RTB makes a distinction between pre-human bipedal primate species and humans. 28 Whereas pre-humans are animals, specially created by God, 29 humans are distinct in that they are God’s crown of creation, supernaturally created and made in God’s image. 30
The reader should also be aware that, if Neanderthals and modern humans are two separate species, 31 any “pre-human” hominid genetic information found in the human genome might be interpreted by RTB as being the result of interbreeding between species (i.e., bestiality) as Todd C. Wood 32 points out. 33
What was the purpose of such pre-human bipedal primate species? According to RTB,
it seems reasonable that God anticipated the negative impact of (post-Fall) human activity on birds and mammals. One possible scenario is that in the time period prior to Adam and Eve’s creation God made a sequence of bipedal primate species, each more skillful at hunting than the one before. Birds and mammals would then have developed better behavioral defenses against the future onslaught of humanity. God may have had other reasons as well for creating bipedal primates, reasons scientists are as yet incapable of discerning. 34
Finally, RTB continues with their day-age assertions in determining when Adam and Eve were created by God 35 and conclude from the fossil record that Adam and Eve were created approximately 50,000 years ago. 36
28 “Neanderthals represent a pre-human primate species.” Ross, A Matter of Days, 225; “A note on nomenclature: In modern evolutionary biology, humans are classified as ‘hominids.’ This book uses that term to refer only to the bipedal primates that preceded ‘modern humans.’ …neither the authors [Rana and Ross] nor RTB believes that hominids prior to modern humans should be called human beings.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 29; “RTB’s biblical creation model considers the hominids found in the fossil record to be animals created by God’s direct intervention for His purposes. . . . While the hominids were created by God’s command, they were not spiritual beings made in His image. This status was reserved for human beings.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 50; “Homo sapiens idaltu (like H. erectus, Neanderthals, and other archaic Homo sapiens) were simply primates – animals that walked upright, possessed limited intelligence, and had some type of culture, but animals nonetheless.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 83; The RTB model “identifies these [Neanderthal] hominids as created by God – with some similarities to human beings and yet distinct.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 191.
29 Ross points out, “theistic evolution seems to contradict Genesis 1 and 2 as well as Mark 10:6 and Matthew 19:4. . . . These and other Bible passages indicate that God created the original human pair in a special, direct, and personal way. Thus RTB’s model for humanity’s origin must reject any form of theistic evolution that doesn’t posit God’s direct involvement. The RTB model asserts that attempts to establish evolutionary relationship among the hominids in the fossil record and to identify the evolutionary pathways to modern humans will ultimately prove unfruitful.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 44; “Several positions, including the day-age interpretation adopted in this book, treat the biblical creation accounts as reliable (though not exhaustive) descriptions of Earth’s and life’s natural history. According to the day-age approach, the Creator repeatedly intervened in Earth’s history, initiating new life-forms, including humans.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 42.
30 “…only human beings were made in God’s image” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 48.
31 “In other words, humans could not possibly be descended from Neanderthals.” Ross, A Matter of Days, 225.
32 Todd C. Wood, PhD is a young earth creationist with a background in biochemistry and genomics. Personally, I often appreciate his viewpoint and started following his blog after I ran across the following blog entry: http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2009/09/truth-about-evolution.html (last accessed, April 4, 2011).
33 http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2010/04/neandertals-bred-with-humans.html
http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2010/05/neandertals-in-bizarro-world.html
http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2010/05/neandertal-non-sequitur.html
http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2010/05/pondering-image-of-god.html and a related post http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2011/01/human-species.html. Todd Wood also offers an interesting multi-part assessment of RTB’s human/chimp genome comparison which he finishes here http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2011/01/rtb-and-chimp-genome-part-8.html (last accessed, April 22, 2011)
34 Ross, A Matter of Days, 237.
35 “…precisely dating the creation of Adam and Eve from the biblical text is not possible. Gaps in the genealogies and the ambiguity of key words in the original Hebrew text render the best attempts at a biblical date for Adam and Eve as estimates only. If few gaps exist, the date calculates to around 10,000 years ago. If many gaps occur, the date falls closer to 100,000 years ago.” Rana with Ross, Who was Adam? 45.
36 Ross, More Than A Theory, 59.
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