Hey Nick
I am new at this so bare with me a couple of seconds. I understand that you have read, if not all, a good bit of the Bible. You said that you believe the Bible to be the true word of God.
2Timothy3:16,17 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The first mention of death in the Bible, wait let me back up a little. I know a guy who was discussing clean and unclean animals with me, he pointed out that the Bible never mentioned that man ate meat until after the flood when God gave the animals to Noah for food.
And you say that there is no proof that animals did not die before the fall of man. My point is that we understand all things even Holy Scripture the way it best supports our reasoning. I once heard the Bible defined as B.asic I.nstructions B.efore L.ifes E.nd I would agree with that.
There is not one person alive today (born of a natural father and natural mother, with natural meaning not divine) who has infallible understanding of scripture.
We know the Bible says God is Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit.
O.K. back to the topic, death; the first mention of death in the Bible, (flesh death) is in Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Ephesians 1:7,8 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
I would like to take you back to the very beginning now, back to Genesis 1:1-31 this is obviously to much to type so I will use portions,
1:5b ...And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.
1:8b...And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.
1:13 And there was evening, and there was morning- the third day.
1:19..." " " " " " " " fourth day
1:23..." " " " " " " fifth day
1:31..." " " " " " " sixth day
And Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all His work.
This would have to be a series of bangs would it not?
There is a bumper sticker that reads, "I believe in the big bang theory, God said it, BANG there it was."
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
One more!
1 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
I love it when the Bible speaks to me! God bless!
Jerry, the Berlin Bear