Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Discussion about scientific issues as they relate to God and Christianity including archaeology, origins of life, the universe, intelligent design, evolution, etc.
User avatar
Philip
Site Owner
Posts: 9405
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:45 pm
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Day-Age
Location: Betwixt the Sea and the Mountains

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by Philip »

ALL that truly matters: The DESIGNER common to all living things - for without Whom nothing would exist that exists!

Whether through processes put into place to function in a certain way, or with tweaks along the way, the a SPIRITUAL/non-physical Being created a physical realm and populated it with physical things of certain designs, functions, capabilities, and fixed parameters. It is not the how or why of the processes that matter, nor the time period such things entailed - those are but secondary in importance. But once man was put in this physical reality, once God began to interact with and instruct him, THOSE things are what should ultimately matter to us. The rest is but a fun, yet substantially speculative, debate. People would rather endlessly debate about the nuances and processes of the Creation, concerning the timeline involved, the various mechanisms, than to study and learn about what God instructed us thereafter. As this is what is far more important! And unlike the speculative stuff, what has been given to man in God's word IS known - and much of it clearly so.
hughfarey
Advanced Senior Member
Posts: 752
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:58 am
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Theistic Evolution

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by hughfarey »

Philip is quite right, of course.
But.
In this tiny corner of man's intellectual exploration, in a website called "God and Science" in a forum called "God and Science" in a thread called "Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?" I don't think it too extraneous to engage in this "fun, yet substantially speculative, debate." I hope Philip is wrong to suppose that people would rather debate the processes of Creation than to learn about what God instructed us thereafter. I think there is room for both, and this forum is that room.
Mallz
Advanced Senior Member
Posts: 809
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:34 am
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by Mallz »

hughfarey wrote:Philip is quite right, of course.
But.
In this tiny corner of man's intellectual exploration, in a website called "God and Science" in a forum called "God and Science" in a thread called "Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?" I don't think it too extraneous to engage in this "fun, yet substantially speculative, debate." I hope Philip is wrong to suppose that people would rather debate the processes of Creation than to learn about what God instructed us thereafter. I think there is room for both, and this forum is that room.
Man, you really, really, really get to me sometimes (I don't hate you [never will] but you really get to me...). But I love you so much sometimes. Don't worry, I don't get it either. Sorry for being an unacceptable donkeys' sphincter to you again. I affirm those empty words as you took them. y@};-
User avatar
Mazzy
Valued Member
Posts: 317
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:30 am
Christian: Yes
Sex: Female
Creation Position: Day-Age
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by Mazzy »

PaulSacramento wrote:
NOTE:
Even bananas surprisingly still share about 60% of the same DNA as humans!
I don't think anyone will try to uphold that humans are really 60 Percent the same as bananas. The term 'the same' appears to allude to a DNA comparison. However, on a physical level there are arguments that mankind is closer to an Orangutan.

Mankind is not the same as any other creature or organism. I suggest that if one is a theist, be they an evolutionist or a creationist, Christian, Jew etc, to argue close similarity to any ape makes a liar of the scriptures and God. Mankind is created in Gods image. I would not compare God to an ape.

We share many personality traits with God and Jesus although in diminished quality, particularly after the fall. For example, Mankind has an ability to make some sense of the world and seeks to do so, while God understands the world perfectly. Apes do not. Mankind uses sophisticated language to make representations and praise God as God spoke to Adam, Eve and others and communicates with his creations in the heavens. Apes do not. Mankind is able to use abstract thought to even imagine a God, worship Him and give him praise. Apes do not. Mankind has the cognitive ability to understand right or wrong, can evoke their conscience, and read and make sense of the scriptures. Apes do not.

Regardless whether or not one believes mankind descended from any sort of apes or non human creature, to argue that homo sapiens are similar to an ape, I feel is non-scriptural. :amen:
PaulSacramento
Board Moderator
Posts: 9224
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:29 pm
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Theistic Evolution
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by PaulSacramento »

Scripture says that ALL life was brought forth by the God, via the waters and the earth:
20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

It means that all living creatures are from the land/water, so common building blocks are to be expected since the source is the same.

Now, the passage for man is very interesting that it doesn't say that God brought forth Man but that God:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Setting Man apart from creation.

So, it seems to state that while all life can froth from the Earth, Man was special and created special.
BUT in Genesis 2, we see that MAN WAS from the Earth.

How do we reconcile this?

IMO, Man was of the Earth like all living creatures BUT SET APART and MADE Special ( As God's Image barer).
User avatar
Kurieuo
Honored Member
Posts: 10038
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:25 am
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Progressive Creationist
Location: Qld, Australia

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by Kurieuo »

@PaulS, what intrigues me, is a timing issue I see between paleontology and archaeology. The following are rough timings based upon my memory of previous read stuff so forgive it they're off.

We have anatomically modern humans are dated back to 125k+ years ago within paleontology. Archaeology, however, traces of trinkets and tools can be found back 60k, burials about 40-50k, but then agriculture and advanced spiritual expression the like kind of explodes onto the scene around 15k years ago. So then, where do "we" fit in this rather bizarre picture?

One plausible scenario that seems to make sense, is something like BioLogos' position that while we were physically similar, even largely the same biologically, to other hominids, that our level of consciousness or spirituality were not. While they believe humanity evolved from hominid ancestors, the soulish part (Imago Dei) was imparted by God within us.

I'm not sure how a through-going physical evolutionary scientist accounts for such an explosion in consciousness/spiritual expression, except to say we remained largely stupid for a 100k+ years.
"Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13)
PaulSacramento
Board Moderator
Posts: 9224
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:29 pm
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Theistic Evolution
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Are we really 99 Percent the Same as Chimps?

Post by PaulSacramento »

Kurieuo wrote:@PaulS, what intrigues me, is a timing issue I see between paleontology and archaeology. The following are rough timings based upon my memory of previous read stuff so forgive it they're off.

We have anatomically modern humans are dated back to 125k+ years ago within paleontology. Archaeology, however, traces of trinkets and tools can be found back 60k, burials about 40-50k, but then agriculture and advanced spiritual expression the like kind of explodes onto the scene around 15k years ago. So then, where do "we" fit in this rather bizarre picture?

One plausible scenario that seems to make sense, is something like BioLogos' position that while we were physically similar, even largely the same biologically, to other hominids, that our level of consciousness or spirituality were not. While they believe humanity evolved from hominid ancestors, the soulish part (Imago Dei) was imparted by God within us.

I'm not sure how a through-going physical evolutionary scientist accounts for such an explosion in consciousness/spiritual expression, except to say we remained largely stupid for a 100k+ years.
I agree.
I don't KNOW when exactly Man was made in God's image ( became God's image barer) and the bible doesn't give us a time frame for that ( not to the year/era), but there are things that can't be denied and one of them is that there are obvious co-relations between the various "developments" of Man to the final stage of "modern man".
You can't really deny the links ( though you can interpret them differently of course).

The earliest evidence of civilization/ religion we have right now is the Temple in Gobekli Turkey ( which is viewed as evidence that religion PRECEDED / gave birth to civilization and not the other way around) and is dated about 12000 years ago, and the central figures of worship are in human form.

Seems like something happened around that time frame you mentioned (15K-12K years ago).
Post Reply