Animal death before The Fall?

[thistle]

Is this just a rough estimate, or do you have some documentation?

An estimate give or take a few million based on the life of the sun and the age of the earth.

 

[Hastrman]

Um…so humans can be resurrected from the dead but it’s somehow beyond the power of the Subsistent Act of Being to bring a planet back?

Okay, yeah.

My point was that the universe is going to be so utterly, radically changed by the resurrection that there is absolutely no way to tell.

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

If we’re just speculating I always thought the fall of Man being an offence against God, Master of all time and space, caused as a punishment all of reality to crack–all of men’s generations afterward now have the stain of original sin washed by baptism but also concupiscence and maybe just maybe for creation it was all poisoned: past present (the time of the first disobedience) and future by the fall. I fumble about with the idea on my myspace-- windweavingstories.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B750936BDB72B026!554.entry

Just speculating

 

[catholic2]

Does the Catholic Church hold a position on the idea of animal death before the fall of Adam and Eve It seems a reality that plants must have died, but I can’t seem to find a definite answer on whether or not animals did… some say yes some say no. Some say if God made a perfect world than they couldn’t have, some have said the death of animals was only for a greater good at the time. I was just wondering if the Church had a specific teaching on this matter. Thanks

SD

There’s nothing in the Cathechism that I can recall regarding the death of animals prior to Adam’s sin. Romans 5:12 refers to death entering because of man’s sin, but this may not have included animals. As a matter of fact, it seems that God himself killed an animal for its leather to clothe our first parents after the fall, so perhaps animals were used by man in likewise fashion. Another example of this is where Abel was raising sheep in a time before Noah that mankind did not eat meat. Using animals for food came only after the flood. The sheep were obviously being used and perhaps in such a fashion that would require their death.

 

[SD_Catholic]

There’s nothing in the Cathechism that I can recall regarding the death of animals prior to Adam’s sin. Romans 5:12 refers to death entering because of man’s sin, but this may not have included animals. As a matter of fact, it seems that God himself killed an animal for its leather to clothe our first parents after the fall, so perhaps animals were used by man in likewise fashion. Another example of this is where Abel was raising sheep in a time before Noah that mankind did not eat meat. Using animals for food came only after the flood. The sheep were obviously being used and perhaps in such a fashion that would require their death.

Yes I think you’re right… I would think animals feeding on other animals (especially sea animals) would only make sense. I don’t recall God giving the command that animals would now start feeding on other animals after the fall either. Also since God probably only intended for the human to live forever before the fall, animals probably died of old age even if they weren’t used as food by other animals, but it might be awhile before we know for sure…

SD

 

[catholic2]

Yes I think you’re right… I would think animals feeding on other animals (especially sea animals) would only make sense. I don’t recall God giving the command that animals would now start feeding on other animals after the fall either. Also since God probably only intended for the human to live forever before the fall, animals probably died of old age even if they weren’t used as food by other animals, but it might be awhile before we know for sure…

SD

Good observation of the sea creatures. According to Genesis 1:30, sea creatures were not included, so their diet could very well have been a predatory one. But green plants were given as food for air and land creatures, other than man. The lion shall eat grass like an ox is a scripture somewhere in Isaiah, I believe.

 

[fms]

In the Garden of Eden, who knows.

Scientifically, dinosaurs existing before man and they died.

Also God threatened death to Adam & Eve should they eat of the forbidden fruit. They must have had a concept of death/known what death was. Question is did they experience it around them?