Thinking along these lines, doesn't it seem viable that as man evolved
(whether directly or indirectly guided by God) there came a point at
which the hominid's system reached a critical state at which time all
the conditions were in place in order for a hominid to receive a soul
and interact with the Creator? Just as there had to be a first creature
with the first genetic code for the growing of feathers... there must
have been at one time on this earth the first creature with significant
mental capacity to be self aware and be able to recognize his Creator.
The first creature to look at this amazing world we live in and think
"There must be a Creator". The first creature to have and understand
free will. The first creature that had all systems in place that make
it the first of its kind. I think that that could have been Adam. God
was able to finally bestow upon that creature His image. It also
explains why Eve had to be specially created from Adam's genetic makeup
because there was no other "suitable" mate for him alive on this planet.
No other female on the earth would have had all the systems in place to
be his equal. It would explain where the cities that Cain fled to came
from. It would explain how "tending flocks" and "working the soil" were
common knowledge.
I would think that all other hominids that lived with Adam at that time
also had the potential to evolve to a point at which they have all the
systems in place to receive a soul but it was Adam who was the first to
do so. No ethnic background is lacking the capacity to have a soul, its
just that Adam was the first to receive one. His line was special to
God and it seems apparent to me why Jesus would be a descendant from
Adam. The beginning begetting the end...
Just a thought...
Ryan Rasmussen