It depends on which religion. Most Christians I know dispute the age of the Earth and the existence of Neanderthals and of transitional species between our ape ancestors and homo sapiens. Doesn't Genesis make reference to other people existing at the same time as Adam and his family who weren't related to him? I suppose it's possible you could construe a story that Neanderthals were those people and helped propagate the current human species. That would also explain the Neanderthal DNA we have in us.

In fact that's a pretty good explanation. I want credit for that if it becomes a popular explanation.

Edit to clarify: Emphasis on most Christians I know. Read my posts below for more detail.

If whatever creature you're referring were made in God's image - righteousness, holiness, etc. - they were human, had souls, free will, could be saved, etc.

I can't remember. It's been a long time so I could be wrong. There are references to angels living on Earth or other people or something I think.

Jkag, that's a good point that I haven't discussed this specific issue with all of them, but my family is very fundamentalist and that's how I was raised. Most of the people I know are similarly fundamentalist. Belief in evolution or an old Earth are anathema.

I agree that the Christians I've known are outliers in many ways. I don't assume they represent anyone but themselves.

Astro, I was making a reference to this, I think. https://answersingenesis.org/bible-characters/cain/cains-wife-who-was-she/
That's from a quick Google search, so I could be remembering something else. I'll check later when I have more time.

AstroAg17 said:

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Are you sure? I think they do. I can only find data for the US and we are one of the worst developed countries in this area, but here a majority of regular church goers fit neatly into that fundamentalist pidgeon hole. It's not a majority of Christians, but I'm going to take a page from y'all's book and call the irregular attendees cultural Christians. The true believers are mostly fundamentalists.

http://news.gallup.com/poll/210956/belief-creationist-view-humans-new-low.aspx

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OK, maybe they do. Allow me to rephrase my point, a young earth is not a tenet of faith for the majority of the world's Christians.

I've been Christian my whole life.

Most of my friends are Christian.

I am not aware of any who actually believe in a "young earth".

I will admit to not having discussed this with everyone. It's not really a subject that comes up in normal conversation.

As a Catechist, we do not teach this. (a young earth)

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I am not aware of any who actually believe in a "young earth".

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Oh it's widespread in fundamentalist baptist world. We even did a school play all intended to "debunk" evolution and an old earth. The big song was "You Can't Make a Monkey Out of Me".

I think most Christians, however, don't really give young earth vs old earth much thought.

Carl Underguard said:

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It depends on which religion. Most Christians I know dispute the age of the Earth and the existence of Neanderthals and of transitional species between our ape ancestors and homo sapiens.

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I seriously doubt this. At least as stated.

Would you care to opine which of these facts you believe are true?

1) Most Christians dispute that the earth is older than ~6,000 years.
2) Most Christians dispute that Neanderthals ever existed.
3) Most Christians dispute that there was a transitional species between apes and humans.
4) Most Christians dispute that humans were the result of unaided natural evolution, and God had no part in their formation of consciousness.


Four very different questions.

AstroAg17 said:

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Are you sure? I think they do. I can only find data for the US and we are one of the worst developed countries in this area, but here a majority of regular church goers fit neatly into that fundamentalist pidgeon hole. It's not a majority of Christians, but I'm going to take a page from y'all's book and call the irregular attendees cultural Christians. The true believers are mostly fundamentalists.

http://news.gallup.com/poll/210956/belief-creationist-view-humans-new-low.aspx

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Here is what your study says:

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Most Americans believe that God had a role in creating human beings, whether in their present form or as part of an evolutionary process over millions of years.

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In your quest to look down upon people who are not as scientifically minded as yourself, you perpetually succumb to myside bias.

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I've been Christian my whole life.

Most of my friends are Christian.

I am not aware of any who actually believe in a "young earth".

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Might be more a function of where you're from than your religion. Go to any small town in West Texas (and I suspect small towns in other regions) and you'd most definitely be in the minority on this topic.

