Primordial Planet Puzzles (Part 6)

The image of God

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen 1:26).

Science and Scripture are again in complete agreement: human beings were the last form of living creatures to appear on earth.

 

A “plural” God?

Oddly, God spoke in the first person plural: “let us… in our image… after our likeness…” Apart from the verse above, God’s reference to Himself in the plural is seen in a few other Biblical verses: Genesis 3:22 (“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us…”); Genesis 11:7 (“Come, let us go down and confuse their language…”); Isaiah 6:8 (“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”).

Some scholars say God referred to Himself in the plural, because the Godhead is said to have three Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Others suggest the way He spoke was “communicative (including the attendant angels),”⁹⁴ that is, God was speaking for both Himself and the angels in His presence. In Genesis 3:22, the phrase “one of us” in both Hebrew and the literal English translation clearly means one among many. We can only conclude that by “us” God means Himself plus others who were with Him.  

God and “gods.” In the Scriptures, the word “God” is usually translated from the Hebrew elohim (“gods”), the plural form of El and its variants Elah, Eloah, Eloha. Scholars “interpret the –im ending as an expression of majesty (pluralis majestatis) or excellence (pluralis excellentiae), expressing high dignity or greatness…”⁹⁵ Others disagree. “Theologians who dispute this cite the hypothesis that plurals of majesty came about in more modern times. Richard Toporoski, a classical scholar, asserts that plurals of majesty first appeared in the reign of Diocletian (284-305 CE)… The use of the plural as a form of respectful address is quite foreign to Hebrew.”⁹⁶

In Psalm 82, the angels are called “gods” (elohim): “God (Elohim) standeth in the congregation of the mighty (el); he judgeth among the gods (elohim)… I have said, Ye are gods (elohim); and all of you are children of the most High” (Ps 82:1,6).

In Psalm 149:2, the English word “Maker” was actually “Makers” in the Hebrew original, as indicated by the plural verb. It thus should read: “Let Israel rejoice in their Makers; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Similarly, in Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Creator” was “Creators” in the original: “Remember now thy Creators in the days of thy youth…” The pluralization of words in Hebrew requires correct spellings that differ markedly from the singular, so the plurals could not have been mere scribal “slips of the pen.” The plurals had been deliberately written.

God showed Himself to Abraham as three angels. “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground” (Gen 18:1-2).

In view of the above, did God have angels acting for Him during the Creation? The Angel of the LORD? Moreover, do the terms “image” and “likeness” imply that the Angel of the LORD and the angels have a physical form after which they fashioned man?

Physical resemblance?

The terms “image” and “likeness” may have two implications: First, they could signify that man, or at least a part of him, has been made a spirit like God and the angels. Second, they could mean that man has been patterned after the physical configurations of the Creator (the Angel of the LORD) and the angels, literally.

The terms are used at least once in the Bible in the physical sense: “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth” (Gen 5:3). The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible explains: “Man’s resemblance to God is analogous to Seth’s resemblance to his father Adam. This makes it certain that physical resemblance must not be excluded.”⁹⁷

The form of angels. If God and the angels were spirits, why did God create the physical universe? Of what use would it be to them? God also planted a garden in Eden, but it was not for Adam, whom He made only to be its gardener (Gen 2:5,8,15). Did God create the material world for His own and the angels’ enjoyment? That is what we are told in Revelation 4:11 – “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” That being the case, the Spirit of God, and those of His angels, needed physical bodies to experience and enjoy the delights of the material universe. Indeed, we read about “the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8).

The Scriptures hint angels can change their physical forms. In Psalm 68:17 (“The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels [shin’an]…”), the Hebrew word used for angels is shin’an, the root meaning of which is “to change or alter.” This strongly suggests angels can change or alter their forms at will. 

As we know, God and the angels descended to earth from time to time in physical form. Of all organic structures, the human figure appears to be the most suitable and most efficient design for the terrestrial setting. James, Christ’s own brother, reiterates that the human form has been patterned after that of God: “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God” (James 3:9).

One kind, several forms. If man was created in the “image” and “likeness” of God, how can the appearance of various manlike creatures before Adam be explained?

The Torah account tends to skip over some details to simplify the narrative, as we have seen earlier. On Day 6 amphibians, reptiles and insects are lumped together under just one term: “creeping things” (Gen 1:24-25). It is the same in Leviticus 11:13-23, where true birds, the bat, and flying insects are all bunched in just one word, “fowl.”

Similarly, it looks like Genesis 1:26 has grouped together in one word – “man” – all the different species of subhumans and hominids, different versions and “likenesses” of the same type which eventually culminated in Adam, the crowning glory of God’s creation.

