Abstract:
Sharp teeth were not part of the creation, they were part of the curse.
Adam, Eve and all the animals were created to eat only vegetation (see comments on Genesis 1:29-30). Nothing died prior to the spiritual fall of Adam and Eve (see comments on Genesis 3:19 and 3:21).
Plant "death" is different than animal or human death. Plants eat, drink, grow and respond to stimuli, but they do not have a central nervous system. Nor do they have blood. According to scripture only organisms with blood in them are "alive".
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”
Leviticus 17:11 (King James Version)
Plants do not die in the biblical sense of the word, because they are not "alive" in the biblical sense.
Humans and animals also posses a state of consciousness that plants can not. The Hebrew word "nephesh" is the word used in the Bible for consciousness. Nephesh is only used in application to man and animals. Plants are not conscious creatures.
Sin brought death to man and animals only. Plants do not truly die in the sense that humans and animals do. Though they are alive in a biological sense, they do not have a spirit, consciousness or soul.
The Bible tells us that when he created the world, all animals ate only plants. But when we look at the animals in the world today we see that many of them have teeth that appear to have been designed for eating meat. Why is this so? Did animals with teeth and sabers once use them to eat vegetation? Or did their teeth change. And if so, how and when?
When we look at the teeth of the first humans (Neanderthals) we see that they had larger molars and smaller canine teeth than we do. They had thicker enamel (they would need this if they lived longer than we do), and had well worn third molars, or wisdom teeth.
God changed the diet of humans in Genesis 9 when Noah got off the ark. I believe that one of the reasons God did this was that many of the plants that had nourished man before the flood had now died off (or were not as plentiful after the flood). Plant degeneration would also effect the nutritional value of plants.
The diet and dentition of animals however changed before this as is evident from the fossil record.
If animals were created to eat plants then why do many of them have structures that appear to be created to cause harm? Like Tigers, dogs, Etc.?
None of these harmful things existed prior to the curse God placed on the earth when Adam sinned.
Spiders did not spin webs to catch insects. This is one of the many changes that occurred after "the fall". There is no beneficial use for spider webs when spiders ate only plants.
The spiny puffer (Diodon holocanthus) fish combines pointy spikes with the ability to inflate three times its normal size as a defense mechanism. There would be nothing to defend itself against in a perfect world before sin.
It seems unlikely that God created animals with such harmful structures simply because he foreknew the entrance of sin and death in this world (through Adams sin).
Also the fossils of animals like Heterodontosaurus "Different-tooth Lizard" and simosuchus (sp), australopithecines etc indicate that many features of the masticatory systems did change in animals after the fall. Heterodontosaurus is a stage in between vegetarian and carnivorous.
These were mutational changes occurring only after the fall. This changed benign structures into harmful ones.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 11:6-9 (King James Version)
“And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. “
Hosea 2:18-30 (King James Version)
One can not even imagine how such things would be useful in a sea of fish that never preyed on other fish. Surely the spiny puffer did not balloon up in order to frighten the vegetation God instructed it to eat.
No, these features (spikes etc) occurred after the fall along with a change of diet for this creature (it now eats: mollusks, crabs, etc.).
Dr. Jack Cuozzo explains one of the many ill effects that the original sin had on the earth:
I believe that this is how carnivorous behavior began, with a distortion or breakdown of the genetic messages in tooth and jaw formation. Some herbivorous creatures became carnivorous and were transformed similar to the caterpillar/butterfly transition. Much work needs to be done on this subject, and especially loss of genetic information. Lord willing, this will be my next effort. The radioactive elements probably made an even more disastrous debut on earth as they were spewed forth at the flood when the earth was torn asunder and "all the fountains of the deep burst open"
"Therefore, it is logical to believe that after the Fall, all the harmful isotopes, rays, and gases must have been switched on when God said, "Cursed is the ground because of you" (Gen. 3:17). The restraint in the rocks was removed and the radioactive substances began to open up with a rapid burst, their harmful products possibly still at levels too deep for all of the damaging rays and gases to reach the surface. No doubt, though, some did break through and men and animals began to change immediately post-Fall.
(pg 148 "Buried Alive")
"What happened to the carnivores’ hinge jaws, razor sharp molars, and six-inch fangs? Did they use them to pounce on watermelons? How could they exist on vegetation? Don’t you suppose that they ate straw like an ox and had different masticatory systems, similar to what they will have again and do again in the new
creation described in Isaiah 11:7 and 65:25?"
(Pg 98-99 "Buried Alive" by Dr. Jack Cuozzo)
Question:
"Wouldn't you have to conclude that the body of a tiger is something designed to hunt and
kill antelopes? A machine that can kill and that has to kill to survive? Examples like this one are millions in nature and most of them are worst in cruelty, violence and suffering." Why would God create such vicious animals?
