the Science of Creation [4]

But what about God creating humans?

But animals first, remember?

Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small”; and it was done. So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.

Go on; show me some really weird animals!

O.K. You asked for it!

Thylacine (extinct)

Aye-aye

Colugo

Glis-glis

Bilby

Dugong

Human

The wierd human is Carl von Linné [Linnaeus], born 1707, died 1778. He invented the system for naming all living creatures. In his system, the thylacine is (was!) "thylacinus cynosephalus", the glis-glis is "myoxus glis", the human is "homo sapiens"; that means "wise man".

So man is just a clever monkey, right?

In fact, that is one of the most misleading pictures that have even been drawn. As usual, various clever people don't agree completely but a simple explanation might be that man [homo sapiens] and the family of apes might, ages and ages ago; millions of years ago, have had "ancestors" in common.

The pink arrow illustrates the idea that the branch of evolution (or the branch of creation!) that leads to humans branched very very early indeed. That's the most modern theory.

After all, although we've all got some of the same bits; but a very large number of different bits!

One expert has said that humans have more bits in common with a hedgehog than with a gorilla. Remember, none of the modern theories that try to explain where we come from have ever said than man was descended from the apes!

Anyway here is a version of the man-to-ape picture as above.

 It suggests that mankind has not "evolved" very much. We have become "monkeys" sitting in front of a computer!

 Don't look at me like that - I don't spend FOR EVER on my laptop!

Anyway... Doesn't the Bible say that God created man specially?

Oh, yes!

And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.” So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.

And doesn't Darwin's evolution thing show that the Bible is all wrong anyway?

Aha! The great "evolution versus the Bible" debate! Probably the biggest and most pointless argument since the Church burnt people at the stake for saying that the earth was in orbit round the sun and was not the centre of the universe!

And this is the man at the centre of the argument!

Charles Robert Darwin, naturalist and geologist. Born 1809, Died 1882

I thought he had a huge beard?

That's typical of the problem with Darwin. So many people think they know about Darwin, what he thought and what he wrote. But so often they are repeating things that other people have said about Darwin; things that are either half-truths or often completely wrong.

Like what?

Like when Darwin published his famous book, almost all the Churches and Christian groups though it was absolutely wonderful; they didn't object at all.

That's not what I've been taught at school. So was Darwin wrong or right?

To answer that, we need to know much more bout him and the people that had similar ideas to him.

 Next Bible Blog : Thursday 26th September