ANewCreature
October 19th, 2007, 09:20 AM
I was talking with a cousin of mine who has a medical degree. He feels it's impossible to think that the final plague could seek out only the firstborn - but he also believes in the Bible. He has a different theory - he feels that the pleague may well have wiped out many more, and that it just happened that all the firstborn were killed.
At the least, I like how he tries to reconcile his faith with science, though God in His omnipotence could do anything He wants with a plague. But, do you think that's possible? I read the part in Exodus where it talks about that, and it doesn't say "only the firstborn of Egypt." but, I noticed something else interesting, too.
It says that there was not a house that was not touched by the plague - someone was dead in every house. (Exodus 12:30) Now, remember what life was like in those days - disease and sickness were quite common. It actually seems a bit coincidental that every house in Egypt, at that time, would have their first born living.
So, did the death angel take the first born, or, if the first born had happened to die before, the oldest then living? I'm sure that verse means it wasn't just children - if a male was the first born and was old enough to have married, he might be the one to die, for instance. But, that just increases the chance that a first born could have died sometime before then.
I think this is where my cousin is getting this theory that it was a large plague that happened to kill all the first born. And, I applaud him for reading his Bible. but, has anyone else heard this theory? I'll admit, I always thought of it as just the first born till recently, but that may be because, as a child in Sunday School, when I would hear a plague killed "the firstborn" my young mind didn't really think about whether there might be others.
At the least, I like how he tries to reconcile his faith with science, though God in His omnipotence could do anything He wants with a plague. But, do you think that's possible? I read the part in Exodus where it talks about that, and it doesn't say "only the firstborn of Egypt." but, I noticed something else interesting, too.
It says that there was not a house that was not touched by the plague - someone was dead in every house. (Exodus 12:30) Now, remember what life was like in those days - disease and sickness were quite common. It actually seems a bit coincidental that every house in Egypt, at that time, would have their first born living.
So, did the death angel take the first born, or, if the first born had happened to die before, the oldest then living? I'm sure that verse means it wasn't just children - if a male was the first born and was old enough to have married, he might be the one to die, for instance. But, that just increases the chance that a first born could have died sometime before then.
I think this is where my cousin is getting this theory that it was a large plague that happened to kill all the first born. And, I applaud him for reading his Bible. but, has anyone else heard this theory? I'll admit, I always thought of it as just the first born till recently, but that may be because, as a child in Sunday School, when I would hear a plague killed "the firstborn" my young mind didn't really think about whether there might be others.