Hi Blake, you wrote:
>At the end of the day, I do not see what difference to
>Christian faith it makes if we try to identify a
>particular, historical Adam or not.
To one who is already a Christian there are a lot of things that
don't make any difference. On this list we argue all kinds of things
that at the end of the day leaves us all Christians the same as we
started. So why do we discuss anything? It is to improve our
message so that we can make disciples of all the world.
There has been no method of apology that regards the first eleven
chapters of Genesis as having historical integrity, and at the same
time has respect for modern science. The only method that has worked
to date has been to assign early Genesis to some condescending
category such as allegory, poetry, tradition, mythology, fable, etc.
What I have tried to show is that early Genesis has been
misunderstood as a Hebrew rendition of the beginnings of mankind.
What I believe it to be is a Hebrew rendition of the history of the
Jewish race - not the human race.
So I believe Genesis 2:4-11 is a fairly accurate historical narrative
of the Adamites-Semites who lived in southern Mesopotamia from about
7,000 to about 4,000 years ago.
Therefore, when one declares that it is not possible for man to have
descended from the apes when the Bible declares that we all were
created in the image of God. We can say that it is. Adam, who lived
about 7,000 years ago was created in the image, and generic man
descended from higher primates.
On the flip side, we have those who reject the gospel message since
they believe that because we descended from apes, therefore the Bible
cannot be true. If untrue at the beginning, how can you trust it at
all? The answer here is that we misunderstood early Genesis, and
that properly translated and interpreted there is no real conflict
between a literal rending of Genesis and the latest findings of
modern science.
With a better, more harmonious message we should gain new followers
of Christ and fill those rooms in that big mansion in the sky.
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
"The answer we should have known about 150 years ago"
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