If we didn't eat meat before the flood and Noah's Ark, why do carnivores have flesh tearing teeth?

Question

I mean no disrespect, I just want to know how this is explained. I guess what Im wondering is God wouldn't give those big animals huge teeth obviously meant to rip through flesh just to eat vegetables. So undeniably, those same animals do in fact have teeth that are obviously not for eating vegetables. So if these teeth developed after the flood then does that not support evolution?

Well, I personally do not believe the Bible...I just wanted to know from a Christian what was said about this discrepancy.

Um....adaptation? no i think its evolution....just changing the words doesn't answer my question

Answer 1

congrats...you are well on your way to becoming agnostic

Answer 2

I don't know if they were flesh tearing teeth since I've never seen one of these "carnivores" eat plants prior to the fall of man. But, I do know that there are many plants that exist and many of them didn't exist after the flood. If a dinosaur for instance had huge teeth that were made for instance to devour and entire bush of a specific kind that was for instance a tough one - I would think that general "plant eating" teeth wouldn't have been enough. That would explain for instance why many dinosaurs may not have survived the flood. Animals started eating other animals after the fall of man, not after the flood. There is no evidence that dinosaurs for instance evolved teeth at any point in time. There is no evidence that any animal has evolved teeth. However, evolution is not the same thing as the slight variations that occur within a species. Evolution is a change that creates a whole new species. There is no real proof or evidence for evolution since no one has ever seen it happen. Evolution is one theory for the explanation of certain things - not a proven fact. However, a tigers teeth for instance could have developed a variation that would make meat eating easier. God in His sovereignty may have given the animals teeth that were helpful to the plants they ate before the fall and would also serve them well as carnivores later on. Before you bring the flood and Noah's ark into it - you'd do well to study the bible a bit more to understand the order of events that have been laid out. Animals did not start eating animals after the flood - it was after the fall of man - which very soon after the earth was created.

Answer 3

One, I don't believe the Bible was meant to be a historical or scientific text. It's purpose was a religious message, not factual accuracy. Two, I doubt that even following the Bible, everyone was vegetarian before the flood. The word 'meat' in Gen 1:29 may have referred to food in general - this has been a common use of the word for hundreds of years - but even if it's not, I think it only applied before banishment from the Garden. Adam and Eve wore animal skins upon leaving the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:21), and Abel sacrificed sheep to the Lord (Gen 4:4). According to Jewish tradition, you would eat part of the sacrifice, so it seems unlikely that even Abel was vegetarian. Jabal (of Gen 4:20) was the father of those "such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." If you live in a tent, you're a nomad and don't farm. Your main source of food would have to be the cattle. And then if you REALLY want to take a hard-core fundamentalist stance, you could say that when God realized people would be eating meat, he gave them canines. Boom, just like that. No evolution needed. After all, with God anything is possible.

Answer 4

"Were dinosaurs meat-eaters? According to the Bible, all animals were originally plant eaters (Gen. 1:30), not carnivores. You see, the Bible clearly teaches there was no physical death, disease, or bloodshed of the ‘nephesh’ creatures before Adam. Therefore, the imagined geological ages of millions of years are a man-made myth. Actually, by following the dates provided in the Bible, the date for Creation must be under 7,000 years, not millions or billions of years. Therefore, even the menacing T-Rex was meant to eat plants at the beginning. Although he had very sharp teeth, a lot of animals who have sharp teeth today are not carnivores, but use them to open fruit and eat vegetables. Having sharp teeth has nothing to do with an animal being a meat-eater or not."

Answer 5

It was only people who weren't allowed to eat meat before the flood. Genesis 9:3 says - "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herb have I given you all thing."

All animals were herbivores before the fall of man. There was no death before Adam sinned and after he sinned death enterd the world (see Romans 5:12). Animals couldn't eat each other because that would mean death. They were eating each other from the fall of man until the flood and after it.

Why the big teeth? I don't know, but animals can still eat plants with "meat" teeth. The Panda is a good example of this, they eat very little meat and lots of bamboo

Answer 6

No, because man also has teeth for tearing and chewing and before the flood all he ate was vegetables. Before Adam sinned everything on the earth was herbivore. You will still see evidence of it in nature. For example, there are mosqitoes that only drink fruit juice. Or sometimes lions will eat herbs and grass. I have also seen common house cats eat grass. The reason animals went from herbivores to carnivores is because of Adam's sin. Because Adam and Eve were placed in dominion over everything, their authority affected everything under them including animals. Once they sinned, the sin nature of man fell upon animals and changed their nature. For instance, since man is blood thirsty, so shall some of the animals be. However, this is too long to go into and explain, but I hope you got the point. If you look hard of enough you will see the reflection of sinful man in the nature of animals.

Answer 7

Get your question straight. Define "we"? Mammals? Just human animals?? If you're including humans, you'd be wrong. We are omnivores. And most mammals are herbivores. So what is your question now? Are you saying that carnivores haven't always eaten meat?

Understand this...the Bible is a wonderful semi-accurate historical account that was written by flawed and biased men. It is full of mistakes, injustice and contradictions. Don't take it so literally.

There is no way to prove either Evolution or Creationism. And in the end, does it matter? Suit yourself.

Answer 8

what r u talking about? Animals ate meat before the flood and so did people!

No offense taken from your question because you were ill informed. People and animals have been eating meat from the beginning of time- the Bible doesnt say they didnt. There were some forbidden meats, but there were also other meats that were ok.

Also, the meat situation didnt change atthe time of Noah, it changed at the time of Jesus- but in my studying, I am wondering if even that was a misunderstanding. I am wondering if we are still not supposed to be eating those forbidden meats because when Jesus spoke of the stomach purifying our food, they were talking about dirty hands, not the meal itself.

Answer 9

Who says that animals didn't eat meat before the flood? It might well be that animals went carnivorous immediately after the world was cursed on account of the Fall of Man.

Answer 10

What makes you think that those animals didn't eat meat before they got on Noah's ark? And what makes you think man didn't eat meat before Noah's ark? There's simply no evidence to suggest that we didn't.

In fact, we know from the Noah account that God not only told Noah to take two of each kind of animal on the ark, one male, one female, we also know from the account of Noah that God also told Noah to bring seven of certain species.

Besides, is it really that unthinkable that for the time that the animals were on the boat that they weren't hybernating?

Answer 11

That's where your problem with the story lies. Why not focus on the more obvious problems like how the guy sailed around before the flood collecting one male and female of every animal and managed to keep them all on a boat alive together? Must of been fun checking the privates of all those animals.