There has been lots of discussion here on evolution, creation, man being made in God's image and other creation vs evolution speak. There seems to be a line drawn down the middle with good people on both sides of this line. So who has the right answer? Can we, on this side of eternity, ever know for sure?
Basically three theories have been propounded to explain man's origin,
1. Atheistic
2. Theistic Evolution
3. Special Creation
From a Creationist's standpoint we look at many things that bring us to our conclusion. We look at the Hebrew Language which clearly shows that six days was literally meant here. Even the "Interpreter's Bible" ( a very liberal work) which believes that the first 11 chapters of Genesis is a myth, they nevertheless hold that the Genesis writer believed in a literal six day creation account. We also would look at the Geneologies listed, the words of Moses, David, Christ and Paul as all pointing to special creation.
Outside of scripture we could look at some of the greatest theologians who may not hold some of the same truths as the die-hard creationists but still admit personally in a young creation. Benjamin Warfield was one of the greatest orthodox theologians of modern time. He admitted the possiblility of man existing for over 100 thousand years, he personally believed man's creation date to be no earlier than 5,000 or 10,000 BC.
Edward Young, an outstanding Hebrew scholar also believed the six days to be understood in a chronological sense as so many other scholars before him believed.
What about man's nature? How is man made in the image and likeness of God? Some believe that this means man is made up of a triune nature as God himself is. So God created man consisting of spirit, soul and body. Some also say it's because of man's self-consciousness and sense of morality that sets us apart from other creatures.
At any rate there seems to be an image in all men which CANNOT be lost, and an image which CAN be lost. From what I see in scripture the Bible indicates that all unsaved men or what we would call non-Christians still display certain traces of the original image of God's creation. In other words they cannot lose it. It has been suggested that a non-Christian or unsaved man resembles a beautiful European church cathredral after it has been gutted by a Nazi bomb. It seems evident from scripture that there is a part of God's image which was lost after the fall of man and must now be restored by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (second birth). This lost image would seem to be the ability to know God and the desire to follow Him. Only the Holy Spirit can fix the damage done by sin.
Another question some ask is...... is man a dichotomous or trichotomous being? That is, is he a two part or three part being? Does man consist of just a body and soul or does he consist of body, soul and spirit? Of course this brings up yet another question, how does man receive his soul? Most Christians whether they know the terminology or not would probably believe in the traducian theory which is body and soul are passed on trhough natural generations. That is, passed on from our parents.
This brings us yet another question regarding the birth of Christ. If the child receives his soul from his parents, then how did Jesus escape the sin nature of Mary and remain pure and perfect? Well, if you believe God always was then Jesus did not come into existence at Bethlehem through the traducian method. God has always existed. That's why it was said by the writer of Hebrews:
".....a body hast thou prepared me." Hebrews 10:5
and later Jesus prayed:
"And now O Father, glorify you me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was." John 17:5
What is a soul? I believe the soul is you. It's who you are. If your arm was cut off and laying on the ground, you would still be you with just a missing part. Your body is just a shell of the real you, an outer casing if you may. So while your body can be damaged and cut up, your soul stays intact.
So this begs another question. What are the basic characterstics of the soul? I've heard it put this way although no absolute and all inclusive definition can be made. Each one of us has intellect, sensibility, conscience and a will. Scripture is quite clear in defining conscience. We see defined an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, a weak conscience, a pure conscience, a seared conscience and a good conscience.
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22
"Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Titus 1:15
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Timothy 3:9