Science in the Bible – Father Adam

Posted by: BibleScienceGuy | June 13, 2018

Science in the Bible – Father Adam

(5 Minute Read)

Image compliments of AiG illustrator Dan Lietha.

Are humans actually made out of dirt? Who could believe that?

Mud-man Adam

Researchers have learned that the human body contains 60 different chemical elements from the periodic table. Today we know that at least 29 of these (and maybe more) are necessary for healthy life.

Over 98% of the mass of the human body, on average, is made up of six elements: oxygen (65%), carbon (18.5%), hydrogen (9.5%), nitrogen (3.2%), calcium (1.5%), and phosphorus (1%). About 0.85% of the mass of the human body is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All these 11 elements plus at least another 18 trace elements are necessary for healthy life.

All these elements of the human body are found in the earth. Should this be surprising?

No, not at all.

Genesis records that God, the Great Creator, personally created the first man from dirt and breathed life into the human form He had fashioned in His own image.
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
“By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19, Yahweh speaking to Adam after he sinned)

From mud to man by God’s own hand,
Adam was the first clay animation.

God aptly named the first man Adam, meaning “earth.”

From mud to man by God’s own hand, Adam was the first clay animation.

Since Adam was created out of dirt, we would expect the chemical elements of his body to be found in the earth, just as today’s researchers have found to be true.

Adam’s Intellect

How intelligent was the first man?

Evolutionists claim humans evolved from ape-like creatures over millions of years. Early men were supposedly wandering hunters — primitive, grunting savages. The Bible debunks this false idea.

No animals were made in God’s image. Among animals no helper was found for Adam. Therefore Adam must have been profoundly different from animals. Adam did not evolve from ape-like creatures. Scripture makes a vivid distinction between man and the rest of creation which God commanded man to rule.

Human traits are often explained on the basis of evolution’s imagined hunter forebears. But not till after the Flood did God give permission to hunt and kill for food — more than 1600 years after Creation. The “oldest profession” is farming, contrary to a popular misconception. Adam and his first two sons were farmers, not hunters.

Far from being an inarticulate brute, the first man demonstrated stunning mental prowess by naming the animals on Day 6 all by himself — Eve had not yet been created. Some consider this blatant Biblical error, since they assume the task is impossible to do in a day. But Adam only named “cattle, birds of the sky, and beasts of the field” that God brought to him (Genesis 2:19-20). No fish, insects, or amphibians were named, and he only named kinds, not today’s numerous species descended from original kinds. So Adam probably named fewer than a thousand creatures — certainly a daunting task, but easily doable for Adam in no more than half a day.

Could you make up hundreds of new words in a single day to name animals? Adam demonstrated highly developed intellectual and linguistic skills from the very beginning.

Adam Named the Animals

Consider innovative thinkers like Aristotle, mathematical geniuses like Newton and Gauss, musical prodigies like Mozart, artists like Michelangelo. Every gene for all these amazing talents came from Adam. Adam and his early descendants likely displayed far greater capabilities. The historical record in Genesis reveals men who rapidly developed agriculture, metallurgy, and musical instruments as they built advanced civilizations. They constructed cities, ships, and skyscrapers.

How would Leonardo da Vinci look next to Adam? One of the most gifted men of the last millennium, this artist, inventor, and engineer would seem a retarded imbecile compared to Adam. After six sin-ravaged millennia of degeneration, it is impossible to imagine how superlative Adam was before the cumulative damages of sin and genetic defects.

Who was the smartest man who ever lived? Probably the mud-man, Farmer Adam.

Adam’s Lifespan

How long did Adam live? Did he really live for almost 1,000 years?

Genesis reports that Adam lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:3-5), to within about a century of Noah’s birth. How is this possible?

Before Noah’s Flood, the young earth was a very different place. It is impossible to imagine now what the environment was like then. For example, “waters above the expanse” (Genesis 1:7) may have significantly blocked cosmic radiation, a major contributor to senescence. Nobody knows how God modified human biochemistry to gradually shorten life spans when executing the judgment of death for sin.

Early in human history, long life spans let men accumulate individual knowledge for centuries. The snowballing result helped jump-start civilization.

Men yearn for a “fountain of youth” to extend life. But with long life spans, wickedness tends to dominate goodness. For a documented historical example, consider the sin-soaked pre-Flood world when Noah alone was righteous. Evil had almost stamped out righteousness, and probably would have succeeded apart from the intervening judgment of God. Thus it is not necessarily better for men to live longer. The shorter life spans God eventually imposed do limit the cumulative effects of sin.

Genesis genealogies give 900-year ages for antediluvian patriarchs. These records show that Adam to Abraham covered about 2,000 years. Abraham to Christ was about 2,000 years. Adding 2,000 years from Christ to the present totals about 6,000 years since creation. If you cannot trust the Bible for simple historical information like ages, how can you trust it for reliable information about the far more complex issue of rescue from sin and death?

Why Did Adam Die?

Sin entered the world through Adam. The human race fell when Adam sinned, not Eve. Because the first Adam sinned, he and all his offspring needed the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

Adam’s sin produced death. Christ’s obedience conquered death and produced life.

Theistic evolutionists argue that death was part of God’s method of developing creation. But then how could death be the consequence of Adam’s sin? Furthermore, why did the last Adam have to die? If, as evolutionists say, death was not caused by sin, then resolving the sin problem will not affect death. But Scripture links death to sin (By one man sin entered the world and death through sin. Romans 5:12) and teaches that Christ’s death and resurrection atoned for sin, conquering death. Evolutionism assaults the central message of Scripture.

Man is the crown of creation (Psalm 8:5-6). Adam was the first human, the first husband, the first father. That Adam succumbed to sin. The last Adam conquered sin.

Science Catches Up to the Bible

Thousands of years ago, the Genesis record testified to the formation of the first man Adam out of earth. Today we know that the chemical elements of the human body come from the earth.

Although the Bible is not primarily a science textbook, it does contain many scientific truths like this and like those covered in this Science in the Bible series, truths that long pre-date their discovery by today’s scientists. This is strong evidence of divine authorship of the Bible.

Questions to Ponder

1. This Sunday June 17 is Father’s Day. Who can you encourage for exemplifying Scripture’s leadership model for godly husbands and fathers (Ephesians 5:23-6:4)?
2. Try to think up 10 new words to appropriately rename these 10 common animals: dog, cat, cow, sheep, rabbit, squirrel, duck, horse, elephant, eagle. How difficult did you find it? What appreciation does this task give you for Adam’s intellect?
3. Why do most people think man today is smarter than early man? Is it connected to the evolutionary mindset under which most people live?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Read the sequel:
33. Science in the Bible – Adam’s Rib

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday June 13, 2018 A.D.

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)