From: igevolution@earthlink.net
Date: Wed Apr 23 2003 - 17:36:36 EDT
The solution is actually rather simple. Don't stop reading at verse 12. Keep reading...
"So then as through one trespass the judgement came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life... that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 5:18,21
These verses tell us that Christ undid what Adam's sin had done. One of the rules of scriptural interpretation is to test unclear verses with clear ones. So, we have two possible interpretations of verse 12 that, on its own, cannot be clearly assessed. Let's take these unclear interpretations of verse 12 to the clearly written verses above. Our possibilities are:
1) Sin causes /physical/ death. Therefore, the action of Christ undoes this and renders all true believers physically immortal. They do not experience physical death.
2) Sin causes /spiritual/ death. Therefore, the action of Christ undoes this and renders all true believers spiritually immortal. They experience physical death but then live on forever.
Put this way, the question is rather elementary. There is another way of looking at this as well:
Assuming that it is true that sin is responsible for physical death, and assuming that all death is related to sin (which is what the YEC's claim), then we must conclude that the following statement is true: Animals die because of our sin. God has altered the entire biosphere. In fact, He completely and totally reworked the way life works, creating all trophic levels in existance aside from producers, because of our sin. The caterpillar in my yard bears the same consequence for my action as I do. Hmm...
Also, if the physical death of animals and plants were a consequence of sin, and if the atonement of Christ were intended to negate the effect of sin (see vv 18-21), then Not only should people live forever, but so should orangutans and weeds. Again, this is not what we observe.
Jason
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