Beer Baron said:

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I've been Christian my whole life.

Most of my friends are Christian.

I am not aware of any who actually believe in a "young earth".

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Might be more a function of where you're from than your religion. Go to any small town in West Texas (and I suspect small towns in other regions) and you'd most definitely be in the minority on this topic.

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That may be the case, but I would say it's likely due to denominational affiliation than anything. I'm not sure what Dad-O-Lot is, but I would imagine you're far more likely to see belief in a young earth among denominations that are sola scriptura adherents. To many, a denial of a young earth is an attack on their entire method of understanding the Scriptures. Since many small towns may have only a few churches, primarily protestant, I think that's why you'd see entire towns like that.

Y'all are both right. Again, that's kind of a function of geography. Everyone in West Texas is Baptist/Church of Christ. I don't think I ever knew any non-Hispanic Catholics until I got to A&M.

It seems like the consensus answer to the OP question is basically "no idea".

AstroAg17 said:

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Neanderthals were smart, they interbred with Homo sapiens, they had burial rituals and possibly religion, and they were equipped for speech. But they were not humans.

Did they have souls? Free will? Could they be saved? Were they included in the "beasts of the land", or were they similarly made in God's image?

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I think my answer would be that the neanderthals were distinctly different than man thus they would be included in the "beasts of the land".

Beer Baron said:

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Y'all are both right. Again, that's kind of a function of geography. Everyone in West Texas is Baptist/Church of Christ. I don't think I ever knew any non-Hispanic Catholics until I got to A&M.

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Heck, I grew up in such a bubble that, on my first Ash Wednesday at A&M, I was dumbfounded as to why people had black marks on their foreheads.

Me, too.

Buster, notice I said "most Christians I know." Read my post after that one.

RetiredAg said:

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Beer Baron said:

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Y'all are both right. Again, that's kind of a function of geography. Everyone in West Texas is Baptist/Church of Christ. I don't think I ever knew any non-Hispanic Catholics until I got to A&M.

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Heck, I grew up in such a bubble that, on my first Ash Wednesday at A&M, I was dumbfounded as to why people had black marks on their foreheads.

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Me too. The Hispanic Catholic kids back home never came to school with the ashes.

Frok said:

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AstroAg17 said:

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Neanderthals were smart, they interbred with Homo sapiens, they had burial rituals and possibly religion, and they were equipped for speech. But they were not humans.

Did they have souls? Free will? Could they be saved? Were they included in the "beasts of the land", or were they similarly made in God's image?

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I think my answer would be that the neanderthals were distinctly different than man thus they would be included in the "beasts of the land".

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But they interbred with Homo Sapiens. Are Europeans beasts of the land? Do they lack 7% of a soul to match the amount of Neanderthal DNA they have?

AstroAg17 said:

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I think it's because he's catholic. Catholics are typically less bass-ackwards.

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I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I didn't even know the whole 6,000 year-old earth was a thing until I was older and met people with a hardcore Baptist background. I imagine that's a pretty common belief in the very conservative Baptist churches in the south. FTR I grew up in East TX. Nonetheless I still think the estimates of people who buy into the young earth stuff to be highly exaggerated.

As far as neanderthals go, I got nothin. I dont think they are even addressed in any major religion.

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I didn't even know the whole 6,000 year-old earth was a thing until I was older and met people with a hardcore Baptist background. I imagine that's a pretty common belief in the very conservative Baptist churches in the south.

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Yeah, that's what I witnessed growing up in Baptist churches. I attend a Church of Christ now, but we're certainly not an "old school" Church of Christ, so I can't say how this denomination is on the subject. In the churches I grew up in, it was very routinely discussed. If you visited for any decent period of time, you'd know how the church felt on the subject as it was a common talking point. In the Churches of Christ I've attended for the past 7 years, I honestly can't think of one time that the subject has come up. I would be surprised if 25% of those at my current church are YEC.