 

Day-Age 6-k:

• Circa 457,763 to 228,882 years ago (Duration: approximately 228,882 years)

 

Homo Neanderthalensis, 300 kya. In 1856 workmen found fossil bones in a limestone cave in the Neander valley (thal), near Dusseldorf, Germany. Anatomist Prof. Schaafhausen declared the bones were human.⁹⁸ The remains were named Neanderthal man.

Over 60 more similar fragments have since been unearthed in other parts of Europe, as well as Asia and Africa. Undoubtedly human, the “Neandertals were larger and more muscular than modern humans and are believed to have lived in Europe and western Asia from 300,000 years ago to as recently as 30,000 years ago.”⁹⁹ The bones indicate a powerful body, though of short stature -- males averaged 1.7 m (5’ 5”) tall and 84 kg (185 lb), females 1.5 m (5’) tall and 80 kg (176 lb).¹⁰⁰ The cranial capacity was about 1,500 cu cm (90 cu in), around 10-15% larger than that of modern men! (The larger brain is thought to be in correlation to the greater muscle mass of the Neanderthals.)

At first scientists thought Neanderthals had a crouching and apelike posture. They later realized some of the bones bore signs of arthritis and rickets. They concluded that Neanderthals actually walked upright, not stooped on bent knees. Recent dental and x-ray studies suggest they matured at a slower rate, but lived longer than people today.

Neanderthals used fire, made stone tools and leather, played music (indicated by a wooden flute), cared for the injured and elderly (bones show survival to old age after suffering wounds, fractures, diseases, even blindness).¹⁰¹ They seemed to have worshipped bears and buried their dead, covering them with flowers.

In 1997, researchers announced they had extracted a small amount of DNA from a Neanderthal fossil. They “compared the Neandertal DNA sequence to sequences in the same region of DNA for 994 modern human lineages, which included Australians, Pacific Islanders, Africans, Asians, Native Americans, and Europeans. The Neandertal DNA sequence differed from all the modern human DNA by either 27 or 28 base pairs. In comparison, modern human sequences in this region of DNA differ from each other on average by 8 base pairs.”¹⁰² The DNA evidence, the World Book says, supports the belief that the Neanderthals were a separate species and not ancestors of modern humans.¹⁰³

 

Day-Age 6-l:

• Circa 228,882 to 114,441 years ago (Duration: approximately 114,441 years)

Day-Age 6-m:

• Circa 114,441 to 57,221 years ago (Duration: approximately 57,221 years.)

 

Homo sapiens, 200-100 kya. In 1868, fossilized human bones were discovered in the Cro-Magnon cave in southwestern France. Anthropologists have classified the evidently more advanced species, which appeared between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago,¹⁰⁴ as Homo sapiens – Latin for “wise human being.”

Also called “Cro-Magnon man,” more than 100 specimens have since been found. A population appears to have lived in Europe from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon bones closely resemble those of modern men. They indicate a powerfully muscled body of about 166-171 cm (5” 5” to 5’ 7”) tall. They were distinguished from Neanderthals by a high forehead with a slight browridge, a short wide face, and a prominent chin (the first specimen with a well-defined chin). The H. sapiens brain volume was about 1,600 cc (100 cu in), bigger than that of modern men.¹⁰⁵

Finely shaped artifacts reveal the Cro-Magnons had mastered the techniques of making useful objects from stone, bone, shell, and clay, such as tools, trinkets, lamps, needles. They wore fitted clothes, jewelry, and other ornaments.¹⁰⁶ Most notably, they produced beautiful paintings of animals in the caves of southwestern France and northern Spain.

Like Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons buried their dead. This suggests they believed in an other world of spirits. After all, the Creator had spoken to them: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen 1:28). 

No relation. Remains of Cro-Magnons and the older Neanderthals overlap in the fossil record, showing the two species lived alongside each other for a long period of time – no less than 70,000 years. This precludes any notion that Cro-Magnons evolved from Neanderthals.

Neither did modern man. Neanderthals had an ear canal (labyrinth, three hollow rings involved in balance) that was distinctly different in size and location from that of people today. The Word Book notes: “Because the features of the Neandertal's labyrinth do not exist in modern humans, the scientists believe that the muscular hominid belongs to a separate species, or at least is not an ancestor of modern humans.”¹⁰⁷

Researchers have extracted DNA samples from a 40,000-year-old human skeleton (from the Cro-Magnon era) found at Lake Mungo in Australia. The DNA differs from that of living people.¹⁰⁸ The findings reinforce the belief that the earlier species were not ancestors of modern humans. (Of course we know Adam had none, do we not?)

