Creationism- Part 2: Curses, Human Age, Dinosaurs, and Cain’s Wife

Part 1 focused on the literary and theological reasons that young-earth creationists put forth as evidence for their position. Here, we will give other insights into the first few chapters of Genesis, along with some of the scientific evidence for a young earth.

The most important point is that no Christian ever has to fear the field of science. True science and correct Biblical interpretation never contradict. If there are apparent contradictions, the science may not be factual or the interpretation of scripture may be incorrect. We must keep in mind that science is constantly changing; new discoveries are constantly being made which adjust and even counter previous belief, but God’s Word never changes. You do not need to forego science in order to take the Genesis creation account as literal. Science and faith should go together, just as evidence and faith go together. “The heart cannot delight in what the mind rejects as false.”

State of the Earth: At the end of the six days of creation, both the Bible and scientific discovery indicate that “a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” (Gen. 2:6); Psalm 135 says that God ’caused the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth,’ which would be like a Tropical Rain Forest. In fact, it points to the entire earth being composed of rain forest, and a stable climate. Remember the waters separating from the waters on Day 2? Some believe that there was a water canopy above the earth, which would have also served as protection and as a sort of hyberbaric chamber for the earth. (Opposition to this view is based on evidence that the resulting greenhouse effect would have created too much heat on Earth.) Others believe this is a reference to evaporation. The Bible refers to evaporation and gives a scientific description of it in Eccl. 1:7 “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

Notes on Genesis Chapter 2 and 3: In Genesis 2:9, we are introduced to both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In verses 16-17, God gives Adam and Eve the one and only rule to be followed in the Garden of Eden. Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why was the tree called this? Because the moment that Adam and Eve ate of the tree, the moment they disobeyed God, they would suddenly be aware of evil for the first time as it entered the world through their disobedience. They would literally have the knowledge of both Good and Evil, just as indicated by the Serpent. In Genesis 3:5, Satan tempts Eve with a half-truth: that if she ate from the Tree, ‘her eyes would be opened, and she would become like God, knowing good and evil.’ Since Satan and followers had already been cast out of heaven, God was indeed aware of both good and evil, and therefore this part of the temptation was true. When sin entered the world, immediately mankind started playing the ‘blame game.’ Adam blamed Eve (along with blaming God); Eve blamed the Serpent. Note that in Genesis 3:21, God killed the first animal and shed the first blood for sin (which was the first example of many in the Old Testament in order to prepare mankind to better understand the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice).

God then cursed Adam, Eve, and the Serpent because of their sin, and proceeded to punish Adam and Eve by banishing them from the Garden. Genesis 3:22-24 does not suggest that the Serpent was correct about God’s insecurity, nor does it mean that God was threatened by man’s wisdom. The penalty of death must be carried out, and it could not if they continued to eat from the Tree of Life. Would God be a good and just Father if He had not punished Adam and Eve for their sin? If we may think His judgment harsh, but we underestimate the severity of our sin in the face of a perfect and holy God. Also, this was merciful! Had Adam and Eve stayed in the Garden and continued to eat from the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever in a world in which sin had entered, and all the pain, sickness, suffering, and degeneration that comes along with it. God then provided for them in a new environment and gave them eternal salvation through the Promised Seed.

Genesis 2:24 gives us the basis for Biblical marriage, which is reiterated by Jesus in the New Testament. The curse on the Serpent gives us insight into the ongoing opposition between humans and their adversary, Satan, which culminated in Jesus Christ. The curse refers to “Woman’s Seed,” which is unique since it is man that is always referred to as providing the ‘seed.’ This is a reference to the virgin birth. The ‘bruise on the serpent’s head’ refers to a mortal wound that would spell the utter defeat of Satan at Calvary. The ‘bruise on the heel’ refers to the suffering and physical death of Christ.

How Did People Age?

