Fifth: Did I really come from a monkey?
We have heard the question often, and we have answered it often. One child asked it this way, “Are the books right that we come from monkeys?” Sometimes they point to pictures or a book. Another little one, with detailed pictures from an artist, wanted to know if mermaids really exist. “Aren’t the reports of mermaids true?” The answer is the same. “No.”
If it’s not mermaids or primates, most museums now state that we came from stardust. The artistry is quite amazing. Classes most children regularly attend teach the notion that we came from cavemen, who are portrayed as stupid and more ancient than humans. I could go on, but these notions all have the same origin: the general theory of evolution. It demands that we MUST come from something less than human, the less-than-human comes from a special primordial soup that contains life, the soup comes from the star dust, and we finally start with the singularity that exploded into everything (some version of the Big Bang). The concept is found in elementary books to advanced universities to media to popular culture.
But, as a Bible believer, I must answer clearly, “No.” God created the first man and woman way back in the past (a few thousand years), and you are the result. Even more, He knows when you would be born and where your place of habitation is located. Earth is special, and God created it. You are specially created to live in the habitat.” And we have responsibility in it.
With an older student, I say more. We talk about the assumptions in the man-written conjecture that we come from star dust, that life appears on its own, and that we are on top of heap as the most advanced living thing. That is why we wrote resources that they can get for free for cell phones. We want to reach a large part of the world that has few resources.
There is plenty of complexity being revealed in every scientific discipline to illustrate the magnificence of God’s created world. It cannot self-generate. But the power of generations of bias for the man-written philosophy about origins means that the biblical answer is hard to accept without some time to think about it. We try our best to get people to think about it.
Have questions like these children? Read the Bible, get the app, or read excellent resources from creation.com, icr.org, and answersingenesis.org. Ponder this: you were created. Yes, evil exists, and some things are not working well. We have already handled that subject, and the resource covers it in detail. In the end, every person is responsible for their actions before the Creator – whether to believe Him or not, and whether to walk accordingly.
When I am approached by a young person, especially those ‘beat up’ by circumstances and barely surviving, I pray for them and try to assist them on one presupposition: they were created and special. Whether they think they are evil or good, they can turn from their ways and turn to their Creator. Suggesting they came from something less than human is false and anti-biblical. Saying that repeatedly to children is a recipe for moral disaster.
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Acts 17:26-27 “He made from one man every nation to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God…” (ESV)
Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image…male and female He created them…