Most American Christian students attend public schools that promote human evolution. But evolution undermines the Bible’s main message of redemption by asserting that men descended from amoral apes. Both cannot be true. Something has to budge. Clues from science and the Bible—not found in most textbooks—give great answers.

If we really evolved from apes, then Moses,¹ David,² Jesus,³ Luke,⁴ and Paul⁵ may have lied when they noted mankind’s origin by supernatural creation. God’s Word gives sinners hope of redemption, but if we don’t inherit Adam’s sin nature as his descendants, then what would we need to be redeemed from?⁶ The Bible flatly rejects human evolution.

What about scientific evidence? Textbooks teach that Neanderthals were less than human. Although Neanderthals looked a little different from most folks on Earth today, they were fully human just like us. They made fires, instruments,⁷ jewelry,⁸ performed elaborate cave burials,⁹ and intermarried with modern-looking people.¹⁰ Similarly, most Homo erectus fossils classify as fully human.

Textbook Lucy illustrations show her as a human ancestor. But Lucy was merely an extinct ape. This creature had no more to do with human ancestry than modern chimpanzees. Its chimp-size body, outturned knees, curved finger and toe bones, knuckle-walking wrists, cone-shaped rib cage, and upturned skull orientation all shout “ape”!

Also, australopithecine remains like Lucy would have to predate human remains for them to have fathered mankind. But sedimentary layers equivalent to those encasing Lucy fossils have human footprints,¹¹ human bones,¹² and human tool marks.¹³ Since humans already existed when Lucy died, she had no place in human ancestry.

Evolutionist Dr. Charles Oxnard rejected Lucy as a human ancestor in 1983:

The australopithecines…are now irrevocably removed from a place in the evolution of human bipedalism [walking on two legs], possibly from a place in a group any closer to humans than to African apes and certainly from any place in the direct human lineage. All of this should make us wonder about the usual presentation of human evolution in introductory textbooks, in encyclopedias and in popular publications.¹⁴

Lucy discoveries since 1983 verify its utterly nonhuman status.

What about DNA? Human and chimp DNA sequences share about 85% similarity, not the incorrect ~98% figure that classroom texts often cite to support human evolution.¹⁵ This means that 450,000,000 letters distinguish human from chimp DNA. Even after six million years, no known natural process could even begin to write such an immense library of information.¹⁶

Science does validate much textbook information. But students, beware: secular textbooks mingle good science with bad. And the Bible-bashing bits often come slickly dressed as conclusive science when they are actually speculations.

Fossils reveal Neanderthals as created people and Lucy as an extinct ape. Genetics reveal mankind’s unique DNA, matching the Bible’s description that we were made in the image of God just thousands of years ago. Nobody needs to feel like speculations about human evolution should trump the Word of our all-knowing Creator, especially when we can follow good science right back to Genesis.

References

1. Deuteronomy 4:32.
2. Psalm 139:14.
3. Mark 10:6.
4. Luke 3:38.
5. Acts 17: 24-29.
6. 1 Corinthians 15:45.
7. Folger, T. Neanderthal Musical Instruments Included Tusk-Tuba, Bladder-Bagpipe, and “Xylobone.” Discover. Posted on discovermagazine.com April 1, 1997, accessed November 1, 2016.
8. Zilhão, J. et al. 2010. Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.107 (3): 1023-1028.
9. Rendu, W. et al. 2014. Evidence supporting an intentional Neandertal burial at La Chapelle-aux-Saints. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (1): 81-86.
10. Yotova, Y. et al. 2011. An X-linked haplotype of Neandertal origin is present among all non-African populations. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 28 (7): 1957-1962.
11. Crompton, R. H. et al. 2012. Human-like external function of the foot, and fully upright gait, confirmed in the 3.66 million year old Laetoli hominin footprints by topographic statistics, experimental footprint-formation and computer simulation. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 9 (69): 707-719.
12. Ward, C. V., W. H. Kimbel, and D. C. Johanson. 2011. Complete Fourth Metatarsal and Arches in the Foot of Australopithecus afarensis. Science. 331 (6018): 750-753.
13. McPherron, S. P. et al. 2010. Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature. 466 (7308): 857-860.
14. Oxnard, C. E. 1983. The Order of Man: A Biomathematical Anatomy of the Primates. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 332.
15. Tomkins, J. P. 2016. Analysis of 101 Chimpanzee Trace Read Data Sets: Assessment of Their Overall Similarity to Human and Possible Contamination With Human DNA. Answers Research Journal. 9: 294-298.
16. Rupe, C. L. and J. C. Sanford. 2013. Using Numerical Simulation to Better Understand Fixation Rates, and Establishment of a New Principle—“Haldane’s Ratchet.” In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Creationism. M. Horstemeyer, ed. Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.