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How do we explain Neanderthals?

jckstraw72

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Nope. Kids are too smart for that. They are not going to believe that the Earth is 7500 years old.
cause unquestioningly believing what their biology teacher says is like, totally the summit of smart
 
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Kristos

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superfluous - this doesn't "prove" anything on the subject since no one has claimed that Adam, first human was subject to death before the fall.
 
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stephen583

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What we've learned about Neanderthals from their artifacts and their skeletal remains, is that they were surprisingly similar to modern humans. They wore animal skins, used fire and had stone tools and weapons, created cave art, played crude bone flutes, probably had a spoken language (they were according to most anthropologists anatomically capable of speech), apparently traded goods between different clans, and they buried their dead. If I'm not mistaken, science also maintains their brains were either larger than modern man, or around the same size.

The prevailing theory is, that Neanderthals (being much stockier and slower) than modern humans simply were not able to compete with modern hunters. After the last Ice Age, huge slow creatures like Mammoth Elephants were replaced by faster moving, smaller game. Not exactly good targets for Neanderthals wielding large heavy spears. For example, the same decline occurred in the early American Indian population, when buffalo were almost hunted to extinction by the whites.

Nevertheless, something extraordinary and inexplicable did occur around 12,000 years ago when modern man appeared out of nowhere, which science has been unable to thoroughly explain. It took primordeal man hundreds of thousands of years to develop their primitive skills. After the appearance of modern man, there was an explosion of innovations in a very short period of time, a few thousand years... Domestication of animals, agriculture, building dwellings, cities, all of which are described in the Genesis narrative, especially as it relates to the biblical story of Cain and Able, and their descendants.

So IMHO, there is no contradiction between science and religion.. it only exists where fundamentalist "interpretation" is concerned. In fact, the way I see it, science merely confirms the Biblical account of creation. Which is exactly what I should expect to find.
 
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jckstraw72

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superfluous - this doesn't "prove" anything on the subject since no one has claimed that Adam, first human was subject to death before the fall.

this only shows that you're wholly unaware of the issues at hand.
 
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Raggedyman

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I wonder if the Pygmys had died out 2000 years ago and there were only bones left, would we call them sub human.
Tasmanian Aboriginals, totally wiped out, almost Neanderthal in their skull, shoulder, brow ridge and nose.
The Neanderthal was stronger and assuming brain size, much smarter than you and me

Orthodox explanation, they where human, homo sapien sapien, just like you and me
Just a little smarter and stronger
I believe dating methods are all based on false geology, 200 year old false geology
 
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Give that man a cigar!

"Why he's just a Raggedy Man!"



 
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JackRT

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Nevertheless, something extraordinary and inexplicable did occur around 12,000 years ago when modern man appeared out of nowhere, which science has been unable to thoroughly explain.

Modern man dates to about 200,000 YBP perhaps more and emerged into Asia and Europe about 60,000 YBP. They did not inexplicably appear out of nowhere. What did happen around 12,000 YBP is a migration of humans into the Americas.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Hey guys, girls
Thought this was a creation evolution forum, didn't realise Eastern Orthodox, I am sorry to but in, my apologies

No problem ... This thread IS getting too much outside attention, but we do understand how folks end up here without realizing where they are. It was gracious of you to apologize. God be with you!
 
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~Anastasia~

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The "pseudo-science" makes me cringe as well, and for certain segments of Christianity, I agree it is a problem with too loosely connecting their children with the faith. That is something I am extremely familiar with. However, please understand that fundamentalist pseudo-science is NOT what we are discussing, and this is an Orthodox congregational forum. Folks who agree and folks who disagree with you here very likely have a different foundation from which they are discussing, and likely you are actually talking past one another in at least some cases.

What we are discussing is something else entirely. Thank you for understanding.
 
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~Anastasia~

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But it is what we're discussing.
I meant specifically fundamentalist (typically Evangelical) pseudo-science, which is a large body all it's own.

You may indeed be aware of it and knowledgeable about it. But I suspect most Orthodox don't have those arguments in mind at all. It rarely enters any conversation I have with other Orthodox on the topic, regardless of their position.

And I am attempting to keep this discussion according to the rules of this forum, which should be limited to discussion between Orthodox Christians on THEIR views, not someone inserting complaints about (again typically Evangelical) issues on the topic. That just further muddies an already-difficult topic, and belongs in GT rather than TAW.
 
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ArmyMatt

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What in their experience is/was the opposite of evolution?

when St John Chrysostom says the sun was intentionally by God created after vegetation, that is opposite. when St Nektarios of Aegina says evolution is false, that is opposite. when St Paisios of Mt Athos says it is blasphemy, that is opposite.
 
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ArmyMatt

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well, I never said that the sun rotates around the earth, and even if earlier saints did, those that followed the discovery of a heliocentric solar system affirmed it. you see no such thing with evolution.

This is the OPPOSITE of our Tradition! A lover of truth does not obfuscate the issues to serve their own preconceptions.

well, I never said this is anything I came up with, and I used to believe in evolution. so my preconceptions have nothing to do with it. a lover of Truth also knows when you come to know Truth, all opinion ceases. the saints know Christ.

Our hymns and our prayers reject the theory of evolution? Really? Oh wait - you believe the Sun does rotate around the Earth - nevermind.

well, our hymns do pretty clearly refer to Adam in the literal, and death as having entered in when he sinned. they speak nothing of development from single cells into other life forms. and no, I do not believe the Sun rotates around the earth.
 
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