____________________

⁹⁴Names of God, Kabbalah, Wikipedia, Internet
⁹⁵Ibid.
⁹⁶Ibid.
⁹⁷The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, p. 683
⁹⁸David Menton, “Did Humans Really Evolve from Apelike Creatures?”, The New Answers Book 2, 2008, p. 91
⁹⁹Mitochondria, “Neandertals Were Not Close Relations, Say DNA Test,” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
¹⁰⁰Human Evolution, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
¹⁰¹David Menton, “Did Humans Really Evolve from Apelike Creatures?”, The New Answers Book 2, 2008, p. 92
¹⁰²Homo Neanderthalensis, “Neandertals Were Not Close Relations, DNA Testing Finds,” Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition
¹⁰³Prehistoric people, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
¹⁰⁴Human being, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
¹⁰⁵Cro-Magnon, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition
¹⁰⁶Cro-Magnon, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
¹⁰⁷Neanderthals, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
¹⁰⁸Prehistoric People, loc. cit.

 

(Excerpted from Chapter 4, Primordial Planet Puzzles, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

Welcome to Bayith HaShem!

For the past several years, I had been trying to publish in this blog portions of the three books in our Bible Secrets series (The Deep Things of God, Angels and Men, and End Time Decoded). However, owing to my other responsibilities, I wasn’t able to do so more often. 

Then, the Ruach HaKodesh, my inspirer and the principal author, gave me a better idea. Why not publish each portion as a booklet for faster sharing? Indeed, it has become necessary, even urgent, in light of insights that the Second Coming of the Messiah is drawing ever closer! 

So, here they are. Just click the Booklets or Google Drive tab above and read or download in your phone, tablet, or pc any or all Bible Secrets booklets you want free of charge. 

May your name be found in the book of life!

Primordial Planet Puzzles (Part 5)

Day 6: Mammals, creeping things, man

 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:24-25).

Interpretations of Day 6:

• Literal 24-hour Days:     the day man was created circa 6,000 years ago
• Thousand-Year Days:    circa 7,000-6,000 years ago
• Diminishing Day-Ages:  circa 468,750,000-13,306 years ago (Duration: approximately 468,735,694 years) 

Young Earth Creationists claim land animals and man first walked on earth some 6,000 years ago, or 7,000-6,000 years ago at the earliest.

In the Diminishing Day-Ages timeline, God created land animals and hominids during Day-Age 6, 468,750,000 to 13,306 years ago (kya).

A multi-segmented Day 6?

In the Diminishing Day-Ages timeline, the sixth segment should be Day-Age 6, ending about 234,375,000 years ago after the creation of land animals (amphibians, insects, reptiles, mammals). But it cannot be the Biblical Day 6, because it ended before man could be created.

However, if we continue with the exponentially regressing pattern, we see the coming of hominids in the succeeding segments until around 28,611 years ago. For still unclear reasons, it appears that the time segments after Day-Age 5 are not individual day-ages, but parts of a multi-segmented Day-Age 6! There is no apparent basis, but the time segments match the scientific estimates accurately.

There is a clue in the Bible, though. More time and words were used to relate the events of Day 6, because more things happened and more entities were created on that last creative “day.” Moreover, there is a textual parallel in the next chapter, where one “day” is used to mean several days: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen 2:4). We know that the “the earth and the heavens” were not created in one single “day,’ but over several “days.”

Did God (Elohim) use more segments of time for Day-Age 6 to create animals of a higher order, as well as to perfect man -- the prime paradigm of His creative work? Let go through those time segments.

Day-Age 6-a

• Circa 468,750,000 to 234,375,000 years ago (Duration: approximately 234,375,000 years)  

First of worst extinctions. Paleontologists have identified at least 17 mass extinctions since life began on earth. Eight are major, all of which took place in the last 500 million years. However, five events are the most devastating: the first took place around 438 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a. Over 85% of species became extinct.⁵⁷

Amphibians created. God created land animals and “creeping things” on Day 6. Fossil remains show that amphibians, a kind of creeping creature, crawled onto dry land around 417 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a.

Second of worst extinctions. The second of the five worst mass extinction events also happened during Day-Age 6-a, approximately 367 million years ago. This time, 82% of all species were lost.⁵⁸

Insects created. God created insects approximately 350 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a. Scientists are puzzled why insects, comprising 80% of all living and extinct animal species, have no known evolutionary ancestors.

