> Having amassed a credible amount of evidence for such an historical person,
> I would lean in that direction. This would make Adam the Federal head of
> the human race not the first of our species. In this scenario, Adam,
> created in
> the image of God, was a representative, an ambassador dedicated to bringing
> the indigenous populations into a relationship with their Creator. Adam,
> according to this methodology, entered a populated world.
>
> The consternation in the theological community concerning Genesis stems from
> the propensity to align the first biblical man with the first biological
> man. It has never worked.
One of the problems with this scenario is Genesis 2:7-9:
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and
there He placed the man whom He had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that
is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in
the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. (NAS)
The view espoused by Dick suggests that Adam (and Eve) were special
creations after the evolution of the rest of humanity. Genesis
2:7-10 and 15-24 show that Adam and Eve were specially created, Adam
from dust and Eve from the first thoracic surgery. Technically, the
Bible doesn't say that there were no humans (or human like creatures)
before Adam, but there is the implication that Adam was the first.
Dick has suggested that this "first" was federal, not biological (of
course, this would explain the question, from where did Cain and Seth
get their wives?). Nevertheless, Adam and Eve were, from the
Scripture, special creations.
Actually, Dick's position reminds me of _The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy_. The author (I forget his name) claimed that humanity
was actually formed from the hairdressers and telephone cleaners from
another planet. These people replaced the ape-like creatures that
were evolving from lower organisms. I would see Dick's argument
that the descendents of Adam and Eve infiltrated the evolutionary
creatures that were present by marrying them; then all the "old
order" were wiped out during the flood, leaving only the descendents
of Adam. In such a way, humanity is _both_ of evolutionary descent
and special creation.
William M. Frix
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering
Box 3021
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
Phone: (501) 524-7466
FAX: (501) 524-9548
EMAIL: wfrix@engr.jbu.edu