Denis wrote on 24 November,
> HI RUSS,
> Regarding your "trick" question I had this feeling we were some how going
> to get back to a defense of a literal Gen 2--the de novo creation of Adam
> and Eve. As always I enjoy your clever challenges.
>
> In Him,
> Denis
>
>
> On Fri, 24 Nov 1995, Russ Maatman wrote:
>
> >
> > 3. "Yes." Then his Y chromosome was miraculously created to *look like*
> > the Y chromosome of a being from whom he was not descended. If that
> > is
> > so, then what is the objection against holding that the first human
> > beings possessed genetic material which *looked like* the genetic material
> > of beings from whom they were not descended?
>
>
> My objection is this: this entire scenario you have set up is a
> reflection of your hermeneutics. This is not a question that comes from
> your science. You seem only to be able to exegete Gen 2 in a literal
> fashion, but that is not NECESSARILY the correct approach to this chapter
> of our Lord's Word. When the Holy Spirit inspired (Heb 1:1) the writer
> of this passage He did so respecting that individual's intellectual
> furniture (ie, epistemology, cosomology, etc.). In other words, what is
> reflected here is indeed the science of the day (ie, a de novo creation),
> but that is not the thrust of these earlier chapters of Genesis.
> It is the theology--God is the Creator and we have been created in His
> wonderful image. AMEN. The cosmology is merely the vechicle upon which
> the theology is carried.
Denis, I was not debating Genesis hermeneutics when I suggested that
one is forced to choose between three possible answers to the Y chromosome
question. My point--it must have been too subtle!--was that one may
not use any similarity between the genetic makeups of human beings
and animals to prove that human beings descended from animals. You
have disagreed with my hermeneutics, but you have not refuted the logic
of my question. I should state it clearly: my analysis of the Y chromosome
matter does not prove that Adam and Eve did not descend from animals.
But I do think it at least strongly suggests that genetic similarity
is not a valid argument to prove that they did descend from animals.
If we could remove (concerning human origins) the genetic similarity
argument from reflector discussions, we would be making real progress!
In Christ,
Russ
e-mail: rmaatman@dordt.edu Home address:
Russell Maatman 401 Fifth Ave. SE
Dordt College Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250 Home phone: (712) 722-0421