A U.S. government reference (Insects, 1952) states: “There is… no fossil evidence bearing on the question of insect origin; the oldest insects known show no transition to other arthropods.”⁵⁹

Reptiles created. God created more “creeping things” – reptiles. The record of the rocks reveals that cold-blooded saurians, the forerunners of modern lizards, arose on the face of the planet starting approximately 323 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a. 

Mammals created. God created warm-blooded mammals -- the “beasts of the earth” (wild animals) and “cattle” (domestic animals).

The fossil record shows that the mammals first walked upon the earth 248 million years ago during Day-Age 6-a.

Third of worst extinctions. The third and most devastating of the five worst mass extinctions also occurred during Day-Age 6-a, some 245 million years ago. As much as 96% of all species were wiped out.

The destruction was so great paleontologists use this event to mark the end of the ancient or Paleozoic Era and the beginning of the middle or Mesozoic Era, when many new groups of animals arose.⁶⁰

Day-Age 6-b

• Circa 234,375,000 to 117,187,500 years ago (Duration: approximately 117,187,500 years)  

Fourth of worst extinctions. The fourth of the five worst mass extinctions transpired some 208 million years ago, claiming about 76% of all species at the time, including many reptiles.⁶¹

Archaeopteryx appeared. A chimeric creature appeared 150 million years ago. Scientists say it was the first true bird – with feathers and wings, and a “wishbone” (the fused collarbones underpinning wing muscles). However, it also had jaws with teeth, claws on its wings, and a long tail like dinosaurs. It was half-bird, half-reptile – the archaeopteryx!

It seems to be alluded to in Scripture. Leviticus 11:18 (NKJV) lists birds: “the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture.” The “while owl” is tanshemeth in the Hebrew original. Several verses later, 11:30 lists reptiles: “the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.” Strangely, “chameleon” is also tanshemeth in the original. The word tanshemeth, applicable to both a bird and a reptile, perfectly describes the archaeopteryx! Was tanshemeth the Scriptural term for the archaeopteryx?

Day-Age 6-c

• Circa 117,187,500 to 58,593,750 years ago (Duration: approximately 58,593,750 years)  

Fifth of worst extinctions. The fifth and most recent of the five worst mass extinctions occurred more or less 65 million years ago, with the death of 76% of all species, most notably the dinosaurs.⁶²

Primates created. Around the time that “terrible lizards” (dinosaurs) became extinct, primates – animals that resemble modern lemurs, monkeys, and apes – came onto the scene some 65,000,000 years ago during Day-Age 6-c.

Day-Age 6-d

• Circa 58,593,750 to 29,296,875 years ago (Duration: approximately 29,296,875 years)  

Rise of mammals. As the level of atmospheric oxygen continued to rise from 10% to 17% about 50 million years ago, then 23% some 40 million years ago, mammals dominated the planet.

Paul Falkowski, a marine science professor, explains: "In the fossil record, we see that this rise in oxygen content corresponds exactly to a really rapid rise of large, placental mammals… The more oxygen, the bigger the mammals… the rise in oxygen content allowed mammals to become very, very large – mammals like 12-foot-tall sloths and huge saber-toothed cats.”⁶³ Some hornless rhinoceroses measured about 30 feet long and stood 18 feet high at the shoulder.

Day-Age 6-e

• Circa 29,296,875 to 14,648,437 years ago (Duration: approximately 14,648,437 years. From here on, fractions are added to succeeding numbers to keep figures rounded.)  

Day-Age 6-f

• Circa 14,648,437 to 7,324,218 years ago (Duration: approximately 7,324,218 years)  

Manlike creatures.

The Jewish philosopher Maimonides said in his exegesis of Genesis that there were manlike creatures before Adam.⁶⁴ Similarly, the Talmud and other ancient Jewish commentaries mention pre-Adamic animals with human forms but without the neshamah or God-given spirit.⁶⁵ How did they know that before fossils were discovered?

Anthropologists call manlike creatures thought to be ancestors of man “hominids.” They call living apes “hominoids,” because they are only similar to humans, but not man’s supposed ancestors.

