One of the most important questions Christians can ask is this: Was animal death part of God’s original creation, or did it enter the world because of sin?

Recently, on the Creation Today Show, Eric Hovind sat down with apologist Curt Blattman to discuss a debate between William Lane Craig and atheist Alex O’Connor. During this debate, Craig suggested that an evolutionary history filled with animal suffering, predation, disease, and death may have been part of God’s plan to bring about the greatest number of people who would freely choose salvation. So, did the original creation include death and suffering? Is it Biblical?

These are the kinds of questions Curt has spent years thinking about and writing on. During the show, he also discussed his book, Creation and Evolution: The Ongoing Conversation, a collection of 45 short essays examining creation, evolution, biblical authority, and many of the challenges Christians face as they seek to reconcile modern evolutionary ideas with the teachings of Scripture. Several of the topics explored in the book, including death before sin and theistic evolution, became central to our discussion.

Because, after all, if millions of years of animal death existed before Adam sinned, what exactly changed at the Fall? If suffering and death were already part of God’s “very good” creation, then what was the curse? And if death was already present long before mankind rebelled, what exactly did Christ come to defeat?

Scripture repeatedly connects death with sin. Romans 5:12 teaches that death entered the world through sin. The Bible describes creation as being subjected to corruption because of man’s rebellion. The gospel itself is built on the reality that Christ came to conquer the consequences of sin, including death.

During the conversation, Eric and Curt challenged the idea that God would use millions of years of suffering, extinction, and survival of the fittest as His method of creating the world. Does that sound like the God revealed in Scripture? Does that sound like a creation God would call “very good”?

The issue is bigger than the age of the earth. It touches the character of God, the meaning of the Fall, the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice, and the foundation of the gospel itself.

The atheist objection about animal suffering becomes especially powerful against old-earth and evolutionary views because those positions generally require death before sin. Biblical creation offers a different answer. God did not create a world filled with suffering and death. Those realities entered because of man’s rebellion against his Creator.

That does not mean suffering is meaningless today. God can and does use suffering for His glory. The cross itself is the greatest example of God bringing good from evil. But there is a difference between God redeeming suffering in a fallen world and claiming suffering was His original design for creation.

If you’ve never thought through these questions, we encourage you to watch this fascinating discussion. Whether you’re wrestling with the issue yourself or simply want to understand why this debate matters, you’ll come away with a deeper appreciation for the connection between Genesis, the Fall, and the gospel message.

The question is not merely, “How old is the earth?”

The question is, “What kind of world did God create?”

And the answer has profound implications for every Christian.

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