Michael Kruse

Cheryl, a couple of quick questions. I want to ask this question. Look at this sentence:

“The teacher formed a curriculum and brought it to the class to see how well they would learn from it.”

I think I have worded this in the perfect tense. Did the class exist prior to the teacher’s formation of curriculum? Am I correct in asserting that because this is in the perfect tense that the sequence of events is that the class formed first and then the teacher formed the curriculum? From the context, I think the answer is no.

The wording of the sentence is structured to highlight the authorship and work of the teacher not the order of sequence in events.

Gen 2:19

19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them:…ASV

God formed the animals prior to Adam foreknowing he would create Adam, just as the teacher formed a curriculum foreknowing the formation of a class. The sentence is structured to highlight the “authorship” and work of the creator not the order of sequence in events.

Your claim is that Genesis 2:19 precludes any other reading other than that animals were formed after Adam. If we would not demand that the first sentence be interpreted that the curriculum was formed after the class, why would we insist in Genesis 2:19 that the animals were created after Adam?