04000
 
 

ORIGIN OF MAN
 
 

If you like titles, you might try the following for this section, ORIGIN OF THE ORIGINALS.
 
 

The secular anthropologist has a dim view of man. They view him as only an integrated part of the natural order. He has form, and must obey the same laws of nature as the other animal life. He is like a laboratory where chemicals are processed. He takes in materials for his own use and processes them as do the other animals.
 
 

It would seem that our mothers missed the boat when they named us. My name should be S-D Laboratories. If man is nothing but one of the animals and nothing more than a part of the natural order then man is a product of nature, rather than God. We know better because of the knowledge we gain from the Word.
 
 

The two major systems of thought today, as to the origin of man are Evolution and Biblical creationism. The evolutionary side is based on speculation, conjecture and assumption and lots of the latter. Biblical creationism is based upon the Revelation of God to man. It is truth in all that it communicates and can be accepted as such!
 
 

The evolutionist offers many proofs, but no PROOF as such. They have presented many things over the years and Christianity has been kind enough to shoot all of them down. Indeed, evolution had been laid to rest in the religious circles as a false teaching, until a few years ago when Carl Sagan decided to make a bundle of money on the resurrected evolutionary theories of the past. He is a very good communicator and has been able to gain the capital to produce some very fine television shows to push his new, yet old ideas.
 
 

Within the evolutionary proponents we have two basic camps. The out and out evolutionist that holds to the Darwinian thinking and the Biblical people that want to allow for the evolutionist in Biblical circles (These are the Theistic evolutionists).
 
 

The proponents of evolution usually set forth the following items as basic to their theory.
 
 

I will just quote these. I found these comments in Hodge's Systematic Theology page 240. (Gross, Edward N., editor; "SYSTAMATIC THEOLOGY"/Abridged Edition; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.)
 
 

1. "First, like begets like; this is the law of heredity, according to which the offspring is like the parent through out the vegetable and animal world."
 
 

2. "Second, while in all that is essential the offspring is like the parent, it always differs more or less from its progenitor; this is the law of variation. The variations are sometimes deteriorations, sometimes indifferent, sometimes improvements, that is, such as enable the plant or animal more advantageously to exercise its functions." (I was taller than my father, yet just as bald.)
 
 

3. "Third, as plants and animals increase in a geometrical ratio, they tend to outrun enormously the means of support, and this of necessity gives rise to a continued and universal struggle for life."
 
 

4. "Fourth, we have the Law of Natural Selection. In this struggle the fittest survive; that is, those individuals which have an accidental variation of structure which renders them superior to their fellows in the struggle for existence survive and transmit that peculiarity to their offspring. This is 'natural selection';i.e., nature, without intelligence or purpose, selects the individuals best adapted to continue and to improve the race. It is by the operation of these few principles that in the course of countless ages all the diversified forms of vegetables and animals have been produced."
 
 

The theistic evolutionist holds to evolution, but sees God as the prime starter of all these processes. There are variations on this thinking as well.
 
 

God, in Genesis one and two, is very clear in what He is trying to communicate to man. He mentions very specifically just how he went about the creation of the universe, as well as man. If we do not accept Genesis one and two as truth, then that record must be held as untruth, or lies. Can you imagine telling God that He is a liar? That is what the evolutionist and Theistic evolutionists are doing. Think about that one for awhile!
 
 

Not only does the Scripture tells us very dramatically in Genesis of the creation, but the Bible also goes on to mention the creation many times more in other portions of the Word. This is very emphatic that the Lord created.
 
 

Not only do the doubters call the Lord a liar, but they also are casting insults toward Him. The next time you talk to an evolutionist you might ask him if he really wants to be part of a system that makes God out a liar.
 
 

If we leave God out of the creation then we have a lack of many things. We do not have any direction for the universe and ourselves, other than what man might dream up. We have no reason to be moral people. We are products of the goo of past ages so why should we be moral.
 
 

Indeed, this is why the movies and the television shows are going totally down hill. They have no standards. The standards have basically been lifted, and all is go.
 
 

The illegitimate birth rate is soaring and why? No standards in our society. It is strictly okay to have a baby and raise it as a single parent, so many are doing just that.
 
 

Divorce rates are terribly high. Why? No standards of marriage. Marriage is a try it, and if you like it keep it, situation in our society today.
 
 

Abortion is rampant in our country. Why? There is no standard for life. The law says that these children do not exist as life thus they have no value.
 
 

If there is no standard then every person is his own standard. I recently saw an interview of a man that had killed another man in the process of a robbery. He was convicted and put away for life. His reaction was one of total indignation. He had done nothing wrong. He had shot a gun, but the dumb person that died was at fault. He ran in front of the gun. His philosophy was that he had done no wrong, and that he had no responsibility.
 
 

That is the end result of evolution and humanism. On the other hand the Bible and creation demands much higher of man. Since we are told that we are created in His image then it is also somewhat indicated that we should act in His image as well. You might jot down I Pet 1:16; Matt 5:48 for future reference as well.
 
 

We are to be conformed to the image of Christ! We can only do that as we conform to the dictates of the Scriptures. This is where our morals will come from.
 
 

Chafer states that if we leave the Bible and God out of the origin of man that we can look to tadpoles for moral standards. If God and the Bible are left out then man is left to dream up his own theologies, and that he does. That is why we have so many cults and isms around today.
 
