If We Evolved From Apes

 

If We Evolved From Apes…

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.SC., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, July 8, 2024

 

“If we evolved from apes and monkeys, then why are there still apes and monkeys?”

Ever heard this? It drives me nuts! I hear this question—or variations of it—quite often. I see it on memes.

Many seem to think this is a good refutation of an evolutionary worldview. I appreciate the heart of believers opposing the religion of secular humanism (evolution is a common tenet of secular religions like atheism, agnosticism, naturalism, materialism, etc.).

However, asking this question misses a big point in the evolutionary story—and when you understand it, it really isn’t powerful at all. In the evolutionary belief, man didn’t evolve from apes (e.g., chimpanzees or gorillas); nor did apes evolve from monkeys (e.g., Old World or New World monkeys).

In the evolutionary conjecture, both man and apes supposedly evolved from “ape-like” creatures that are commonly seen as “apes” to the average layperson. But technically, this is a supposed ancestor that gave rise to both humans and apes.

So this alleged ancestor doesn’t exist anymore. It is the same with respect to an even more previous “monkey-like” creature that supposedly gave rise to both modern monkeys and that ape-like ancestor.

That alleged monkey-like creature doesn’t exist today but was, according to evolutionary believers, what gave rise to the lines of monkeys and apes and ultimately the line of man.

So asking the initial question is actually equating modern apes and this alleged ape-like ancestor. Technically, it is even more complicated than this, but this should help clear up this common misunderstanding. As Christians, we should be more accurate with what the world is teaching when refuting it.

I try to make sure I’m calling this alleged ancestral creature “ape-like” or “monkey-like” to be accurate to what the evolutionists actually believe.

There are plenty of other ways to refute the evolutionary religion, so it is unnecessary to use arguments that are fallacious.

For example, see:

• World Religions Volume 3 deals with the religious aspects of an evolutionary worldview and how to refute it philosophically.
• Glass House deals with the specific evolutionary arguments like alleged missing links, alleged chromosome 2 fusion, origin of life, natural selection, mutations, the allegation that humans and chimps are 98% similar in DNA, and so on.