How Did We Get Here??
The origin of humans has been a highly debated topic. But since none of us were there when humans were formed, no one can confidently describe how we came to be. Were we created? Did we evolve? Did we evolve after creation? As a creationist, I find it comforting to consider myself created in the image of a Divine being who breathed life into his human creation. This increases my self-esteem and the value of others when I consider all were created in the image of a perfect, loving God, versus being an accidental byproduct that evolved from chimpanzees. Despite the argued theories of human origin, most can agree on several elements that dramatically changed the life and culture of homo sapiens.
With the discovery of fire, food could be cooked which changed its’ consistency and made foods that were ordinarily indigestible, digestible for human consumption. It is interesting to note, how fire, an everyday fuel, made such a significant difference in the progression of humans. It closed the gap between animals and humans, killed germs and parasites, and improved the quality of human life. “When humans domesticated fire, they gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force” (13). I gained a deeper appreciation for fire.
The agricultural revolution took people from foraging, where they lived hand to mouth, to be able to grow and harvest produce and have more choice and power in what they consumed and how they lived. With the development of agriculture, transportation evolved which allowed people to develop cities and travel to and fro. It is fascinating to note how much cultural changes happened from the agricultural revolution, which could possibly be compared to the evolution of technology, computers, and the world wide web. Amazingly, within my lifetime, people living continents away are accessible to me from the comfort of my home through the means of the internet. This technological highway transports people and connects them when it was next to impossible or very costly and laborious to achieve before its’ origin.
Writing expanded the capacity of information retained and stored, whereas the human brain has its’ limitations. While the human brain can store volumes of information, it can be difficult to recover and apply the information when needed and has a “shelf-life” as it dies with its’ owner, thereby losing all the stored information. Therefore, when the Sumerians developed a writing and number system, our world was able to expand exponentially as information was stored, recorded, and inherited, leaving a legacy to those who came after them. As an avid journal writer, I have found healing and insight to record my life’s events, feelings, and experiences. It has helped me to expose the subconscious, increase my emotional intelligence, and notice unhealthy patterns that compromise my quality of life. Journaling gives me the ability to stand beside myself and assess, accept, or address concerns and needs in my life. I can easily see the powerful impact of writing and the ability to gain insight, record information, and leave a legacy for others to glean from.
Even though many cultures developed methods of writing, what made it exceptional in some cultures was its’ accessibility and storage system. “What set apart Sumer, as well as pharaonic Egypt, ancient China and the Inca Empire, is that these cultures developed good techniques of archiving, cataloging, and retrieving written records”(128). This reminds me of the importance of building great organizations, by establishing core values, and mission/vision statements, as reinforced by our readings and experiences. Yet, what good are these if we can’t easily access them or remember them? This is easily remedied by posting the values and mission/vision statements for all to retain and apply, as beautifully demonstrated at the Learn to Earn facility we visited in Cape Town. Writing creations demand an organized system if one wants it to live beyond their own existence. Libraries and their intricate cataloging system come to mind. I often marvel at the ability to find one book in the middle of thousands and can appreciate why librarians get a bit testy when books are misplaced.
My personal response in reading “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humans”, was intrigue and curiosity to exploring a popular way of thinking, and disgust at how humans were described. I found myself countering the author several times with his obvious evolutionary perspectives to my creationist views. He talked about the age of the world in the terms of billions of years as if it was fact. I marveled how one could present information so confidently based on a theory that has yet to be proven, and found his reduction of human life to be appalling: “The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were insignificant animals with no more impact on their environment than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish” (4). If I believed that was my origins, I would struggle significantly with purpose and value. Maybe this belief is a contributing factor to the depression, mental illness, and low empathy for human suffering we see evidenced in our country and the world today.
