John 21: 25 “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

In many cases we must consider not only what the Bible says, but also what it does not say. The Bible teaches that God created man in His image (Genesis 1: 27).

The Bible very clearly tells us that God created Adam and Eve in His image but it does not say they were the first to walk upright on the earth. 

Were Adam and Eve the first hominids on earth? Merriam-Webster defines hominid as “a noun or an adjective that refers to any of a family of two-footed primate mammals that include humans and their extinct ancestors and related forms.”

One theory is that a form of “walking on two feet” mammal existed, perhaps for thousands (possibly millions) of years before Adam. 

We might also consider the possibility that Adam and Eve were not the only humans created by God in His spiritual image. If there were others, we were not told in Genesis chapter one, but the possibility does exist. The leading scripture states the works, words and actions of Jesus were many more than in the scriptures. Why would we not think the same of Jewish history in the Old Testament?

There are indications (Genesis 6) that more people existed than time would have been sufficient to produce from one male and one female. There were 10 generations between Adam and Noah. Could 10 generations produce enough people to warrant a global cataclysmic flood?

Genesis 4: 16-17 “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”

A question asked for many years is, “Where did Cain’s wife come from?” Again, this is a question we have that is not answered in the Bible. Since we are humans, opinions and speculations have been presented in abundance. 

Another question may be, “If Enoch built a city and a city requires people, many people, where did they come from?”

Archeologists and paleoanthropologists have long promoted the belief that humanoids of one form or other have existed on Earth for millions of years. 

I do take the Bible literally, but understand many questions we have are not answered in full. We must realize many of the answers we receive to these many questions are only opinions. 

If the Bible does not state a final answer, then perhaps God doesn’t see it as necessary for us to know. In such a case, perhaps it’s best we move on and not be concerned with it. If God doesn’t see it as necessary, why should we? The Bible does not claim to be complete. But we are human and we are curious and desire answers.

So is it possible a form of hominid existed before Adam and Eve? Absolutely! Bone fragments of what appeared to be upright walking beings have been found in the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania. Some have been estimated to be as much as 3 ½ million years old. The age was determined by the age of the volcanic ash in which footprints were found.

In the attempts to find “the missing link” (intermediate stages of evolution) between ape and man, failure was the result. Claims of such findings have been rebuked as false. Many of us still wonder if man evolved from an ape, why are there still apes?

The logic of the “no-God believers” is short on rational. How can one believe that something evolved from nothing or order developed from chaos? These thoughts are in direct contradiction of the physics laws of thermodynamics.

In the case of the proponents of “The Big Bang Theory,” where did the initial matter come from, and what caused the pressure that was exerted on it to cause it to “bang?” And of course, all we have are opinions. 

That first great question of man, “Where did we come from?”, has never been answered conclusively and probably never will be except for those of us that believe Genesis chapter one. The Bible does not claim to be a complete world history.

Genesis 2: 7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

In Genesis 2: 7 we read the words: “and man became a living soul.” “Became” could indicate man existed but when God breathed into the nostrils of His creation, a new and different human was formed. There is nothing to indicate a form of man did or did not exist before Adam.

If we cannot answer the questions of the past, can we answer the questions concerning the future?

The Bible promises us eternity based on a simple faith based belief. To our human psyche, this seems too easy and because of the simplicity of eternal freedom, many rebuke it. 

For those of us that grew up, were educated and worked in the previous century, to gain anything spiritual or otherwise without having to work for it, goes against our ways of thinking. We’ve worked, saved and invested to achieve the American dream. 

God’s idea of eternal salvation doesn’t work that way. Our eternal God has made it so easy for us, and we at times fail to comprehend His love for us. The work, all the work, was done by Jesus on the cross. The redemption of mankind was finished (John 19: 30). 

Whereas we humans have many unanswered questions. Many of our questions are answered conclusively in the Holy Bible.

Eternal salvation is by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) that Christ Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (Romans 4: 25), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive into Heaven (Acts 1: 9). 

Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com