One day I was contemplating the ‘problem’ of pre-humans existing before true humans. It seemed strange to me that God would have had Homo sapiens exist from about 200 – 70 kya without being spiritual creatures having eternal souls. So, I thought about it for a while, trying to discern what God’s purpose in that would have been. The following is the result of my contemplations. I believe there are six good reasons why God might not have immediately made Adam and Eve as soon as Homo sapiens came into existence.
This, of course, is all predicated upon my theory of created evolution and how Adam was born of purely animal Homo sapiens that had no eternal souls (what I call pre-humans). At some point, my theory goes, Adam was given an immortal spirit that was made in God’s image, at which point he became the first true human. The second human, Eve, was supernaturally formed from Adam’s rib as the Bible clearly teaches.
1) There are limitations to the rate of evolution, and God was allowing Homo sapiens to evolve to 'perfection' before giving a spirit.
It is quite possible that even though Homo sapiens existed since around 200 – 120 kya, their physical makeup was not yet fully evolved at first for God to place a human spirit within them. God would have wanted all the human genes to become activated before Adam was made. This would have included genes related to brain development and longevity and other non-external changes, likely. It is quite likely that evolution, as it was designed, can only operate so fast and environmental factors are needed to trigger certain dormant genes to become active.
Thus, though Homo sapiens may have looked very human-like some 150 kya, they were probably far different in behavior and mental capacity.
2) God wanted the other animals to adapt to the presence of the human figure and to generally become afraid of them.
It is likely that had Adam and Eve been drastically different in appearance from all other creatures, the animals would have had no time to adapt to the existence of humans. Thus, for some 100,000 years the animals were given time to adjust to the human form and to learn to begin to fear Homo sapiens. Given that Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers for this time period, it makes sense that the animals would have learned to be wary of them. Perhaps there were also other ways in which the other animals needed to learn to adapt to them, as well.
3) God wanted human life-spans to decrease later when humans intermarried with the spiritless Homo sapiens that still lived in Africa and probably elsewhere.
Adam and his descendants were able to live long periods of time. This is likely because of a dormant genetic program that got activated in Adam. All previous pre-human Homo sapiens, it appears from the evidence, were unable to live such long lives. However, as we have written about in a previous post, the genetic code of the human race became corrupted and humans began to live shorter and shorter lives. It is my belief that the answer as to why this happened is that humans and pre-humans interbred/intermarried as the Bible alludes to in Genesis 6.
Thus, the pre-humans were a means by which God could judge humans and shorten their lifespans. It is reasonable that this was an intentional plan of God’s.
4) God wanted to provide a way for the "sons of God" (fallen angels) to try to corrupt humanity, such that the glory of God would be exulted through it.
This is an extension of the previous point. Genesis 6 indicates that fallen angels came down and somehow married women. This happened likely through the pre-humans and possibly Neanderthals to a lesser degree. The fallen angels probably possessed (took control of) these pre-humans and caused interbreeding to happen with humans. This was partly to try to corrupt humanity, undoubtedly.
God seems to allow demons to try to threaten His plans and eternal purposes. Demons are around for a purpose, and one of those purposes is to glorify God by showing that God’s councils are unassailable. God gets glory in showing that He can always out-smart His enemies. Like with Job in the Bible, God allowed the devil to attack Job in order to show that His servant was unfailingly spiritually sustained and upheld by Him. This brought glory to God.
So, it is reasonable that God intentionally provided a means by which the devil could try to corrupt humanity—both spiritually and physically—and prevent the Messiah from coming. Before the Flood, much corrupting of humanity did happen, and even after the Flood humanity did seem to suffer serious genetic corruption. However, I suspect that much of the corruption that happened after the Tower of Babel was from genetic mutations rather than interbreeding with pre-human creatures; and, most of the interbreeding with pre-humans was likely not because of fallen angels any longer, since the New Testament indicates that the fallen angels before Noah’s Flood were severely judged, causing the demons to fear trying it again. Even if humans were genetically polluted by the pre-humans after the Flood, then, they were not ruined by the introduction of a serious demonic taint, as before the Flood. (I suspect that God even disallowed demonic possession of pre-humans after the Flood.)
