Does Neanderthal exist earlier than Adam & Eve?
Science says they are not homo sapien.
Do they have soul? Made in the image of God?
Science says they are not homo sapien.
Do they have soul? Made in the image of God?
Does Neanderthal exist earlier than Adam & Eve?
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DragonFox91
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sandman
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In order to explain this ….one would have to adhere to what is referred to as the gap theory in Gen 1:1&2
I will go briefly through this…..and tie it in with the “possibility”. (the word briefly is relative to what I could have written)
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
We know from the Word that there are three heavens referenced in the Bible. Atmospheric, Celestial and where God, Jesus and the angels reside. Logic (and speculation) dictates that atmospheric and Celestial were what God created.
the Hebrew particle ‘eth before both “the heavens” and “the earth” in verse 1, emphasizes the article “the”, which distinguishes them both from the proceeding event of verse 2.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was = (hayah) without form, and void; = (tohu va bohu) and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:2 While hayah has been translated was in most English versions including the LXX. In the original Hebrew ….there was no verb “to be” (which is translated was) However there is a verb “to become”, which is how this should be translated and is translated in a number of other places. The second was in this verse was added by translators as there was/is no corresponding word in that place.
“And the Earth BECAME without form and void…” Is how the text should read. God had created both the heavens and the earth, but it was the earth that became an empty wasteland. (I am not going into the possible reason for why the earth became that way)
Isa 45:18 states that God created the earth not in vain tohuw (wasteland), but formed it to be inhabited.
Once God creates something it does not need to be created again …He just speaks it into existence. Everything between 1:2 and 1:21 was spoken back into existence because it had already been created in 1:1
From Gen 1:2 to Gen 1:21, God did not create anything again until the 5th day when He created soul life in “great whales and every living creature (chay nephesh) that moveth”…
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living = (chay) creature = (nephesh) that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
The word living is the Hebrew word “chay” meaning life or living or moving. And the word translated creature is the Hebrew word “nephesh” which is soul………….God tells us in Leviticus what/where the soul is. Lev 17:11
For the life = (nephesh = soul) "of the flesh is in the blood": and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Sorry for the long explanation …but it was necessary for this… which is speculation ….but possible.
We do not know the time frame between verses 1:1 and 1:2. It could have been 6 or possibly 15 or 20 thousand years...maybe more.
In that time frame is the “possibility” of Paleolithic man and creatures. But we can unequivocally draw the conclusion that whatever it was that mobilized or gave life to the Paleolithic man and creatures was not the same as what gives us life (soul life). Something mobilized them… but not the soul life blood that God created in animals first (Gen 1:21) and into humans in Gen 2:7. If it was the same God would not have needed to create it again.
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My own personal theory and only a theory, is they existed along side the Homo Sapiens along with several other humanoid species. I believe only Adam and Eve were made in the image of God who were called " sons of God". Then they intermingled with the daughters of men , other species of humans, and became corrupt. Then God destroyed the corruption in the flood. I also believe Cain was the first to corrupt the lineage of God's sons because he was banished and found a wife among the daughters of men. I dont think it was a sister, this would mean she was banished as well. This seems much more probable than angels mating with humans.
REMINDER: This is purely speculative.
Blessings
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ViaCrucis
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That depends on how one reconciles Adam and Eve with the hominid family tree; or whether they try to reconcile them at all. As some Christians will straight up deny the existence of a hominid family tree altogether; and some Christians might not view Adam and Eve as literal-historical people; representing two polarizing view points. Most Christians, however, are going to be somewhere in the middle of those two view points--but how they approach the subject may vary quite a bit.
If Adam and Eve are ancestral to all or most of all in the genus Homo, then no, neanderthals wouldn't pre-date Adam and Eve. If Adam and Eve are only ancestral to Homo sapiens, then possibly yes--depending on whether neanderthals are a sub-species of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens neanderthalis) or a sister-species to Homo sapiens (Homo neanderthalis). Modern humans and neanderthals were close enough that they could produce viable offspring--many people today have neanderthal DNA. Which means either a sub-species or a very closely related sister-species.
Those who believe in a Young Earth Creationist view would likely argue that neanderthals are just another group of humans, not a different sub-species or species at all, since there would be a rejection of human evolution altogether. In which case, again, Adam and Eve would be ancestral to them.
The best answer, I think, is that there's no way to actually say anything positively at all. All answers are going to be guesses, not actually answers.
I don't know how neanderthals relate to Homo sapiens, and I don't know how Adam and Eve relate to neanderthals or other hominids.
