Re: Dating Adam
Pat Pun (pun@david.wheaton.edu)
Mon, 3 Jun 1996 11:01:11 -0500 (CDT)As I have mentioned earlier in my book, Buswell has suggested the
description of the earlier civilizations in Genesis as comparatively
meager and they may not be "demisteicatiors" of animals and plants but
rather only primitive concerns about vegetable and animal provision. It
is possible the Cain would have lost his cultural attainment because of
the prevalence of sin based on Gen. 4:12. Thus a considerable part of the
economic culture as Goad gavit it to human before the Fall might have
been lost at an early date and then rediscovered gradually (see Gen.
3:17-19). The advanced culture suggested by Cain's descendants can then
be attributed to the arrival of civilizatin after many generations had
elapsed and the human population had grown. This interpretation is borne
out by Gen. 4:17 that suggests the presence of dynasties or tribes
instead of individuals, and this neccessitated the building of a city.
The lost civilizations implicated by the archaeological remains found in
South anc Central America lend credence to the possibitility of an
advanced culture that was wiped out suddenly. The question is raised as
to whether there is a connection between this culture and the cities of
Gen. 4:17. Although these theories are speculative at present, they
should not be ruled out of consideration when we tackle with the
antiquity of human fossils or genetic lineages and the relative recent
advent of human civilizations.