Cheryl

Hi Michael,

You ask a great question about the creation of animals. First of all in answer to your question, the issue is not about animals ONLY being created after Adam. The Hebrew is specific in that animals were definitely created *after* Adam, but they were also created *before* Adam. This isn’t too hard to understand because just as mankind was created in two “acts” with the man created first and the woman created later after Adam had time to realize that he needed a mate, so the animals were created in two “acts” also for Adam’s benefit. The first set of animals was created before Adam and the second set was created as God formed each animal and brought the animal and its mate to Adam for naming. It only makes sense to me that the second set that God created was the mates to the ones that were created earlier. I can’t prove that one for sure, but it makes sense to me because that is how he created humans male first and female second.

For those who can believe in the inspired scriptures and still believe that the earth is billions of years old and animals were created hundreds of millions of years ago, they must be able to rationalize away some of scripture to do that. There are several things that make that belief untenable to me. If you want, I can let you know what those things are.

The bottom line is are we going to believe what God has said (his testimony) or are we going to believe the testimony of science? The one thing that I know for sure science has changed their dating system by billions of years just in my own lifetime. I remember in my early years of school being taught that the earth was millions of years old. I didn’t pay attention to when it exactly happened, but the earth got a lot older sometime through the years. Now we are told it is no longer millions of years old, but billions of years old. Animals now are not just millions of years old, but hundreds of millions of years. That is a significant change, but the truth hasn’t changed since truth is consistent.

I came to a crisis of faith myself in the mid 1980’s. I came face to face with something that I couldn’t make fit in the bible. It was on the resurrection. I couldn’t understand how Jesus could be dead for three days and three *nights* if he died on Friday and was resurrected on Sunday morning. As I thought it through and reasoned within myself, I came to understand that I must accept the bible as God’s inspired word and accept that it was right even if I didn’t understand how it could be right. If I accepted that there were errors in God’s word and that it wasn’t completely inspired, then I could not have faith in the bible. I would have to say that it then would be hit or miss on whether it was truth or not and I couldn’t accept that. So I decided to believe God without having all the facts to convince me that it was truth. It was a definite turning point in my life. From that moment on, I have come to understand that scripture is God-breathed to the point that each word is inspired and each piece of grammar is inspired. I have seen it proved over and over again that God’s word is true even if every man is found a liar. Romans 3:4 says “By no means! Let God be found true though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That You may be justified and shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men]. [Ps. 51:4.]”

Since that turning point in my life, I have been privileged to have visited Israel in 1986 and that trip opened my eyes up to the Jewish understanding of some things in the resurrection passage that I had not understood before. I now understand that it is our tradition that invalidated the word of God and made it look like it was in error. Our tradition says that Jesus was crucified on Friday, but God’s word doesn’t say that. I believed God first and then had it proved to me that his word prevailed and our tradition was the one that was faulty.

In a similar way I have come to understand that God’s word about creation is not a myth neither is it in error. Jesus believed that the first man was real and not a myth because he talked about the creation of the first man and woman. It is a test of our faith. Will we believe what God has said, or will we believe what has been a changing science throughout the years? I have lived long enough to see science change and it will continue to change. But God’s word does not change.

God has also provided a great deal of proof to back up his word, so that if we are open, I believe that there is enough evidence out there to prove God’s word regarding creation. Men can be wrong and have been proven wrong time and time again, but God’s Word has not been proven wrong. I recommend anyone to check out the facts before they ever consider disregarding God’s inspired words. I highly recommend Answers in Genesis http://www.answersingenesis.org/. Read the material. Listen to what they have to say. Remember again that our traditions are subject to change and subject to correction. If one uses science as a measuring stick to measure the bible by, they are trusting in man instead of God who cannot change and who cannot lie. Measuring God and His Word with human understanding is like trying to measure accurately with a rubber band that is one time stretched and the next time relaxed. It just doesn’t work. I have never regretted the day that I chose of my own free will to believe the bible and set aside my human fallible reasoning process. For me it was a chance to glorify God & to believe Him even though I couldn’t understand. Now I reason through scripture starting with the understanding that His Word is true and every man is a liar that discards the words and grammar of scripture. This thinking process has enabled me to see things that others have missed. Why? Because I trust God’s word with my life and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that every word is there for a purpose and every piece of grammar is there for a purpose. When I key in on things that others disregard as unimportant, understanding has been given to me that others have missed. God is the one who gets the glory, because He alone is worthy because His word is truth (and every man a liar!)