5) The presence of spiritless Homo sapiens has provided a strong demonstration that we are gifted to be uniquely spiritual and self-aware to a new level.
Perhaps the great contrast between us humans and these ‘pre-humans’ that existed as early as 200 kya provides a striking lesson of how important our spirituality, heightened self-awareness, and increased sociality are in making us unique from the animals. Homo sapiens of these early prehistoric times were hard to distinguish from modern humans, but behaviorally they were likely little different from upright-walking apes—though perhaps a bit more intelligent. The big, critical difference we discern is that these early pre-humans were spiritless creatures who could not know God. They did not understand the concept of God, nor did they care to know Him. There is no evidence they prayed, built temples, made alters, or considered the possibility that God exists. We should feel overwhelmingly blessed to know God, for that is the greatest gift of all and what sets us apart most from the animals!
6) God wanted human diseases and pests to evolve as punishments for after Man became sinful and deserved those punishments.
This certainly will be a more controversial answer to the question. However, it is apparent to me that God had prepared the world for the Fall of Adam and Eve by making the world a place that would have disasters, death of animals, diseases, and many unpleasant conditions. It is no stretch, then, to say that God might have intended on allowing human viruses and pests (e.g. lice) to evolve before Adam and Eve were formed. To do this, He could have allowed such diseases and pests to adapt first to pre-human Homo sapiens. This would have set the stage for the Fall of Man that God knew was going to happen rather quickly after making Adam and Eve.
Does this seem cruel? It isn’t. God judged Adam and Eve by sending them out of the Garden of Eden and keeping them from living forever. This resulted in their deaths. He also prepared a groaning world (Rom 8:22) for them, partly as judgment, complete with thorns and thistles and diseases and disasters. These were deserved punishments for their sin. God knows the future and He prepares perfectly for it.
This, of course, is all predicated upon my theory of created evolution and how Adam was born of purely animal Homo sapiens that had no eternal souls (what I call pre-humans). At some point, my theory goes, Adam was given an immortal spirit that was made in God’s image, at which point he became the first true human. The second human, Eve, was supernaturally formed from Adam’s rib as the Bible clearly teaches.
1) There are limitations to the rate of evolution, and God was allowing Homo sapiens to evolve to 'perfection' before giving a spirit.
It is quite possible that even though Homo sapiens existed since around 200 – 120 kya, their physical makeup was not yet fully evolved at first for God to place a human spirit within them. God would have wanted all the human genes to become activated before Adam was made. This would have included genes related to brain development and longevity and other non-external changes, likely. It is quite likely that evolution, as it was designed, can only operate so fast and environmental factors are needed to trigger certain dormant genes to become active.
Thus, though Homo sapiens may have looked very human-like some 150 kya, they were probably far different in behavior and mental capacity.
2) God wanted the other animals to adapt to the presence of the human figure and to generally become afraid of them.
It is likely that had Adam and Eve been drastically different in appearance from all other creatures, the animals would have had no time to adapt to the existence of humans. Thus, for some 100,000 years the animals were given time to adjust to the human form and to learn to begin to fear Homo sapiens. Given that Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers for this time period, it makes sense that the animals would have learned to be wary of them. Perhaps there were also other ways in which the other animals needed to learn to adapt to them, as well.
3) God wanted human life-spans to decrease later when humans intermarried with the spiritless Homo sapiens that still lived in Africa and probably elsewhere.
Adam and his descendants were able to live long periods of time. This is likely because of a dormant genetic program that got activated in Adam. All previous pre-human Homo sapiens, it appears from the evidence, were unable to live such long lives. However, as we have written about in a previous post, the genetic code of the human race became corrupted and humans began to live shorter and shorter lives. It is my belief that the answer as to why this happened is that humans and pre-humans interbred/intermarried as the Bible alludes to in Genesis 6.
Thus, the pre-humans were a means by which God could judge humans and shorten their lifespans. It is reasonable that this was an intentional plan of God’s.
4) God wanted to provide a way for the "sons of God" (fallen angels) to try to corrupt humanity, such that the glory of God would be exulted through it.
