Facts About Evolution

This human footprint found in Kenya dates to 1.5 million years ago.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Bible-believing people often argue against "evolution" without specifying which aspect of evolution concerns them. Which of these basic points of evolution is a direct contradiction to what the Bible says about humans as a special creation? 

1. mutation
2. adaptation
3. natural selection
4. common ancestry of apes and humans

Touching on the first two points there is no doubt. Mutation and adaptation are the Creator's gifts to insure the survival of humans and other organisms.

Natural selection takes place, but it cannot be stated as a law since there exist some poorly adapted species which nevertheless thrive in their environments. If we are honest, we must admit that there are factors in survival that we don't understand, and which may pertain to supernatural oversight, something beyond the realm of science.

Common ancestry of apes and humans is what the late biologist Jonathan Wells famously called an “icon of evolution.” However, this theory lacks material evidence. It is a hypothesis and contrary to what Genesis asserts about humans as a special creation. Christians who take Scripture as our first authority cannot assume that human exceptionalism represents ignorance on the part of the ancient biblical writers.

Evolution refers to changes over time. The changes are within species. Further, rates of change vary greatly from group to group, and even among closely related lineages. The genetic codes of living organisms appear to have set boundaries beyond which the organism cannot change. The Bible refers to these as "types."

Some changes improve the organism's ability to survive. Some changes result in the organism being less well adapted to changing environments. This can lead to extinction.

Christians should try to understand what the data indicates about humans. To simply criticize anything that may be considered "evolution" exposes us to criticism by even fair-minded scientists. Consider this statement by Sabine Hossenfelder: "...scientists who claim, as Stephen Hawking did, that 'there is no possibility of a creator,' or as Victor Stenger has, that God is a 'falsified hypothesis,' demonstrate that they don’t understand the limits of their knowledge. When prominent scientists make such overconfident proclamations, they make me cringe." (An excerpt from Hossenfelder's Existential Physics, page 218.)

Further, ignorant statements about evolution reinforce the notion that the sciences and the Bible are in conflict. The sciences have a story to tell. The Messianic Faith expressed in Scripture also has a story to tell. Some are listening to the harmony and others are deaf.

Consider the data:

No material evidence has been found to prove that humans and apes have a common ancestry. Early or archaic human dentition is easily distinguished from that of apes. In humans, the back teeth are larger than the front teeth, and the canines are not pointed. Humans also lack the characteristic diastema or tooth gap found in apes.

When Jeremy DeSilva, a British anthropologist, compared the ankle joint, the tibia and the talus fossils of human ancestors ("hominins") between 4.12 million to 1.53 million years old, he discovered that all of the ankle joints resembled those of modern humans rather than those of apes. Chimpanzees flex their ankles 45 degrees from normal resting position. This makes it possible for apes to climb trees with great ease. While walking, humans flex their ankles a maximum of 20 degrees. The human ankle bones are quite distinct from those of apes.

The discovery of a complete fourth metatarsal of A. afarensis at Hadar that shows the deep, flat base and tarsal facets that "imply that its midfoot had no ape-like midtarsal break. These features show that the A. afarensis foot was functionally like that of modern humans." (Carol Ward, William H. Kimbel, Donald C. Johanson, Feb. 2011)

 

Humans have been on the earth for at least 3.4 million years. The range of physical features found among archaic humans is the same as the features found in modern human populations. Therefore, it is more accurate to speak simply of "archaic humans" (before about 300,000 years ago) and "modern humans" (more recent than 300,000 years ago).

"Homo" refers to humans. There were many groups of archaic humans and the oldest human fossils have been found in East Africa.

Neanderthals were fully human. The physical features associated with them have been found very widely, well beyond the Neander Valley of Germany where the first fossils were found.

Human innovation and technologies are evident in the record of human artifacts. This includes evidence of butchering as early as 3.4 million years ago.

The Rising Star Expedition retrieved and cataloged over 1000 early human fossils dating 236,000 to 335,000 years ago. These were buried ritually, expressing a religious nature among the Homo naledi community. The recovered fossils show the full range of anatomical features found in modern humans. The cave chambers had small hearths where well-preserved charcoal, ash, and discolored clay were found. The excavations also turned up many fragments of animal bone.

Related reading: Conscious of Our Uniqueness as Humans; Ethics Forum: The Reality of Human Exceptionalism; What Paleoanthropologists Want to Discover; Artifacts of Great Antiquity; Richard Leakey: Many Groups of Archaic Humans; How Homo naledi got into the Dinaledi Chamber; Darwin for Everyman | TLS

Conscious of Our Uniqueness as Humans

Ainu of Northern Japan

Many aboriginal peoples have a name for themselves that simply means people, humans or human beings. In Genesis 1, Adam (adamah) means human, and in Genesis 2 Adam refers to a red human.

The ancient Akkadian word ḫāpiru means human being.

The Ainu are an aboriginal people of Northern Japan and the eastern seaboard of Canada. The word Ainu means human.

The ancient metal workers of Anatolia called themselves the Nes (NS) which means humans, and their language was called Nesli. There is a linguistic connection to modern Serbian. In Serbian nas means us, naš means our, naši means our people, naški means our language.

Naxi elders in Yunnan China.

There is a Tibetan-Burmese population with the name Naxi. Naxi means "honored people."

The natives of the Aleutian Islands call themselves "Anishinabe" which means "First Men" or "Original Men."

The Inuktitut word Inuit means "human beings." The Inuit are the "first people" of Baffin Island in Canada, the Northwest Territories, Greenland and Alaska.

The Shoshone call themselves Newe (nih-wih), meaning “the people.”

The Blackfeet people call themselves the Niitsitape (nee-itsee-TAH-peh), meaning “the real people.”

It appears that the earliest populations self-identified as human, as distinct from other creatures. This is explicit in the story of Adam naming the animals. The Man and the animals are created from the same substance. They are formed from the earth and are earth creatures. As the story continues Adam discovers that he is unique. There is no other creature like him. He is alone until God fashions a companion for him, the woman.

Even some names given by paleoanthropologists to archaic populations work like this. For example. "Sahelanthropus tchadensis" simply means the humans of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.


Related reading: Adam Was a Red Man; A Kindling of Ancient Memory; The Father of Adam and Eve; On Blood and the Impulse to Immortality; The Truth of Human Exceptionalism