Posted on 01/28/2015 10:26:09 AM PST by blam
Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience
January 27, 2015
An ancient human fossil discovered from the seafloor near Taiwan reveals that a primitive group of humans, potentially an unknown species, once lived in Asia, researchers say.
These findings suggest that multiple lineages of extinct humans may have coexisted in Asia before the arrival of modern humans in the region about 40,000 years ago, the scientists added.
Although modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only surviving human lineage, others once walked the globe. Extinct human lineages once found in Asia include Neanderthals, the closest extinct relatives of modern humans; Denisovans, whose genetic legacy may extend from Siberia to the Pacific islands of Oceania; Homo erectus, the most likely ancestors to modern humans; and the hobbitlike Homo floresiensis, who lived in Indonesia. These all are hominins — the group of species consisting of humans and all their relatives after the split from the chimpanzee lineage. [The 10 Biggest Mysteries of the First Humans]
Now, scientists have revealed the first ancient human fossil — a nearly complete right side of a lower jaw with primitive-looking teeth — to be found in Taiwan.
The fossil was dredged by a fishing net from the seafloor about 200 to 400 feet (60 to 120 meters) below the surface of the Penghu Channel, located about 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) off the western coast of Taiwan. The channel was part of the Asian mainland during the last ice age, when sea levels were lower.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
“And, indeed, isn’t the geological record chock full of fossils of beasts which never made it into the modern world?”
So let me get this correct: An omniscient God, with full knowledge of a future failed creation, decides to create said failure anyway, only to decide to destroy it at a later date. That’s not very omniscient.
What absurdity.
I always get a kick out of creationist apologies for discrepancies in mythological stories.
Well, then, I'm certain you'll have all the time in... well, in eternity, to ask Him about it, when... well, when the time comes...
My opinion is, there's a Purpose for everything, natural and spiritual, and the Bible does tell us that God made mankind "out of the dust of the ground", which to me sounds like evolution with a purpose.
And, since God's time is eternal, a billion years to Him is like a day to us.
As for his omniscience, I would concede quite a bit of omniscience to God who creates a Universe capable of growing life from the dust of its stars.
What science can't tell us is how much supernatural intervention was required to get us here, but the Bible suggest: before Adam, not so much; since Adam: lots.
We don’t know what God knows, all we know is what humans who said God spoke to them said He knew. Nowadays, when people say God has been giving them messages, they are likely to end up in the loony bin. On the other hand, a billion Muslims believe that God spoke to their prophet Mohammed. There is no way information can be guaranteed in matters of belief.
:’) That doesn’t explain why it comes up in science topics though.
Regarding the sea level map, it is clear that Asia was connected to North America, Taiwan was connected to China, and Australia was a lot closer to lands of South East Asia than it is now. I did not notice a date of that sea level map. Since the find is suggested to be from 12K to 190K years old, it could have been deposited on the ground, in which case perhaps some sort of diving expedition could be launched to find more early sign. On the other hand, there were plenty of periods when it was under water and could have been washed there from a river, or fallen there from a raft.
The article suggests it is a robust type of hominid. I call your attention to the findings at Kow Swamp of hominid fossils. Some have suggested that they were Homo Erectus, but since they are only 12,000 years old, the skull displayed on the wall of skulls at the new hominid exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in DC was labeled homo sapiens. It is in the lower right hand corner of the wall if you get there. I had looked with considerable care at a lot of the skulls displayed and when I saw that one, I said no way this is h.s. I looked to see if it resembled Neanderthal, and decided no. Then I looked at Heidelberg forms and decided that this was the most likely. My theory is that these were remnant forms left over from ice age migration from south Asia. They were a remnant population from the invasion of Australia around 40,000 years ago by true sapiens who gradually killed them of or interbred and diluted their gene pool. Plan to look some more at Kow Swamp articles.
If history is any indication, you never know what you’re talking about.
No doubt that much of human pre-history lies beneath the sea on what was once dry land. Until finds are made, it will remain conjecture but the future will provide the means of finding those deposits. Together with improved DNA analysis, we will soon look back on our level of knowledge today and shake our heads. I remember my early days of geologic studies when the hard evidence for the movement of continental plates emerged and a hare-brained theory became well accepted.
I looked at Kow Swamp some more and found this particularly good analysis of the arguments, homo erectus vs h.s., including 16 points of specific comparison.
http://www.canovan.com/HumanOrigin/kow/kowswamp.htm
As I read this I found myself asked repeatedly, “well, have they done the DNA analysis of the bones and the various groups of aborigines in widely separated areas of Australia?” Unfortunately, a lot of the bones have been reburied as a sop to the native population which is not necessarily even related to these folk. I guess they had their own Kennewick Man problems.