This is an extension of the previous point. Genesis 6 indicates that fallen angels came down and somehow married women. This happened likely through the pre-humans and possibly Neanderthals to a lesser degree. The fallen angels probably possessed (took control of) these pre-humans and caused interbreeding to happen with humans. This was partly to try to corrupt humanity, undoubtedly.
God seems to allow demons to try to threaten His plans and eternal purposes. Demons are around for a purpose, and one of those purposes is to glorify God by showing that God’s councils are unassailable. God gets glory in showing that He can always out-smart His enemies. Like with Job in the Bible, God allowed the devil to attack Job in order to show that His servant was unfailingly spiritually sustained and upheld by Him. This brought glory to God.
So, it is reasonable that God intentionally provided a means by which the devil could try to corrupt humanity—both spiritually and physically—and prevent the Messiah from coming. Before the Flood, much corrupting of humanity did happen, and even after the Flood humanity did seem to suffer serious genetic corruption. However, I suspect that much of the corruption that happened after the Tower of Babel was from genetic mutations rather than interbreeding with pre-human creatures; and, most of the interbreeding with pre-humans was likely not because of fallen angels any longer, since the New Testament indicates that the fallen angels before Noah’s Flood were severely judged, causing the demons to fear trying it again. Even if humans were genetically polluted by the pre-humans after the Flood, then, they were not ruined by the introduction of a serious demonic taint, as before the Flood. (I suspect that God even disallowed demonic possession of pre-humans after the Flood.)
5) The presence of spiritless Homo sapiens has provided a strong demonstration that we are gifted to be uniquely spiritual and self-aware to a new level.
Perhaps the great contrast between us humans and these ‘pre-humans’ that existed as early as 200 kya provides a striking lesson of how important our spirituality, heightened self-awareness, and increased sociality are in making us unique from the animals. Homo sapiens of these early prehistoric times were hard to distinguish from modern humans, but behaviorally they were likely little different from upright-walking apes—though perhaps a bit more intelligent. The big, critical difference we discern is that these early pre-humans were spiritless creatures who could not know God. They did not understand the concept of God, nor did they care to know Him. There is no evidence they prayed, built temples, made alters, or considered the possibility that God exists. We should feel overwhelmingly blessed to know God, for that is the greatest gift of all and what sets us apart most from the animals!
6) God wanted human diseases and pests to evolve as punishments for after Man became sinful and deserved those punishments.
This certainly will be a more controversial answer to the question. However, it is apparent to me that God had prepared the world for the Fall of Adam and Eve by making the world a place that would have disasters, death of animals, diseases, and many unpleasant conditions. It is no stretch, then, to say that God might have intended on allowing human viruses and pests (e.g. lice) to evolve before Adam and Eve were formed. To do this, He could have allowed such diseases and pests to adapt first to pre-human Homo sapiens. This would have set the stage for the Fall of Man that God knew was going to happen rather quickly after making Adam and Eve.
Does this seem cruel? It isn’t. God judged Adam and Eve by sending them out of the Garden of Eden and keeping them from living forever. This resulted in their deaths. He also prepared a groaning world (Rom 8:22) for them, partly as judgment, complete with thorns and thistles and diseases and disasters. These were deserved punishments for their sin. God knows the future and He prepares perfectly for it.
Hi Joel: Great to have read your testimony at the old earth site and to be introduced to what appears to be an excellent blog you're writing. I've thought about hominids and Adam /Eve for a long time. It occured to me recently that we often see God in "special creation" mode that steps outside of the natural order, which He also created. It's an explanation to my mind that Adam and Eve, the creation of the first humans to walk with God is completely miraculous - out of dirt and a rib. He was almost contrasting the results of evolution (also His doing) and His own. I think we already that the Garden was a special place in the midst of creation. Sort of reminds me of the experience of a particular Jewish "young maiden" in a strip of land along the Mediterranean about 2,000 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it possible that the Neanderthals and other pre-humans had souls, and maybe God put those souls back into the modern humans? I say this because the life of any living being is energy, and it can't be created or destroyed(except by God). I consider that energy the spirit, and every living animal or human should have that.
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