When I write papers for this doctoral program, I am expected to back up evidence and information with credible resources, and I question why evolutionists can produce literature as factual without having to prove their theories or suggest it is still an unproven theory? This has been confusing for children in our education system and I think it is valuable to remember, none of us were present when humans were created. In reality, all human origin concepts are theories. Simply, I propose: choose the theory that best supports your human value. As a creationist, I find it a much more satisfying explanation of my origin than that I accidentally and insignificantly came from a jellyfish or a monkey.
About the Author
Jennifer Dean-Hill
5 responses to “How Did We Get Here??”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
As someone who does not find evolution and creation incompatible, I also had difficulty digesting Harari’s thesis. I can sit with both the how– evolution, and the hand– God, working in tandem; the ruah of God (breath) filling us as we climbed down from the trees. Like all creation, shaped by God in scientific ways. But to eliminate anything that cannot be scientifically measured as “real” or legitimate, is presumptuous and disregards any social science.
I read a book a few years ago by a man who was a scientist at the British Museum of Natural History who claimed that there has never been found even one piece of evidence for ‘intermediary’ creatures. In other words, we have no proof for how apes jumped to humans or any other ‘evolved’ creatures for that matter.
Darwin was confused by the eyeball – which came first sight or eyes? Did a group of cells accidentally ‘see’ after billions of years of trial and error? And even if they did how did the creature know the significance of it?
If it was a singularity like the Big Bang, how long before another creature would come along with sight so they could mate and reproduce seeing creatures?
I think the simple Bible account of God’s creation of Adam and Eve not only gives us the dignity you talk about, but it really fits the facts.
Jennifer,
Thanks for your post, it was definitely interesting to read your post and your reaction to this book.
Like Katy, I have no problem reconciling the possibility of evolution (or the big bang) with creation.
Part of that for me is a recognition and acceptance that I simply can’t know (let alone understand) definitively everything. But at the same time, I think it is important, especially for those of us that are Christian leaders, to not presume that attempts at scientific explanation (of our past or present) of what has or is happening, are not automatically and diametrically opposed to our theological explanation of who willed the creation into being and why.
We do ourselves a disservice, I believe, if we assume conflict where there doesn’t necessarily have to be any. Harari doesn’t believe in the existence of God – and his refusal to allow for anything that doesn’t have a biological root to be considered ‘real’ is a fairly extreme view – but that doesn’t mean that his scientific views are incompatible with faith.
Some of the most brilliant women and men to have ever lived – leading lights in the scientific world – have found great resonance between their faith and their scientific work.
There is a great book that helped shape some of my thoughts on this – particularly why it is so important to not view science and faith as necessarily opposing forces, called ‘God: the evidence – it’s currently on sale on Amazon, I highly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/God-Evidence-Reconciliation-Reason-Postsecular/dp/0761519645/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507981121&sr=8-1&keywords=god+the+evidence
Jennifer,
your statement “If I believed that was my origins, I would struggle significantly with purpose and value”
I agree with your from a spiritual view. There are so many who do not believe in God believing they are in their purpose and successful of their own accord. How would you address their belief systemn?
Jen, I was also not super enthralled with the way Harari portrayed humans, but I never really got the sense that he actually BELIEVES what he is saying. He didn’t work to provide cited evidence, but rather set down his hypotheses in a beautifully bound book and left it with an unspoken challenge, “Prove me wrong.” The problem is, I don’t feel the need to prove anything to him because I am simply fascinated by his approach.
Since I am an evolutionary creationist, I don’t put a lot of credence to his somewhat Darwinian idea that we evolved from a totally different species. Like you, I believe God created humanity for a purpose. I doubt very much that early humanity looked much like us, but the essence of the Image of God was there. But the greater point he misses is that all of creation was designed for a purpose and we were entrusted to help fulfill that purpose (we’ve pretty much failed at that!). He misses this because he comes from the basic pre-supposition that there is no God. I can’t get to where he is because I come from the basic pre-supposition that there is a Creator God who loves every microbe of creation. I can be fascinated by his ideas, but that’s about it.