Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground -everything that has the breath of life in it- I give every green plant for food' And it was so. "
According to James Stambaugh of the Institute of Creation Research, these versus imply that at the time of creation, no carnivorous animals existed. Actually, the animals existed, but they weren't carnivores yet. Stambaugh uses that interesting premise as actual proof against theistic evolution. He states in an ICR Impact pamphlet;
"This [the biblical concept that all animals were herbivores prior to the fall] raises an interesting for the evolutionist. He must believe that God intended man and animals to be carnivorous, even though God's words are very clear (Gensis 1:29). He must in all reality, call God a liar; he must say that God did not meant what He said. If men and animals were vegetarian, then the possibility of death in the original creation becomes remote."
Wow, harsh words for theistic evolutionists! If you don't believe that if even animals with very specialized physilogies meant to kill and consume other animals, such as Great White Sharks, poisonous snakes, or any other animal that has specialized features for predation, then you're calling God a liar. Simple as that. It's interesting to note that Stambaugh doesn't bother to explain how modern day carnivores like sharks or lions actually ate as herbivores and survived despite having absolutely no physiology to do so. But that's incidental, because after all, the Bible is "clear" that all animals were herbivores at some point and that must be the case because the Bible says so.
I actually agree with Stambaugh's assertion that the Bible clearly means that no animals died prior to the fall of man, but unlike him I just conclude that the Bible is wrong to begin with, and that passage contradicts empirical evidence and even common sense. It's amazing the lengths of mental and logical gymnastics fundamentalist Christians will do to maintain a literal interpretation of the Bible.
