Case-Making 101: Are humans made in the image of God or did we evolve from something else?

evolution of human skulls

Human Evolution or Creation? You must choose your foundation:

“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28

If evolution then no creation, if creation then no evolution. You cannot have it both ways, either God created or He did not so we must choose what to believe, and no choice is a choice. For me I don’t want to get this wrong because I believe that what we believe has eternal consequences so I’m going to look at the evidence. How about you?

Dr. Fazale Rana was one of my Professors at Biola who specializes in human creation vs. evolution. Watch Dr. Rana’s testimony (1st 20 minutes) and some detailed science evidence for human creation vs. evolution (2nd 20 minutes):

 

evolution of human skulls 2

I don’t know about you, but when I look at the supposed evolution of human skulls presented in educational literature I see them as either fully human or fully ape, not transitional forms that are somewhere in between, and that is what the evidence bears out. In Dr. Rana’s class he confirms the lack of evidence in the fossil record and the falsification of much of the so-called evidence that evolutionists hold up. For more on this subject I highly recommend reading Marvin L. Lubenow’s book called “Bones of Contention.”  

Watch this insightful, fact filled and thought provoking 17 minute educational video that debunks much of what has been taught in public education. I believe it will help answer a lot of the questions you might have about human evolution:

Over the past few posts we have examined Genesis chapter 1 and looked at the various theories for the origin of life along with evidence that debunks the theory of evolution (macroevolution).

This week we are focusing on Genesis chapter 2-5:

The Bible gives the most reasonable and coherent evidential answers to the question of life than does the idea that everything we see in and around us came to be by the random chance processes of evolution. When we look at the Bible, especially in the book of Genesis, we find answers to some of our most commonly asked questions: 

What is the purpose of humankind?

Read Genesis Chapters 1-2:7

Here we find God created humans in His image; no other living thing was created with these special attributes:

  1. Image of God, a lesser model of the Trinity: Body, soul and spirit
  2. Rulership over the earth
  3. Relationship with God and each other
  4. Ability to love – freewill choice

In addition to a distinct bone structure humans have drastically different capabilities:

  • Humans, unlike other living things, are reflective and have intentionality.
  • Humans possess deep and thoughtful emotions.
  • Humans have fine motor abilities like none other.
  • Humans are creative problem solvers and researchers.
  • Humans have a spirit that cries out for answers and we intrinsically know that there is something beyond ourselves.
  • We can feel eternity in our souls.

Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets… and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.  

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

The key:

We find all of this from the beginning, in the first few chapters of Genesis:

  • God created humans for fellowship with Him and each other.
  • He created us with the purpose of taking care of each other and our earth.
  • He created us with freewill choice because real love and relationship cannot happen without it.
  • The Christian faith is the only place you will find a God of love and a God of relationship.
  • No other religion or belief system has a god with the all-encompassing attributes of the God of the Bible.
  • No other God would send His only Son to die in humankind’s place (promised in Genesis 3).
  • No other God would prepare an eternal home for those who would accept His Son’s sacrifice and put their trust in Him alone for salvation through grace (see John 14).

What is the purpose of marriage?

Read Genesis Chapter 2:

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”…

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

-Genesis 2:18, 21-24

God intended for us to have a partner in life, we were made in a unique way to populate the earth, rule over it, and take care of it.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  

-Genesis 1:28

After the flood:

...God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”  

-Genesis 9:1

 Jesus speaking to the Pharisees:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

-Matthew 19:4-6

Paul gives the same message to the early Church:

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

-Ephesians 5:31

Where did families come from?

Read Genesis Chapters 4, 5

Cain, Seth and the other children of Adam and Eve had children and began to populate the earth (5:4).

  • God had not forbidden brother-sister unions at this time because He had not yet given the Law of Moses, that will come in a few thousand years.
  • Creation was pure and perfect and, as we know today, the DNA had not yet been corrupted and it had not had time to mutate so children of such unions would be fine.
  • The difference in life spans was great in this early period of human history, so brothers and sisters did not necessarily grow up together.

 Join us next week as we continue our investigation in support of the Genesis account and explore Genesis chapter 3 to look at one of the biggest questions asked in our world today: Why is there evil, suffering and death in the world?

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research.  It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us this year as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

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