Pierre
24 Sep 2001
All these things are a result of the curse. God's nature is not to kill, or create things that kill. All these things are degenerations of the original complexity in animals.
| Question from a reader: "Could you explain, with examples, how you believe [that animals that are now] predators were once more advanced, and how you believe the changes happened?" From Sam K. 4/22/02 |
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Answer: I believe that all these changes are a result of a loss of genetic information from the original "kind" of animal. If we spent more time studying these things on a genetic level, and less time trying to manipulate bone fragments into looking like ape-men etc. we would have a better understanding of the world in which we live. To go from multi-cusped (?) teeth to single sharp canines is a loss of information. (see video from Ross Bible). |
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Question from a reader: "Nature documentaries regularly talk about how particular predators are peculiarly suited to hunt down their chosen prey (and that prey only); cheetahs are fast enough to catch up with antelopes, on short distances; ant-eaters have a very effectively-shaped tongue and muzzle that lets them devour the contents of ant hills; dolphins are fast and highly maneuverable, and work in groups to surround and engulf vast schools of fish. This, to me, does not seem the action of degenerate (or less complex) animals" From Sam K. 4/22/02 |
| As animals became carnivorous some were (and others became) better adapted to prey on a particular other kind of animal. The tongue of an ant-eater could be the result of natural selection (a biblical concept) those with longer thinner tongues (if that is what is needed to get the ants) would be more likely to reproduce and pass the genes for a long tongue onto their offspring. This is not evolution. They are did not become fish, or birds. And the tongue is still a tongue. |
There is evidence that Piranha were once vegetarian as well. (Piranha by David Catchpoole, Ph.D. Creation Ex Nihilo 22(4):20–23,September–November 2000)
Anytime we see a movie about dinosaurs they are shown in battle with another dinosaur. Why would God create such vicious creatures? There is no question that God created the dinosaurs (Genesis 1, Job 41), he did not create them to be monsters.
![](https://www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/images/trex/trex_running.jpg")
Take the Tyrannosaurus for example. This enormous dinosaur is seen as a savage hunter, ripping apart everything he sees.
But since the bible says that all animals were created to be vegetarian (until death came into the world), many Christians have been confused about the teeth of dinosaurs.
There are some people who believe that T-rex used its strong teeth and powerful jaws to eat vegetation.
And while I am in agreement that dinosaurs were created to eat plants, the teeth of the T-rex that we see in movies were not suitable for eating vegetation.
Did God give them sharp teeth to eat plants?
I don't think so. I believe that the fossilized T-rex skulls we find today have different teeth than the ones God originally gave them.
How did it get such terrible teeth?
"Whether such structures as fangs and claws were part of their original equipment, or were recessive features which only became dominant due to the selection process later, or were mutational features following the Curse, or exactly what, must await further research"
- Dr. Henry Morris
pg. 49 "The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved!"
After the sin of the first man (Adam) death had entered the world for the first time. Everything over which man had dominion over also fell (spiritual death, and physical deterioration). This caused God’s perfect creation to deteriorate.
The January 2003 issue of National Geographic reports that the remains of a dinosaur with "beaver-like incisors" has been found in China's Liaoning Province. The find, named Incisivosaurus gauthieri" belongs to the theropods (a group of meat eating dinosaurs which includes Tyrannosaurus rex). It is clear from finds such as this, and others (such as Heterodontosaurus) that many dinosaurs started as vegetarian, and degenerated enough in their dentition to develop teeth for eating meat.
Question:
"Is this selection, mutation, DETERIORATION an example of evolution?
The Velociraptor has claws for killing. Unless
it evolved.. or [as you say] deteriorated, why would God make something like that?"
Oliver L. 11/1/01
Answer:
No. This is not evolution. These are all evidence of a perfect world in the beginning, and its falling apart when sin entered the world. God did not make Velociraptor (pronounced va-LOSS-ah-RAP-tor) with huge killing claws. These are an effect of the fall, and are due to genetic loss of information.
Question from a reader:
"This suggests to me that a genetic loss of information would leave the resulting creature impoverished, and (presumably) less advanced. Yet the result is a particularly effective killing machine,"
From Sam K. 4/22/02
My response:
The animals in the Garden of Eden were far more complex than our minds could fathom. A degeneration from this perfect state would still be a very complex creature, it does not have to be an impoverished one as you say.
We do not know if all animals degenerated at the same rate, it is my guess that they did not. Each would degenerate in different ways and at different rates.
