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

In the beginning God created...

Greg Goebel


Did God create the world instantly ten thousand years ago? Or did he start the process of evolution in order to create the world?

For several years I led a parish book study, and it was one of the most personally fulfilling aspects of ministry for me. But it was also often quite provocative. One such moment came when we were reading Alistair McGrath’s book Theology: The Basics.

We were reading his overview of the Apostle’s Creed, starting with his discussion of “God the Father, creator of heaven and earth.” McGrath discusses five basic ways that Christians have understood how God accomplished the creation of the world, including young earth creationism, intelligent design, and theistic evolution.

When we got to that point, the room seemed to instantly divide into camps. All of us were fellow Christians, fellow parishioners, and we respected one another. We were also all book lovers. Yet we literally divided physically into camps. I’m not sure how it happened, but it seemed like I looked up and people had actually changed places to be near their group.

One group said that the only way to truly and faithfully read the Genesis account was to believe that God created the world about ten thousand years ago. Another said, no, Genesis is obviously poetic and intended to convey a theology of God, not a mechanism of creation itself. This led to the conclusion that God began the process of evolution. Still another group believed that God didn’t just start evolution’s march, he guided it in a process called Intelligent Design.

The creed was sitting there on the page. It simply read, “God the Father, creator of heaven and earth.” That’s it.

Think about this for a moment. The undivided church gathered in a series of ecumenical councils (there were no separate denominations then). They knew Genesis, they knew Paul’s letter to the Romans. They knew the Gospels. And it may surprise many to know that they knew about evolution too. No, not the modern scientific theory. But they knew about the Greek philosophical schools that had developed a vision of life evolving. And they also knew about Jewish (mostly poetic) readings of the book of Genesis.

So they could have agreed to sacralize one of these views for all time as creed. And yet they didn’t. They were content to simply require all Christians to believe that God purposely created the universe. They left the how outside of what is required for salvation.

We might want to try that today.

That’s not to say that we should stop debating, arguing, and advocating one or the other viewpoint. We should keep on vigorously working and promoting and talking about this, because its important.

Yet rather than advocating the simple creed, and then making space for believers to discuss varies theories, some parishes identify as “Creationist” or “Intelligent Design” or pro “Theistic Evolution.” But our churches shouldn’t be presenting one or the other interpretation or theory as if it is the only authoritative way to understand creation. That’s not the pastor’s job. We weren’t ordained to promote creationism, but creed. We aren’t called to preach evolutionary biology, but to preach Bible basics. Our job is to present God the Father as creator of heaven and earth. Period.

Why? One reason is evangelism.

Here is an example of how staying with the creeds can help evangelism: I got a call from a family member, who said, “I am almost ready to be baptized and become a Christian. But, I can’t because I accept the theory of evolution as proven science. If you can show me that evolution is wrong, I can consider becoming a Christian.”

This was a critical moment. In my past I might have marshaled evidence that evolution is false, hoping to clinch that final argument that would bring him to faith in Christ. At another point in my life I might have argued that God did indeed use evolution to create the world.

But does our faith rest on arguments? Does it rest on scientific refutations? Does baptism require us to first develop a detailed theory of the mechanism of creation? Nope. Just an affirmation of the creed. Period.

So thankfully I was able to say, “Yeah, a lot of Christians wrestle with that. Not a problem. You can be baptized and become a Christian and keep on wrestling with the rest of us Christians. We only require an affirmation that the world is not an accident, or purposeless, and that God the Father is the creator who decided the world would exist and made it happen. He is the source of life.”

So you may be sad, at this point in my musings, to find that I’m not going to try and advocate for one or the other interpretations of Genesis, or philosophies of “death before Adam.” There are many great studies out there on these issues, and they are important questions.

As a priest and pastor, I simply affirm that God created the world. Period. And that is a beautiful, amazing and challenging belief in and of itself.

From here.

Pastors should be informed on the four aspects of evolution: mutation (fact), adaptation (fact), natural selection (evidence, but not a law) and common ancestry (a theory). Bible-believing Christians must reject the common ancestry theory when it comes to human origins as this is contrary to the biblical assertion that humans were a special creation. The growing evidence of archaic humans increasingly supports the biblical assertion of humans as a special creation.

Likewise, pastors should understand that Young Earth Creationism (YEC) does not align with what Genesis reveals. It is neither scientific nor biblical. The Earth is very old, and humans have been on the Earth for close to four million years. From the beginning they were fully human: walked upright, used tools, controlled fire, had human dentition, etc.

Pastors should also be informed about the cultural context of Abraham's ancestors from whom he received the hope of a Righteous Ruler who would overcome death and lead his people to immortality.

Related reading: Ignoring Anthropologically Significant Data; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Kushite Diversity and Unity; Who Were the Horites?; Kushite Wives; Biblical Anthropology and Antecedents; Biblical Anthropologists Discuss Darwin; Facebook Conversation on Creationism