of the folly that is bound up in the heart of the child (Proverbs 22:15)—a condition not present prior to the Fall.

Irons and the folks at RTB mistakenly assume that because God provides for lions (and other meat-eating animals) that such carnivorous activity was present prior to the Fall. Rather, the Bible teaches that sin has brought many such activities into our world and the culmination of Christ’s kingdom will remove every aspect of the curse.

The Effect of Righteousness

Recently, Dr. Kenneth Gentry graciously published one of my articles on his blog, PostmillennialismToday.com. Here is the opening paragraph. To read the rest, please visit his blog where my full article can be found. 

Peace. It is illusive, yes, but it is not unattainable. The best of human rulers can only give thanks to God if his kingdom or country is characterized by peace. To say a kingdom is characterized by peace is a high commendation. For example, the reign of Israel’s greatest king, David, was characterized by peace (though not before much fighting had to be done; see 1 Chronicles 22:18; 23:25). Peace was even more prominent during Solomon’s days (1 Kings 4:20; 1 Chronicles 22:8). But the peace of King David and King Solomon was short-lived. As great as they were, these kings were still sinners. Imagine, however, a perfect king, ruling in perfect righteousness. What would be the effect of that? What would the result be if such a king were ruling over us? Would there be peace? Or would there be increasing wickedness and sin? The Bible not only answers that question, it also tells us who that king is.

To read more, click here.

What Happens Without Government Schools?

In the past, I have called for parents (specifically Christian parents) to remove their children from the government school system. I realize that this may be a radical concept for many. Anytime we are confronted with something that is different than what we are used to, we can be tempted to write it off as over-the-top and absurd. One thought that many people might have is this: What would we do without the government school system? I hope to briefly address that question, while pointing you to a resource that will help you think about this in a more in-depth manner.

Civil Government’s Role

First of all, the foundation of this is God’s Word. When we are talking about the government school system, we are talking about the civil government doing something which it has no role doing. Any statistics, emotional appeals, or anecdotal accounts must be subjected to God’s Word. The Bible makes it clear that the role of the civil government is to punish evildoers—”for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well” (1 Peter 2:10)—not education. As Dr. Joel McDurmon says, “In no place in Scripture is it even intimated that civil government should have any hand in this [education] process.”

Did We Always Have Government Schools?

The fact that many people find it so difficult to envision a society in which the civil government is not in charge of education is proof positive that the government school system has failed to teach the true history of this land and the principles of freedom found in the Bible. Once again, I cite McDurmon:

There is no reason why civil government should have education as one of its functions…or even have regulatory oversight over education. In a free society the primary focus of leadership in education would always and only be the family and secondarily the church—and anyone whom the family freely decides to hire. And this is the ideal of freedom that is found both in the Bible and in [the] Christian founding of this land—and through the founding years of American history up until…the 1830’s.

He goes on to note, “In fact, as late as 1860, throughout all the states, there were only about 300 public schools…compared to over 6,000 private institutions—and that’s not including the vast majority, by the way, who were homeschooled.”

Clearly, the idea that we need the government school system is erroneous at best. Not only does God’s Word give no basis for it, but our nation was not founded with it. I urge you to watch Dr. Joel McDurmon’s video on this topic. He explains how it used to be in America and how, contrary to modern opinion, the education was high quality.

What happens without government schools? Ultimately, if we seek to honor God’s Word and limit the civil government to its proper place, the answer is blessing. We cannot continually expect God to bless a system that is doing what He never intended it to do. Are there many more questions that need to be addressed? Yes. Will it take a long time to get rid of the government school system? Most likely. But, for starters, let’s seek to understand our nation’s history and what God’s Word says about this. If you are truly interested in learning more, stay tuned, send me your thoughts.