Q: How can death be a “battle” about history?

A: We live in a world of death. Animals die; people die. Death, suffering, bloodshed, violence, and disease pervade the world. How did all this happen? And why do we have a world so full of life and yet totally permeated by death?

If you take the book of Genesis as literal history, then death is an intrusion into this world. The Bible describes it as an “enemy.” The first man, Adam, rebelled against God. As a result, the once-perfect world suffered corruption. The Apostle Paul says the whole cosmos groans because of sin. But the Bible also reveals that, one day, death will be thrown into the lake of fire—there will be a new heavens and a new earth, restored to the way it was before sin.

But if you believe in billions of years for the age of the earth and universe, then you also must accept that the fossil layers, full of dead things, were formed over millions of years before man. Thus, this history, based on man’s beliefs, teaches that death, disease, violence, and bloodshed were around for millions of years before man was created—millions of years before the Fall.

What a stark contrast. The heart of the age-of-the-earth controversy is a “battle” between two histories of death. But think about it: only the Bible’s account concerning death gives us hope.

For more information, see Two histories of death.