ARMATURE
Used in a sentence: I are mature.
-Nah, I've studied the mythology of hell, it doesn't exist. Look it up in the old testament. It's never mentioned, only a place called “sheole”, which is Hebrew for the grave. The Jews don't believe in hell, because it's not in their stories, not even one.
“What science can't tell us is how much supernatural intervention was required to get us here, but the Bible suggest: before Adam, not so much; since Adam: lots.”
While science advances and corrects the mistakes of past theory, religion remains mired in ancient quicksand of the superstitions of mythology. We see how creationism is now slowly coming around to rejecting a young earth and 6,000 year old man. Whenever science can be shoehorned into some biblical story, it is, when it can't be, well then it's *God's magic*. Like gravitational theory and planetary motion, etc.
The evolution of religion is an interesting study, give it a whirl. They usually start out very violent and gradually evolve into more civil beliefs. The Muslim religion is the new kid on the block. They still believe in blood sacrifice. I'd have to say, that the crazy Muslims are probably the biggest reason I have finally arrived at where I am now. Ezekiel's fiery chariot and Muhammad's magical horse flying over the moon, both seem equally preposterous. But that's my personal evolution.
Nice chatting. Take care. :-)
But, it's never too late.
All the answers to all your questions are there to be found, not in hell, of course, but in a much nicer place.
Of course, first you have to want to go there...
:-)
God, the God of the Bible, of Abraham, YHWH, I Am. Nothing made up. We are His creation, not vice versa.
I remember learning valence chemistry in high school, but when I went to college they were teaching atomic shells chemistry. Not a word about valences.
Flores Island has 800K old artifacts, and has never been joined to the mainland (at least, not in the time of hominids). My view is that humans (and regardless of who wants to more narrowly define the word) have been all over the map, past and present, and since most of the Earth has been ice-covered for most of the past couple million years, most of the generations have lived on what is now the continental shelf. :’)
You said, “There is no way information can be guaranteed in matters of belief.”
Yes, there is. Jesus guarantees, per His Word in the Bible, that if you come to Him, with a repentant and contrite humble heart, ask Him for forgiveness of your sins, and believe that He lived, died, and rose again, and in His dying, He paid the ultimate and complete price for your sins, then He guarantees you will join Him in heaven.
In July, 2001, my adult son was a career member of a hot shot crew, fighting forest fires. Weeks would go by and we would not hear from him, as he was always somewhere in the Western USA fighting large forest fires. At that specific time, we knew he was on a large fire, but I did not know where, and had not spoken to him for several weeks.
At 5:00pm, in Belfast, Maine, just as I parked my Suburban to grab a quick burger and tank up the truck, God came thundering down on me telling me my son was dying, and I needed to pray for him. Through a veil of tears I began immediately heeded God’s Word, and prayed for all I was worth. About an hour later, I knew my son was OK.
I returned home that night at 10:00pm. As I opened the truck door in our driveway, my wife came to our front porch, house phone in hand, and said, “Jeff (my son) is on the phone.” How’s that for timing? He was in the hospital in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he had been on a large fire there, on the edge of town, for about two weeks. He collapsed on the fire line, was medivacked by helicopter for a two minute flight to the hospital in Jackson Hole. He did not have enough oxygen in his body to support life. They brought him back and stabilized him. All this happened while I was crying and praying for him in Belfast, as God had instructed me to do. Prayer works. Jesus works. I have two witnesses to this event, on my end: my bride and my best friend and prayer partner, whom I called around 5:30pm, when I got the crying under control (sort of). God is who He says He is. His Word is true. Guaranteed.
First of all let me say I am very glad your son was rescued. However, as I said in my comment, we only know what humans who wrote the words in the Bible say that God told them. We have no way of knowing as a fact if that is true. We only have belief that they truly think that God was communicating with them. Jesus did not write the Bible. It was written by men who wanted to convey his words and message as strongly as possible, which they have done very successfully. So this is not Jesus’ guarantee, but the guarantee of people who say they are quoting what Jesus said, which they believe God communicated to Jesus, and in some cases never even met Jesus or talked with his original followers. I’m sorry, but I simply would never consider signing a life and death contract with someone who was two or more parties removed from the originator. In that case, who would be the guarantor?
I repeat, belief is belief, and fact is fact, but they are often not the same.
I and several people I know have had very intense extrasensory communication in times of death and danger, and in those cases we did not react religiously. When you sensed your son’s danger, as a very religious person, your reaction was religious. That type of communication has occurred to a number of people, who did not react in a religious way since that is not their primary reaction to a sense of danger. I don’t believe it makes that sense of communication any less real, but I would certainly not be able to guarantee it was true, merely that I and my friends believe what we felt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.