Life Is Created “According to Its Kind,” But What Is a Kind?

A plain reading of the text infers that plants and animals were created to reproduce within the boundaries of their kind.

The Bible uses the term kind (Hebrew: min). The Bible’s first use of this word is found in Genesis 1 when God creates plants and animals “according to their kinds.” It is used again in Genesis 6 and 8 when God instructs Noah to take two of every kind of land-dwelling, air-breathing animal (seven pairs of some) onto the ark and also in God’s command for the animals to reproduce after the flood. A plain reading of the text infers that plants and animals were created to reproduce within the boundaries of their kind. Evidence to support this concept is clearly seen (or rather not seen) in our world today, as there are no reports of dats (dog + cat) or hows (horse + cow)!

So a good rule of thumb is that if two things can breed together (if there’s a connection genetically), then they are of the same created kind. It is a bit more complicated than this, but this is a quick measure of a “kind.”

As an example, dogs can easily breed with one another, whether wolves, dingoes, coyotes, or domestic dogs. When dogs breed together, you get dogs; so there is a dog kind. It works the same with chickens. There are many breeds of chickens, but when chickens breed with each other, you still get chickens. So there is a chicken (land fowl) kind.

We teach about this in one of the first exhibits at the Creation Museum, as you can see in the below photos:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.