The Descent Of Mankind

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The Descent of Mankind

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All over the world, paleontological research digs are turning up more and more fragments of bones, teeth, skulls, and tools. Once unearthed, fantastic claims of bridge species, missing links, and new examples of someone’s theories are trumpeted instantly by internet news providers globally. In their wake come seasoned, science fiction soaked, illustrators that imaginatively — and to the delight of museums and booksellers — illustrate these fragments as thick boned, protruding foreheaded apelike creatures. Introducing the caveman. Caveman is a world largely imaginative, and the product of the spinners of evolutionary thought.

The Brave New World

Ancient History: The Brave New World Overview

Covenants: The Promises of God 8:1-22

Caveman: The History of Man 9:1-19

Canaan: The Curses of Sin 9:20-29

Genealogies: The Table of the Nations 10:1-30

Sign Posts to God: The Zodiac and Astrology 11:1-9

The subject of human origins has been severely distorted for over a hundred years by the theory of evolution. Popular displays in museums and magazines, and unfortunately even in school textbooks, have persuaded most people that man has an animal ancestry, leading back through a long line of intermediate stages to some form of ape-like creature which was also the ancestor of the modern apes.

So what is the truth? Who, or what were these creatures? When did they live? How do they fit in the framework of God’s Word and Christ’s Creation that was “good” and sinless on the 7^th and final day when God rested from His creation of everything from nothing, instantaneously over six normal 24 hour days? What are we to believe, teach our children, and defend?

May I demonstrate all this by a new and some old reports? First the news of March, 2000 was, at last, the link from man to ape was found! Here was the headline:

Micro-primates…a transitional form discovered!

Let’s examine the story and see what was found. In the Book[1] of Genesis, God makes it very clear that man was created special on the sixth day of the Creation Week. Rejecting the Genesis account of history, evolutionists must search desperately to find an alternative explanation for man’s origin. Discoveries, such as the recent “micro-primate” fossil fragment, demonstrate the great lengths to which evolutionists will go to connect humans and animals.

According to these evolutionists, man belongs to a group of mammals known as primates. So-called higher primates are the man-made grouping of humans, apes and monkeys; while lower primates or prosimians, include lemurs and tarsiers. Now, some researchers led by Northern Illinois University paleontologist Dan Gebo claim to have discovered the smallest ever primate, thumb-sized and weighing 10 grams or ¹/₃ of an ounce. They also claim that it is a probable ‘missing link’ between lower and higher primates. They reported their research in Journal of Human Evolution (London), April 2000.

This fossil was found in tons of muddy rubbish from a commercial limestone quarry 100 miles west of Shanghai, and the limestone is a Triassic rock ‘dated’ at 220 million years old. This is right at the beginning of the alleged ‘Age of Dinosaurs’, so is unacceptable as a date for a primate. So the fossil is assigned the more acceptable date of 45 million years old (Eocene), because the limestone has some fissures that ‘date’ to that age.

The researchers deduce some amazing things about these creatures. To quote[2] the report:

‘The researchers say the tiny primates were tree dwellers that relied on a steady diet of insects, fruit and nectar to fuel their high metabolisms. Unlike contemporary higher primates, the tiny primates likely were nocturnal and solitary creatures. ‘“The implication is staggering,” Gebo said. “You would think that early higher primates would have a lot of characteristics of later higher primates, which were social creatures that occupied a daytime niche. It probably means we’re getting close to the transition between higher and lower primates.”’

However, what are all these claims based on? It turns out that they had no complete skeletons, but only foot bones, each about the size of a grain of rice! The fossil of what is claimed to be the smallest ever primate, is actually a heel bone discovered by team member Marian Dagosto, Gebo’s wife.

Creationists have no objection to tiny fossil primates, and these heel bones may well be correctly identified. But we are justifiably skeptical of such grand conclusions about their lifestyle and ‘missing link’ status based on a few fragments of the skeleton.

That evolutionists get so excited about such tiny bits of bone underlines the general lack of transitional fossils, which should be abundant if the evolution story were correct. Where fairly complete fossil skeletons are found, they are clearly not transitional, but where small bits are found and a lot of imagination can be applied, evolutionists are able to see transitional forms. Is there really evidence that man descended from the apes?

Currently fashionable ape-men

These are the ones that adorn the evolutionary trees of today that supposedly led to Homo sapiens from a chimpanzee-like creature.

Australopithecus – there are various species of these that have been at times proclaimed as human ancestors. One remains: Australopithecus afarensis, popularly known as the fossil ‘Lucy’. However, detailed studies of the inner ear, skulls and bones have suggested that ‘Lucy’ and her like are not on the way to becoming human. For example, they may have walked more upright than most apes, but not in the human manner. Australopithecus afarensis is very similar to the pygmy chimpanzee.

Homo habilis – there is a growing consensus amongst most paleoanthropologists that this category actually includes bits and pieces of various other types – such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus. It is therefore an ‘invalid taxon’. That is, it never existed as such.

