Creatio ex Nihilio

"Fossils: Proof of Life?"

So now here comes the trick question: Was there life on earth prior to the "desolation" in Genesis 1:2? Why do I call this a trick question? Am in trouble either way I answer this question. If I say yes then I fall into the trouble of "Death Before Sin" with the theists.  If I say No then I am confronted by the Darwinists with the undisputable fossil record. So which one is it going to be?

The Problem of Death Before Sin:

In the Garden of Eden, YHWH had originally created a world where there was no death, disease, suffering, or sin. Everything was perfect and worked in perfect harmony. The animals did not eat each other. There were no tsunamis to wipe out massive numbers of creatures in minutes. (Read also gone in 60 seconds) Creation was perfect (Genesis 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:4). It was Adam's rebellion against YHWH that brought these evils into the world.

But from a 'Life before Genesis' view, that cannot be the case. The world before Adam sinned would be tainted with violence, death, and destruction during the "desolation". Death would cease to be an enemy that is to be eliminated (1 Corinthians 15:26), but a part of the process of redemption and re-creation. Extrapolating this, disease would cease to be an intruder, but a part of bringing YHWH's will for His creation to pass. Natural disasters would not be a sign of a fallen universe corrupted by sin, but a tool used by YHWH to wipe out creatures to make room for new ones. Creation would not be groaning as it awaited the redemption and restoration since the fall (Romans 8:22), but it would always have been groaning. And if this is the case, to what will it be restored—a restoration of the death and disease that was common before the fall? Without an initially perfect creation, there is no foundation upon which to say that these natural evils are bad and contrary to YHWH's original purpose. Romans 8:20–22 talks of the impacts of the curse on all of creation and the longing for redemption and restoration at the consummation of all things. Without a perfect original creation, this promise has little hope in it.

This then would suggest that there couldn't have been any life prior to Genesis. Unless you looked at "perfect creation" applying only to the recreation story in Genesis and not to the first initial creation process. If you could argue it this way, then that would certainly create the possibility of the existence of earlier forms of life, even the possibility of earlier forms of humans, probably not created "in the image of God". And this would definitely explain the fossil record. The problem here would still remain "Death is the curse of sin", was it then the curse of sin only for the recreated earth?

Other questions also would arise here: which one was the original sin? Was it Adam's or was it Lucifer's rebellion against YHWH. Did sin enter with the fall of man or with the fall of Satan? If we assumed that sin entered with the fall of Satan that would take care of death prior to Eden wouldn't it? And then we would have no problem at all explaining the presence of old fossils within the geological column. And Darwinists would have a field day for this would lend credence to their theory of the existence of life on earth for 3.8 Billion years. This would be opening a can of worms; it would for instance open the door for the possibility of what is called "Theistic Evolution." The acknowledgment that probably YHWH began everything, but then set it free to evolve. He formed the first protein molecule, but then He let it free to evolve into many forms of life. Acknowledging YHWH in the beginning, but then it is sort of a 'yhwh' who is removed from His creation, because now the creation develops on its own evolutionary processes, with YHWH's hand having been removed.

Second Time Lucky?

But then the omniscient, omnipresent YHWH doesn't throw dice, He doesn't play the game of chance. Everything He does is well planned and carefully laid out to achieve specific ends. He never fails, and acknowledging life prior to Genesis would then make Eden YHWH's second shot at a perfect creation. We need to halt here for a minute, and ask ourselves what intent YHWH would have had in creation. Let's just try to get into YHWH's mind a little, then we may, probably may understand how and why He did things the way He did. What does His Word say about the reason for creation?

 

Colossians 1: 16-17

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."

Romans 11:36

"For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory forever. Amen."

Revelation 4:11

"For you created all things, and by your pleasure they were created and have their being."