Below is part of a series of questions on the teeth of dinosaurs and other animals in the Garden of Eden.
Question:
I do not agree with you as there have been found no jaws of animals like lions or any big cats that have molars (yet
they are mentioned as animals of the Bible) - these being absolutely necessary for eating vegetable matter. Also the ancient Saber tooth Tiger had a massive jaw structure totally "designed" for eating meat."
Clyde 10/10/01
My response:
Tigers today have a jaw on a hinge, with razor sharp teeth that pass each other like scissor blades, but if the teeth changed when animals degenerated it is safe to assume the jaw did as well.
Originally they had teeth and jaws which allowed them to chew and grind vegetation.
Also we do not know that remains of these animals have not been found. People are very selective about publishing things that go against what is popularly accepted.
A fact that has not been highly publicized, is that the such a cat has been found. *(more info to be added).
Question:
"Also no T-rex has been found with molars either, it would be impossible for any of these
animals to survive - which they didn't for some reason, this includes lions and tigers and every other carnivore and I emphasize again that no skeletons of these animals have been found with molars which are the teeth structure for eating vegetation. Some T-rex
fossils have been
found with animal remains in their fossilized bones.
My response:
I didn't say that no dinosaurs ever ate meat. I said they did not eat meat before Adam sinned. And they did not originally have teeth for eating meat. They would have had teeth for eating vegetation at this time. After Adam sinned they started to degenerate. We do not know how long this took, but if most of the fossil dinosaurs we find today were formed by the flood, then the carnivorous activity may have developed shortly before the flood occurred. Because we do find flesh eating teeth in these dinosaurs. (Please note that even dinosaurs were taken on the ark. Noah would have taken babies, or possibly even eggs).
If T-rex had teeth for eating vegetation on day 6 when it was created (with man), then man sinned, and animals and man began to degenerate, and one of these degenerations is in the teeth, then there would be a time before the flood when T-rex had molars for grinding vegetation.
By the time the flood came (which preserved the fossils) T-rex might have already developed the large carnivorous teeth, therefore even though veggie-Tyrannosaurus rex’s did exist, they may not have been preserved as fossils because they had degenerated before this time.
Some with molars may have still existed and taken on the ark though.
There have been many animals with molars for chewing vegetation found. many of the dinosaurs had them I believe. Also the australopithecines had them. After sin entered the earth they de-volved into chimps and developed large canines.
"Study of the skull has suggested that Heterodontosaurus (a dinosaur) had the capacity for biting, tearing, and grinding with its three kinds of teeth. On the image of the head above, notice a canine-like tooth at the front of the jaw and more molar-like dentition towards the back. Heterodontosaurus may have had a cheek area to store food, the way some mammals do." (internet source)
This may be evidence of the original vegetarian dinosaur in the middle of degenerating (becoming a carnivore).
Question from a reader:
"If carnivorous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurs didn't develop sharp teeth until after the flood, and if the flood is what fossilized the dinosaurs, then why do the fossils of carnivores have sharp teeth? I would think that if carnivorous dinosaurs didn't develop sharp teeth until after the flood, and if the flood is what created all the fossils, then there wouldn't be any carnivorous dinosaur fossils."
A.G.D. 6/7/01
My response: I answered this above. The T-rex began degenerating after man sinned. This is sometimes called "The fall". Don't get this confused with "the flood".
"The fall" was when their sharp teeth developed, and their arms most likely degenerated. After the flood animals and man continued to degenerate, but at a much faster rate.
| Other evidence that carnivorous reptiles once had teeth for eating vegetation comes from the fossil remains of Simosuchus. |
for more information read:
A Broccoli-Eating Croc?(fossil discovery)
Discover: Sept, 2000
Science 89, #244 pg 1064-6 Mammal dentition in crocodile by Clarke and Jacobs (sp on all)
Nature June 22, 2000 #405 pg 941-44, 6789
Question from a reader: 13 Mar 2002
"Have you ever seen the teeth on a giant Panda? They look like meat eaters, yet they eat LOTS of (bamboo?)"
David D
| My response
There have been many people who have pointed out the teeth of pandas saying that they look vicious, yet they eat vegetation. But those who do this argue from a lack of knowledge. They do not understand the complex structure of both the teeth and the jaws of the panda. |
Pandas have molars for grinding vegetation. The T-rex we see on display do not have this. The teeth we are shown of T-rex could not grind vegetation. Put God gave them plants to eat in the beginning. So sometime after Adam and Eve sinned the teeth of the T-rex and many other animals degenerated, along with their jaws.
I am sure that someone somewhere has found a T-rex with molars for grinding vegetation. But do you think this evidence (evidence that supports the bible and contradicts evolution) would ever be shown to the public?
