Why did God create Neanderthals?

[Cmass]

There is evidence that suggests Homosapiens and Neanderthals lived in the same time, region and perhaps even competed for the same food sources. They had some form of culture and a slightly larger brain capacity. Although there is scant evidence of it, it is plausible they even had religion.

So, here is a creature very much like our ancient selves in many ways - yet now considered a distinct species - and God either allowed or ushered in their demise. An entire species of intelligent beings!!! Why?

Did God kill off the Neanderthals? If so, why?

What does the Bible have to offer on this topic?

[cfiott]

It is not likely that any of us are descendants of Neanderthals, despite some similarities But it makes me wonder whether Neanderthals had souls and what happened to them when they died.

Any discussion of Neanderthals (and all other species that dispapeared more than 6,000 years ago) exposes a major flaw in the Bible. That flaw is that, according to the genealogy that is carefully lad out in the Holy Book, this planet and all its creaatures has been around only 6,000 years. So either Neanderthals (and dinosaurs and mammoths and dire wolves, etc) are just a figment of our imagination or it is some accounts in the Bible that are imaginative - figments of imaginations that keep two billion people fooled to this day.

We don't know what type of human Adam was. If he was an homo erectus the 6,000 years since his creation would be equivalent to 1.8 million years - or about 300 actual years for each Bible year. (And that would make Methusalah almost 300,000 years old.) If Adam was an homo sapiens then the ratio would only be 1:83 years. Either scenario would make it possible for Neanderthals to be descendants of Adam and eligible for heaven.

So, if you're concerned about your long face or massive dentures don't be discouraged. You may still be heaven-bound

[cfiott]

Did God kill off the Neanderthals? If so, why?

Why would you assume that God killed them off? They could have just died for a number of different natural reasons.

If we give full credit to an almighty god for the creation of all life, then we should also give him full credit for life's demise as well. The Bible says that God created everything and that he is going to end everything - at least as far as Planet Earth is concerned. The Bible allows no room for "natural reasons". God is the only reason for everything.

[Assent]

The neandertal was found primarily in Europe and parts of Asia.

Red and blond hair originate only from Europe and parts of Asia. Even the now-dominant dark hair is a result of interbreeding with the Romans and the "barbarians," who all came from Central Asia. I will be the first to admit that this could be coincidence, but it does seem rather odd, doesn't it?

[anu]

[quote="Assent"]The neandertal was found primarily in Europe and parts of Asia.
quote]

I agree.

I read only a few pages of the bible but I already have the impression that the primary setting of it, from the garden of eden to the people's wars and struggles, has been specifically defined and limited to be in the Middle East. Did the book ever mention the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, European and other ancient people other than the people of the middle east?

Remember when supposedly there were only four people in the beginning and God punished Cain to be banished somewhere else. Cain was so afraid that some "other" people will kill him if they learn what he did. Cain also got a nameless wife presumably from these "other" people. These "other" people were the Neanderthals. God wiped them all out to get rid of evidence that there were already "other" people when He created Adam and Eve.. Pretty clever, huh?

[QED]

Have we discovered any genetic link between Neanderthal and man? I admit my reseach on this is only dated through 2006, but as of last year, there was absolutely no genetic link between man and Neanderthal. In fact, the studies indicated that Neanderthals were much more closely related to apes.

So, if there is no connection, then I guess I do not understand the religious implication of Neanderthals. They were another animal species that are now extinct.

The Max Plank Institute is currently sequencing the Neanderthal Genome and have prepared this handy Fact sheet

Approximately 99% of the Homo sapien genome is identical to the
chimpanzee genome, our closest living relative. It is estimated that the
Neandertal shares 96% of the 1% difference with Homo sapien. The
Neandertal shares the remaining 4% of the difference with the
chimpanzee.

It certainly makes Neanderthals seem like a very close relative.

