Ian McNaughton from Answers In Genesis reflects on a biblical worldview of creation

Ian McNaughton

The expression, Homo Sapiens describes human kind, as we know it today. Literally, it means 'wise apes' and it is often used to make the distinction between today's humans and the so called now extinct Neanderthals (Homo Neanderthalenis).

When it comes to the origin of human beings, most people in the West accept the current theories of science but are quietly unsettled by the idea that we are the products of slime and time. The idea of spontaneous generation, which idea originated with the ancient Greeks, was one explanation that was around for centuries, this however is now rejected for theories that are more recent. For instance, the notion of Pamspermia (that life on earth was seeded from outer space and took millions of years to evolve into Homo Sapiens) has become popular but that idea is in reality science fiction, so where did we all come from? Science is still wrestling with the problem of the true origin of all life so is there an alternative to the uncertainty of evolution?

Life is amazingly complex and made up of cells that self regulate and reproduce according to its category. Using DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) Christians believe a supremely Intelligent Author and Life-Giver left His indelible message in every living thing. Interestingly, any two humans are 99% identical at the genetic level. A mere 1% makes up the many differences we see among people throughout the entire world. Proof of supernatural creation is found in humanities' make up. According to Dr Douglas F Kelly, "Genetic research confirms this, for the male has both X chromosomes (which engender females) and Y chromosomes (which engender males), where as the female has only X chromosomes. If the female had been created first, and the male taken out of her body, then reproduction would have been impossible... for there would have been nothing but X chromosomes, in which case only females could have been reproduced. Instead the male has the genetic material so that the female could be taken out of him, and be genetically related to him 'in the same kind' and then through relationship to her be able to procreate male and female."

The Bible rejects the notion of millions of years of evolutionary change and natural selection and clearly states that man was made from the dust of the ground and in the image of God on day six of the creation week. During that sixth day of creation God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness". Darwinism, although it speaks of man as one of the higher animals who evolved from an ape-like ancestor, prefers to believe otherwise. However, the Bible likens humans to God himself and that makes man special and unique having a superior dignity and mind. Because of this, humans can call God "Our Father", talk to him in prayer and worship Him. This sets them apart from the beasts not only anatomically and physiologically but also spiritually, allowing him to communicate with God through Jesus Christ; a fact that distances him from the beasts. God's likeness enables man to have conscious fellowship with God using his mind, soul, will and affections.

The notions of ape-men and the fabled hunter-gatherer hypothesis are not to be found in the scriptures, yet Darwinian is being taught to every child at school. When God created Adam and Eve, he placed them in Eden "to tend and keep it". They were also told to, "fill the earth and subdue it". This contrasts sharply with the evolutionary view that man was a mere chance happening. There is no hint in the scriptures of Adam and Eve being ape-like creatures without souls who had evolved over millions of years. The opposite is true: they were farmers and shepherds and were commanded to, "Be fruitful and multiply: fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth".

Adam and Eve were real historical people, and in the Gospel narratives of the New Testament and its Epistles they are regarded as such. Jesus Christ, his apostles and the other authors of the 27 books teach that God created the world in six days and the events of Genesis 1-11 are history. Jesus Christ himself acknowledged that, "In the beginning [God] made them male and female". To say as some, that Jesus Christ believed the Genesis account only because he did not have the knowledge and 'evidence' we have today, is to insinuate that he was not who he claimed to be, i.e. the Son of God and to take from him the mission entrusted to him viz., to redeem and reconcile sinners to God.