On Wed, 01 Mar 2000 21:07:59 -0500 Dick Fischer <dfischer@mnsinc.com>
writes:
>
> I see two options. First look at Gen. 1:27: "So God created (bara)
> man
> (‘adam)
> in his own image, in the image of God created (bara) he him; male
> and female
> created (bara) he them."
>
> If by "creation" we can say "through evolution" and if 'adam means
> "generic man"
> and not Adam the husband to Eve and father of Cain, Abel and Seth,
> then you
> could say that this verse pertains to the creation of mankind as
> they sprang
> from ape ancestry. If this works for you, then every hominid that
> ever walked
> the earth bears the iamage of God whatever that means.
>
> On the other hand, if bara means an act of special creation and if
> 'adam is
> Adam, then the image originates about 7,000 years ago and follows
> the line of
> descent of the Jews until Christ makes it available for all.
>
> Today, if you like the first choice, everyone is in the image of
> God. If you
> prefer the second choice (as I do), then it only accrues to
> followers of
> Christ.
>
There are some problems with your analysis. First, you have to claim that
_bara_ requires _creatio ex nihilo_, which is contrary to its usage in
Isaiah 43:1; 45:7; 48:7; 54:16; 57:19. It is just as certainly creation
if the Almighty transformed an evolved hominid as if he formed the shape
from earth and gave it life. Second, if the latter, how does Acts 17:26
fit: "[God] ... hath made of one blood all nations of men ..."? or
Genesis 3:20: "Eve ... was the mother of all living"? On your view, there
has to be one blood or descent for Adamites and another for the rest of
mankind. Third, how could the Fall affect those not Adamites? or were
they already "fallen" before the Fall? Fourth, if Adamites were created
in the image of God and transmitted that image to their offspring, what
is the status of a child of an Israelite (or other Semite) or Canaanite
(or other Hamite), let alone a descendant of Japheth, and a Goi (or
whatever a non-Adamite may be) before the Incarnation? of such a child
who is not a believer today? Is there a difference if the Adamite parent
is the father or the mother, as in Jewish thought today? Finally, your
approach requires the accuracy of the dates derived from summing the ages
in the several genealogies, an approach that even YECs have generally
abandoned as untenable. In sum, I find several bases for _reductio ad
absurdum_ among your statements.
Dave
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