Ramapithecus, 14-8 mya. Found in 1932 in northern India (now part of Pakistan), parts of a fossilized jaw and some teeth, dated about 14-8 million years old, were named Ramapithecus -- “Rama's ape,” after Rama, a mythical prince of India, combined with pithekos, Greek for “ape.” In 1976, a complete jaw was discovered. With a distinctly simian V shape, it differs markedly from the parabolic shape of hominid jaws.⁶⁶ More complete fossils have been found in China and Pakistan, confirming that Ramapithecus was not a hominid, but a true ape.⁶⁷

Day-Age 6-g

• Circa 7,324,218 to 3,662,109 years ago (Duration: approximately 3,662,109 years)  

Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 7-6 mya.  In 2001 the fossils of the supposedly oldest hominid species, estimated at 7-6 million years old,  were found in the north central African nation of Chad.⁶⁸ Dubbed Sahelanthropus (“Sahel man,” after the semi-arid region and the Greek word anthropos, meaning “human”), it has an apelike skull. The fossil pieces are so few, it is uncertain if Sahelanthropus walked bipedally.⁶⁹ 

Orrorin tugenensis, 6 mya. Found in the Tugen Hills of central Kenya in 2000, the fossils received the name Orrorin tugenensis, which means “original man in the Tugen region.” Thought to be 6 million years old,⁷⁰ the fossilized skeleton has simian features, including long, curved finger bones for grasping and movement in trees, and apelike canine and premolar teeth.⁷¹

Ardipithecus, 4.4 mya. Unearthed in Ethiopia in 1994, this fossil find dated to be 4.4-million years old has been named Ardipithecus, from words in the Afar and Greek languages meaning “ground ape.”⁷² “Ardi,” however, has apelike teeth and skeleton, suggesting its ability to walk upright might not have been well developed.⁷³

Australopithecus, 4-1 mya. In 1924, a fossilized skull was dug up in Taung, South Africa. It was named Australopithecus, which means “southern ape.” Thought to be man’s ancestor, six species have since been identified. An almost complete 3,200,000-year-old skeleton of a female unearthed in 1974 by Donald Johanson at Hadar, Ethiopia, was nicknamed “Lucy,” after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which played on the night of the find.⁷⁴

Australopithecines, some 3½ to 5 feet tall, had a brain (390-550 cu cm) about one-third of that of a modern human; a low cranium behind a projecting face; small canine teeth like those of humans, but large cheek teeth (molars) like apes. Although Lucy had arms proportionally longer than those of modern people, she is said to have walked upright,⁷⁵ based on a knee joint. (Johanson later said the knee fragment was discovered a mile and a half away in a rock layer 200 feet deeper, but was included due to “anatomical similarity.”)⁷⁶

Bruce Bower, in the Science News of 2 June 2001, reported that, in one study, Australopithecine inner ear bones used to maintain balance were found to be greatly similar to those of chimpanzees and gorillas, but markedly different from those of humans.⁷⁷ Mark Cartmill et al. wrote in the July-August 1986 issue of American Scientist: “At present we have no grounds for thinking that there was anything distinctively human about australopithecine ecology and behavior... they were surprisingly apelike in skull form, premolar dentition, limb proportions, and morphology of some joint surfaces, and they may still have been spending a significant amount of time in the trees.”⁷⁸ 

Anatomist Sir Solly Zuckerman and Dr. Charles Oxnard, in contrast  to anthropologists using subjective and less analytical visual techniques, developed a multivariate analysis technique with computers performing millions of analyses on homologous Australopithecine, simian, and human bones. Their finding: Australopithecus is not a missing link between ape and man.⁷⁹ Sir Solly observed: “When compared with human and simian skulls, the Australopithecine skull is in appearance overwhelmingly simian – not human… Our findings leave little doubt that… Australopithecus resembles not Homo sapiens but the living monkeys and apes.”⁸⁰

Paleontologist Richard Leakey said in his book Origins (1977) that it is “unlikely that our direct ancestors are evolutionary descendants of the australopithecines.”⁸¹ James Shreeve remarked in the Science magazine issue of May 3, 1996: “The proportions calculated for (Australopithecus) africanus turned out to be amazingly close to those of a chimpanzee, with big arms and small legs... One might say we are kicking Lucy out of the family tree…”⁸² As their family name pithecus (“ape”) denotes, these prehistoric pithecoid creatures were just apes.

Day-Age 6-h

• Circa 3,662,109 to 1,831,054 years ago (Duration: approximately 1,831,054 years.)  

Kenyanthropus platyops, 3.5 mya. A fossilized cranium and other bones, estimated to be 3.5 million years old, were found in 1999 in northern Kenya. The creature had a mixture of features not seen in earlier hominid fossils: a much flatter face and smaller molars; the cheekbone joined the rest of the face in a forward position; and the region beneath the nose opening was flat. Researchers placed it under a new genus and species: Kenyanthropus platyops. In Greek anthropos means “humen being,” while platyops means “flat” – combined to mean “flat-faced human from Kenya.”⁸³

Homo habilis, 2.8-1.5 mya. So named for the primitive stone tools found with its fossilized skull in 1960, Homo habilis means “handy man” -- from Latin words meaning “human” (homo) and “able or skillful” (habilis). The first to be classified under the genus Homo, the species had a bigger braincase of about 600 cu cm.⁸⁴ It was also taller.

