Post 2

The Genesis passage from the Bible doesn't have the most cohesive argument in relation to the neanderthal articles. I'm hoping that it can be assumed that most of the stories with the Bible were not thought to be taken literally. In my opinion they are merely there to teach lessons and show a moral way of life. Their main problem that can lead this argument astray is that modern humans do not know everything about neanderthals, nor do we know how factual the story of Genesis was meant to be. However, on the basis of evolution and the creation of mankind we can compare them.

According to "The Singing Neanderthals" passage, "Genetic evidence indicates that our species, Homo sapiens, shared an ancestor with the Neanderthals somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago, and evolved quite separately" (222). This seems odd in contrast with Genesis, which claims that man has dominion over all things and that humankind, the reflection of God, all came from Adam and Eve. This may seem laughable, since it is incredibly unlikely that people actual believe this was really how mankind began. However, I feel like it is still an area of evolution that can be assessed. Really, humans share "99.5%" of DNA traits with neanderthals. We are really similar beings. When humankind interbreeded with neanderthals we had to have been at the same or a similar intellectual level. This intellectual level was not high. How could Adam and Eve have thought on such a high intellectual level if they had existed hundreds of thousands of years before humans and neanderthals interbreeded? It seems to me that it doesn't all compute well. I guess a lot of what I've discussed is based on interpretation. Well, food for thought.