According to the Theory of Evolution, man evolved from primates about 5 million years ago. In high school biology class we were taught about fossils and science’s search for the “missing link,” the point where apes became human. However, it’s been 120 years since Darwin penned his theory, and the fossil record – which is now fairly complete – has yet to produce one example of a transition from one species to another.1
In 1974, a partial skeleton was found in Ethiopia which scientists determined was the oldest hominid. Classified as Australopithecus afarensis and nick-named “Lucy,” this specimen was considered the ancestor of all humans and the ideal “transitional fossil” between apes and man. However, in 2007, after further analysis of “Lucy’s” jawbone, Israeli scientists have concluded that “Lucy” is not a human ancestor, but rather is an ancestor of other primates, most likely the gorilla.2
While the search for the elusive “missing link” continues, molecular biologists are delving into the secrets of the human cell. The most powerful testament to the existence of an Intelligent Designer is the very thing that makes us who we are – our DNA. If the DNA in one human cell were connected and stretched out, it would be about seven feet long. If all the DNA in the human body were stretched end to end, it would reach to the moon over a half million times! Yet, if one copy of the DNA of every person who has ever lived were put together, it would weigh less than an aspirin.3
DNA is not only a spectacular feat of divine engineering; it also holds clues to the age of mankind. In 2008, a new genome project was undertaken in order to determine which genetic mutations cause disease. By knowing the number of mutations that occur in each generation, scientists can track diseases they may cause. Their pilot study results showed approximately 60 mutations per generation. A genetic computer program has used those results to simulate the accumulation of generations of these mutations, and the conclusion was that mankind would be extinct in 350 generations. In 6,000 years of Biblical history, there have been only 300 generations.4 In addition, by studying mitochondrial DNA (that which is passed from mother to child), scientists have the data to try to determine when “Eve” lived. The best data available has Mitochondrial Eve about the same age as the historical Eve of the Bible.5
Romans 1:20 says that the created things around us reveal the Creator. His ultimate creation is man. The complexity and individuality of every human being, from our personality and appearance to the hidden helixes of our DNA, did not evolve from apes. Rather, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14 KJV) in the image of God Himself.
Full article - see online article for sources/footnotes.
True science and true relgion are one and the same in answering the basic questions.
The one question we always must ask: Are you a man or an animal? The resultant answer answers the rest of the philosophical gibberish.
Man is not an animal (although we certainly can act much like them, even worse as we have very few limits of imagination and therefore ability to build).
World view sets the stage for all discussion, scientific, political, theological etc.
Best;
Man did not evolve “from” a primate. Man IS a primate. We not only have fossils that detail the transition of one species to another, we have OBSERVED one species change into another. Lucy is still thought to be an ancestor of humans, nor are Australopithocine the only non human but human like primates that Creationists have to explain away.
DNA studies have shown that the human species, while very young, is at least 100,000 years old. Moreover any objective study of our DNA shows the pattern of common ancestry that can be used to determine that Native Americans are Asiatic not Semitic (for example) and also show that we separated from our most recent common ancestry with a chimpanzee about 5-6 million years ago, and that of all living primates - humans and chimps are closer to each other than either is to any other primate.
As usual, when Creationists discuss scientific data, they lie about it.
The clues to understanding the way in which man is made in the image of God can be found in the conversation Moses had with God at the burning bush....”I AM that I AM”...”tell the people I AM has sent you”.
Humans use the phrase “I” almost without thinking about it...”I am...I will...I feel....I think...I exist” and so on ad infinitum. We aren’t just made in the image of God; the way we think, live, perceive, and each of us having a sense of self apartness from other selves is but a pale reflection of God as he experiences his own internal thought processes and inner order. I can feel pain and it registers as unpleasant....but I can only dimly imagine how God experienced pain as he hung there in flesh upon the cross.
I-LOVE-this-stuff ping :-)