ANALYZING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN EVOLUTION-BASED OR CREATION-BASED DIET: HOW PERSPECTIVE CAN CHANGE THEORY
Recently, I visited the Ark Encounter, a full-sized replica of Noah’s ark, built in the northern part of Kentucky, in the United States. What the builders of the ark emphasized throughout the various displays was that perspective can alter the theories of why things are the way they are in the world. What do I mean by this? If one believes in evolution, the premise for the diversity of the world, how man and animals, and, in fact, all living organisms came to where they are now, is based on genetic mutations and natural selection, which took place over billions of years. Whereas, those whose perspective is based on the Bible creation and the flood will have a different explanation on man’s beginnings, on the diversity of animal life, and how nature has created such formations as canyons, mountains, fossils, etc.
Evolutionists theorize that the homo sapien version of man developed from lower versions over millennia, whereas creationists believe that man was created 6,000 years ago, as a being much superior than we are now, and that we have degraded over that time to something much more inferior. Evolutionists explain such formations as canyons having been developed over millions of years, when large rivers carved out rock which slowly eroded away, leaving deep crevices in the earth. Those who believe in the flood explain formations such as canyons developing rapidly during a time when water covered the earth, creating the layers we see in deep canyons, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. However, what was also emphasized throughout were the inconsistencies in the premises by the evolution theorists which prove that evolution could not have occurred as once presumed.
When we study nature, both evolutionists and creationists both agree that animals change over time. For, example, some birds have thick beaks that make it easy for them to crack tough seeds. If soft seeds became scarce, and only hard seeds remained, the birds with thicker beaks would survive and produce children, with the same genetic predisposition to thicker beaks. But, natural selection only works with what already exists. No amount of genetic manipulation can create something new out of material that did not exist in the first place. In Genesis we read that God created animals “each according to its kind.” While God designed for genetic changes to produce variations within each “kind”, animals reproduce according to their kind rather than changing into different kinds, as evolution would require. Science has yet to prove that genetic changes can occur where one species or kind of animal can mutate to produce a completely different species or kind of animal; however, this is the basis of the evolution theory.
It is the same way when various diets are presented, as the one considered most healthy for mankind. If one looks at evolution, it maps the progression of man’s lifestyle, originally as hunter-gatherers, constantly moving to follow the available food sources, to finally settling into communities based on agriculture. Man’s diet would have originally been based on accessing the food sources available at any given time of the year. Growing his own crops, and having the ability to establish communities, and storing the food grown for the times of the year when sources of food were not readily available, is a much more recent development, according to evolution. However, if we consider the perspective of creation, sinless man was created to eat every herb bearing seed, and fruits of the trees. However, immediately after sin, man was directed to include the herb of the field; he would till the soil and grow his own food. In determining the best diet for man, evolutionists and creationists have a completely different perspective, and the diet that man was designed to eat comes from two
completely different understandings of what the original diet of man contained.
There are many differing opinions, and just as many different variations of the diet that people promote as the one that is the most healthful for mankind. Today, the one that you hear a lot about is the Paleo Diet, the diet of the “cave man”. Why is this diet gaining popularity so quickly? What is the premise behind this diet? The definition of the Paleo Diet is “a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit, and excluding dairy or grain products and processed food.” And, the mantra of this diet is, “If a caveman couldn’t eat it, neither can you.” Proponents of this diet argue that man’s original diet—that of the caveman’s—should be followed even today, as it is the diet that was original to our species.
This diet consisted of food based on what they could hunt or find at any given time of the year—meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional vegetables, and seeds. Sure, some parts of it sound healthy and are based on sound principles—remove all processed foods, remove dairy products. Go back to the diet that man ate before grocery stores were the place where most of us purchase our food, where much of the “food products” are far from their natural state.
But, if we believe in the Bible creation, what do we find in Genesis? What was Cain’s occupation, the first descendent of Adam? He was a farmer! The first ancestor of Adam was already a farmer. God told man he would till the ground to produce food. There was never a time when man was a hunter-gatherer, without the ability to grow his own crops. The Paleo Diet is presuming ancestors of ours that never existed—if you believe in creation—as far back as 150,000 years ago, long before man was created by God. Even by the estimation of those who promote the Paleo Diet, they determine that the agricultural revolution began about 10,000 years ago, still long before man was created. They determine that man existed without eating grains for 140,000 years, which is why the Paleo Diet is the one we should be eating, as that is the original diet of our ancestors. They propose that we learned to exist and thrive as a species without grains, and that is why man exists even to this day. But we know that ultimately this diet is flawed in its whole premise. Our ancestors never lived like cave men. In fact, the interesting thing is that the evolutionist’s timeline as to when men started to farm goes along with the same timeline as the Bible. Unbeknownst to them, they are confirming Bible history of when man became the agriculturists that God guided them to be. However, because this diet mixes in truth with falsehood, it is easy to be fooled. Satan’s attacks on truth are most successful when some truth is contained in it, as it is with the Paleo Diet.
