The subject of discussion in this section is actually just an extension of our previous discussion of the age of the universe. Indeed, according to the Biblical account, Man (adam) was created (as per Genesis 1) or formed (as per Genesis 2) on the sixth day of creation, hence the age of humankind is practically the same as the age of the universe. However, the adherents of the Bible's inerrancy use different arguments in regard to the two questions -— the age of the universe and the age of humankind. Therefore we will discuss these two topics separately.
Today, according to the Jewish calendar, we live in the year of 5761. Hence, the Jewish religious tradition derived from the Biblical account maintains that the universe, and with it humankind, has existed for about 5761 years. Some other denominations for which the Bible also is a sacred source, have slightly altered that tradition, extending the age of humankind as far back as about 7500 years. Obviously these traditions are at odds with archeological data. The latter indicate that creatures in all respects like our fellow humans roamed the earth many thousands of years earlier than the Bible story implies.
Of course, the "young earth creationists" simply dismiss the archeological data asserting that God deliberately placed fossils in the Earth's crust to create an illusion that the Earth is as old as these fossils seem to indicate. Why God would play such games of deception with poor archeologists and how the adherents of that explanation have acquired the knowledge of God's trick, remains the secret of those believers in the Bible's inerrancy. Their views are consistent even if absurdly obscurant, and cannot be argued against in rational terms. They offer no logical or factual arguments in favor of their views, which have been instilled in their minds either via indoctrination at an early age or, less often, via some emotional experience.
On the other hand, many other adherents of the Bible's inerrancy realize that the Biblical story seems absurd at its face value, so they try to reconcile that story with the findings of science. In regard to the age of humankind, an often-expressed explanation is that the human-like creatures who lived on the Earth before adam only looked like human beings but actually were animals. Some 5761 years ago, God created the first real man, who received from God his soul (in Hebrew neshamah). Unlike any animal, only Man was created in the image of God.
First, note that the cited explanation is not based on information contained anywhere in the Bible. Here we see a typical example of an explanation that is contrived a posteriori to make a theory fit the data.
Second, it is easy to see that the explanation in question contradicts the known facts. The human-like creatures who lived earlier than 5761 years ago had too many features identical with our fellow humans. Long before that day 5671 years ago, those creatures made clothes and adorned them with embellishments, developed rather sophisticated technologies, built cities, harvested crops, used artificial irrigation, engaged in arts, and developed writing systems. Moreover, they looked very much like modern man, hence they reflected, at least in their looks, the same (imperfect) "image of God" as modern Man does.
These facts, however, do not seem to impress the believers in the Bible's inerrancy. They insist that all the listed achievements do not characterize a creature as being distinctive from animals, whereas "image of God" does not mean simply the physical appearance.
There seems, however, to be a point of agreement between the believers in the Bible's inerrancy and skeptics. Both seem to agree that the decisive difference between humans and animals is in their stand versus the concept of God. Animals, who do not possess a neshamah, have no concept of deity. The feature that separates Man from all animals, is Man's concept of and relationship with God.
The archeological data show, however, that for thousands years earlier than 5761 years ago human-like creatures built religious shrines and temples, hence they obviously had the concept of a deity and stood in a certain relation to it.
Therefore, belief in the word of the Bible in regard to the age of the humankind is not based on any evidence, while the scientific data show quite convincingly that the Biblical story cannot be true, despite all the mental acrobatics utilized to allegedly reconcile the two incompatible views. So far, the believers in the Bible's inerrancy can not offer any convincing arguments in favor of their position.
™ Version 4.2