Are Plants Alive? Death, Adam, and Billions of Years

Too many Christians believe the universe is billions of years old despite also believing that God created it in six literal twenty-four-hour days. The billions of years part is the problem. They believe such because of “science” and what it says about the rock layers that must have taken millions or billions of years to form. The problem there is that there are fossils in those rock layers. If those layers took millions of years to form, there was death before Adam and the fall. Humans, according to evolutionists, didn’t arrive on the scene until close to two-hundred-thousand years ago.

Some theologians have tried to reconcile this irreconcilable conundrum by saying that there was in fact death before the fall: the death of plants and animals. When the bible says that death entered the world through Adam, it only refers to human death they say. But such is not the case.

Plants Are Not Alive

The bible is clear: there was no death before Adam and the fall whether human or animal, but plants did die before the fall. What about that? Answer: we often use language loosely when we ought to be more technical. We refer to plants as being alive and dying, but the bible doesn’t refer to them that way. Dr. Jonathan Sarfati points out that vertebrate animals are described by the Hebrew phrase nephesh chayyah which is translated living creature or in the case of humans as living soul. Plants are never referred to this way. In fact, they don’t die, they wither (Ps. 37:2). Further, the bible teaches that plants, herbs, fruit, etc. are given prior to the fall for humans and animals to eat. “And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;’ and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good’” (Gen. 1:29-31). Note also that the beasts, birds, and creeping things are referred to as having life in them, not plants. Humans didn’t eat animals before the fall nor did animals eat humans or each other. They both ate plants as designed by God.

No Death Pre-Fall or Post-Consummation

Further, consider Isa. 11:6-9 and then 65:25: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.” Now, Isaiah is talking about the final state. It’s a restoration of the conditions in Eden. It’s paradise restored. It’s what was before the fall and what will be after the consummation. Notice that predators and prey are reconciled and eat the same food – plants. The enmity between the serpent and his seed and the woman and her seed (Gen. 3:15) is removed. God’s holy mountain is Mt. Zion – the church, the kingdom, the restoration of all things – and there is no killing there. The point is that there is no death in the final state, and there was no death before the fall of Adam.

Prior to the fall, God declared that His creation was very good. He couldn’t have said such if there was violence, bloodshed, death, and misery. Those things are the result of sin entering the world through Adam.

The Issue of Authority

As Dr. Sarfati points out, the real issue is not one of interpretation, but one of authority. Is our authority ever-changing-science interpreted through the lens of atheistic assumptions; or is it God’s word? Science is something we should embrace and pursue. But when science and Scripture conflict, Scripture must trump science, not the other way around. We wouldn’t entertain the thought of an earth billions of years old if we weren’t bowing to science. The bible is straight forward on the issue of creation.

There’s also a difference between observational science and historical science. Observational science can be tested over and over again in the here and now. We think of technology for example. But historical science seeks to determine the past by looking at thigs in the present. We draw conclusions based on our presuppositions. For example, when the atheist looks at the Grand Canyon, he assumes there is no God and concludes that it must have formed by erosion over millions of years. The Christian assumes that God is real, and therefore the canyon was formed by the global flood of Genesis 6. Neither has proved their case at that point. But they have come to different conclusions based on different assumptions. Both are engaging in historical science, and both are making faith claims, because neither was here when the Grand Canyon was formed. The evidence within the canyon itself points to the biblical explanation. But even prior to analyzing the evidence, we take it on faith that it was formed by the flood of Genesis 6. It couldn’t have been formed by erosion; the earth isn’t old enough for that to happen. The bible is our authority. Our job is to submit to it.

Sign up free for "True Worldview News," a weekly e-mail newsletter highlighting relevant news stories affecting Christians. Dr. Dean’s comments on selected stories along with editorials are included. The newsletter also features True Worldview, a twice-weekly podcast hosted by Dr. Dean and his daughter, Christi Johnson.

If you enjoyed this article, consider sharing on Pinterest: