Glenn wrote:
>Dick Fischer wrote:
>
>>Acts 17:30: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now
>>commandeth all men every where to repent ..."
>
>Dick, is it your strategy to follow a comment like Dave's with a
>non-sequitur so that people will be too distracted by trying to figure out
>why you said what you did and then won't notice that you didn't answer the
>question? You took the verse way out of context.
>
>"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine
>being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and
>skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all
>people everywhere to repent." Acts 17:29-30 niv
>
>He is talking about idolatry--which requires a real human being for its
>occurrence. He is not speaking of whether or not the pre-Adamic people are
>humans. Nor does this say that they weren't humans.
I agree! All the Bible is about real human beings. Nothing about
hominids, Australopiticines, Homo erectus, or any of that bunch.
Speculation about what constitutes a human being beyond sheer
anatomy, is just that - speculation. Speculation about what God did
with them is still speculation.
Here's what I said in the book:
ìIf we consider the possibility that human beings evolved, when or
how did we become endowed with souls? A certain unease can come with
the idea of sharing common ancestors with creatures more hairy. Most
would prefer to think that man was specially created, thus barring
descent from any oddball ancestors. It fits our prideful nature. It
might do us good to ponder the likelihood of humbler beginnings.
If we had a choice, we might think it is more desirable to be direct
descendants from Adam and Eve, who were created without ancestors.
We could say that because of our unique origin, we had "souls" (some
prefer "spirit"), and all those lesser quality evolved creatures like
Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and the curious Neanderthals were used as
models perhaps, or experimental prototypes.
How do we get those wonderfully unique and redeemable (or punishable)
souls? Are we endowed with souls because of direct descent from
specially created ancestors? That has been the traditionally
espoused rationale, but in essence, it works no better than gap
theory.
All living mammals, including man, carry the potential for life to
bring about further offspring. Until union takes place between an
egg and a sperm, there is no physical being capable of further
replication. Life, as evidenced by cell division, commences at
conception.
If a "soul" came from the man, we would have to postulate little
potential souls as an integral part of each one of countless billions
of sperm cells which do not exist in any form until the human male
reaches puberty. After that, these are produced throughout a man's
entire life. Would human males manufacture souls continually to
accompany tiny sperm cells? That looks doubtful, so how about the
woman?
Women are supplied with hundreds of eggs at birth. After puberty, a
woman releases an egg approximately every 28 days until she reaches
menopause. Do those eggs come prepackaged with souls too? If so,
far more end up in waste treatment plants than in choir lofts. That
is not God's plan. We must differentiate between the material and
the spiritual.
Our DNA, and all that is associated with our life-producing
capabilities, are simply physical processes for producing physical
beings. It is hard to imagine any spirit entity intertwined with the
potentials of life. When union takes place, that is a different
story. But how spiritual souls match up with physical bodies is
anybody's guess. Are souls allotted at conception; handed out at
"viability"; assigned at birth; imparted at an arbitrary age of
reason; bestowed at an arbitrary age of accountability; conferred at
the acceptance of Christ's Lordship; or none of the above? If anyone
knows the answer, please step forward.
The spiritual world is almost entirely out of bounds for human
investigation. The angelic hosts, who exist without physical bodies,
are living entities in a real sense just as we are. They think,
interact with humans as "ministering spirits," have free will, and so
forth.
Whatever part of us belongs to the spirit realm may be wrapped up in
our material selves to some degree, but clearly we exist apart from
our physical bodies, inasmuch as we were known before the
"foundations of the earth," and glorified bodies will be conferred
eventually.
We can gain some insight from Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:20-34). In a
sense, Esau was condemned from the beginning because his life's deeds
were already pre-known to an omniscient God. Souls capable of
redemption were part of the make-up of both brothers. Both were in
the Adamic-Abrahamic line. Yet Esau's celebrated ancestry offered no
guarantee of redemption for his soul. This suggests that redemption
and Adamic ancestry are two separate issues, and are not
interdependent.
If there is no commonly accepted theory as to how humans would get
souls, even for direct-line descendants from a specially created
forefather who presumably had one - Adam, not knowing how humans with
evolved ancestry would be imbued with souls is no worse case. The
prospect of nonhuman ancestors complicates no further what is already
a perplexing issue.
It makes no difference how our predecessors got here. The subject of
souls is perplexing regardless of our ultimate origins; however, this
should not be a source of consternation. John 3:15 assures, "That
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish ..." A soul or spirit
capable of redemption is expressly implied in that "whosoever." The
Bible does not say whosoever believeth, and has Adamic ancestry,
should not perish.î
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orislol.com
ìThe Answer we should have known about 150 years agoî
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