Where Did Humans
Come From?

The Living Soul of Man



Where did humans come from? Even evolutionary science has things to say in support of man as a living soul.

A few years ago I was in Davis-Kidd bookstore in Jackson, Tn, just enjoying the presence of so many books. As was my occasional habit, I was browsing the science section, perusing titles.

That particular day I opened a book on evolution to somewhere near its middle and read this statement, ripe with meaning:

Some time around 35,000 years ago there was a sudden and unexplainable leap in the creativity of man.

35,000 Years

35,000 years doesn't fit the time frame of the Bible, but then the Bible doesn't claim to meet time frames.

Matthew, for example, lists 42 generations from Abraham to Christ. A simple walk through the Old Testament will show you that Matthew skipped some generations, probably on purpose.

Likewise, the book of Exodus says that Levi is Moses' great grandfather; however, it is impossible that three generations spanned the entire 400-year captivity in Egypt. Remember that Abraham, Levi's great grandfather, was considered too old to have children at age 99!

Ignoring the time frame, here was a science book giving a tribute—unknowingly—to the book of Genesis!

Where Did Humans Come From:
Man as a Living Soul

Genesis 2:7 says:

The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Where did humans come from? They come from the breath of life breathed into man by the Lord God.

I've learned since I've looked at that book several years ago that this "sudden and unexplainable leap in the creativity of man" is known and accepted by science. In a BBC DVD on evolution, a scientist picked up two human skulls and said (paraphrased from memory):

These two skulls are exactly the same except that one is 60,000 years old and one is 40,000 years old. Nonetheless, there is a vast difference between the two. This one [he held up the 60,000-year-old skull] lived like an animal; this one [he held up the other] buried its dead and performed ceremonies. We don't know why.

Those of us who read the Bible know where humans came from.

God had breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life.

And he had become a living soul.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

For long centuries, God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself. … The creature may have existed in this stage for ages before it became man: it may have even been clever enough to make things which a clever archaeologist would accept as proof of its humanity. But it was only an animal because all its physical and psychical processes where directed to purely material and natural ends. Then in fullness of time, God caused to descend upon this organism, both on its psychology and physiology, a new kind of consciousness … which knew God. (The Problem of Pain, emphasis mine)

Where Did Humans Come From:
Human Evolution and the Living Soul

One of the biggest problems Christians have with the insurmountable evidence for the evolution of man is that we believe we're different from animals. Jesus died for humans—specifically for human souls—not for horses, dogs, or beetles; though all of these have brains.

The evidence is there; whether we like it or not, there is powerful, virtually undeniable evidence for human evolution from lower forms of life.

But that doesn't make us animals!

Where did humans come from? God breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and we became living souls.

The Bible says so; now so does science …

… whether they realize it or not.

Return to The Evolution of Man

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