Here is a comment from a reader:
"Although you say your
explanation is not evolution it clearly is! I don't know what your are trying to pull with this break down of genetic information thing, but if Their DNA was harmed and distorted it would not have caused such perfect balance and order in animals and ecosystems, there are just too many perfect adaptations in animals today, and it would throw all your arguments against evolution out the window. Why not just admit that Herbivorous and carnivorous animals were Gods intention in the beginning?"
sincerely, Jason
My response:
Just like man, Animals were created perfect. After Adam sinned man and animals began to degenerate. Part of this degeneration is seen in the teeth and jaws. The so called "perfection" you say exists in animals and in ecosystems is the result of natural selection. Natural selection is not something that only applies to evolutionary theory. We can apply it to Creation as well. As animals became carnivorous some would be better adapted to this than others. Those that were better fit would survive and reproduce, and pass on those genes.
In a short period of time you could get a nice balance in animals and nature.
The difference in this and in evolution, is that evolution claims that new animals are formed this way. Creation says that new species develop, but not new animals (dinosaurs do not become birds).
There is no need to "admit" God created carnivores. He didn't. If he had done so, scripture would indicate this. What it does tell us is that he Created herbivores (animals that eat plants) and after sin many became carnivorous (ate other animals).
The change in animals from vegetarian to carnivorous is not evolution. It is a loss of genetic information, which is the exact opposite of what evolution requires.
If God created carnivores then the passage that says God will restore the animals, and the lion will once again eat straw (not meat) makes no sense. He is restoring the lion and other carnivores to their original state which was vegetarian. This will no doubt involve changing their dentition and masticatory systems.
In Genesis 9:2 (after the animals came off the ark) God changed the behavior of animals. They were now afraid of humans. This fear would protect both man and animals.
Did you know the Bible says that when Christ returns to earth that animals will once again ONLY eat plants? And that Animal will no longer hurt each other, or us?
Isaiah 65:25 (KJV)
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.."
Isaiah 11:6 (KJV)
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."
This verse only makes sense in the light of Genesis. If animals were not vegetarian originally, how then can they be return to this state as Isaiah 65:25 says?
The Bible has the answer. Animals and man lived together peacefully in the beginning, and will do so again in when Christ returns.
David Catchpoole wrote an article titled "The Lion That Wouldn’t Eat Meat" (published in: Creation Ex Nihilo 22(2):22–23 March–May 2000). In this he describes a lion that would only eat cooked grain, raw eggs and milk. He cites this as evidence that lions once ate only vegetation. While I agree this is a clear biblical teaching, I do not consider this particular lion "Little Tyke" a good example of this.
Little Tyke had the dentition of any other lion alive today. The lions in Eden had large molars for grinding vegetation, and small canine teeth. Little Tyke would not survive in the wild on his diet because he could not obtain these things in the wild. His diet is supplemented to get the things he needs. Also he does not grind the cooked grain, eggs or milk.
We have good fossil evidence of a change in the dentition of many animals. This would have occurred as part of the curse (Genesis 3). The curse not only changed the diet, it changed the teeth in the process of degeneration.
| Smilodon californicus | I have a cast replica of this great specimen (pictured) It has fangs that measure 6 1/2" (with roots, 10") This animal was not created with large sabers. It has teeth that pass each other like scissor blades. There is no lateral(side to side) motion, or grinding of these teeth that would be necessary if it were a vegetarian. Clearly the teeth of this creature degenerated after the fall and curse in Genesis 3. |
| "Couldn't Velociraptor claws also serve another purpose than killing? Such as digging or ripping leaves/vegetation?
from Velma C. 1/12/02 |
| Answer coming soon |
Question:
"I'm a Christian and I do believe in the bible
and what God created. But you say that all animals were meant to vegetarians. Why are their still some vegetarians today and some carnivores?
Julie
Answer:
Sin affected everything differently. Some animals degenerated in different ways and at different rates than others.
Some became carnivorous before others, some became omnivorous and some may never be carnivores.
"You go into quite a treatise on how carnivores degenerated from the fall to the flood, but why? Could not God have simply transformed them when He pronounced the curse on Adam and Eve? Or failing that, just "tweaked" their DNA so all their offspring were born with the appropriate attributes?
If it took hundreds of years for animals to degenerate into carnivores, will it take hundreds of years for them to become vegetarians again after Christ returns? I think not."
No the change back to a vegetarian diet will be miraculous and instant. But this does not preclude that the transformation to carnivorous did not occur over time. Adam did not physically die instantly, it was a process. But the resurrection of his body when Christ returns will not be a process, it will be instant.
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