i've been pondering a question: did adam and eve have immune systems?
what do you think? maybe i'll share my thoughts at a later time because i now need to sleep.
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it is what it says
happiness
feeling happy together
me
- mandy
- consistently inconsistent. a rational idealist. on a continual adventure of discovery through this earthy life in my walk with Christ.
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I saw my dog's comment below, and I thought a little about what he wrote. I love that little guy (though he's driving me nuts right now because he has been barking downstairs for about 30 minutes straight...and his bark is ear-piercing...it's a wonder that I ever get any work done). Anyway, the best answer given by that Martin LaBar guy regarding whether or not we had immune systems before the fall is the obvious one...we don't know. :) It does seem possible that we were either built with immune systems that would be needed after the fall (which would assume the fall, as we usually think of it, was supposed to happen or caused by God, and I'm not willing to take that step) or that we were changed after the fall. The latter seems like the more likely in my view, but perhaps the better question is whether or not there was indeed a "perfect world" at the time of Adam & Eve.
Again, I thought a little more about what my dog said about all of this. I suppose we might need to differentiate between the fall of Satan/earth and the fall of man. Like others have pointed out, it seems reasonable to believe that earth fell and was judged when Satan fell. Perhaps earth was Satan's to rule, and Satan fell so was hurled to the earth that he ruled. That means, of course, that earth could have fallen (meaning it wasn''t perfect) before man was created. It's possible that dinosaurs roamed the earth some time after Satan's fall (perhaps perverted forms of creation...or perhaps even a creation inhabited by the demons hurled to earth with Satan...or perhaps creatures that were destroyed when Satan and the "stars" or demons were hurled to the earth) and that Gen 1:2 describes not only the beginning of God's reclaiming of earth, but also the time after the destruction of the dinosaurs. We usually assume that the dinosaurs roamed the earth some time after the creation of Adam, but that's not necessarily the case. It's possible, I suppose, that these huge reptiles (though there are people who don't think dinosaurs were reptiles) ruled the earth with Satan (who took the form of a reptile, by the way, in the Garden) and that there was a judgment causing them to become extinct and the Earth to be formless and void. Perhaps there was something like man on the earth at the time (shoot, there are creature like man on the earth now), but they were not humans, and they were under Satan's rule. What does it mean to be "like" something? Perhaps being made in His image or "in our image and likeness" (Gen 1:26) means human beings were the first creation since the angels to be made with eternal souls. The "likeness" part is usually overlooked. Some people even think this simply means we look like God and the angels. But...wouldn't being eternal in nature make us like God and the angels?
One thing is clear: the Earth was empty and without form in Gen 1:2, and the terms empty and without form are used elsewhere in the Bible (like Jeremiah 4:23) to describe the world after God's judgment. God judges the earth (the whole earth and specific places on the earth) at different times even after Adam, so who's to say the earth wasn't judged (once or twice or multiple times) before Adam? Perhaps earth (it didn't have to be called earth, by the way, or even have the shape and physical makeup that we now know) was given to Satan before Satan's fall, and perhaps there were all sorts of creatures (again, possibly even man-like creatures, though not humans) for him to rule, and then Satan fell and was cut off from God (which would have been judgment), and then the Earth was chaotic, and then dinosaurs roamed, and so on and so forth. Then there could have been a judgment that wiped out everything, leaving the earth void and without form in Gen 1:2. From reading Gen 1:2, we know there was already water on the Earth, so God either created land and water together as one form (though completely without form, which would have been impossible, so perhaps it is referring to an earth without the shape we now know)...or land and water were created separately at some previous time for some previous world with some previous purpose...all pre-human. Gen 1:2 could just describe what was left of that previous creation after a judgment. And we know, too, from Gen 1:2 that there was darkness over the waters, much as is believed to be the case (I think, though I haven't done the research) shortly after the destruction of the dinosaurs, etc. I don't know...it's just all so fascinating to me.
Let me ask some questions now that I don't know the answers to. I only ask them to cause people to think. I don't necessarily even have solid opinions for some of them.
Is it possible that there was light once before, perhaps before Satan fell, and God is giving light again (or even giving something new in terms of light) after Gen 1:2? Is it possible that the earth, being "without form" took shape again in a sort of re-creation, explaining, perhaps, the shifting of tectonic plates, etc.? Is it possible that Gen 1:1 merely speaks to the forming of the "order" (or set of physical laws or something) we now know (meaning there could have been a previous order)? Is it possible that man was created, with eternal souls (in the likeness of God and the angels), to redeem the earth (or to be God's instrument in redeeming the earth...I mean, He used man even in the sending of His Son)? Is it possible that God lost His creation (or part of it) through the angels and that man was created in their likeness (meaning they have eternal souls) to redeem what was lost because of the angels...and that Jesus came as a man to fulfill that...and that we will all rule with God and the angels after the full redemption? Do I even know what I just asked? :) Is it possible that Satan once ruled over creation on earth but that humans were created as competition (for lack of a better term) to take it back...and that humans were to rule over the new creation (Gen 1:26)? Why were humans to subdue a perfect world? Why would a perfect world need to be subdued? Perhaps it would never be perfect with Satan in it? Is it possible that the Garden was perfect, but that it was in an imperfect world...meaning it was possible for undesirable elements (like Satan and maybe even bacteria) to enter? How would Satan (far from perfect) have been able to enter a perfect place if being perfect means it's impenetrable by undesirable elements? Perhaps this is why an immune system was necessary? Is it possible that the earth was judged once before, leaving it formless and empty, and that it was sort of re-created with a plan of redemption? Is it possible that I'm asking the same question over and over in different forms? :) Is it possible that there are other "perfect" planets or places (theory eluded to by C. S. Lewis) that are under the rule of other angels? Is it possible that we don't know about them because the earth was cut off after the fall of Satan? There are so many more questions popping up in my head, but I'll stop asking them here.
Thanks, Hoover, for getting me going. ;) Now stop barking, you little jerk!
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