But I do believe that God alone is the Giver of life from whom all living things have the breath of life, the Maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen. And I believe that it is from God alone that we have our rational soul, our spiritual life, our reason, and that we bear the Divine Image because God gave us and made us in His image. And I believe that this Divine Image has been injured, marred, and broken by the Fall, through the disobedience of Adam sin and death have become a plague, and we all suffer from it. We are born into this world with the guilt of sin hanging over us and we need the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation and freedom that comes from Him alone who undoes and breaks Adam's curse for us.
How everything fits together I don't know. But neither does it matter for confessing the faith:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was burried. He descended into hell, He rose on the third day, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.
-CryptoLutheran
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Christians adhere to the Scriptural account of creation...which leaves no room for creature which exist before Adam and Eve...science is sometimes only so-called science according to Scripture itself.
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Homo neanderthalences were fully human* and there are still traces of their DNA in our human gene pool.
www.science.org
*Or they would not have produced fertile young when they mated with Homo sapiens.
Science | AAAS
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Lost Witness
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What physical differences separate the Neanderthal from Modern day Human Beings?
Could it maybe be possible that they were the people that existed before the great flood?
Could it maybe be possible that they were the people that existed before the great flood?
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The creation story in Genesis can set the starting point from Adam with God's image, God may created prehistoric man-like creatures for testing purposes.
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Diamond7
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Yes, Neanderthal existed before Adam. Adam was the first to have "nephesh" the breath of life. Adam was a food producer. The beginning of civilization.
Genesis 2:7
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The term for the modern human race is homo sapiens, not homosexual sapien, just fyi. And different human populations have been shown to have variable amounts of Neanderthal DNA…they were extremely close to us.
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Diamond7
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The first word in the Bible is the beginning. We are told that God knows the end from the beginning. He had all of history figured out from the beginning. Even at conception, we have all of our gifts, talents, and abilities. God writes the book of our life at or before our conception. We use what we have to bring Him Praise, Honor & Glory.
Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.Isaiah 46:10
I declare the end from the beginning and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.'
Jeremiah 1:12
“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”
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GenemZ
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Its the soul that was created in the image of God. Our body is only a biological vehicle for the soul to maneuver and communicate while within the material creation. In Genesis 1:27-28 male and female was instantly created [bara] 'out from nothing.' In Genesis 2:7 the body was not 'bara.' The body was not created 'out from nothing.' Incontrast. the body was 'molded and formed' [jatsar] from what had already been created - the elements of the earth.
The Neanderthal man's soul was not created in God's image. Animals also have souls. Only man's soul was created in God's image.
Jeremiah alludes to what might be the Neanderthal when he used the Hebrew term describing a generic humanoid being that God wiped out along with the prehistoric creation.
Interesting to note. Jeremiah in warning the rebellious Jews of the fierce judgment coming from God, quoted Genesis 1:2 in the Hebrew!
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty;
and at the heavens,
and their light was gone. (from Genesis 1:2 )
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;
all the hills were swaying.
25 I looked, and there were no people;
(Jeremiah used a Hebrew generic term for man that could be rendered 'humanoid.' )
every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
all its towns lay in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
27 This is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be ruined,
though I will not destroy it completely.
Jeremiah 4:23-27
Note how Jeremiah needed to differentiate between Genesis 1:2 and the judgement that was to come to the rebellious Jews? He quoted Genesis 1:2 in his prophetic warning of judgment for good reason!
For the Jews understood that Genesis 1:2 in the Hebrew spoke of the utter destruction and ruin of the earth.
That is why Jeremiah was careful to tell them that unlike Genesis 1:2? They would not be 'completely destroyed.'
Note that in verse 27!
"Formless and void" is a lame translation. One that is devoid of the intensity it expresses to those who know Hebrew.
Its why Jeremiah was careful when quoting Genesis 1:2.. For to take it complete would mean that Jews were heading for extinction!
grace and peace ............
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Gen 1:
20 God said, “Let the waters be filled with living nephesh and let birds fly above the earth in the firmament of the heavens.”
21 God created the great sea creatures and all the other nephesh that fill the waters, each according to its kind, and all the birds that fly in the sky, each according to its kind.
24 God said, “Let the earth bring forth living nephesh each according to its kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
30 And I give all green plants to every wild animal and to all the birds of the air and to all nephesh that move upon the surface of the earth and that have the breath of life in them.” And it was so.
God created all animals w/ nephesh except the Neanderthal?!!! They were zombies?!!!
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