MichaelTDoyle:
… and true men descended from his decendents cain, etcetera mating with non-ensouled men…
Apart from such behaviour being repulsive to consider (more so than the alternative temporary period of incest), it leaves a new question - would the offspring of such beastial intercourse have a soul?
Also, such hybrid descendants would have a parent without a soul… I find this untenable. We have to then say that everyone is a descendant of such a hybrid that mated with animal creatures. (I suppose the jungle boy knows it best in calling the animal his mother.)
But the fact is, when God brought the animals to Adam, he found none like himself. And God formed Eve from the side of Adam. What then do you call the relationship of Eve to Adam? She was not of the animals, for Adam declared she was of his own flesh.
Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. 19 And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name. 20 And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
21 Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. 22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. 23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
Now, if Adam did not relate to the animals, such that God had to create another like himself, then why would Adam’s sons accept intercourse with animals as a source of their posterity, however humanoid you might imagine them? It makes more sense that they accepted a dutiful incest for the sake of posterity. This was also practised among the tribes of Israel for posterity, and those who did not were subject to severe punishment, even though incest was otherwise strictly forbidden.
Leviticus 18:16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: because it is the nakedness of thy brother.
Leviticus 20:21 He that marrieth his brother’s wife, doth an unlawful thing, he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness: they shall be without children.
Deuteronomy 25:5 When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but
his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother: 6 And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel. 7 But if he will not take his brother’s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up his brother’s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife. 8 And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife: 9 The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house: 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.
Genesis 38:8 Juda, therefore said to Onan his son:
Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. 9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. 10 And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.
I hope this shows why it is perfectly consistent to maintain that there is no need to rely on polygenism or a hybrid thereof in order to explain where Cain’s wife came from. Whether there were human-like creatures is somewhat irrelevant to the generation of all people.
As a side note, even if you believed in such a hybrid polygenism wherein all those humanoids were destroyed in the flood, you are still left with Noah and his family having to generate all humanity. This also required some level of incest (cousins).
I think it is clear then, that incest is forbidden except for when it is allowed by necessity.
MichaelTDoyle:
I am not proposing dual nature–the ineffable link between soul and mind and body is too deep for me …, just think that it is a valid speculation that completely reconciles Human Generis and current scientific fact.
Perhaps you should call it something besides “polygenism”, then. Otherwise that term will become muddied just as “Darwinism” has.
hurst
, just think that it is a valid speculation that completely reconciles Human Generis and current scientific fact.