Did cavemen exist before CREATION?

Fisherman

Jesus certified "creation" when he said .."male and female he created them.." and so does the Bible. The fossil record though shows primitive man, homo erectus, etc were around before Bible chronology creation of Adam and Eve. Can this conflict be reconciled?

Rooster

Any man who lives in a cave is a caveman. These cavemen are on TV now in their own commercials.

Awakened07

Can this conflict be reconciled?

Well, there are Christians who believe evolution to be correct, so I guess they have reconciled it for themselves somehow.

But in doing so, I imagine they have to consider the creation story to be allegorical; just a camp fire story to give an "overview" of what actually happened. Basically "God separated the humans (homo sapiens sapiens) from the other animals by giving them self awareness, higher intelligence [and a soul, I guess most Christians would say], and creating their personalities in His image. They chose to rebel (no apple or fruit or literal snake, but still a rebellion)" and so on from there.

I'm not subscribing to any of this (except evolution), so I'm just guessing here (on behalf of others, lol).

funkyderek

Fisherman:

Jesus certified "creation" when he said .."male and female he created them.." and so does the Bible. The fossil record though shows primitive man, homo erectus, etc were around before Bible chronology creation of Adam and Eve. Can this conflict be reconciled?

There are a number of ways to reconcile this discrepancy: 1. Base your belief on facts - it doesn't matter what it says in the bible. 2. Base your belief on facts and the bible - where the bible contradicts reality, say it's allegorical. 3. Base your belief on the bible - reject the facts.
I subscribe to the first option - there is no reason a priori to believe the bible or to try to make it fit reality.

Mulan

There are a number of ways to reconcile this discrepancy: 1. Base your belief on facts - it doesn't matter what it says in the bible. 2. Base your belief on facts and the bible - where the bible contradicts reality, say it's allegorical. 3. Base your belief on the bible - reject the facts.
I subscribe to the first option - there is no reason a priori to believe the bible or to try to make it fit reality.

Derek, that is brilliant. I totally agree.

By the way, last year's Christmas card to you, was just returned to me. Wrong address. It sure took a long time to get here. PM your address to me.

Narkissos

A common (at least in Europe) "liberal" Christian approach of this topic would rather be that the creation stories are not about anything that ever happened (and thus don't really need to clash with history or paleontology at any level). Iow, the "events" in the stories are not meant to represent other (actual) events (some "rebellion" of emerging mankind occurring in an even more distant past, for instance) but to express, in narrative form, the self- and world-understanding of the writers (or, in a more religious perspective, a timeless theological teaching).

Just like the Aesop's tales of talking animals are not meant to stand for specific conversations between historical characters, but to teach timeless moral lessons.

M.J.

There is a name for what you are specifically asking about.
It's called the Gap Theory.

Basically some teach that there was an unspecified timespan between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Within that timespan, millions of years and a whole creation upon the earth could have taken place. By verse 2, it could have been wiped out as a clean slate for a separate creation starting in V3.

Of course there is no justification from the text itself to draw such a conclusion. But its one way that some have tried to reconcile the text with the fossil & geological record. The theory goes that fossils such as those of primitive man could have been from (one of?) the previous creation(s).

Interestingly, I've heard from one of Alan F's posts that the WTS does subscribe to a version of the Gap Theory without admitting it. They teach that there was a span of possibly billions of years for the formation of the earth before the start of the creation of life. I'm not sure where in Genesis 1 they stick this time frame exactly. But you would think as long as they're setting aside such a long gap period they could take better advantage of it by mentioning the possibility of a prior creation.

Fisherman

I believe in creation. I have a dilema because I cannot dismiss the evidence showing that man was around before 4028 BCE. I think that is the date wts chronology indicates is the creation of Adam more or less. I was wondering if someone is able to explain

nvrgnbk

There is no explanation.

There is no reconciliation.

The Bible is full of errors.

Benefit from whatever good you may find in it, but don't make it into something it's not, a reality-based recounting of human history.

OUTLAW

Did cavemen exsist before creation???..Your joking right?..LOL!!.......What could possibly exsist.Before it was meant to??...OUTLAW

Did cavemen exist before CREATION?

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