Sequencing and analysis of Neanderthal genomic DNA
Our knowledge of Neanderthals is based on a limited number of remains and artifacts from which we must make inferences about their biology, behavior, and relationship to ourselves. Here, we describe the characterization of these extinct hominids from a new perspective, based on the development of a Neanderthal metagenomic library and its high-throughput sequencing and analysis. Several lines of evidence indicate that the 65,250 base pairs of hominid sequence so far identified in the library are of Neanderthal origin, the strongest being the ascertainment of sequence identities between Neanderthal and chimpanzee at sites where the human genomic sequence is different. These results enabled us to calculate the human-Neanderthal divergence time based on multiple randomly distributed autosomal loci. Our analyses suggest that on average the Neanderthal genomic sequence we obtained and the reference human genome sequence share a most recent common ancestor similar to 706,000 years ago, and that the human and Neanderthal ancestral populations split similar to 370,000 years ago, before the emergence of anatomically modern humans. Our finding that the Neanderthal and human genomes are at least 99.5% identical led us to develop and successfully implement a targeted method for recovering specific ancient DNA sequences from metagenomic libraries. This initial analysis of the Neanderthal genome advances our understanding of the evolutionary relationship of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis and signifies the dawn of Neanderthal genomics.

We've asked before what implications there would be for Christianity if we discovered intelligent life on other planets: If we accept that Neanderthals were another animal species that are now extinct, then can we not imagine that we discovered them living on another planet? I can't see that it distorts any essential fact for the purposes of the thought experiment.

[Cathar1950]

The neandertal was found primarily in Europe and parts of Asia.

Red and blond hair originate only from Europe and parts of Asia. Even the now-dominant dark hair is a result of interbreeding with the Romans and the "barbarians," who all came from Central Asia. I will be the first to admit that this could be coincidence, but it does seem rather odd, doesn't it?

I does seem nothing more then a unconnected coincidence and I can only imagine that it is not any more odd then coming from some place else.
I remember watching this tv show on genetics where they were looking at a group of people that seems to be where we all came from and it was interesting to see in this group of people in Africa that had so many traits others have such as red hair and freckles as well as many varieties of eye shapes and faces. It seem more likely that people left Africa with these traits and became isolated from the main group.
Of course the ancient Middle Eastern idea of the soul was the whole person and not separate aspects of a person.

[Antagonist]

Weren't Neanderthals killed in a war with us (homo sapiens)? I think I've read it somewhere. it's been some while so I can't find it...

[Cathar1950]

Weren't Neanderthals killed in a war with us (homo sapiens)? I think I've read it somewhere. it's been some while so I can't find it...

I have read that also but it is largely speculation. They may have also been food.
There seems to be some signs of interbreeding but I am sure war was always a good possibility.

[Goat]

Weren't Neanderthals killed in a war with us (homo sapiens)? I think I've read it somewhere. it's been some while so I can't find it...

I have read that also but it is largely speculation. They may have also been food.
There seems to be some signs of interbreeding but I am sure war was always a good possibility.

Another strong possibility was that the Neanderthal went extinct because it did not adapt to the new environment. They mainly were forest living animals, whose bulk and strength were adapted to getting close to the prey. At the time they went extinct, the forests had been replaced with plains. Their bulk was not adapted to be able to get close to the animals.

The cro-magnon in the area were much more gracile, and able to hunt better. They also started having better long distance weapons to hunt too. So, the Neanderthal were victims of environmental changes, and were just plain out competed in the new environment by cromagnon.

[Antagonist]

Weren't Neanderthals killed in a war with us (homo sapiens)? I think I've read it somewhere. it's been some while so I can't find it...

I have read that also but it is largely speculation. They may have also been food.
There seems to be some signs of interbreeding but I am sure war was always a good possibility.

Another strong possibility was that the Neanderthal went extinct because it did not adapt to the new environment. They mainly were forest living animals, whose bulk and strength were adapted to getting close to the prey. At the time they went extinct, the forests had been replaced with plains. Their bulk was not adapted to be able to get close to the animals.

The cro-magnon in the area were much more gracile, and able to hunt better. They also started having better long distance weapons to hunt too. So, the Neanderthal were victims of environmental changes, and were just plain out competed in the new environment by cromagnon.

Yeah, that sounds very liable. Too bad there are no intelligent humanoid races left on earth exept for ourselves. I allways wondered what the world would look like with more intelligent races. It'd probably only lead to more war...

anyway.