One characteristic of the earth was the longevity of life. We see this in all the exact ages given in the Bible for people who lived during this early time. Adam lived 930 years, Seth lived 912 years, with the oldest being Methuselah who died at 969.

Methuselah (Gen. 5:21-27): Once when I was in middle school, I was bored by the sermon and so I was calculating ages in genealogies in Genesis, and suddenly discovered that Methuselah died the year of Noah’s Flood. Why would God kill Methuselah in the Flood? There was every indication that he was a good man raised by a godly father, Enoch, who never saw death because God took him (this is why Enoch lived a shorter life than everyone else). It turns out that Enoch was a prophet (Heb 11:5, Jude 14), and may have given his son a prophetic name (according to Eusebius, and previous Hebrew scholars, Dr. John Gill, Samuel Bochart, Henry Ainsworth, and others). Methusaleh did not die in the Flood… he died and then the flood came. Methuselah, roughly translated, is methu… “when he dies”, selah… “it will come”) There’s still some debate on this translation, but if true, the fact that Methusaleh lived longer than any other man shows God’s patience and long-suffering with mankind before punishing them with the Flood (similar to how God is delaying the End of Days so that as many people as possible have an opportunity to come to know Him before it’s too late).

The conditions of the earth and the recent creation of the human body would explain these long lifespans. First, the perfect humans had just been created by the finger of God Himself. There were no bad genes, no disease, and no plagues or viruses or infirmity. Second, there was a stable climate and the extensive rain forest around the world would have provided a very oxygen-rich environment. Thus even though people grew at a similar rate as they do now, once they peaked (probably in their 20s), they would stay vibrant and healthy for much longer, and age much more slowly. This would also allow for more child-bearing years and offspring, seeing as that was one of the first commands that humans were ever given by God Himself (“to be fruitful and multiply.”)

What about Dinosaurs?

Evolution says: Appeared 235 million years ago, died out 65 million years ago (the reason being unknown, though many believe it was due to an asteroid or meteorite impact in the Gulf of Mexico)

Creation says: Created on the 6^th day, most having died in the flood (as shown by fossil evidence); some newborns or smaller species were placed on Noah’s ark, but then due to climate change, disease, competition for food, and man’s activities, most species eventually became extinct.

What is the interesting growth attribute of reptiles? They never stop growing until they die. Due to environmental factors and having just been created, just like humans, they lived longer and grew much bigger. Dinosaurs are simply very large reptiles! (The term ‘dinosaurs’ was not coined until 1841, and therefore the word would not and could not be used in our English translations of the Bible). This would mean we should see some evidence of humans existing alongside dinosaurs, and I believe we do both in Scripture and in scientific discovery.

Most scholars believe that the events of Job happened extremely early in human history.

Read Job 40:15-24, which is not referring to a hippo or elephant (v. 17). The description does not fit. Certainly the dinosaur “Brachiosaurus” fits the description. Job 41 refers to the Leviathan, a giant amphibious dinosaur (v. 8).

Was God talking about mythical creatures here?

• In V. 15, God says, “Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you,” which could not be clearer as to the non-mythical nature of these animals.

• When God uses metaphors or describes a parallel to humans, he uses tangible things. Here, he is using Behemoth and Leviathan as examples of His power! It would make no sense for God to use intangible mythical creatures, of which people would have had to already create in their minds, in order to make a point.

Other Scripture refers to possible dinosaurs as well: Gen. 1:24-25, Job 41, Jer. 51:34, Mal. 1:3, Ps. 74:13, Ps. 91:13, Ps. 104:25-26, Is. 27:1, Is. 30:6 (flying serpent), Is. 43:20

The word used most is “tanniyn” (also “tan” or “tannah”) meaning ‘monster, sea monster, dragon.’ The word ‘dragons’ is used 21-30 times in the OT.

• Fire-breathing dragons are referred to in the history of almost every ancient culture.

• In many dinosaur fossils, there are unexplained cavities (or unexplained passages found in skulls connected to the nasal cavity) where the chemicals stored could be hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone, which would produce fire (like the Bombardier Beetle).