 

Many have realized that the Genesis one and two accounts of the creation are different, yet very similar. This is explainable as follows. Some feel that chapter one is an introduction, and that chapter two fills in the gaps of one. This is the method of some Hebrew writings. They are like the modern day speaker that tells em what he's going to say, then he tells em what he wants to say, and then he tells em what he has just said in the hope that they heard what he said.
 
 

Some suggest that one is mankind in general and that two is speaking specifically of Adam. Chafer suggests the term Cosmical in relation to it being mankind and the term physiological in relation to Adam specifically.
 
 

No matter how this similarity is explained, the final result must be that both relate to the creation of the heavens and the earth by the supreme Being, God.
 
 

Gen. 1:27 seems to speak quite specifically about the subject of creation. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Since God mentions it three times in one verse it might be indicated that God believes that He is the creator. God did it, He said it, we believe it because faith allows it (Heb 11:3).
 
 

Within man's abilities of observation, there are things which tend to confuse us. The evolutionist on the one hand says that we descend from the monkey. As we observe the monkey, we can see that we are similar. On the other hand God tells us that He created the animals, and then another order, man. We may see similarity to ourselves in the monkey, yet we know from the Word that there is a major difference. We can respond to the Creator and the monkey can only respond to his surrounding and needs.
 
 

We, as man, have many similarities with the animal world. If you have ever been to the zoo and watched the monkeys you can certainly see some remarkable similarities. We went to the Colorado Springs Zoo years ago and I was especially taken by one large monkey that was sitting on a shelf in the top of his cage all slouched down like I do to watch TV. He wasn't watching TV, but he was sure observing the foolish creatures that were passing by him. His actions, and facial expressions made me feel like he was about to get up and come over to me for a long conversation.
 
 

Man may have many similarities however we have one very prominent and distinct dissimilarity. MAN HAS A SPIRITUAL NATURE AND THERE IS NO ANIMAL THAT HAS THIS! WE ARE FORMED IN THE DIVINE IMAGE!
 
 

Genesis does not allow for an evolution for Adam. He was created complete and mature. The fact that Adam was created mature is indicated by the following: 1. No pacifier, formula or diapers are mentioned. 2. He was told to tend the garden. This would require mature motor skills to operate in such a manner. 3. He spoke with God, thus he had speech skills. By the way how do you suppose he felt the moment that he became conscious? Did God create him with memories? Did Adam have a knowledge of God built in? Did he come with completed memory banks concerning gardening and family life?
 
 

God created Adam as an adult, and as a complete being in all respects. There were no recalls on the defective model!
 
 

One question that has come to many minds is, "When did God create?" There are many theories and ideas. Mr. Usher has a system of dating that appears in some Bibles, but most feel that he is probably quite a way off.
 
 

We don't really know when creation took place. There is a feeling that is fairly general today that creation would have been four to 6,000 years before Christ.
 
 

Usher used the genealogies of the Old Testament to figure out his dating system. Part of the problem of using the genealogies in the Old Testament is that there may be several generations between names of which we are not aware. There is indication, according to those that study genealogies that the term begat in the Old Testament may well refer to decent of families rather than a direct offspring.
 
 

Even in the time of the prophets there is some guess work involved in assembling a chronology and set of dates. Some of the kings dates are given in different ways and authorities differ some on dates even in that period.
 
 

There is no real way of dating the creation. Indeed, I see little value in knowing, for the evolutionist would not believe it even if we could prove that it was Feb. 29th 5500 B.C.
 
 

When it comes to creation there are some that believe there was a long period of time between creation and the time of the Patriarchs, because of the vast number of cultures and civilizations that we have in history. This is not necessarily so. If we remember at the Tower of Babel, things were a bit disturbed. The nations would have come from the language problem which God created. The cultures also would have come from the people scattering and beginning again.
 
 

It is easy to see that man of all cultures and civilizations are descended from one source, and that source Noah, or ultimately Adam. In fact in the late 80's scientists decided that all of mankind was descended from a woman they called EVE! This common ancestry of man is called the unity of man.
 
 

Pardington has a section on the unity of man that I would like to adapt for you (Pardington, Rev. George P. Ph.D.; "OUTLINE STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE"; Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1926, p 140-141). He views the unity of the race from four aspects:
 
 

From History: History seems to indicate that there was a common ancestry for all races, centered in Central Asia.
 
 

From Language: There is evidence that all major languages come from one original language. The lesser languages could certainly flow from that one original language as well.
 
 

From Psychology: There is a commonness to all races in the mind games that we play. We all have a concept of right and wrong, though it varies from race to race. The mental capacities are similar to all races, at the same level of maturation. Many of the myths of the races indicate a common origin as well.
 
 

From Physiology: Man, no matter the race has a similar physiology. The heart rate is similar, any race can mate with any other, and the average temperature is similar. All races are susceptible to all diseases.
 
 

The Bible tells us what happened and we can by faith accept it. Man on the other hand, in his lost state, does not want to accept anything that the Bible has to say, so usually allows himself to create new and better theories that are based on very little evidence, truth or knowledge.
 
 

I trust that if you have any doubts in the area of the creation, that you will simply accept, by faith, the Scriptural account. I have always said, that it would take more faith to hold to evolution, that it does to accept creationism.