Well good day to you all! Again
it is wonderful to reach out to all my fine friends out there! I know it has
been raining hard in other parts of the world, but here it is so dry. Send some
of that wet stuff this a-way!
I am going to expound on the
differences of mankind a little more as I have had some questions. The biggest
is the difficulty of wrapping your brain around the fact that Noah and his
family and all those before and for four generations after the flood were Homo erectus and not Homo sapiens.
There are several things to
consider. First, it is absolute fact that the earliest (most ancient) human
fossils (found in the lowest layers of deposits) are in fact Homo erectus. Again, fact-Homo erectus is so similar to Homo sapiens that they really should be
considered one and the same. But even if they never get classified as one and
the same, you must understand that Homo
erectus (and H. neanderthalensis, H. florenensis, and H. devonianensis) are
all 100% human. Differences in height, skull shape and even body size do not
make or take away from our humanness.
 |
| ape, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens, H. florenensis |
Evolution states that the
descendents of a species can’t be living as contemporaries with their ancestors
because the one species (allegedly) turns into the ‘more advance’ species. It does
this because (again allegedly) the former species “…possesses certain favorable
mutations which the rest of the species does not possess. Thus the newer, more
advanced group comes into direct competition with the older unchanged group and
eventually eliminates it through (competition and) death.”[i]
That is what most of us have been
taught about our ancestors, so it is understandable that it is
difficult to
wrap our brains around the fact that Homo
erectus, H. neanderthalensis, H. florenensis,
H. devonianensis, and H. sapiens are
all very, very human. We must train our thoughts to analyze these five human
groups as true humans, just like professional basket ball players are all much
taller than the average human and the pygmy tribe of the Congo, Africa are much
smaller. Yet we do not think of them as sub-human. In such a way we must redirect
our thoughts towards our ancestors, and not let evolution pollution cloud or deceive
or even trouble our minds.
The whole evolution theory actually
falls apart when looked at closely in regards to mankind. According to
evolution, H. erectus should have
long disappeared from earth by the time Neanderthals and ‘modern’ humans show
up on the scene. According to their own theory, these people groups could not
have been contemporaries. Yet they are.
But how nicely do contemporary
human groups fit in with the dispersal of mankind from Babel, and the pressures
of the Ice Age, just as the bible says!
The other question most
frequently asked is; why was only the Neanderthals affected so badly by
rickets? Well, rickets is a disease brought on by the lack of vitamin D. Vitamin
D comes to us can through our diet and/or supplements and can also be synthesized
(from cholesterol) when sun exposure is adequate. In humans vitamin D is
produced in the deep layers of our skin through irradiation by the ultraviolet
component of sunlight.
 |
| Homo neanderthalensis (left), Homo sapiens (right) |
Now, with that in mind, let’s
take a closer look at the Neanderthal lifestyle. They are a people that in
general, lived in the frigid shadow of the Ice Age glaciers. So what would be a
natural response to such a harsh climate? “1) to seek out natural shelters such
as caves, 2) to construct shelters out of whatever materials was available, and
3) to wear heavy clothing, probably animal skins, to cover much or all of the
body. The lack of access to sunshine because of the heavy cloud cover, their
need for shelter [and therefore much time spent indoors], and the wearing of
heavy clothing would have predictable results; rickets.”[ii] Remember
the component of sunlight that ‘brings’ the vitamin D? Ultraviolet waves. The very
component of sunlight most effectively filtered out by heavy, thick, snow ladened
clouds.
But didn’t those archaic Homo sapiens and erectus that lived
close the glaciers also dress heavy and live in caves? Yes they did. And there
is no archeological record that gives evidence that these archaic peoples, or
the Neanderthals had dietary sources of vitamin D. Only fatty fish and egg
yolk are significant dietary sources
of this vitamin. The archeological record, however, shows that Cro-Magnon man -‘modern’
Homo sapiens –consumed fish as a
substantial and routinely part of their diet. “Further, by Cro-magnon time, the
Ice Age would have been in its final stages with relatively cool ocean, less
cloud cover and volcanism, a dryer climate, and more sunshine.”[iii]
 |
| Homo sapiens |
These are some amazing facts
about our ancestors. Another surprising fact is that “a set of fossilized human
remains has been discovered in Iberia that shows partial Neanderthal
characteristics, proving again that Neanderthals interbred with anatomically
modern men. This adds to a growing list of evidence, consistent with biblical
history, that demonstrates Neanderthal to have been fully human, rather than an
evolutionary transition. “…And
the first completed Neanderthal genome ‘showed us things completely unexpected
by evolutionary theory. First, Neanderthal was fully human. Second, he is
related to people living in Eurasia today. Third, Neanderthals interbred with
modern humans.’1 This matches skeletal remains that were part
modern, part Neanderthal, found in Iberia.”[iv]
But then of course as bible
believing people, we knew that all along even if we couldn’t put a finger on it
before! All five people groups are descendents of Adam and Eve, those two
precious people who walked and talked with God, even if only for a short time.
And because of Jesus, we
all-every one of us-can talk to God too. It doesn’t have to be something fancy,
just pour your heart out to him and He will lead you the rest of the way!
God bless to you all!
Willow Dressel
This week in the night skies-
“Friday, May 17, Regulus
and the Sickle of Leo shine above the first-quarter Moon this evening…The Moon
is 1.3 light-seconds from Earth. Regulus is almost precisely 1 billion times
farther at 42 light-years. Scale model: If the Moon were a BB [bullet] at
reading distance 15 inches from your face, Regulus would be a house-size,
blue-white-hot fireball at the Moon's actual distance.
References:
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