Cousin Ardi?
· Dr. Chuck Roots – Pastor and Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret)
Well, here we go again!
The banner headline reads, "Darwin could only dream of finding this!" What is "this?" It's Ardi, short for a 4.4 million-year-old Ardipithecus Ramidus. By the way, Ardi is female and about four feet tall. The fossil remains of Ardi were found in the northern regions of Ethiopia in the Awash Region. Paleoanthropologists have been working in the Afar area for more than forty years. Ardi has actually been uncovered for about the past twelve years. These things do take time, you know. The old girl was in rather poor condition after all these eons of time and needed a lot of TLC. You see, she was in 125 pieces, providing the scientists quite a challenging jigsaw puzzle.
Shortly after my conversion to Christ in 1972, Dr. Richard Leaky discovered "Lucy" (Ardipithecus Afarensis) in 1974. This was another major cause for celebration by the evolutionists. One more nail in the coffin of all those God-fearing, Bible thumping, born-again types. Really? Then why is Christianity growing around the world? Perhaps Ardi will finally silence these pesky Creationists. Ummmmmm - not likely. For nearly one hundred and fifty years, evolutionists have been trying their level best to come up with the fossils that will ultimately prove the case in their favor. Remember the Scopes Trial? In Tennessee? 1926? That was supposed to be the definitive argument which would win everyone over to seeing the world through the eyes of evolution and science. Didn't happen.
It was my distinct privilege to conduct a radio interview in 1976 at San Jose State University with the esteemed Dr. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) situated in Southern California. He authored a book entitled, Evolution: The Fossils Say No. It's a delightful read and pokes holes in the evolutionary theory, particularly regarding the so-called evidence of fossils, such as the Peking Man, the Nebraska Man, etc. All of these evolutionary fossil finds have been debunked by evolutionists themselves, which Gish substantiates in his book. One of my favorite lines used by Dr. Gish when describing the evolutionary process with tongue-in-cheek, is "From fish to Gish!" To read articles on the Ardi story, you might go to: www.icr.org.
Poor Ardi! She now finds herself lauded by the evolutionists as being in the bipedal (i.e., walking upright) chain of human development. Several problems become quickly apparent. First, she was compiled from the bones of at least thirty-five other ardipithecus bipeds. As was already mentioned, 125 bones and portions of bones were used from this mix in bringing her form together. As you may remember from your biology class in high school, the adult human body has 206 bones. So either Ardi is presumably missing a few bones, or she is far removed from our human structure and not likely to be any sort of relative. Second, her hands and feet are not designed for walking, but for climbing - straight up tree trunks. The thumb on the hands and the big toe on the foot are splayed much like a chimpanzee's. Third, the big toe on the foot is much more a thumb than a big toe. Fourth, she is clearly missing bones in the effort to reconstruct her frame. Thus, a "best guess" approach is used to figure her figure. Go figure!
A telling comment is made by one of the experts in evolution, undermining the argument for Ardi being in the human chain. C. Owen Lovejoy, an expert in bipedality, wrote, "We can no longer rely on homologies (any similarity between characters that is due to their shared ancestors) with African apes for accounts of our origins and must turn instead to general evolutionary theory." Oops! That's not very scientific. To use theory, supposition and conjecture is not considered good science.
So where does all of this leave us? You will need to decide for yourselves. As for me, I have always enjoyed the magnificence of nature. To watch birds winging through the skies; trees standing solidly in place, a safe haven for birds, squirrels, and small boys who love to climb trees; the waters of a river meandering toward a lake or ocean, mesmerizing to youngsters with fishing poles in hand; people in motion all day in their endless pursuit of what might be around the corner, wondering how to make the most out of life; and the absolute awe of a baby sleeping contentedly in your arms. Now, tell me again where we came from?
The Bible states most clearly in the opening two chapters of the book of Genesis that God made a conscious choice to create everything that there is. He did this because it pleased him to do so. He made you and me in his image and likeness. That is, we think rationally; we have the ability to decide right from wrong; we are fully capable of loving and being loved; and we can choose to go against our natural instincts. Most importantly, we were made to be in relationship with God, and to worship him. At our very core, we are spiritual beings. We are going to worship someone or something. Just make sure it's the right God. The God of the Bible.
Ardi has been gone from this earth for a while. But she knows who God is. Do you?
Photo Credit: Geri-Jean Blanchard, Canada