Board index ‹ Creation and Evolution

[Reconnoiter]

Hello Jim,

I have read all of your thoughts on evolution and creation and how they exist as one. I really appreciate your viewpoint because for the first time, this stuff is all making sense. However, could you please answer this question.When God chose to reveal himself to the human race starting with Adam and Eve… do you think he revealed himself to the whole human race, including those indigenous people in the americas and Australia, etc that probably had already migrated to those areas? Did the Bible only focus on Adam and Eve because they were the line of Jesus? And if he didn’t reveal himself to those people, were they still considered animals and for how long?

Thanks!

[jimwalton]

Great question, and glad you have been enjoying the reading. Here's what I think.

Adam and Eve were real historical people who actually lived, and God revealed Himself to them. But we are not to think that they are the only ones God revealed Himself to. Adam and Eve are presented in the Genesis text as archetypes, meaning that they represent all of humanity. The upshot of this is that the human race had evolved to the point of being morally culpable and spiritually capable, and it was at that point in time that God started revealing Himself to all humanity, including the indigenous people in the americas and Australia, et al. The story of Adam and Eve is in the Bible because that is the narrative pertinent, as you rightly said, to the covenant through Abraham and the eventual appearance of the Messiah God in the person of Jesus. But that is not the only story.

As soon as anyone is able, God reveals Himself. As is true to this day, God reveals Himself in dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to each person: conscience, nature, miracles, visions, thoughts, conversations, information, print media, etc. John 12.32 lets us know that God is in a habitual pattern of drawing all people to Himself. It's just as true today as it was then. The Holy Spirit is at working informing, leading, convicting, and indwelling.

[Reconnoiter]

Thanks for your thoughts! I tend to agree with your view point, but there is still one question that stumps me in this line of thought. Why didn't more strands of God (YHWH) worshipping people pop up around the world? For example, in the Americas there isn't any real history or evidence that the ancients knew of YHWH. What do you think?

[jimwalton]

Again, great question. Thanks for a stimulating discussion.

My answer to why Yahwism didn't pop up anywhere else is that God intended Yahwism to center around Abraham and his progeny, ultimately revealing Himself in the person of Jesus—and this is mandatory to the faith. If Yahwism had popped up in the Americas, it would have been totally disconnected from the line of Abraham, Moses, David, and Christ, in which case, it wouldn't have been Yahwism. Yahwism needs not only the context of the covenant and the Sinaitic law, but also the prophetic line and writings, not to mention the genealogy, that lead us to Jesus. How could that possibly have developed like a quasi-parallel track in the Americas or Australia? Even at its best, it would be unconnected to the prophetic writings, the descendants of Abraham, the monarchy, and the Messiah. So, practically speaking and theologically speaking, how could that even work?

Instead, I ruminate on the musings of C.S. Lewis, who wrote (Mere Christianity, p. 65), referring to John 14.6:

"Here is another thing that used to puzzle me. Is it not frightfully unfair that this ("No one can come to the Father except through Me") should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and have been able to believe in him? But the truth is God has not told us what his arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him. But in the meantime, if you are worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself. ... If you want to help those outside you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man's fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work. ...

The key phrase for our discussion there is, "God has not told us what his arrangements about the other people are."

Bottom line is I trust that (1) God wants all people to come to Himself; (2) God has made plans to reveal Himself in some way to all people; (3) God is continually working to draw anyone who will come to Himself; (4) My lack of understanding or the incompleteness of my knowledge or theology doesn't negate God's work in the world or render it as inadequate; and (5) It has to be possible, somehow, that people who lived before Christ or who never heard of Christ have a way to be found by God.