QUESTION:

I  have a question for in regards to an article posted by Fox News today. Apparently a 1.8 million year skull has been found which apparently is some evolutionary link. Does this mean tha there was some sort of pre-adamic race? Are they even sure the skull is that old? How would this reconcile with the genesis account of creation? Thanks for your input. I am posting a link to the article.

Link: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/23719672/18m-year-old-skull-gives-glimpse-of-our-evolution

Answer:

I am prepared to assume that the skull which was discovered is probably accurately dated with respect to its age. It could in fact actually be 1.4 million or 2.1 million years old as there may be some question as to the precision of the measurement, but we can most likely assume that the dating technique is reasonable reliable.

There is evidence for relatively advanced primates living in Africa and South Asia more than one million years ago. These primates had brain sizes less than half that of modern humans, but it is not sheer silliness to see these as evolutionary precursors to modern humans. They were not humans and certainly had mental capacities greatly less than ours, but primates as far back as a bit over one million years do appear to have the ability to walk upright as well as other features of modern humans. These creatures were not some sort of pre-Adamic human race as they were not humans. They were lesser primates, although they probably had greater “intelligence” than modern orangutans or gorillas or chimpanzees.

Some will see such finds as a contradiction to Genesis, but it is not clear why they need to do so. If one takes the “days” of Genesis 1 as literal and all the times in Genesis as literal, then the earth is only several thousands of years old. In this case, evidence of upright walking primates 1.8 million years ago would be problematic, as would any fossil of a mastodon 5 million years ago, a dinosaur 140 million years ago or a trilobite 435 million years ago. However, if we do not force ourselves to take the time “days” to be literal, as I believe is the correct understanding, then it is not clear that a walking primate 1.8 million years ago contradicts any of the statements in Genesis 1 or 2. Genesis 1 gives God credit for creating all creatures, but it does not say how God did this. It also does not say exactly when he created the different species.  There is plenty of room for evolution in Genesis 1.

Genesis 2 has humans as a special creation of God. I believe that we humans with a soul and a spirit–in the image of God–are a special creation of God. I believe this by faith in the reliability of the Bible. It is not clear to me that the discovery of a fairly highly evolved primate 1.8 million years ago has any effect on this belief.  Whether God created Adam and Eve ex nihilo (from nothing) or whether he gave some sort of evolved primate a soul and a spirit–made in God’s image, I know by faith that we were created by God.

John Oakes