I have a question that I am finding hard to come to grips with though.
From the fossil record, as you put it, we see ape, ape ape, man, man. Now
Cro Magnon man is considered by anthropologists to be biologically
speaking, as human as we are. You didn’t actually mention in your book how
far the fossil records extend for the Cro Magnon, but I assume it is much
greater than the 7000 years of human existance derived through
genealogies. Like you, I believe Adam was an actual man (Lk 3:38, Rom
5:14, 1 Cor 15:45). From the genealogies, and the inspiration of the Bible
however, I don’t see any way around the claim that the human race (not
necessarily the earth and universe), beginning with Adam, has only been
around about 7000 years. How do we reconcile this with the historical
evidence? The only thing I can come up with is that although Cro Magnon
may have evolved from apes and had the appearance of man, he did not have
our spiritual qualities. Then about 7000 years ago God created Adam “from
the dust of the ground” (i.e. not born of any existing creature), creating
him in His own image. This would then ask the question of what happened to
the already existing “homo sapiens”. Did the “non-spiritual” creature just
suddenly become extinct? Had he already become extinct just before the
creation of Adam?

I wish I could say I had the answer to your question. Let me make a few
comments. First of all, scientists would claim that Cro-magnon have been
around for up to 100,000 years and Neanderthal for up to 300,000 years or
more. There is a considerable amount of overlap, during which both lived.
With an increase in the available evidence, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to claim that Neanderthal and Cro-magnon were in fact separate
species. In any case, both hominids were virtually indistinguishable from
modern humans. Hollywood and National Geographic mock-ups of Neanderthal
may make them look hugely sub human, but the fact is that if anything, on
average, Neanderthal had a larger brain than monern humans. They used
fire, made tools, practiced fine arts and had some type of ritual/religion.

Second, it would appear that you assume that Adam lived about seven
thousand years ago. While this is possible, there is considerable debate
among Bible scholars over whether or not there might be gaps in the
genealogy found in Genesis, as it was a common practice for Hebrew writers
to record genealogies with gaps in them. For these reasons, it would be a
mistake to be dogmatic about when Adam and Eve lived and to what in the
fossil record they would correspond. What one can say with confidence is
that Genesis chapters one and two record that God created man in his own
image.

Your refer to the possibility that God could have taken an already-evolved
homo sapiens and simply imparted to him and to her a spiritual image,
making them “in the image of God.” Although it would be hard to absolutely
disprove this claim, on the face of it the biblical account of the
creation of Adam and Eve, from the dust of the ground would appear to
preclude this possibility. As with all debatable matters which are not
salvation issues, it is good to speculate, to think about such things and
to come to a reasonable conclusion of one’s own, but to avoid being
dogmatic.