• A few specific examples (many more could be added here)

• Alexander the Great (330BC) marched into India, and found them worshipping huge hissing reptiles kept in caves.

• There is the Sumerian Story (2000BC) about Gilgamesh and the huge dragon.

• Chinese dragon stories are extremely prolific and inscribed on their pottery, carvings, etc.

• There were numerous descriptions and petroglyphs of dinosaurs found long before any excavation of dinosaur fossils. (i.e. White River Canyon, Utah)

• The Paluxy Tracks found in the Paluxy River Bed in Glen Rose, TX in May 1939 showed human footprints in the same rock layer as dinosaur footprints. The Plateau in Turkmenistan (Kughitang-Tau Plateau) shows many human footprints along with 1000s of dino prints.

Where Did Cain Find His Wife?

In the Scopes Trial of 1925, William Jennings Bryan was not able to answer this question on the witness stand before the jury and media, and it was seen as blow to Scriptural belief.

Cain’s wife must be a descendant of Adam and Eve, as Eve is referred to as ‘the mother of all the living’ (Gen. 3:20), and the Gospel is also based on the fact that ‘all men are descended from Adam, the first man.’ According to Gen. 4:25 and 5:3, Seth was born after Abel’s murder when Adam was 130 years old. Genesis 5:4 says that Adam had other son and daughters (The historian, Josephus, says 33 sons and 23 daughters). 130 years is time enough for at least 3 generations, with Gen. 4:3 indicating that there could have been as many as 100 years between Cain’s birth and Abel’s death. Surely Adam and Eve had some of these sons and daughters during this time. However, if there were other sons and daughters born during that time, why was Seth the next offspring mentioned specifically? This is because Seth was probably the first son born after Abel’s death (Gen. 4:25) and also because Jesus is a descendant of Seth.

This means that Cain would have married a sister or niece.

• Objection: This would be unlawful!

  • The law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses. (i.e. God blessed Abram’s marriage to his half-sister.) All people alive today are ultimately relatives.

• Objection: This would create deformities in offspring!

  • Every person has two sets of genes, around 130,000 gene pairs. One gene comes from each parent. Many genes contain mistakes, as result of sin and the Curse. The human race is slowly degenerating over time as more genetic mistakes accumulate. These ‘mistakes’ can simply be that one ear is lower than the other, or they could be something more serious. The more distantly-related parents are, the more likely they will have different genetic ‘mistakes.’ Children are likely to end up with a max of one bad gene in any given pair, and in this case, the good gene generally overrides the bad. The more closely-related the parents, the better chance of the same mistake in a single gene pair. Therefore, today, the union of siblings would likely result in several matching gene mistakes creating serious deformities.

  • Adam and Eve, on the other hand, had no bad genes or genetic ‘mistakes,’ as they were physically perfect when created. Cain and his siblings would have inherited virtually zero bad genes. (By the time of Moses and the Law, genetic mistakes may haves started to become and issue, and God in his omniscience made it unlawful for close relatives to marry.)

• Genesis 4:16-17 does not say that Cain found his wife in Nod; he probably married her before this time.

• Genesis 4:14 indicates that Cain was scared and believed that anyone who found him would want to kill him. Why would this be the case? The answer is that anyone who Cain met would probably be a close relative of Abel, who he had murdered! Before civil government was instituted to punish murderers, someone would only want to harm Cain if they knew he had killed someone in their family.

• Some say that Cain needed technology developed by other races in order to build the city of Enoch in Nod. However, Jabel created the harp, lyre, and pipes. Tubal-Cain worked with brass and iron (Gen. 4:21-22). Humans today have degenerated over 1000s of years, but at the beginning of time, the human mind was working at the peak of creativity and learning.

In Part 3, we will review Noah’s Flood, the effects on the earth, and various Creation vs. Evolution issues…