Hi there,
I'm hoping someone can explain this to me so I can understand it better.
God created Adam and Eve, I'm guessing they looked like us? If that's the case where does evolution fit in?
This depends a great deal on how one approaches the story about Adam and Eve; for example, how literal is it?
I would argue that trying to force the story of Adam and Eve into the science of evolution is going to be prone to any variety of possible problems. Instead, I think it far more relevant to ask ourselves what is it that those early chapters of Genesis are telling us, what is their point? And those are, fundamentally, theological matters, rather than scientific ones. As far as scientific observations go, the theory of evolution has the explanatory power to address what we observe in the real world.
But it is understandable to wonder, if there were two people called Adam and Eve, how do they fit into the evolution of hominids. I think the most honest answer would be that we don't know--and that's okay.
What is clear is that human beings really are all related to one another, after all we all share common ancestry as homo sapiens; what the story of our first parents helps illustrate is our universal shared humanity. That universal shared humanity is also a humanity that is broken, fractured, and injured by sin and death; which is why we as fallen creatures inhabiting a fallen world need the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. Who as the second Adam has undone Adam's error, thus bringing renewal, healing, and redemption to humanity, and indeed to all creation. As we look forward to that Day when Christ returns, the dead are raised, and God makes all things new.
If the very first creation looked like we do today, why are there so many different looking people. I don't mean different race, specifically tribal people.
What do you mean "looked like we do today" who is "we"? What do you mean by "tribal people"?
Human beings are diverse and varied in their gene expression because of various mutations and adaptations in human populations as homo sapiens spread across the globe. In regions further away from the equator, human populations tended to develop fairer skin; while in equatorial climes people have darker skin. This has to do with the pigment melanin, melanin makes skin dark. In places where there is more overall exposure to solar radiation--e.g. near or at the equator--a higher concentration of melanin is more beneficial because it protects the skin from said solar radiation; however when there is less overall solar radiation, less melanin can be beneficial because it means absorbing more UV light which is necessary in the production of vitamin D in the body. A side effect of this is that in some populations genetic mutations related to melanin production have also resulted in some populations having less melanin in their hair, which results in various lighter shades from brown, to red hair, to blonde. Likewise it is those same mechanisms that have an effect on eye color.
And that's true of other population features, such as hair texture, prominent features, or any host of other genetic expressions that manifest in populations.
So human beings are diverse because the mechanisms which make evolution happen are always happening.
I'm also just assuming Adam and Eve looked like we do today, if I am right, why did God also create very different looking people like Homo habilis and cavemen etc.
We aren't the only hominids who have existed. Homo habilis is an extinct species of homo; either a direct ancestor of our lineage or an offshoot from a common ancestor.
The term "caveman" is pretty diverse. Homo sapiens in many parts of the world have used caves as shelter, as did other members of the genus homo.
But the reason for the diversity of hominid types we find in the fossil record is because our evolution was long and complex, and is part of the large family tree of all life on this planet.
God is the Maker of all things, seen and unseen, and so the vast and amazing things we observe in the natural world are the product of His design. Evolution, like every other mechanism of the natural world, is part of God's creative order. Why God made the universe to function the way it does isn't a question any person is qualified to answer.
Why did God create the universe with the fundamental forces and elementary particles that He did? Why gravity? Why anything? Ultimately that's something He alone knows. I take comfort in this though, that all that exists isn't an accident, or mere coincidence; for St. Paul says that all things were by by Christ and for Christ. The universe is Christocentric, Jesus is the reason for existence, and everything finds its fullness in Him. And so what God has planned for the universe is beyond comprehension.
-CryptoLutheran
I'm sorry if it's a silly question, I'm very curious though.
Thank you!