 

YHWH made you for his pleasure:

Look around at the universe, YHWH made everything you see for his own enjoyment. Now look at yourself in a mirror. YHWH made you to enjoy you. It's why you were created. All creation was made for His pleasure, selfish it may seem yes, but it is true. YHWH is a jealous YHWH who desires, no no no, not just desires but demands to be adored. "Thou shall have no other god but me". The Bible declares in Matthew 3:17 "and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."" To please Him, to worship Him, to glorify Him: - "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your pleasure they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:11

Isaiah 43:7 

 [Even] every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

Isaiah 43:21 

 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

YHWH's purpose for creation is so that He may delight from it, and it may inturn delight from knowing Him. All creation has been made so that it may proclaim His glory. And to this end, YHWH has put a wonder, an amazement, a splendor, a uniqueness, a talent, call it whatever you may, in every bit of creation, in every individual that they and all other creation cannot attribute to their own self but can only proclaim in wonder "what a special ability they have been given?" and through that YHWH gets His Glory.

Psalm 19: 1-4

"the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world"

But then in creeps a problem!

Job 1: 8-12:

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it." Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.  "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.  But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

What really is the true challenge that Satan was making to YHWH?

First let's remember the real reason for creation – to worship and glorify YHWH. Nothing would please YHWH than the wholehearted voluntary declaration "Thou are great oh Lord, there's none like you" by all of creation. The heavens and whole of nature does indeed testify of YHWH's greatness, but their worship cannot be termed as voluntary can it?  It's the voluntary uncoerced worship that really 'counts'. I believe this was the major motive behind the creation at Eden culminating in the creation of human beings. YHWH wants to be loved, and giving choice is the true proof of that love because in choice therein lies knowledge, the internal comprehension and acknowledgement of that desire to love YHWH. Problem however is that there can be no choice without the existence of option, and Satan becomes that option. As a being with free will, you would not really truly fulfill your true intent of being created if the devil didn't exist. This is the reason why though He could have, YHWH did not prevent Satan's rebellion nor destroy him and his rebel angels. I believe it was the reason for the desolation and subsequent recreation in Genesis.

'"Does creation fear God for nothing?" Satan must have challenged God.  "Have you not made it mindless and choiceless.  But now stretch out your hand and give creation a mind of its own,some intelligence, even free will and it will surely curse you to your face."

Then God said "let there be, all these things that Man woud need to exist, and then He finally said, lets us make man in our own image….", and then said to Satan,

"Very well then, there is a being with free will, the choice to worship or not to worship me, let them be in your power, but on the being himself do not lay a finger."

And thus the recreation at Eden. Truth is that you really are nothing but the result of a wager, a pawn to be tossed around in the battle between the King and His rogue knight.

Could YHWH intentionally cast the wolf on His own flock?

He did so at Eden, He even went as far as tempting Abraham Himself, He did it to Job, for 3 days He did set Satan on his own son, and He does so on each and every one of us, be it just by the mere fact that he still allows the devil to exist, but also as is seen severally in the Bible, by sometimes giving His express permission:

Luke 22: 31-32

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

You see YHWH knows that as a creation with a mind of its own, a will of its own, you will have a problem with accepting the real reason of your existence, for truly it is a hard fact to swallow. And though He would, YHWH does not want to impose this fact of existence on you, He wants you to freely make the realization. And thus YHWH indulges those that want to in their little game of "I don't have to, I will not, nobody really has to if they were given the choice" But Christ laid it bare for you:

John 6:38

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me"

The devils challenge will always remain to try to show YHWH that given the choice, creation would not voluntarily worship Him. And YHWH's intent is to proof to Satan and to Man that they were really made just to please him. Lest we get lost in all these arguments: YHWH first created angels, and then the universe, all for his own pleasure, and life was introduced in Eden as YHWH's response to Satan's challenge on whether creation can freely glorify YHWH, and ever since life has been the point of contention to disapprove or proof the intent of creation. This theory would therefore dispel "Life before Genesis", leaving us with but one problem:

The problem of the Fossil Record

In Luc Besson's movie "Lucy", a 3.2 million year flashback shows Lucy meet and touch fingers with Lucy the oldest known specimen of the human race. This skeleton, discovered by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray in Ethiopia in 1974 was named after the Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.' The song has to do with LSD; the first letters of the nouns render LSD, and are probably not coincidental as discussed by Paul McCartney in a 2004 interview - Almost has me thinking that the proponents of the evolutionary theory have never been thinking soberly.

The existence of such fossils and the geological column create an almost indomitable challenge to the theist. Fossils have been frequently cited as the main evidence for evolution.  The geological column presents these layers of sediment deposition in their assumed chronological order and embedded in the layers are fossils of organism that are believed to have been of ages corresponding to the layers in which they are found.

