A Family of Cats
“Which family does the lion belong to?”
“I dunno, Miss,” replies Johnny. “No family on our street has one.”
If Johnny had been listening, he would have learned from the teacher that there is a “cat family”, better referred to as felidae, which includes lions, tigers, jaguars, pumas, cheetahs and pet cats too. All these felids had evolved from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Surely there are enough similarities to suggest that this teacher is right.
In fact, it is completely biblical to suggest that all cats had a common cat ancestor. The Bible states that animals were created according to their kind. We refer to these Kinds as baramins, from the Hebrew words for “created kind”. God did not, in fact, directly create tigers and lions, etc. He created felids with all the genetic information necessary for the wide adaptation we see in the baramin today. Noah took a pair of felids on to the Ark – not two tigers, two lions, two leopards, etc. So we agree with this teacher that all these cat species have developed from a common pair of felids, but this is not Darwinian evolution because no new genetic material was made, and, in any case, those felids could not have given birth to horses or other animals outside the baramin. Similarly, this did not happen millions of years ago, but about 4,500 years ago, after the Flood.
“I dunno, Miss,” replies Johnny. “No family on our street has one.”
If Johnny had been listening, he would have learned from the teacher that there is a “cat family”, better referred to as felidae, which includes lions, tigers, jaguars, pumas, cheetahs and pet cats too. All these felids had evolved from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Surely there are enough similarities to suggest that this teacher is right.
In fact, it is completely biblical to suggest that all cats had a common cat ancestor. The Bible states that animals were created according to their kind. We refer to these Kinds as baramins, from the Hebrew words for “created kind”. God did not, in fact, directly create tigers and lions, etc. He created felids with all the genetic information necessary for the wide adaptation we see in the baramin today. Noah took a pair of felids on to the Ark – not two tigers, two lions, two leopards, etc. So we agree with this teacher that all these cat species have developed from a common pair of felids, but this is not Darwinian evolution because no new genetic material was made, and, in any case, those felids could not have given birth to horses or other animals outside the baramin. Similarly, this did not happen millions of years ago, but about 4,500 years ago, after the Flood.
Burning Bright
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Blake has an appreciation of the nature of a tiger, which is both magnificent and frightening. It is the largest of the big cats, and only the lion approaches it in ferocity. Blake’s problem with the tiger, as a poet, is working out where it came from. Living in a time before Darwinian Evolution was a thing, he nevertheless is puzzled by how and why God could make such a deadly creature, that is yet so beautiful. In the fifth stanza, he muses:
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Blake has an appreciation of the nature of a tiger, which is both magnificent and frightening. It is the largest of the big cats, and only the lion approaches it in ferocity. Blake’s problem with the tiger, as a poet, is working out where it came from. Living in a time before Darwinian Evolution was a thing, he nevertheless is puzzled by how and why God could make such a deadly creature, that is yet so beautiful. In the fifth stanza, he muses:
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
The answer is straightforward. God did not make the tiger to tear flesh.
Genesis 1:30 tells us that He created all animals to eat plants. Moreover, the
tiger is part of the cat kind. So God made cat-like creatures, not tigers, and a
pair of these were taken on the Ark. God had created in them all the variety of
genes necessary to adapt to differing environments, so tigers, lions and other
cats developed from the Ark pair after the Flood, and perhaps the pre-Flood cats
had already begun to eat meat after Adam’s Fall. So it is completely biblical to
admire the tiger’s magnificent appearance, and to fear his teeth and claws.
Carnivorous Cats
I once visited the home of two colleagues who were vegetarians. I was
surprised to find that they kept cats. “Can you give them a vegetarian diet?” I
asked the husband, naïvely. He shook his head. “We have the choice not to eat
meat,” he explained. “Cats do not – they are obligate carnivores.”
An obligate carnivore is one whose diet absolutely requires nutrients that can only be found in meat. Dogs, in contrast, are omnivores. When hiking, I have often come across the scat of local coyotes where traces of berries are clearly visible. But members of the cat family – felids – are almost perfectly carnivorous, probably only usually getting plant material by ingesting the stomach contents of their prey. Unlike less strict carnivores, like dogs and bears, cats cannot synthesize their own taurine.
As creationists, we believe that felids could have adapted by speciation, but not evolved from creatures outside their baramin, or created kind. Additionally, we see that God created all animals originally to eat plants. Presumably, cats before the Fall were able to survive on a herbivorous diet, which is impossible for them today.
After the Fall, which affected all life, genetic mutations would have occurred, and it is possible that a degenerative mutation caused cats to be unable to make their own taurine. Or perhaps their preferred plant food used to contain taurine, but mutated to stop doing so. The fact remains that cats must have changed, and further research on the reason why will always be interesting. p.f.t.
An obligate carnivore is one whose diet absolutely requires nutrients that can only be found in meat. Dogs, in contrast, are omnivores. When hiking, I have often come across the scat of local coyotes where traces of berries are clearly visible. But members of the cat family – felids – are almost perfectly carnivorous, probably only usually getting plant material by ingesting the stomach contents of their prey. Unlike less strict carnivores, like dogs and bears, cats cannot synthesize their own taurine.
As creationists, we believe that felids could have adapted by speciation, but not evolved from creatures outside their baramin, or created kind. Additionally, we see that God created all animals originally to eat plants. Presumably, cats before the Fall were able to survive on a herbivorous diet, which is impossible for them today.
After the Fall, which affected all life, genetic mutations would have occurred, and it is possible that a degenerative mutation caused cats to be unable to make their own taurine. Or perhaps their preferred plant food used to contain taurine, but mutated to stop doing so. The fact remains that cats must have changed, and further research on the reason why will always be interesting. p.f.t.
Weasels, Badgers and Otters
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his
kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it
was so.” Listeners may not be aware that a huge amount of research has been done
by creation scientists into how species of animals can be grouped into baramins.
The word baramin comes from two Hebrew words – bārā and – which together mean
created kind. The largest amount of such research has been invested in which
kinds were on the Ark, as, in most cases, only one pair of a baramin would have
gone aboard – though seven pairs of clean animals were saved.
Some baramins are quite obvious. We think that we are aware of what creatures form part of the cat or the horse baramin. In these cases, appearance is often enough to help us group them. In other cases, the existence of a hybrid between two species tells us that they are in the same baramin. But others seem less obvious on the surface. In most cases, the creationist concept of baramin is the same as an evolutionary family, but not always. Sometimes, a baramin is at the superfamily level (pigs and peccaries) and sometimes at the order level (elephants). Evolutionists have long placed weasels, badgers and otters in the same taxonomic family. Hybridization between members of the weasel order, such as martens and polecats, is known. But a hybrid between a badger and a weasel seems less plausible. Nevertheless, it makes sense that these should be grouped together, in which case all badgers, otters and weasels descended from one pair of animals which emerged from the Ark. p.f.t.
Some baramins are quite obvious. We think that we are aware of what creatures form part of the cat or the horse baramin. In these cases, appearance is often enough to help us group them. In other cases, the existence of a hybrid between two species tells us that they are in the same baramin. But others seem less obvious on the surface. In most cases, the creationist concept of baramin is the same as an evolutionary family, but not always. Sometimes, a baramin is at the superfamily level (pigs and peccaries) and sometimes at the order level (elephants). Evolutionists have long placed weasels, badgers and otters in the same taxonomic family. Hybridization between members of the weasel order, such as martens and polecats, is known. But a hybrid between a badger and a weasel seems less plausible. Nevertheless, it makes sense that these should be grouped together, in which case all badgers, otters and weasels descended from one pair of animals which emerged from the Ark. p.f.t.
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