Homo erectus – many remains of this type have been found around the world. They are smaller than the average human today, with an appropriately smaller head (and brain size). However, the brain size is within the range of people today and studies of the middle ear have shown that Homo erectus was just like us. Remains have been found in the same strata and in close proximity to ordinary Homo sapiens, suggesting that they lived together.

As we look around us in this planet we find there is no remnant of mankind that can be verified that predates the World that Perished in the Genesis Flood. Assuming, therefore, that all archaeological[3] sites really relate to post-diluvian (After the Flood) cultures, there are essentially only three chapters of the Bible (Genesis 9 – 11) that contain information related to the so-called Paleolithic (i.e., “Old Stone Age”), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone) Ages of archaeology. The world was already well into the so-called Bronze Age by the time of Abraham. Actually, the older “Ages” are largely hypothetical, based on evolutionary assumptions. It is obvious that a given tribe may have a Paleolithic culture, using only crude stone implements and tools, at the very same time that nations in other parts of the world enjoy an advanced civilization. The obvious proof of this statement is that such tribes exist in the world today.

The Bible of course indicates that before the Flood man did have a high degree of culture and technology. He was able to build cities (Genesis 4:17), practice agriculture (4:2) and animal husbandry (4:20), fabricate and play musical instruments (4:21) and work in brass and iron (4:22). These few references would certainly imply that he also could read and write and had a system of weights and measures, as well as accomplish many other things (e.g., build a gigantic vessel capable of withstanding the violence of a worldwide flood for a whole year).

All the world that existed before the Flood, The Lost World, perished (2 Peter 3:6) in the Deluge. When the eight ancestors of all post-Flood men emerged from the Ark, they of course had to face a drastically changed environment with only the knowledge they had learned and retained in their own minds, along with whatever records and equipment they may have been able to store on the Ark. It is no wonder that they were forced for some little time to make use of stone and wooden implements, at least until they could discover veins of metallic ores in the rocks of newly formed lands of the world. Many naturally made use of caves for shelter, until they could find time and materials with which to build more suitable dwellings. No doubt a considerable part of their time had to be devoted to the essential task of providing food for their sustenance. It is remarkable that they could survive at all, let alone set about to develop great civilizations once again. No doubt a great many of the evidences of the so-called Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures of early man, when rightly interpreted, are merely commentaries on the difficult struggle to survive by small tribes of post-Flood men in the early centuries following the great Flood.

We live in the Brave New World that was founded by Noah after the World that Perished in the Genesis Flood.

Now ponder the remarkable[4] antiquity of the Bible you hold in your hands this morning. What this book records is seldom appreciated as it should be.

Modern historians often refer back to the Greek writer Herodotus as the “father of history.” So when did he live and write? His writings are actually only contemporary with those of Nehemiah and Malachi, the very last of the 27 Old Testament[5] writers!

The supposed ancient writer of the Illiad and Odessy, Homer, whose works are quite a mixture of mythology and history. Yet they date from the same period as the sober and archaeologically reliable histories of Samuel.

Most of the other great historians of antiquity—Manetho, Berosus, Josephus and others—all date from much more recent periods. In their writings, it is essentially impossible to discern where history ends and legend begins.

And yet the Bible records detailed and accurate histories as far back as Abraham and beyond. Abraham’s time was at least a thousand years earlier even than Homer! In all the world, there is no other book like this. The sacred books and the ancient records of other nations fade into dim tradition and sheer mythology only a few hundred years before Christ, but the Hebrew Scriptures incorporate great sections of sober history stretching back to the days before Abraham and, for that matter, back to the very Creation itself! No other writing of such antiquity is at all comparable as a book of history, entirely apart from the question of its divine inspiration.

There is every reason to believe, and no reason to doubt (except for evolutionary bias), that the traditional dates and authors were correct and that we have in the Scriptures what amounts to first-hand, eye-witness, accounts of all these great events at the dawn of human history. Yet from digs across the world come bone fragments, teeth and strange pictures depicting apelike creatures fabricated from a few fragments. Where did modern man come from? Where do cave dwellers, fossils, and cave drawings fit into all this? We can learn of the Descent of Mankind from Genesis 9 and Romans 1.

Conclusion: There is no fossil evidence that man is the product of evolution. The missing links are still missing because they simply do not exist. The Bible clearly states, “then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7).

Evolutionary thought Misses the Purpose we are even here today!

In no other historical book do we find so many and such valuable statements of purpose for man as in the Bible. For example:

Man was God’s target in creation Genesis 1:27-28 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Man was God’s target in redemption Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
Man was God’s target in the mission of God’s Son 1 John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
Man was God’s target of God’s inheritance. Titus 3:7 that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Man was God’s target for Heaven’s wonders 1 Peter 1:4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

God made all of the Universe:

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was in the beginning with God.3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Acts 14:15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, (NKJV)

Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Hebrews 1:10 And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. (NKJV)

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (NKJV)

Revelation 14:7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”