Evolutionists cling dearly to a concept referred to as uniformitarianism: The notion that the processes that formed the earth and the universe, and even life itself have been going on foerever and are still going on:- That these processes are slow and take long geological eras to complete. Basically the evolutionary thesis is that all of the processes that are going on today have been going on for millions of years, so that any of the life forms can be understood by the processes today. That there has been uniformity to the whole cycles of life, from the time that the planet first cooled sufficiently for the water bodies to be formed, and that all things are going on in a uniform way.

It is interesting however that, as far as they can ascertain, there is not any current fossils being embedded in the strata of the earth. That most of the mammals and leaves and everything else disintegrate and disorganize. That there are not fossils really being formed on the ocean floors. That there is that process of disintegration and encrustation on the ocean floor that takes place, but not the developing of fossils now. So if the ocean is not presently developing a column of fossils, then what were the circumstances that caused it to develop this long column of fossils in the past?

Then there are fossil trees that grow up through several of the strata's of the fossilized forms. How could one tree grow up through several millions of years? If you look at the fossil orders and the strata in which they exist, it's difficult to explain how that you can have trees that grow up right through several millions of years of these fossil forms. How is it that you have the footprint of a man within the footprint of a dinosaur if the dinosaurs were extinct long before man ever inhabited the earth? Could the dating be 100% beyond doubt? Could these fossilized animals have lived on the earth after the creation of Eden? Did Noah really get into the Ark with all the species? Does the Bible clearly indicate that indeed all the species got into Noah's Ark? But these questions largely amount to nothing when one is confronted with the physical real life fossil of a Tyrannosaurus' jaw bone. I want to offer two possible explanations for the fossil record:

The Flood:

2 Peter 3: 3-7

"Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly."

 

It's easy to dismiss the Bible as just a long collection of fables, and I would excuse a cursory reader of the word of YHWH for making such an assumption. But really it's shocking and awe-inspiring to even start glimpsing the amazing spiritual insights that this 'Book' has on almost everything there is to life. All answers you could possibly be seeking lie within this tome of 66 books.  St. Peter nailed it to the point over two thousand years ago: The biggest challenge to the word of YHWH today is this notion of eternal uniformity, the basis on which the theory of evolution is based on. And likewise the biggest challenge to evolutionists is really the disapproval of uniformitarianism. uniformitarianism will tell you that the universe is eternally expanding, that natural selection is happening at the Serengeti right now and new species are eternally being formed, whereas the theist notion is that it has all been folded up before, and restarted, and it shall all be halted once more. uniformitarianism has seen the pictures of Adam and Eve in Eden pulled down from classrooms and in their place now hang these depictions of the evolution of man from an anthropoid to a biped. If you challenge uniformitarianism, you have practically dismantled the entire theory of evolution, and likewise, if you can proof uniformitarianism then you have practically thrashed the entire Bible.

The existence of cataclayscimic events such as the flood is all we need to disapprove uniformitarianism and evolution. The flood does indeed explain the fossil record and the geological column better than eons of uniformity will ever do. It explains how a tree can be seen to grow through the geological column, it explains how whale fossils can be found in the desert, it explains how the enormous pressure from the waters could have caused the uplift that formed the Himalayas and the Andes from the seabed and the myriad of sea fossils that have been found in these mountain ranges.

It's widely accepted that formation of fossils primarily requires rapid burial by water such that there is no time for decay and bacterial action. Furthermore, most fossils occur in huge fossil graveyards where things from different habitats are mixed together in a watery grave. The predominant type of fossil is that of marine invertebrates, but these are found on the continents within catastrophically deposited rock units. Of the several different kinds of fossils, each one requires rapid burial and circumstances which are seldom, if ever, at work today. We can certainly say that something extraordinary happened to form the fossils.

The Order in the fossil record is one of the most popular arguments for evolution.

Evolutionists will argue that the fossil record has a consistent vertical order and as thus reflects eons of evolution. Evolutionists also think it's a powerful argument against the Bible and young-earth creationism. If most of the fossils formed catastrophically during Noah's Flood, then that supposedly means that the flood would produce a random order in the fossil record. However, flood geologists have long rejected this caricature of Noah's Flood as physically unrealistic. Even large catastrophes need not produce completely random patterns. Creationists have developed several explanations for that order in the context of Noah's Flood.

