God directly imparts His Image by the DNA of H.sapiens

Continuing the discussion from CMI article: The strawmen are strong with this one:

@GJDS makes some striking claims in this earlier thread. I thought it was important enough to merit its own thread.

The objection is that God-Guided Evolution is incapable of incorporating the ideas of the “Image of God” and the “Breath of Life” into humans.

This, like other kinds of objections by other members, strikes me as rather presumptuous - - saying what God can and cannot do with his creation?

What is the justification of the idea that God could not have imparted his “image” on the first hominid to have moral agency? Isn’t this godly “image” being described really the very essence of morality? Isn’t God the great Moral God of the Cosmos?

As for the Breath of Life, does the Bible say that animals are given the breath of life too? The answer to this question could be a good way of moving further with this topic!

Google ‘nephesh’

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@sfmatheson,

Hey there! Instead of ‘nephesh’, I went to the Genesis text everyone means, and searched a standard lexicon to get the texts. Genesis 2:7 uses Strong’s Hebrew #5395, Neshamah. Here is the entry:

Lexicon: Strong’s H5397 - nĕshamah [ נְשָׁמָה ]
Transliteration: nĕshamah
Pronunciation: nesh·ä·mä’
Derived From נָשַׁם (H5395)

KJV Translation Count — Word used 24 times
The KJV translates Strong’s H5397 in the following manner:
breath (17x),
blast (3x),
spirit (2x),
inspiration (1x),
souls (1x).

Discussion:
נְשָׁמָה nᵉshâmâh, nesh-aw-maw’; from H5395;
a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect,
or (concretely) an animal; blast, (that) breath(-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

Immediately below are the verses that I think are most relevant. Happy to have more.
But from reading them (and the others), I don’t see anything about God infusing his breath into the first moral human - - and all subsequent humans - - as being out of step with God-Guided evolution.

VERSES - - VERSES - - VERSES - - VERSES

MOST FAMOUS USE:
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath H5397 of life; and man became a living soul.

And below are the uses of the term that seems clearly a reference to God’s breath, or God’s breath in a human.

GOD’s BREATH AS A BLAST/BRIMSTONE
2Sa 22:16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast H5397 of the breath of his nostrils.

Job 4:9 By the blast H5397 of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

Psa 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast H5397 of the breath of thy nostrils.

Isa 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the Breath H5397 of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
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GENERAL REFERENCES TO GOD’s BREATH/SPIRITS/SOULS
Job 26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit H5397 came from thee?

Job 27:3 All the while my breath H5397 is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration [Inspiration/Breath] H5397 of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath H5397 of the Almighty hath given me life.

Job 34:14 If He set his heart upon man, if He gather unto himself His spirit and His breath; H5397

Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath H5397 praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Pro 20:27 The spirit H5397 of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Isa 2:22 Cease ye from man, whose breath H5397 is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Isa 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth Breath H5397 unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls H5397 which I have made.
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GOD’s BREATH AS A NATURAL FORCE
Job 37:10 By the breath H5397 of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.