The fossil had been found beneath volcanic ash dated at about 2.6 million years, pushing back the presumed origin of man by millions of years. Its discoverer, Richard Leakey, says: “Either we toss out this skull or we toss out our theories of early man.” He adds that “it leaves in ruins the modern notion that all early fossils can be arranged in an orderly sequence of evolutionary change.”⁸⁵

The first confirmed limb bones of Homo habilis were discovered in 1986. They showed the creature clearly had apelike proportions and should never have been classified as human. Hugh Ross comments on the web: “Starting about 2-4 million years ago, God began creating man-like mammals or ‘hominids.’ These creatures stood on two feet, had large brains, and used tools. Some even buried their dead and painted on cave walls… God replaced them with Adam and Eve.”⁸⁶

Homo rudolfensis, 1.9 mya. In 1972, more than 150 fragments of bone fossils were discovered in eastern Kenya. As the size of the skull and several anatomical features differed from those of earlier finds, scientists classified it under a new species named Homo rudolfensis, after Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana). Its best-known fossils from the lake area date from about 1.9 million years ago.⁸⁷

Richard Leakey notes: “This Australopithecine material suggests a form of locomotion that was not entirely upright nor bipedal. The Rudolf Australopithecines, in fact, may have been close to the ‘knuckle-walker’ condition, not unlike the extant African apes.”⁸⁸

Day-Age 6-i

• Circa 1,831,054 to 915,527 years ago (Duration: approximately 915,527 years)  

Homo erectus, 1.5 mya. A skullcap and tooth found in 1891 by Eugene Dubois in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) was first named Pithecanthropus erectus (“erect ape-man”). Popularly known as “Java man,” it is dated about 1,500,000 years old. It had a larger brain (about 850 cc) and a rounder cranium than earlier species.⁸⁹

In China, at a site known as Chou K’ou Tien (Dragon-Bone Hill), 25 miles from Peking, from 1921 to 1934 a total of 14 skull fragments, 11 jawbones, 7 thigh pieces, 2 arm bones, a wrist bone, and 147 teeth similar to Java Man were found. Called Sinanthropus pekinensis – “Peking Man” – its composite skull was named “Nellie.”⁹⁰

Forty years after finding “Java man,” Dubois conceded it was a big ape. “Pithecanthropus was not a man, but a gigantic genus allied to the Gibbons, superior to its near relatives on account of its exceedingly large brain volume, and distinguished at the same time by its erect attitude.”⁹¹ He admitted withholding parts of four simian thigh bones found in the same area.

The World Book states: “Modern humans could not have evolved from these late populations of H. erectus, a much more primitive type of human.”⁹²

Day-Age 6-j:

• Circa 915,527 to 457,763 years ago (Duration: approximately 457,763 years)  

Homo heidelbergensis, 600-300 kya. In 1907 a fossilized manlike jaw was discovered 16 kilometers southeast of Heidelberg, Germany. It had no chin, but was unusually thick and broad, as well as long, suggesting the individual had a projecting lower face. The teeth also were too small for the massive mandible.

Other specimens from Africa (Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania), Europe (Greece, France), and possibly Asia (China) have been dated at from approximately 600 to 300 thousand years ago (kya).⁹³ Their craniums have heavy brow ridges, long and low braincases, and thick vault bones like H. erectus, but larger.

____________________

⁵⁷Mass Extinctions, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁵⁸Ibid.

⁵⁹Frank M. Carpenter, “Fossil Insects,” Insects, 1952, p. 18.

⁶⁰Mass Extinctions, loc. cit.  

⁶¹Ibid.

⁶²Ibid.

⁶³Paul Falkowski, “Oxygen Increase Caused Mammals To Triumph, Science, Sept. 30, 2005, quoted by ScienceDaily, Oct. 3, 2005

⁶⁴Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, 1:7; cited by Schroeder, op. cit., p. 123

⁶⁵Talmud Keliim 8:5; cited by Schroeder, loc. cit.

⁶⁶Ramapithecus, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

⁶⁷Ramapithecus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁶⁸Australopithecus, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

⁶⁹Human Evolution, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁷⁰Australopithecus, loc. cit.

