Did Scientists Really Discover the 'Gene That Makes Us Human'?
If our sense of right and wrong shows that God made us different from other animals, when and how did this occur? Who were those extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans with whom we share 46 chromosomes? Lewis, again in the 1940s, pondered human evolution, our spiritual nature, and the Genesis account ("The Fall of Man", in The Problem of Pain). For Lewis, however and whenever God gave humanity a spirit—the ability to commune with God in a way other animals cannot—it would not have to be something visible: a different skull, or more durable artifacts, or perhaps not even a jump in intelligence.
As a Christian biologist, I'm intrigued by how those who trust in Jesus Christ become temples of God (1 Cor. 6:19). What a paradox! The lost potential was always evident, but we're darkened temples until God's presence comes. Then the transformation of all our weakness—our darkened spirit, our human psychology running from God in fear and shame, and the humble biology of a primate—begins to demonstrate God's glory.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name—even the neuron proteins and microRNA.
Dave Unander is a professor of biology at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and a member of Providence Church in West Chester.
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D H
Wonderful article. Thank you for bringing in experts in their field to write. More please.
Wayne Froese
I hope that this science friendly article represents the new CT leadership. I really enjoyed this.
Dan Bruce
"He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Eccl. 3:11). As a Bible chronologist, I take this verse very much to heart. That's why my chronological work is limited to the time period between the birth of Abram and June 7, 1967 (the most recent date I can find mentioned in the Scriptures, in Daniel 8:13-14). I don't ever try to figure out the date of Creation, since that verse in Ecclesiastes seems to indicate that such a chronological inquiry is a futile effort. The same goes for Evolution. If the far distant ancient chronology cannot be defined definitively, neither can the process that explains how and when God created Man. I just believe that God did create the universe and all that is in it, including Mankind. How and when I leave to Him to reveal if, in the future, he sees fit.---Dan Bruce, The Prophecy Society