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What is the meaning of kinds in Genesis?
by James Gibson
2013年03月08日 00点03分
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2. Does the reference to “kinds” indicate that the created “kinds” could not change, but were fixed? No. In reality, the Bible predicts that species will change. One of the results of sin was the curse on plants, producing thorns and thistles. How could thorns and thistles be the result of the curse if they had been part of the original creation? The fact that they represent a change is evidence that plants have changed since the creation. The curse on the serpent shows that animals can also change. How could crawling on the belly be a curse if the serpent were created crawling on its belly? Isaiah 65:25 suggests that God intends that wolves should not eat lambs, nor that lions be predators, but that all of creation live in peaceful harmony. The existence of parasites and flightless birds are further evidence that species can change.
2013年03月08日 00点03分
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3. Can species change so much that new species may be produced? The Bible does not address this question, but it can be explored empirically. First, we must define what a “species” is. The most common definition of a species is “a group of interbreeding, or potentially interbreeding, populations.” There are many examples of populations that are virtually indistinguishable, yet do not interbreed. For example, the European shrew, a tiny mammal, appears similar in all parts of its range, but detailed studies revealed a number of non-interbreeding populations. Such non-interbreeding populations are classified as different species, whether or not a non-expert can tell them apart. Such examples strongly indicate that new species have been produced.
Species confined to a single, small region provide additional evidence that new species can be produced. This is especially noticeable on islands. Many islands have species that are found nowhere else. Examples include the marine iguana of the Galapagos Islands, the Hawaiian finches, and the babirusa pig of Celebes Island. In each case, the most reasonable explanation for the restriction of such species to their respective islands is that they have changed in isolation, from an original colonization by an ancestor that would be classified in a different species.
Then, does the text mean that species can change without limit as in the evolutionary theory? No. The text clearly states that God created diversity from the beginning. Diversity is part of the original creation, with further diversification afterward. There are many independently created lineages, some of which may have only one or a few species, while other lineages may include many species. (A “lineage” consists of an originally created “kind” and all its descendants.)
2013年03月08日 00点03分
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4. Can we use some taxonomic category to identify the separately created lineages? No. Taxonomic categories are subjectively constructed for the convenience of taxonomists. There is no direct relationship between any taxonomic category and the originally created lineages. Identifying the members of different lineages is one of the goals of creation research.
2013年03月08日 00点03分
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我认为,圣经里很多话都是秘密,人类是有限的,没有可能“全然明白”。
2013年03月12日 04点03分
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