Ecological zonation (such that different life-forms in different strata reflect the serial destruction, transport and burial of ecological life-zones during the Flood)

 

Differential escape (the smarter, more endothermic, and greater mobility an organism has, the higher in the fossil record it will tend to be)

 

Hydrodynamic sorting (i.e. the smaller, denser, and more spheroid organisms are, the quicker they will settle out of the Floodwaters into sediments)

"Atheists/Evolutionists should suspend their disbelief in God for a moment and embrace reason. Can the creation-by-evolution myth tell us how fish became fossilised in sedimentary rock on dry earth? And the myriads of fossils of animals, trees, etc. that lived on land. How on earth did all those dry-land dinosaurs etc. manage to get fossilised in sedimentary rock? Is there any place on earth where there is evidence of no sedimentary rock? To believe that all of the flora and fauna living on dry-land could have been slowly buried in layers of water-sediments over millions of years, as many evolutionists imagine, one has to suspend reason. So, the deluge of Noah, which the Bible claims covered the whole earth to a depth of fifteen cubits, is the only rational explanation of how all these land-creatures came to be buried in sedimentary rocks all over the earth. It is self-evident that no evolution could have occurred in this deluge, so the evolutionists will forever look in vain for their so-called missing links."

Terry D P. responding to the article Order in the fossil record

How can Noah's Flood explain it? 1June 2015

The second explanation for the fossil record I offer is that YHWH planned it that way:

How old was Adam the first day that YHWH created him? He was one day old. Well then how could he have a full set of teeth, a fully matured body? We don't know if he had a navel or not. But he was created with age-dating factors. In other words, if you would look at Adam the day he was created, you'd say "he might be thirty-five, forty years old," because he had certain designs that would testify to more than just a one-day old. So there were already, at his day of creation, age-dating factors.

Thus, YHWH could have created the earth and the universe with age-dating factors, with fossils already there, or with the galaxies already at a certain distance from the planet earth. So that if you would look at it, you'd say "well, it's ten billion years old," when in reality, it was just created just a moment ago. And YHWH is surely great enough and big enough to do it that way if He so desired.

Geological Eras:

Lastly, there are those that say that the "days" of Genesis are indefinite periods of geological eras: the difficulty with that is that if YHWH created plant life upon the earth in the third geological era, and did not have the sun shining on the earth until the fourth geological era, how did the plant life survive for a whole geological era? And if YHWH created man in the sixth geological era and He rested in the seventh geological era, it means that Adam would have been kicked out of the garden, at the earliest, the eight geological era, and thus, was much older than the nine hundred and twelve years or whatever is ascribed to Adam's life span. So that creates problems too.

So if you asked me how old life is, I would have to tell you that in my own personal assessment, it is likely to be approximately 6K years old, but that would in no way rule out the possibility that indeed life is much older, way much older than that, afterall, I also believe that the universe is indeed way much older than life is. This is in actuality, like with so many of my other essays, a matter of taking your own informed personal decision.

Appreciation:

My sincere thanks go out to Evans Munyao Mutinda of Pharmaplus Gateway mall and Stephen Korir of Neem Pharmacy who in our normal work interactions sowed the seeds for these work through their unintentional enquiries.

My thanks also go out to my sister in Law Mercy Watare and to Caroline Wairimu Maritim my work colleague, who for certain reasons, mainly their inquisitiveness, accessibility and interest, became the first people to proof read and give feedback on these essays.

Last but not least, I sincerely want to thank my Sister Christine Kaari, who saw and purchased a book and after reading it knew that I would have an interest in it, thanks Christine for the invaluable opportunity to read "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.

References:

Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Black Swan, 2003

Cronk, Harold . God is not Dead Movie. Pure Flix Entertainment, Brazil, 2014

Besson, Luc. Lucy Movie. Europacorp, 2014

Smith, Chuck. Through the Bible Series, 1979-1986

Other Online Resources:

Wikipedia – on several issues

Skeptics Review on MV Carl Vinson site

From big bang to present day video

Order in the Fossil Record