The Origin Of Man

“It is now commonly accepted in scientific circles that man has become what he is today as a result of millions of years of evolution. Beginning as a one-celled animal…” So reads the textbook used in biology classes in many public high schools today.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void…” So begins the book of Genesis. The Christian student faces a conflict: Who does he believe?

Probably no other issue has drawn a sharper dividing line between religious and nonreligious thought in our society than that of the origin of man. Were we, as Genesis l and 2 state, placed here by special divine creation? Or did we, as many contemporary educators, philosophers, and often others tell us, evolve from nothing into one-celled animals and on up the zoological chain into Homo sapiens ? Or perhaps a third option—God created man, using the process of evolution as his “laboratory.”

Many young people feel the uneasy tension that exists between these views. Their spiritual authorities—the Bible, the church, the pastor or youth minister—stand firmly in the creationist camp, while the public educational system, their biology teachers, and probably the majority of their peers lean heavily toward the evolutionist viewpoint. Who’s right?

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t spell out in precise detail how human beings came to be. It does, however, give us some basic truths. First and foremost, human beings, like all the rest of the universe, are creations of God. The Bible states the fact in the clearest of terms—God is mentioned performing some part of his creative work 31 times in Genesis l alone. The idea that we simply materialized out of nothingness is a logical and scientific impossibility. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that matter can neither be created or destroyed by natural causes. For the strict naturalist/evolutionist, this is an insurmountable dilemma. If only natural causes are involved, how did nothing turn into something? And then, how did that something become something personal—with intelligence, morality, personality, and spiritually? By chance? Impossible. Absolutely, scientifically, intellectually, and logically impossible.

The Christian, then, turns to the supernatural: God did it. It is a simple but utterly profound rationale. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… ,” and that sums it up. It does not rule out the possibility of some kind of God-directed evolution; neither does it give it any support. And frankly, the honest evolutionist will admit that his beliefs involve as much faith and speculation—if not more—as the creationist’s. Nobel Prize winner Ernst Chain said in l970: “To postulate that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations seems to me a hypothesis based on no evidence and entirely irreconcilable with the facts…it amazes me that [classical evolutionary theories] are allowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without a murmur of protest.”

So the Bible, and Genesis in particular, gives us one bedrock fact about the origin of humanity: God created us in his own image. Exactly how he did that remains a matter of faith, open to investigation by scientific inquiry. But the creationist position is as intellectually respectable as any of the alternatives. Every Christian can draw strength and confidence—and awe for his or her Creator—from knowing that.


Life Application Bible for Students by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinosis, page 6

May well be an over simplification but, having pondered this in the past, my belief/faith has mostly been it doesn't really matter. I believe in God and that all there is, is because of God.

I would expect the religious community to go with Creation since it best suits religion. Similarly, would expect secular scientific types to go with evolution. Neither theory changes my faith in God and that regardless of how it may have happened, he is the creator of all things.

Sometimes simple is best bro!


(cough, though I just can't allow myself to do that I am so A.R. )

While there are many biblically unexplained phenomenon, IE dinosaur fossils, there is little actual evidence to support evolution, most is circumstantial or hypothetical. The biggest flaw is twofold. First there is NO missing link that connects man genetically with any simian group. Second there are NO "transitional" creatures in the fossil record. For example evolutionists generally theorize that fish became amphibious and then walked on land then evolved into mammals etc. There are no fossils to support that theory. There are fish, and amphibians, and mammals but nothing in between.

Anyway just me being me again if anyone is interested we can run with this for a while.. or not.

WEll....I'm a pretty basic person.

Logic says that if we evolved then we could prove it. If according to Darwin and his theory they should have captured many little creatures in his time and kept them for study purposes, and to watch them change over the years.

Opps...they have not changed. I wonder why they are not evolving into a stronger species or something completely different.

Big BANG! My seven year old sits at night and gazes at the heavens. Her simple litle comment, "No Way all that came from a Big Bang."

In the beginning God created. (brought forth from nothing) Who is to say when the beginning was? Was it ten thousand years ago...was it 10 million years ago. To me it does not really matter, it's just God created.

It's funny to me that God can create but all we can do is find. Name one thing that we as humans have created. Oh!...we have dicovered lots, rearranged thme into new and necessary things....but what have we created, that is....brought forth form NOTHING.

*chuckles* But that's just me....a simple and basic sorta guy.