My recent exchange with Glenn Morton concerning human evolution reminded
me of something I thought relevant to the reflector.
"Why would God have created animals similar to human beings?" This question
is at the heart of the argument for evolution based on hominid fossil remains.
While reading through Exodus a while back, I came across the following
passage:
". . . And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out Hivite
Canaanite, and Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out before
you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply
against you. . ." (Exodus 23:29)
Recall a suggestion I made some time ago that God could have used hominid
species as "ecological placeholders" for human beings. Here is a Bible
verse that confirms that God works in this fashion. If God retained the
Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites in the land in order to maintain an
ecological balance favorable to the Hebrews, might He not have created
neanderthals and cro magnon to maintain an ecological balance favorable
to the descendants of Adam? In this regard, it is interesting to note
that the more similar such a "placeholder" species was to human beings
the more effective it would be in such a role.
In Christ,
robert van de water
Associate Researcher
UCLA