Day Six +quot;Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and cre

Day Six                                                                
                                                                       
    "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind,      
cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind,"
thunders the Creator. Complete and immediate obedience is the response 
reflected in the pithy phrase: "And it was so." These three terms      
(i.e., cattle, creeping things, and the beasts of the earth) are       
obviously intended to encompass the whole animal kingdom, excluding    
only the creatures of day five, and man. There is no doubt that the    
creatures of days five and six included the multitudes of currently    
extinct animals (e.g., dinosaurs) with which the fossil record is      
replete. There is no justification for the notion that dinosaurs       
inhabited an Earth which was destroyed before the Genesis week of      
creation (see Thompson, 1977, pp 167-200).                             
    The Earth is finally in a state of readiness for the crowning glory
of all creation---mankind. The creation of man differs from that of all
other life in at least the following ways. First, a divine conference  
precedes the forming of man. Second, man is created in the "image of   
God." Third, man is said to have been "formed" by God, and not         
commanded to appear. Fourth, life is "breathed" into man by God. Fifth,
the sexes of mankind are not created simultaneously, as in the case of 
the rest of Earth's life. Sixth, the first female is "built" from a    
section of the first male's "flesh and bone." Whereas evolution        
portrays man as simply an advanced member of the animal kingdom, these  
facts speak eloquently of man's complete separation from the animal     
realm. Man must be very careful not to minimize his importance (see     
Psalm 8). These considerations are contradicted by all stripes of       
evolution. One cannot escape a confrontation with them if he is to      
claim that there is "amazing agreement" between evolution and the       
Bible.                                                                  
    Unlike any of the other creatures, man alone bears a special        
resemblance to God. The meaning of the terms "in His image" and "after  
His likeness" has occupied the minds of scholars since time immemorial. 
Thomas Aquinas offers the following thoughtful explanation: "The image  
implies an intelligent being endowed with free choice and self-         
movement" (`Summa II', p 609). This explanation is consistent with      
divine revelation, but one further point should be added. The spirit of 
man which expresses itself through these capacities for reasoning and   
independent volition, is not limited to them. James' statement that the 
body without the spirit is dead teaches, by implication, that as long   
as there is life in a human body, its spirit is also present (James     
2:26).                                                                  
    After Adam named the animals which the Creator brought to him, his  
lack of human companionship became evident. Unlike the animals, which   
all had mates that were "meet" (i.e., suitable) for each other, Adam    
was alone. God evaluates the situation as "not good" and takes the      
necessary action to resolve the problem. The man is put to sleep while 
God removes a rib from his side (the Bible is silent as to which side),
and God "builds" from it the first woman.  Following this operation,   
God presents Adam with his wife. Adam's response seems full of         
excitement: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: she   
shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man." Adam had      
earlier called the animals various names apparently corresponding to   
his perception of them; now, he calls his helpmeet, "Woman" because he 
correctly perceives that she was taken from him. It is not until after 
the expulsion from the garden that the name "Eve" is given.            
    How will the theistic evolutionist attempt to harmonize this       
account with evolution? With the creation of mankind now complete,     
evening falls and morning returns, concluding the sixth day.