This article was originally authored by Dr. Hugh Ross and is republished here with permission from Reasons to Believe, a ministry dedicated to integrating science and faith. All rights reserved by the original publisher. To explore more resources, visit their website Reasons to Believe.
How many origin events has Earth’s life undergone? From a naturalistic perspective there is just one origin of life: the origin of the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA)...
Genesis 1 declares that there were three distinct origins of life: (1) the origin of purely physical life on creation day 1; (2) the origin of life-forms that are both physical and soulish (the nephesh creatures) on creation day 5; and (3) the origin of humanity on creation day 6.
The Hebrew word nephesh appears 754 times in the Old Testament. It refers to animal kinds that show nurturing, sacrificial care for their mate and offspring. These nephesh animals are endowed by God with mind, will, and emotions...
Unlike other creatures, nephesh animals can form emotional bonds with humans and each other. They can be trained to perform tasks unrelated to survival and respond to human authority. Dogs are a well-known example of this relational capacity...
Adam was tasked with naming nephesh animals, observing their God-given design and understanding how they related to him...
Today, the desire of nephesh animals to interact with humans still can be observed in wild animals that have never been harmed or abused by humans...
Figure 1: Mountain goats that have never been hunted or mistreated by humans show a strong desire to be near humans.
Image credit: Hugh Ross
Figure 2: Hoary marmots love to entertain friendly humans.
Image credit: Hugh Ross
Naturalistic models predict that animals closest to humans in physical form would be closest in intelligence, yet research shows otherwise. Ravens, crows, and jays outperform chimpanzees and orangutans in problem-solving ability...
There is an enormous gulf between nephesh animals and non-nephesh creatures, and an even greater gulf between humans and nephesh animals. Humans possess unique physical and behavioral capacities...
It’s easy to anthropomorphize animal behavior, leading to confusion about human-like traits in nonhuman species. God designed nephesh animals to connect emotionally with humans, explaining why we see ourselves reflected in them...
Nephesh animals are designed to relate to humans just as humans are designed to relate to God.
Job 12:7 encourages us to “ask the beasts” to teach us. These animals remind us that sin separates us from God and that true fulfillment comes from submission to our Creator...
Today, the rise of atheism correlates with urbanization, where many people have little contact with wild animals and nature. Spending time in creation can reconnect us with God’s design and remind us of our place in His world...