Thoughts on Eden

That would be "thoughts on the Garden of Eden." Yeah, just a random thought that popped up in Theology class last week that I've been meaning to get on here to see what you (my wonderful readers) think about it. The basic idea is whether there was death in the Garden before the Fall (you know, Eve and Adam and their apple binge). Now don't get bent out of shape. What I am speaking of is death specifically for plants. Since one of Adam's prescribed roles in the Garden was to "tend and keep", would that not have included working with the plants? And would there have been plants that died (as they do in season and out) - or would they have grown and grown and grown and never died?

And that question begs a second - would the animals that are carnivores now have been carnivores then? Could there have been animal hunters?

The reason I've been wondering this is because the text of scripture is largely silent on this point. The main thing we know is that the wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23) - but the context (in Romans) seems to emphasize more spiritual death (and life in Christ) than physical.

I love seeing people's initial reaction to these two questions (about plant and animal death in the garden), just because it shows how much they might have actually been leaning on an assumed "fact" of no death at all in the Garden. More importantly, I would say, is how there being death in the Garden effects your perspective of salvation and God. If there were (plant and animal) death in the Garden, would that affect your relationship with God or how you perceived him?