The implication of that rather graphic remark is clear: death in the
garden of Eden was avoidable...otherwise God's threat would have been an
idle one! Careful reading of the first chapter of Genesis reveals a few
interesting details: God created animals and later created man. To
each He says: "...I give every green plant for food." In a place where
death is avoidable God was not about to say to the animals and man: "I
give you one another for food." A moderate amount of thought suggests
that the sort of environment that existed in Eden during the pre-sin era
is one in which neither man nor beast thought of hunting down and eating
one another. Eden was a happy place but not of the happy hunting ground
variety.
Following Adam and Eve's delinquent behaviour death came into the
picture. The first death is reported in Genesis 3: 21 "The Lord made
garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them". God had to
put an end to an animal's life...unless He just borrowed the skin for
awhile...!
Through man, evil entered the world and the whole world felt it. It was
not just man and the animal kingdom that felt the anguish, but nature
also. Genesis speaks of thorns and thistles as competing for the food
that man had to grow in order to survive. Competition was an unknown
concept in Eden.
So, in the begining, God created a perfect Earth within a perfect
universe. This is why He is noted to often say "it is good". God being
Holy would not be able to call "good" something which is evil. The now
famous tree of knowledge was not an ugly smudge in the middle of a
"good" creation. The existence of this tree simply means God created
man free. God put it there because evil existed. But He did say do not
touch it. Freedom is a double edge sword: one is free to do right and
free to do wrong. Adam and Eve were not forced to disobey God. The
serpent merely made a suggestion. If God had not included this tree he
would have deprived man of his freedom of choice. God does not force
goodness down anyone's throat. Man is asked to adhere to it strictly by
choice.
So, as a result of sin, man, animals and nature are all fallen. And
there is nothing that excludes the idea that nature includes all of the
universe. A bit of thought suggests that God most likely heralded the
post-sin era with His principle of entropy. From that time on, the
stars including our Sun were also doomed to die because the universe's
supply of useful energy began depleating i.e. ceased to be upheld by
God.
One must mention that some of the difficulty with what preceeds comes
from trying to wedge in the theory of evolution which suggests a
chronology of events where carnivorous dinosaures (i.e. able and willing
to eat its fellow beast) cavorted the Earth long before man...therefore
that death existed before man existed...therefore downplaying the
seriousness of sin. This bring us back to the problem of freedom being
a double-edged sword....we are always free to be wrong. It just depends
on how intently one listens to the Holy Spirit who interprets
Scripture. Man's little spirit acting alone does not do too well in
that area.
Guy Blanchet