⁷¹Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁷²From articles in Time, October 12, 2009, and The Week, October 16, 2009; cited in “Is ‘Ardi’ the Missing Link?”, Petah Tikvah, January-March 2010, p. 22

⁷³Australopithecines, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁷⁴Donald C. Johanson, “Finding Lucy and Other Fossil Treasures,” Australopithecines, loc. cit.

⁷⁵Australopithecus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁷⁶Dennis Petersen, Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, 2002, p. 129

⁷⁷Bruce Bower, “Evolution’s Youth Movement,” Science News, 2 June 2001, p. 347

⁷⁸Matt Cartmill et al., “One Hundred Years of Paleoanthropology,” American Scientist, July–August 1986, p. 417.

⁷⁹Roger Lewin, Bones of Contention, pp. 164–165.

⁸⁰Solly Zuckerman, Beyond the Ivory Tower, 1970, p. 90

⁸¹Richard E. Leakey and Roger Lewin, Origins, 1977, p. 86

⁸²James Shreeve, “New Skeleton Gives Path from Trees to Ground an Odd Turn,” Science, 3 May 1996, p. 654.

⁸³Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁸⁴Homo habilis, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁸⁵Richard Leakey, National Geographic, June 1973; quoted by Petersen, op. cit., p. 130

⁸⁶Hugh Ross, Reasons To Believe, July 8, 1997, Internet

⁸⁷Human Evolution, loc. cit.

⁸⁸Richard Leakey, “Further Evidence of Lower Pleistocene Hominids from East Rudolf, North Kenya,” Nature, Vol. 231, 28 May 1971, p. 245

⁸⁹Homo erectus, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004

⁹⁰Petersen, op. cit., p. 133

⁹¹Eugene Dubois, “On the Fossil Human Skulls Recently Discovered in Java and Pithecanthropus Erectus,” Man, Vol. 37, January 1937, p. 4

⁹²Homo erectus, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)

⁹³Homo heidelbegensis, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition

(Excerpted from Chapter 4, Primordial Planet Puzzles, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)

 

Primordial Planet Puzzles (Part 4)

Day 5: Water creatures, fowl

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day” (Gen 1:20-23).

Interpretations of Day 5:

• Literal 24-Hour Days:    1 day before man was created circa 6,000 years ago
• Thousand-Year Days:    circa 8,000-7,000 years ago
• Diminishing Day-Ages:  circa 937,500,000-468,750,000 years ago (Duration: approximately 468,750,000 years)

According to Young Earth Creationists, aquatic creatures and birds first appeared no later than 6,000 years ago, but no earlier than 8,000-7,000 years ago, either.

In the Diminishing Day-Ages timeline, God created the first marine animals during Day-Age 5, sometime between 937.5 million and 468.75 million years ago. This corresponds precisely to the oldest known animal fossils, about 700 million years old, that the Encyclopedia Britannica identifies as Ediacara fauna, small wormlike creatures with soft bodies.⁴⁵

Oxygen-breathing animals.

Until about 700 million years ago, there was a negligibly low amount of oxygen available. (The estimated threshold or minimum amount of oxygen needed for animal life to begin and multiply on earth is 1-10% of the present atmospheric level.)⁴⁶ Photosynthesizing bacteria then began oxygenating the oceans to produce the oxygen needed by new marine animals that derived energy through respiration.

Do you see the thoughtful planning involved? God created plants on Day 3 to produce oxygen. After an adequate supply had been assured, He proceeded to create oxygen-breathing animals on Day 5.

 

The Cambrian “explosion.”

Approximately 544 million years ago, new forms of life with various anatomical structures appeared in rapid succession.⁴⁷ Writer Leslie Orgel said in the New Scientist: “Beginning at the base of the Cambrian period and extending for about 10 million years, all the major groups of skeletonized invertebrates made their first appearance in the most spectacular rise in diversity ever recorded on our planet.”⁴⁸

All the basic shapes and features of multi-cellular organisms living today first appeared during that period: mouths, eyes, gills, intestines, shells, bones, spines, appendages, joints. The seas teemed with a great variety of invertebrates: sponges, worms, bryozoans (“moss animals”), hydrozoans (jellyfish), brachiopods (clams), mollusks (snails), arthropods (trilobites), echinoderms (starfish).⁴⁹

Sir Jonathan Sacks wonders, “Something’ happened to cause an ‘explosion’ of complex multi-cellular body forms. Scientists have long been puzzled about why this burst of diversity occurred… How did life evolve at such speed that even Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, was forced to suggest that it came from Mars?”⁵⁰

Gerald Schroeder suggests the increased supply of oxygen resulted in a tenfold improvement in the conversion of food to energy. With the new energy, organisms were able to develop more complex structures.⁵¹ These were the “abundant moving creatures in the waters” (Gen 1:20).