Included in the Paleo Diet and many others that are gaining popularity today is the premise that gluten-free diets are the way to better health. Grain, especially wheat, is considered the cause of many of the health problems facing mankind today. We read of “gluten sensitivity, gluten-free” diets, Celiac disease. They are becoming the focus of the ills affecting mankind. However, in all this, the other unhealthy foods are ignored as contributing to man’s declining health. Food companies are making large profits catering to the gluten-free craze, by manufacturing many food products that satisfy this growing demand. Proponents of the Paleo Diet determine that our current lack of health is because we include grains in our diet, something we were never meant to eat. This flawed premise of the Paleo Diet should then conclude that man’s health began to deteriorate 10,000 years ago when man began to grow crops, not just in recent years. They seem to overlook another possibility, which is that something other than grains is causing all the health problems of today. If they chose to believe in the Bible, and creation, their starting point would have been based on the fact that the original diet of man was not as that of a cave man, but as a vegetarian, eating nuts and seeds, and then, after sin, tilling the ground for their food, which meant introducing foods such as grains.
What is missing from the original diet given to man by God? MEAT. If the authors of the Paleo Diet decided to instead research our ancestor’s diets based on a vegetarian diet, they may find even more health benefits from this diet than theirs. We promote similar causes for ill health, such as processed foods, dairy and sugar. And, from previous articles that have been written in the Messenger, we can determine that wheat is probably not the ticking time bomb, but that we have difficulty processing wheat because of all the other chemicals that have been introduced in our diet, that is destroying our health. Wheat has not changed much for 6,000 years. But, what has changed? Man’s diet from the original diet given by God, which includes meat, dairy, processed foods, sugars, and unhealthy fats.
Knowing that God created man as a perfect being, who then sinned, He still ensured that after sin, man would continue to maintain those laws of health which would benefit him. God does not leave anything to chance. In creating man, He also established man’s diet. Why would God create a perfect being, without ensuring the continued health of this being? He gave man all that he needed to maintain his physical and spiritual health, by setting up guidelines on health, which included sleep (created a day and a night), rest (created the Sabbath), exercise/useful labour (tending to the garden/dominion over animals), and diet (plant life). All these guidelines, established in Eden, continued after man fell into sin. Because the ground would no longer produce its fruits as readily as in Eden, God added to man’s diet. He would be able to till the soil, and produce his own food.
What does the Bible tell us? “For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive, and honey, A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scareness, though shalt not lack any thing in it.” Deuteronomy 8:7–9. Here Moses was reminding the Israelites of God’s promises to them, that He was bringing them to possess the land promised to their fathers, after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. “I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye build not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.” Joshua 24:13. God also gave mankind the early and the latter rain, in order to produce his crops—the early rain to start the seeds germinating, and the latter rain to finally complete the growing of the crops, so that they could be harvested. The Paleo Diet, and others similar to this one, base their ideas on evolution vs creation. Of course the agricultural revolution occurred when it did; it is when man was actually created, and was given grain as part of his diet after sin.
The Paleo Diet is promoting a return to the diet of our ancestors. They claim that because we have become a species dependent on grains, dairy and sugar, our diet is contributing to the increase of the number of diseases in the world.
We as God’s people are also teaching the health benefits of a return to the “natural” diet of our ancestors to lessen disease. But, where we and the current Paleo promoters differ is that our ancestors were not “cave men” but God’s perfect couple, created in Eden, after His own image. God did not give Adam and Eve a diet of meat. Why? God’s perfect world did not contain death, therefore, eating animals was not part of man’s original diet. Did man’s body change so much after he fell into sin, that he now needed a meat diet? We find no proof in the Bible that man, after sin, required meat to maintain his health. At this point, death was the lot of every living thing on this earth, from plants, to animals, to man. God’s people now had to kill an animal of their flock as a sacrifice for sin, so man quickly had to accept that death was the natural consequence of disobedience to God’s law. But still, God did not include meat in man’s diet. Based on Bible knowledge, we did not evolve from cave men. We were not at one point in time, a lower, inferior human. In fact, our ancestors were far superior to us in both physical and mental attributes.
Finally after the flood, God told Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” Many people use these verses to justify the continued eating of meat, to this day. However, many people also choose to forget that the original diet given to man did not include meat; they say that meat must a part of their diet, otherwise they will not be receiving all the nutrients needed by the body, that a plant-based diet is inferior.
Why was meat finally added to man’s diet? “Before this time God had given no permission to eat animal food; but now that every green thing had been destroyed, He allowed them to eat the flesh of the clean beasts that had been preserved in the ark.” –From Eternity Past, p. 63. But, what also happened to man when he began to eat meat? His lifespan decreased from living 900 years and more, to where the average lifespan in our day is 80 years of life or less. Already in David’s time, he said, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Psalm 90:10. Man began to eat meat, but his lifespan and health suffered because of it.
Which perspective do we choose when considering what is a healthy diet? The perspective of the evolutionists, who want us to go back to the original diet of the supposed cave man? Or the perspective of a believer in God and the Bible, and return to the diet given to us in Eden? What we decide is all based on what we believe. Do we leave our lives in the hands of a theory that determines our existence by millions of years of chance and genetic good fortune, or in the belief in a loving, all-powerful Creator, who only wants what is best for us?