Did God Create Adam -- or Did Adam Create God?
Delve into the intriguing question of how the Bible's account of God creating Adam around 6,700 years ago aligns with the existence of the human species for over 200,000 years.
6/6/20233 min read
In The Beginning
How is it that according to Biblical scholars the Earth and Adam were created about 6,700 years ago when modern man, Homo Sapien, has been around more than 200,000 years? Could it be because of language? Not as a misunderstanding that was lost in translation but in the evolution of language itself. The first written language is a matter of ongoing debate and research but it is generally accepted that the Sumerians developed the first writing system known as cuneiform around 3,200 BCE or about 5,200 years ago. Although the exact date is also in question, the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system emerged around 3050 BCE.
It is imagined that early Homo Sapiens basically communicated through grunts and gestures but at some point gradually began to create words for each other, for the animals they hunted, the strategies they used to coordinate the hunt. Essentially, a rudimentary language was created. When did that language become sophisticated enough to imagine and communicate the concept of God? -- of creation of the world as they knew it, of humankind, how it got there, and what happens to them when they die. It would have been impossible for early humans to even conceive of the notion of God without having the fundamental words, phrases, and concepts to build upon. But at some point in time -- that changed.
Actually 6,700 years ago might not be a bad guess. Did the spoken language evolve around 1,500 years before the first written language? Possible. So, if there were a God, then he or she could have finally enlightened Adam with the story of creation because at last, Adam had the vocabulary and intelligence to understand. Even though there had been tens of thousands of generations of Homo Sapiens before him, he became the the first man to know God. So, Adam was essentially created when humankind had eventually developed their language to a level of sophistication where it was able to understand and communicate with God. But if Adam was the first modern man to receive the word of God, where does that leave the rest of his species that came before him? Did they get to know God, did they enter Heaven? Does this mean you must have the capacity to understand what God is in order to be saved? Wouldn't than mean only humans, born after Adam, go to heaven? -- no earlier humans, no Neandertal's, no Homo Erectus-- no pets? Considering the Christians who think Jesus is the only way to Heaven, nobody from Adam to everyone in the Bible up to Jesus' death, knew about Jesus. Did they go to Heaven?
Perhaps more likely is the inevitable evolution of the human mind and its capacity for creativity. "Adam" wasn't the first man, he was the first storyteller. He was the first to take account of his existence and invented an explanation for how he and everyone before him were created, how a God created Heaven and Earth, provided a place for everlasting life, and a shelter when they die. You can imagine his tribe sitting around the fire and listening to Adam's stories in awe. These stories are told again and again and spread across the land as the hunter gathers travel to new grounds. At some point, morality is introduced and the narrative expands to include the notion that not only is there a God but reveals God's mind and how God wants humankind to behave, what they can and must not do -- and the punishment God will impose if God's laws aren't obeyed. The story is passed from generation to generation and evolve like the Telephone game we played when we were young until finally written down. The result of these stories provide some of the seeds for the different religions we have today.
So, did humankind's intellect and language evolve to a point where "Adam" imagined a God and a creation story or is there a God who created man when humankind was finally able to comprehend his majesty? As always, and unfortunately, we will probably never know.
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