As It Was ...

In today’s discussion, we are going to address logical possibilities, not definitive facts.  There are a few theories about our early past that might offer some explanations or alternate ideas to the traditional scientific theories we have come to accept about what our world was like before history had a good written record.

As Adam and Eve left their Garden-of-Eden home, they took up residence nearby.  An Angel was left to guard the gate of the garden to insure no human from then on would gain access to the tree-of-life.  Evil could not be allowed to be perpetuated forever (as we have already discussed).  Having been created in perfection, and having eaten regularly from the tree of life, they would wind up living extraordinarily long lives before dying of old age.  There was significantly less pollution in their day, and in their case, no genetic corruption of any kind.  Thus dying of a disease would be unlikely to our early ancestors.  It is thought Adam (being created superior to the animals) was physically dominant as well.  Estimations place his weight at 1200+ pounds and his height at around 15 feet tall, Eve at 14 feet.  Therefore even though animals became divided into 2 groups – vegetarians and carnivores – at least for a while, they would fear man and be less likely to pose a threat.  As a result our first parents would live over 900 years before seeing death.

A question is raised how did Adam and Eve wind up populating the earth?  It is fairly obvious that living for over 900 years without significant health issues would allow for producing a number of offspring.  But it also means that at least the first generation of progeny would wind up ‘marrying’ each other.  The second generation would be effectively cousins who marry, the third generation a bit more diverse in the genetic code.  The reason man did not immediately degenerate was likely due to the original purity of our first parents.  Should this model be tried to today the level of birth defects from inbreeding would be catastrophic.

Adam and Eve used all the 100% capability of their brains, as opposed to our ever declining 6-8% usage.  We sometimes like to think that we are highly evolved, and therefore capable of creating machines, and understanding science far more than anyone in our past – but if our early ancestors used 100% of their brains, how much better might they have understood concepts like perhaps, nuclear energy, DNA, mathematics, and physics.  With memories that do not forget what they are imprinted with using ALL their senses, and IQ’s probably 9-10 times as high as our genius of today – do we really think they were pigeonholed into covered wagons, tents, and simple farming to survive?  Then too consider the ease of access to raw materials.  Gold, silver, diamonds, jewels of every variety were laying around the place – part of the simple decorations, God used to decorate our ornate planet during creation.  With access to these things, how hard would it have been for man to develop relatively sophisticated tools and processes to aid him in his day-to-day endeavors?  In addition, information could be transferred easily through simple conversation, as memories would not easily diminish, and conversations took place in a singular language.

The earth at that time was created perfectly.  It did not display the horrific damage it would incur as a result of a coming world-wide-flood.  The continents were not divided but were together.  They had not been ripped apart due to the absolute trauma inflicted on our world during the flood.  There were no significant deserts, or jagged mountain ranges yet.  The tectonic plates of our world had been crushed together yet by the weight and force of the water that would come.  There were no oceans at the time, and no salt water.  No artic regions of massive ice used to help dry up the water afterwards.  There were no seasons, no 23 degree wobble in our rotation around the sun.  Weather patterns did not really exist, as the ground was watered every day with dew.  Rain was unknown.  And these conditions prevailed for the better part of 2000 years before the flood would come.  No wonder people thought Noah was completely insane.  During this period of time, man began to slowly shrink, both in physical and mental stature as well as in declining age, but this decline was slow, before the catastrophic effects of the flood.  As punishment for his deeds, Satan would be forced to be present on our world during the flood.  He would fear for his very existence at the fury God would unleash.

The cancer of evil however did not move slowly through the populous.  The story of the first two sons of Adam relay how jealousy and anger can quickly lead to murder.  Despite the continued physical presence of God, directly talking with our early ancestors, they were still capable of embracing evil.  And embrace they did.  By the time Noah arrives on the scene, the followers of God (those who did as He asked, tried to be reconciled with Him, and awaited the promised hope of a Messiah) were down to a single family blood line.  And here is where it gets interesting in terms of possible theories.

Fast-forward through scripture 2000 more years into the time of Christ on earth.  He is asked a question regarding ‘signs’ of his second coming to which He responds … “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the last days.”  He goes on to describe the moral bankruptcy of the people who lived before the flood, their complacency, and their failure to recognize their impending doom until it was too late.  Fast-forward another 2000 years until our day in age, and we all believe we are living in those ‘last days’.  So then doesn’t it stand to reason, that how we live in the world today is much like it was back then with Noah – as Christ stated.  And what is our latest fascination in the scientific world of discovery; could that be the mapping of DNA, and our early foray into genetic manipulation?  We’re not too far along into our research so far, and purportedly our goals have the best intentions.  But what if the people of Noah’s day had mastered what we are just discovering?  What if they learned how to completely remap DNA and started blending species?

Have you ever looked at some of the dinosaur bones that have been unearthed?  If you blended an elephant and a giraffe could you perhaps wind up with a large gray vegetarian with an unusually long neck, thick body, and extended tail?  What if you blended a man with an ape (you know to generate an entirely new class of servants to work for you), might they look like cave-men?  How about mythical creatures like say a Minotaur, Centaur, or other combination of man and beast.  Sound crazy.  You bet.  But there a few nagging questions regarding the traditional view of dinosaur origins such as: 1.) Why are there so few discoveries made?  Seems as though most animals would stick together in herds, etc. and the discovery of one set of bones would lead to many more.  2.) Where are the middle step creatures?  You know the ones I am referring to, the step between ameba and reptile, the step between reptile and mammal, the step between ape and cave-man, the step between cave-man and man.  Natural evolution would have yielded significant numbers of every kind of creature buried in sequence (oldest being the deepest).  Yet there are few or no discoveries made here at all.  3.) If dinosaurs had been created by God, they would have been preserved in the ark along with the rest of his creations.  However, if they were the product of man’s arrogant attempts to play at being God, they would have perished with him.  All logical theories that might infer that man had been the author of these forms of genetic manipulation – all of them purged during the flood, along with the technology to recreate them, until today.

As far as the level of evil in the world, back then with Noah it had gotten so bad that “God repented that He had made man.”  Ouch.  We were SO evil, God was sorry He had created us.  Does it look that way today in your eyes?  Has the evil of our generation reached that level yet?  But then one of the greatest scriptures ever penned was written … “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”  In short, God had mercy on Noah (an imperfect man who liked to drink quite a bit).  Noah did something unheard of in his world, he trusted God, listened to God, and did what God asked him to.  All of this in spite of the daily ridicule during 120 years of preaching to those who mocked him.  Noah preached and no-one was saved; no-one but his family.  I wonder how many preachers in today’s world would ignore global ridicule, and continue preaching, without a single convert to show for their efforts?

There was one notable exception to the evil that existed in the world of that day.  His name was Enoch.  He lived a total 365 years before he was taken off our world without seeing death.  He was translated to heaven to be with God.  Think carefully about what this means, in spite of the fact that the rest of the world was so heavily engrossed in evil that it made God sorry He made us – Enoch was being reconciled to God so closely he was able to simply be taken directly to heaven.  In order for Enoch to be safe to be in heaven, he would have had to abandon all evil in his life.  This proves the immediacy of the gift of Salvation to us.  We are able to be so completely saved from evil, we can develop a relationship with God as close as Enoch.  In a time like ours, as it was back then, there is hope beyond our wildest imagination of what God can do in our lives …