Thoughts With Fina - Sin and Death before Adam?

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I am a young earth creationist and am not afraid to admit it. I believe that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days, and that He created all of life in that time as well. It is to me the only logical and explanation of how we all got to be here. But obviously, not all Christians would agree with me.

Recently, I watched a video of a presentation by Francis Collins, who is a founder of the theistic evolution website, BioLogos. Theistic Evolutionists believe that God created all of life using evolution, and just "got it started". While this view presents numerous, undeniable problems, I will only focus on one today, one which I think is the most important aspect of the evolution/creation debate.

While I was watching Dr. Collins' presentation, I was appalled by the twisted theology of sin, death, and humanity he presented. According to him, God started the evolutionary process and sat back, watching eons of death and mutation and "survival of the fittest" before He stepped in and gave "soul life" to apes (humans) who were now somehow "developed enough". These people then rebelled, and they "died" spiritually (not physically, which is against Biblical doctrine).

I am going to try to unpack these theories and show how they fail, not on a scientific level (many better qualified creationists have already done this numerous times) but on a theological level.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Objection #1 - Why Would a Good God Allow So Much Death? 

According to the fairy story presented above, sin didn't occur until eons after the first life. In the Bible, death is clearly presented as a punishment for sin; Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death..." Death was the punishment brought on the whole of creation for Adam and Eve's sin. 

So if death is a punishment for sin, how do you explain eons of death before sin was ever committed? Trillions of deaths are required in any evolutionary model - but how do you explain these deaths from a Christian perspective? Why would the God of the Bible bring death to creatures who had not fallen? 

Perhaps because there never was millions of years before Adam. If all creatures were formed after their kind by God's Word, then there is no need for evolution, no need for death before sin. 

Objection #2 - Why Would God Call His Creation "Very Good"?

We look at our world today and despair. There is so much suffering and pain. Children starving in Africa. Millions of people diagnosed with cancer. Genetic disease runs rife through populations. We would never call this death-filled, groaning world "very good". 

Yet according to Dr. Collins' worldview, that is exactly what must have happened. If death came before Adam, God must have created a world full of suffering, death, and disease and called it "good". What sort of a god would do this? Certainly not the God of the Bible. Jesus wept at the suffering of the people. He healed and gave life. He raised people from the grave. And He ultimately died on a cross to give us eternal life, beyond the pain and fear and death. 

But if God created the world perfect, then of course He would call it "good". It makes sense. A beautiful world, no sin, no suffering, no death. We would call it good, too. 

Objection #3 - If Evolution is True, Humans Aren't Special. 

In the Bible, God made humans special. He spoke all of creation, all of life, into existence, and yet He formed us "from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7). It is clear that humans are different from all of God's other creations. We are made in His Image, and were given "rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Genesis 1:28)

But according to evolution, we are just apes. Relatives of chimpanzees. According to evolution, we're not special. Our intelligence comes from highly evolved brains, nothing more. This is not what the Bible teaches at all. 

In Dr. Collins' view, God gave these man-apes souls after they had "developed enough". But this goes against everything the Bible tells us. We were created specially by God, each one of us. 

Jesus died for us because we are different from animals. We have free will, and we abused it. We have been given freedom to love God or reject Him. Jesus died so that we don't have to. We don't have to take the punishment for our crimes because He did. He loves us. We have souls, and if we believe in Him, we will have eternal life.  

Objection #4 - If the Punishment for Sin is Only Spiritual Death, Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

This is huge. If we were never going to be saved from physical death, why did Jesus have to die a physical death? Why couldn't Jesus atone for our spiritual deaths without dying on the cross? 

Because the wages of sin isn't just spiritual death. It means physical death, too. If you remove this vital component from the Bible, the entire point of Jesus dying for us is also removed. This is why the truth of the Bible is so important to emphasize. 

Objection #5 - Jesus Himself Believed in Literal Creation

One final nail in theistic evolution's coffin - Jesus Himself made it clear that he believed in a literal, six day creation. Numerous times in the New Testament, he talks about Adam and Eve, the creation of the world, and the consequences of sin. 

If nothing else, this is the most important argument against theistic evolution. How can you argue with Jesus's words, when He is the literal Word of God made flesh? 


It is pointless to try to compromise an atheistic worldview with Christianity. God clearly tells us that He created the world in six days, that He made humans in His image, and that He has redeemed us from the consequences of sin. Though we still must die, we can rest assured with the knowledge that we will live in heaven with Him, forever and ever. 

Let me hear your thoughts! What do you think about the creation/evolution debate and its impact on theology? 

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