ARLINGTON, Virginia (Genesis Proclaimed Association) - The Bible versus science conflict has tormented our education system since the Scopes "monkey" trial in the 1920's. Bewildered students for generations have been torn between religious organizations advocating sudden creation and educators who dutifully teach the scientific theory of biological evolution in public schools.
Are Homo sapiens connected to the phyletic tree of life, sharing common ancestors with creatures more hairy, or is mankind disconnected - an object of special divine creation? Genesis Proclaimed Association (www.genesisproclaimed.org) announces a possible middle-ground solution.
The heart of the creation-evolution debacle as it concerns our species derives from an inability to harmonize scientific explanations of life and man’s origins with the description in Genesis. When the historical basis for Genesis becomes apparent, however, troubles melt away.
GPA maintains that Genesis 1-11 was written for the Israelites (possibly by Moses) to describe the creation of the earth and life in terms they would understand, and to give them the genealogy and some of the history of their people.
Commentators and casual readers of Genesis typically make an erroneous assumption. What was written as Semitic history is being read as human history. A small oversight perhaps, but with enormous negative impact.
Paleo-anthropologists have traced the fossil evidence of hominids, terminating with modern humans, beyond four million years ago. The biblical origin of the Semites can be traced to Adam of Genesis who lived less that 10,000 years ago judging from the neolithic description of Adam's surroundings.
The mention of farming, raising livestock, tents, implements of bronze and iron, and musical instruments in Genesis suggest that Adam was not contemporary with the Flintstones.
In recent years we have found Accadian and Sumerian literature which corroborates and parallels much of the biblical narrative. Clay tablets recovered from the region of southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) support a historical Adam, and have real value in solving what has been a perplexing puzzle of misunderstanding.
Tantalizing clues point to such a man called “Adapa” who lived in a fishing village called Eridu at the edge of the Persian Gulf. Fragments of clay tablets have been found inscribed in four languages that describe this legendary sage “whose command no one could oppose.” Adapa is further described as “blameless,” “clean of hands,” “anointer,” and “observer of laws.”
Adapa was a baker by trade, and Adam was told in the sweat of his face he would "eat bread" (Gen. 3:19). Adam was cut off from the "tree of life" (Gen. 3:24), whereby he could "live forever" (Gen. 3:22). Adapa was offered the food and water of eternal life which he declined. Both were “created.”
Was Adapa and Adam the same man? Adam was taken from the ground, in the Hebrew, 'adam from 'adamah. How close phonetically is 'adamah to Adapa?
Did Adam's sin affect following generations? Consider these two lines from part of one Adapa fragment: “... what ill he has brought upon mankind, and the disease that he brought upon the bodies of men.
Even pyramids in Egypt carved hundreds of years before Moses record a man created "out of the waters of chaos," called "Atum" who begot a number of sons including one named "Seth." And Seth was Adam's third son.
Numerous biblical and historical clues suggest that Adam of Genesis was a historical personality who lived in southern Mesopotamia about 7,000 years ago - not at the apex of human life, but in the flow of human life
The origin of biological man can be found in biology textbooks, GPA contends. The first man to have a covenant relationship (Adam) was tasked with bringing a populated world into accountability. Being human, he failed.
Although "biblical literalism" has been singled out as the culprit causing many conservative Christians to reject modern scientific theories, the difficulty stems from a handful of translation errors and flawed interpretation. When mistakes are corrected, GPA insists, Bible and science difficulties disappear.