What is the impact on faith or Catholic teaching if Neanderthals interbred with humans?

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catholic1seeks

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What is the impact on faith or Catholic teaching if Neanderthals interbred with humans?
 
None whatsoever.

If they could breed with human beings of “our type” (actually the Cro Magnons), then they were human, whatever their head shape or other physical indices.

ICXC NIKA
 
To be clear, all living things “have souls”. The difference between us and other creatures is that we have spiritual, immortal souls, whereas animals and plants have material, mortal souls. They lack reason, conceptual intelligence, or moral knowledge.

See this interesting Catholic Answers article on the subject.
 
catholic1seeks said:
What is the impact on faith or Catholic teaching if Neanderthals interbred with humans?
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Read the Book of Enoch. I tend to think it’s worth considering Neanderthals being some product of the time recorded in that book.

It’s interesting to ponder.
 
According to the book of Genesis, humans interbred with Nephillim. So, what?🤷
 
DaveBj said:
Beat me to it 😛

Actually, it was the “sons of God” who interbred with the “daughters of men” to produce the Nephilim.
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Yes, this is true, but didnt the offspring Nephilim also mate with human females?
 
Trident_H said:
Well I thought that was already an established fact.

So I guess either:
  1. We had souls and they didn’t.
  2. We both had souls
🤷🤷
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My $.02:

Humans have human souls.
Animals have animal souls.

If Neanderthals did not have human souls, then they were not human. Whether or not the offspring of any union between species received human souls would have been at God’s sole discretion.
 
If Neanderthals did not have human souls, then they were not human. Whether or not the offspring of any union between species received human souls would have been at God’s sole discretion.
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And we can only guess, in any case, as souls do not fossilize, and leave no trace via the head size or other bodily parameter.

If they could breed with human life, would that not make them human? Isn’t that how species are defined?
 
Trident_H said:
Well I thought that was already an established fact.

So I guess either:
  1. We had souls and they didn’t.
  2. We both had souls
🤷🤷
Click to expand...
It is an established fact, and the proof is in the DNA of some populations. There is no effect on the teaching that God is the Creator of everything, including humans. Only God knows when we were ensouled.
 
Randy_Carson said:
My $.02:

Humans have human souls.
Animals have animal souls.

If Neanderthals did not have human souls, then they were not human. Whether or not the offspring of any union between species received human souls would have been at God’s sole discretion.
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Could be. And for the record. I’d pay you at least a dime for that.

Peace.

-Trident
 
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