 

The first fish.

Fish appeared 490 million years ago. The presence of a backbone differentiates the fish, a vertebrate, from invertebrates. But where it came from remains a mystery.

Author Arthur Strahler wrote: “Origin of the vertebrates is obscure -- there is no fossil record preceding the occurrence of fishes in the late Ordovician time.”⁵² Writer Francis Downes Ommanney says, “How this earliest chordate stock evolved, what stages of development it went through to eventually give rise to truly fishlike creatures we do not know. Between the Cambrian when it probably originated, and the Ordovician when the first fossils of animals with really fishlike characteristics appeared, there is a gap of perhaps 100 million years which we will probably never be able to fill.”⁵³ The Readers Digest sums it up: “To our knowledge, no ‘link’ connected this new beast to any previous form of life. The fish just appeared.”⁵⁴ But, of course. God created the fish.

 

Dragonflies and dragons?

God also said: “Let the waters bring forth… fowl that may fly above the earth… And… great whales” (Gen 1:20-21). “Fowl” from the waters? Were these the first birds? Did they precede the land animals? Let us take a closer look.

“Fowl.” The word is translated from the Hebrew owph, meaning “to cover with wings or obscurity.” “Bird” is tsippor in Hebrew. In its commentary on Genesis 1:20, Barnes’ Notes explains: “[Bird of wing] Here the wing is made characteristic of the class, which extends beyond what we call birds.” The commentator points out that owph (“fowl”) means more than just “birds.”⁵⁵

The idea is demonstrated in Leviticus 11:13-20: “And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,  And the vulture, and the kite after his kind; Every raven after his kind; And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.”

God enumerated birds under the word “fowls,” but also included a flying mammal – the bat! Let us grant that in that pre-scientific time the Israelites did not know the difference between a true bird and a bat. Yet, in the last line we read a stranger thing: “fowls that creep, going upon all four.” Four-footed fowl? No member of the avian family creeps, much less on all fours, because birds have only two legs. The NKJV renders the verse in a more contemporary language: “All flying insects that creep on all fours…” (Lev 11:20, NKJV; also NIV and NASU).

It becomes clear that the word “fowls” lumps together true birds, a flying mammal, and flying insects -- even if they are biologically unrelated. It shows that owph refers to any creature that flies! Science asserts: “There is no fossil evidence of primitive wings prior to the appearance of fully developed winged insects...”⁵⁶

Thus, the “fowl” from the waters in Genesis 1:20-22 may have actually been winged insects, prehistoric predecessors of modern dragonflies, mosquitoes, and similar insects which lay their eggs and spend the larval stages of their lives in the water! 

Great whales. The “great whales” God created, rendered “great sea creatures” in NKJV and NIV, and “great sea monsters” in NASU and ASV, is hataninim hagadolim in the original Hebrew text.

In other Bible verses, the translation is “dragons”: “Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons (taninim)…” (Ps 148:7a); “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon (tanin)…” (Ps 91:13; Ps 74:13, Deut 32:33, Jer 9:11). Elsewhere, the translation is “serpents”: “And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent (tanin)… For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents (taninim)…” (Ex 7:10,12a).

“Dragons” and “serpents” are both reptiles. Hence, the Hebrew taninim hagadolim (“great whales”) must have actually been huge sea reptiles -- marine dinosaurs – the sea serpents of ancient legends!

____________________

⁴⁵Evolution, Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition
⁴⁶“Reason For Almost Two Billion Year Delay In Animal Evolution On Earth Discovered,” ScienceDaily.com,, Mar. 27, 2008, Internet.
⁴⁷Earth, World Book 2005 (Deluxe)
⁴⁸Leslie Orgel, “Darwinism at the Very Beginning of Life,” New Scientist, April 15, 1982, p. 151
⁴⁹Cambrian Period, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
⁵⁰Jonathan Sacks, “Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species,” The Times (London), August 29, 2008
⁵¹Schroeder, The Science of God, p. 117
⁵²Arthur N. Strahler, Science and Earth History: The Evolution/Creation Controversy, 1987, p. 316.
⁵³Francis Downes Ommanney, The Fishes, 1963, p. 60.
⁵⁴Marvels & Mysteries of Our Animal World, The Readers Digest Association, 1964, p. 25.
⁵⁵Gen 1:20, Barnes' Notes, 1997
⁵⁶Schroeder, op. cit., p.

(Excerpted from Chapter 4, Primordial Planet Puzzles, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson, Amazon.com)