Dr. Jack L. Arnold Equipping Pastors International Genesis

Lesson 13

The Evolutionary View of Man

Genesis 1:26-31

I. INTRODUCTION

A. The weakest link in the evolutionary theory is in relation to man. Yet the general public has accepted this theory because of unbelief, brainwashing and ignorance of the true facts.

B. Christians must be alert to the real facts and not duped by big words or fancy charts that portray the evolution of man.

II. WHAT EVOLUTION TEACHES ABOUT MAN: The evolutionists say that man evolved from a single cell. Many state that man is a direct descendent from the ape and a few others feel that man evolved from his own cell of homosapien (man). In either case, both believe that it has taken millions of years for man to get where he is today. NOTE. The evolutionists believe that man and the monkey had a common ancestor. He would make man the 26th cousin of the monkey, not his great-great-great-grandchild.

III. THE FOSSIL RECORD

A. Differences Between Homo-sapiens (humans) and anthropoids (apes resembling man).

Evolutionists like to stress the similarities between the ape and man but there are some very obvious differences. There are at least 50 distinct differences of which a few are: (1) Man walks upright on two feet and apes normally walk on four; (2) Man’s arms are short, the ape’s are very long; (3) The human nose has a prominent bridge and an elongated tip which is lacking in the apes; (4) Apes have thumbs on their feet as well as on their hands; man does not; (5) Man has the greatest weight at birth in relation to his weight as an adult; yet at birth he shows the least degree of maturation and is by far the most helpless of creatures; (6) Man’s head is balanced on top of his spinal column, the head of the ape is hinged at the front instead of on top; (7) Apes can be trained to a degree but only man can be educated, for only man can exercise independent judgment.

B. Types of Fossils

1. Australopithecus (Ape man of the South). These remains were first discovered by Dr. Leakey, a famous anthropologist, in the South Africa seas. There have been a few incomplete skulls, some teeth and thighbones discovered. The jaws and teeth are larger than modern man’s and the thighbones are smaller. When Leakey and other anthropologists made this find they dated this fossil some where between 1.5 to 2 million years. They dated the bones by the rocks they were found in, and the rocks, according to radioactive dating, were quite old. Leakey claimed that this was a missing link. OBJECTIONS: (1) Many scientists feel that Australopithecus is unrelated to man and is purely ape and some are not sure that the thigh bones even belong with the skull. (2) Primitive tools have been discovered along with these fossils, which indicates that Australopithecus was contemporaneous with some form very similar to, if not identical with, man; (3) Recent carbon dating at UCLA has dated these bones between 10 and 14 thousand years.

2. Pithecanthropus Erectus (Erect Ape-Man). This fossil is dated about 1.3 million years and consisted of only a few fragmented parts. It also was found with primitive stone implements. He gives evidence of being a full-sized man but has a smaller brain capacity than modern man.

3. Solo (Jays) Man. This fossil was found in Java and is thought to be 1 million years old. There are limited fragments but he had big jaws (ape-like) and a brain as large as modern man’s. OBJECTIONS: (1) He is probably homosapien, not ape. (2) The fossils have been dated around 10 thousand years.

4. Rhodesian Man. He had a gorilla-like face but a brain capacity as large as modern man’s and has been dated at 700,000 years by evolutionists. OBJECTIONS: Carbon dating has put the dating at 9,000 years.

5. Neanderthal Man. These remains were found in Germany about a hundred years ago. Evolutionists say he is about 500,000 years old and is the original cave man. He appears to have been short and stocky. The total number of fossils is about 100 and most are children or fragmentary. OBJECTIONS: (1) These fossils have human characteristics and probably were humans; (2) The modern dating is between 30 and 40 thousand years.

6.Cro-Magnon Man. These fossils were discovered in France and show the Cro-Magnon Man was slightly taller than the Neanderthal man. He had some characteristics, which today are considered Negroid. He had a larger brain capacity than modern man. OBJECTION: He is definitely homosapien.

C. Brain Capacities. The evolutionists contend that brain capacity of man increases as he moves in his development from an ape to modern man. OBJECTION: This simply is not correct for the Java, Rhodesian and Cro-Magnon man all had larger brain capacities than modern man Also modern man has a brain that weighs about 50 ounces and the woman about 45 ounces, but this does not mean that man is more intelligent than woman, Brain capacities prove nothing.

D. General Conclusions

1. The oldest skulls of man known to science are those found at Calaveras in North America and the perfectly human finds in Castinedolo, Italy. These fossils have been found at geological levels equal or lower than any of the so-called ape-man fossils (hominids). Homosapien is older than all the missing links.

2. Most of the fossils are very young and can be classified as homosapiens. NOTE:

There may be many genetic possibilities within the species of man--different skin colors, different heights, different frames, different shaped heads, etc., but all must be classified as man.

3. There are very few fossils and it is impossible to draw a picture of what a human or animal looked like based on a few fragments of a skull or the skeleton (cf. Marquis de Lafayette and the Neanderthal skull).

4. There are simply no missing links and there does not seem to be any evidence that there ever will be.

5. The cave man can be adequately explained. Man fell into sin, and all his power of body, mind and spirit, were corrupted. Neanderthal men,. etc., if they had any connection with our race, may have been degenerate specimens which devolved from Adam in the centuries between the Creation and the Flood. Perhaps these humans wandered away from the main centers of civilization and sought whatever shelter available. Before the Flood men were very corrupt.. Perhaps sin had taken such a toll that some of humanity became animal-like.. Or perhaps cave men were only hominids which species God did not see fit to preserve when He sent the Flood, just as He did not see fit to preserve the dinosaurs, NOTE: It is very possible that if we have a nuclear war we shall see cavemen in the 20th century.

E. The Great Hoax -- The Piltdown Man: In 1912, a fossil was discovered by Charles Danon and was called the Dawn man, or Eosnthropus dswsoni.. It is better known as the Piltdown man. He was heralded by most anthropologists as the missing link. Later it was discovered that the whole thing was a hoax, the teeth had been filed and the bones had been stained. POINT: While science finally exposed this fraud, yet it is also evident that even the experts were fooled by the hoax. The men who examined it were the most competent archaeologists and anthropologists of the day; yet they were deceived.

IV. FALLACIES OF TEE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

A. Assuming that man did evolve, when and how did he get a soul or a brain? Even the theistic evolutionist has a problem when he rejects the miracle of immediate creation of the human body of Adam, for he must accept the miracle of God creating a soul. If God can create a soul or brain, why does it seem so unlikely that he did create the human body?

B. Historical records of any human civilization before 4000 B.C. are completely absent. Civilizations sprang into view suddenly. When real man does appear he is astonishingly “sapiens” (wise): mentally and physically in no way inferior to 20th century space-men.

C. If man has taken millions of years to evolve, there would be an astronomical population problem. Scientists have figured that the human race is doubling about every 160 years, making allowance for wars, famines, etc. If the evolutionist is right, there would be standing room only, for every square inch of the surface of the globe, including the Sahara and the North and South Poles, would be occupied with human beings.

D. Why are not men still evolving today? All the evidence seem to show that man is not evolving but devolving. Can modern man expect to live 900 years, as did Adam? Everything in the world is wearing down and so is man.

E. Evolution has no place for sin and therefore has no place for a Saviour and redemption.

V. SYSTEMS BUILT ON THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

A. Communism. Men is but an animal and a sociological creature, and there is no God. Therefore men can be treated much like animals!

B. Nazism: Man is evolving and through genetics a super-race can be developed which will rule the world.

C. Materialism. Since man is the highest of all animals with no eternal future, he is to live for the here and now.