Thank you for starting this important discussion. Everyone should read the blog post in its entirety, but I wanted to mention a few things regarding this crucial point:
The third essential belief proposed in this video is the supernatural, “de novo” creation of Adam and Eve as the first humans and sole progenitors of the entire human race. Keller, along with the other participants, believes this to be not only the clear message of Genesis but an essential part of the overall biblical message. … We appeal to the Gospel Coalition to not frame the essentials of creation around the method God used to create humans, but around God’s purpose and intent for humans. God made us to know him, love him, and to bear his image in this world.
You are generous in calling it “essential,” because TGC itself labels the video “Non-negotiable beliefs” … By saying the special creation of Adam & Eve is a non-negotiable belief, TGC draws a line in the sand no different from those who equate evolution and atheism. In essence, Keller forces the same choice as Ken Ham – the Bible, or evolution. As long as evangelicals keep insisting upon this false either/or, our children will keep slipping out the back door and disappearing into the night. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. “Ready, Fire, Aim” seems to be the motto of the evangelical church these days.
The special creation of Adam suffers from the same logical problems as the young earth. In truth, though, the special creation of Adam creates even greater difficulties, because now we are dealing with a human being instead of inanimate matter. How did Adam learn to speak? How did he learn to behave in social situations? How did he know what “death” was? How did he learn to obey a rule? How did Eve learn to nurse a baby? How did Adam know to cut the umbilical cord? All of the things that we take for granted in the story must be learned between birth and maturity. We literally learn how to be human during that time, and the way that we learn is by observation, inference, and imitation. The special creation of Adam requires that all of the basic knowledge that makes us “human” be implanted in Adam and Eve’s heads directly by God. It is the omphalos hypothesis all over again.