Re: A quick question...

Glenn Morton (GRMorton@gnn.com)
Thu, 25 Jul 1996 20:00:32

I have waited three days to see if anyone was going to respond to Nickolas
Matzke's post. One of the most frustrating things in the C/E debate on
both sides is that when someone comes up with a really good argument, the
response by the other side is silence. If we are really all looking for
the truth, and we have no answer, an occasional admission that we don't
have an answer would seem to be in order. Too often we christians when
faced with difficulites like this assume that the future will give us an
answer. An admission of the difficulty today would be fair response.

If Dog-kind can have chromosome numbers from 36 to 78 and Horse-kind can
have chromosome numbers over a similar range, then why can Human-kind not
have a similar range of chromosome numbers. (Apes 48 humans 46). I
certainly would not argue that humans and apes are in the same kind (in
the sense of a baramin), but then I don't believe that there ever was a
baramin in the scriptures anyway.

To start off this self confession, I do not understand how any Biblical
view which holds to a real Adam can explain the MHC data. There, I have
admitted that I don't understand something. The lack of an explanation in
that area threatens the validity of what I believe. For the moment, I
will still believe what I do because it works, but that does not mean we
can't admit the problems with our respective views.

Below is Matzke's post.

glenn

NIIIIIIICHOLAS MATZKE <NJM6610@exodus.valpo.edu> wrote:
>Except for a hearty cheer for Loren's altogether brilliant posts of
> late, I only have time for one comment that grabbed my attention:
>
>On the discussion of biblical kinds, Steve Jones said:
>
>"See above. They reproduced "NOT after their" *species*. Only if
>"kind" = species is Glenn's point valid. If kind = order, then they
>have "reproduced...after their kind"!"
>
>Questions for Steve, or any other interested parties:
> 1) Glenn's point is NOT valid because "kind" could actually equal
> "order", correct?
>
> 2) Therefore, the descent of one species from another could occur by
> natural processes without violating the God's word that plants and
> animals must reproduce after their kind. If kind=order, then
> supernatural action would account for the origin of new
orders/kinds,
> and natural action (whether or not ultimately controlled by God)
would
> account for the origin of family, genus, and species. Correct?
>
> 3) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) belong to the Family Pongidae,
> and humans
> (Homo sapiens) belong to the Family Hominidae. Both Pondigae and
> Hominidae belong to the Order Primates. Correct?
>
> 4) Therefore, humans and chimps (as well as monkeys, gorillas,
> orangutans,
> lemurs, and bush babies) belong to the same kind and humans could
have
> naturally developed from the same ancestors as chimps without
requiring
> supernatural intervention (as long as kind=order). Correct?
>
>I have thought through this a couple of times, and the logic looks
> pretty solid
>to me. It looks like a catch-22 for Steve and others with similar
> views:
>
>Either:
>1) you have to accept that it is possible that humans and chimps
> evolved from
>the same ancestors by a natural process allowed within the catagory of
> biblical
>kinds, OR
>
>2) you have to say that, in fact, kind does NOT equal order and must
> equal a
>lower grouping such as family, genus, or species, in which case there
> is hard,
>verifiable, documented evidence that in today's world, organisms do NOT
> always
>reproduce according to their kinds. This means that the Bible is, in
> this
>case, incorrect (or more accurately, the common (and apparently
> textually
>correct) interpretation of the meaning of this part of the creation
> story is
>incorrect).
>
>Take your pick. If you don't like either one, here's option three (my
>favorite):
>
>3) you have to admit (as has been asserted on this server) that the
> phrase that
>plants and animals reproduced after their kinds reflects nothing more
> than an
>observational report of Middle Eastern nomads 3-4,000 years ago, who
> saw little
>change in the offspring of animals and plants within their period of
>observation, which was probably about the same as their 35 year (or
> less)
>average lifespan.
>
>Enjoy,
>Nick
>
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm