Those of you who have read some of my previous posts will know that the creation vs. evolution debate is very close to my heart. It is so because I know and love many wonderful people who are blinded by the theory of evolution. As in my previous article on this topic, my intention is not to mock people, but rather to provide what I believe is a logical and biblical opinion.
This is the first blog in which I hope will be part of a series on unique human characteristics. It seems to be a rather odd thing to write about, but I have my reasons... Perhaps most importantly, one of the main drives behind the theory of evolution is to show that humans and animals are essentially the same, as we evolved from animals. This particular part of the evolutionary theory is perhaps the most destructive to the human mind. Following this theory to its logical conclusion reveals some rather interesting (if scary) conclusions.
If we are animals, then there should be no justice system. Murder, theft and even rape are commonplace in the animal kingdom and in human society. The difference is that there are no consequences for these actions amongst animal societies, whereas humans (as a society) tend to punish those committing these acts. To illustrate the point, I have created the following two hypothetical examples.
Example 1: a man walks into another man’s home, and because he fancies the other guy’s wife, he fights with him and throws the other guy out of his own home. Afterwards, he decides that the previous man’s children will get in his way as he tries to woo their mother, so he kills them.
I hope my readers will agree with me that this is an atrocious act for which the perpetrator should be severely punished; some would say with the death penalty. Yet this scenario occurs frequently enough amongst animals to be given a technical name – infanticide.
When a male lion commits the above act, it is soon accepted by the females of the pride he has taken over, who come into oestrous and mate with him. The loss of the previous male and their cubs is soon forgotten and the lion pride soon continues with ‘business as usual’. The evolutionist would be quick to point out that this is simply “survival of the fittest” – a term currently in vogue amongst evolutionary biologists. However, it doesn’t take a biologist or a lawyer to figure out that this excuse would not fly in a human court of law. Why, then does this not apply to human society? Why do we insist on punishing someone for simply increasing his reproductive fitness?
Example 2: a person dedicates his/her life to the conservation of another species. This person works hard to gather resources, just to donate it to the cause of ‘their’ species. They have no children and live a secluded, sometimes very difficult life. This example has no parallel in the animal kingdom. It seems that only humans would care enough about another species to sacrifice their own ‘fitness’ for the sake of an another species. Note that this is not a mutualistic biological relationship – in those relationships there is a definite benefit to both species in terms of biological fitness (a gain of resources and/or reproductive fitness).
To take this example further, a hallmark of a great human (as recognized by society) is one that does an altruistic deed for other humans. This means that they sacrifice their own needs for the sake of others, who are unrelated to themselves. Award ceremonies for soldiers are dominated by the recognition of altruistic acts committed by men and women during battle. In numerous cases, the award is given to the family of a soldier who died as a result of such an act. Once again, there is no proven example of such behaviour amongst animals.
I trust that you would agree with me when I say that the person who committed the murder in Example 1 should be punished, and that the people in Example 2 deserve their awards. Why do we agree on these points? Because we are humans. I challenge any evolutionist to find a single example of an entire population of animals rising up against an individual that committed murder. I further challenge them to find examples of true altruism and, even more, to find award ceremonies amongst animals in honour of altruistic acts!
The point is that justice and morality are unique human characteristics that cannot be explained in evolutionary terms. Instead, one must look to the Bible, not Darwin, for the answers. Indeed, Darwinism has been especially popular among people that would want the murderer in Example 1 to go unpunished. Adolf Hitler was a big fan of Darwin and his theory of evolution. To Hitler, the slaughter of millions of people that he considered to be ‘unfit’ in evolutionary terms was an evolutionary service to the human race.
Instead, I turn to the Bible for answers to the presence of unique human characteristics. When God created animals, His only commandment was that they should “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22). In the current biological language, He was setting in place the principle of ‘survival of the fittest’. The command was simply to reproduce and be successful, if they were not able to do so, then they would die out (not change to become another kind of animal). This was not a moral obligation which animals could choose to disobey, but rather a natural law.
In contrast, when God made mankind, He said “Let Us make man in Our own image” (Genesis 1:26), He also commanded them to “Be fruitful and multiply” and additionally to “fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). This second command is unique to humans, and it explains why we feel a particular responsibility towards other living things. Lastly, He gave Adam a command that He gave no other created thing – the command to obey Him (Genesis 1:16-17).
The fact that we were made in His image and that we were given a moral command explains our sense of morality and justice. The Lord gave the Ten Commandments later in the Bible, but the command to obey Him and the accompanying sense of morality was present in us from the beginning. Morality and justice therefore describe the basics of what it means to be human. These qualities can never be explained in terms of evolutionary fitness, because they were created within us by God, to Whom these qualities ultimately belong.
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