Understanding The Bible
STUDY REFERENCE
Clarence E. Mason's "Anthropology"
PART-1: THE ORIGIN OF MAN

 

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BY THE AUTHOR
Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1970

  1. THE ORIGIN OF MAN
    1. Human speculation
      1. Atheistic evolution
        Matter is eternal. Natural cause is the sufficient cause of every effect.
      2. Theistic evolution
        Natural evolution is the divine method of development from such beginnings as God is supposed to have inaugurated by an original creatorial beginning.
         
        1. Arguments against: -- Atheistic evolution
          1. Fixity of the species
            The origin of species by transformation out of earlier forms is the very heart of organic evolution. Members of a new species must be fertile with each other and cross sterile with the parent stock. No such new species have yet been observed.

            Inexplicable gaps:
            (1) Between inorganic matter and organic life.
            (2) Between vegetable and animal life.
            (3) Between vertebrates and invertebrates.
            (4) Between mammals and other vertebrates.
            (5) Between each of the thousands of species of organisms.
            (6) Between man and the highest of the brutes.
             
          2. Inheritance of acquired characters
            If such betterment of organs and their functions, acquired by individuals, could be inherited by their young, it is obvious that general adaptations of this sort could be rapidly developed in the course of generations, and new species would have been formed.

            There is no support for the theory of acquired characters and there is much against it as a possibility.
             
          3. Natural selection
            This theory emphasizes the preservation of the advantageous variations and the destruction of the disadvantageous variations.

            It is negative theory at best, only indicating that what cannot survive perishes.
             
          4. Paleontology
            The study of fossil formation is used to support the claims of evolutionary systems. However, the evidence is far from conclusive as a myriad of "missing links" still persist, along with the fact that present forms of life are found among the earliest.
             
          5. Fossil men
            Such men as the Neanderthal, Piltdown, Pithecanthropus Erectus, etc., are used to substantiate the theory. This evidence is inclusive. Some of the remains can be classified as normal men; others, as deformed humans; still others, as apes. Indeed, a few years ago scientists admitted that an embarrass­ing mistake has been made in the Piltdown case, and repudiated it as a prehistoric man.
             
        2. Arguments against -- Theistic evolution:
          1. Contains no room for the fall of man. b. Contains no room for the reality of sin. c. Contains no room for the need of a Saviour.

            "Christian evolution is a logical impossibility. No matter how we try to qualify or modify evolution, its basic principle of natural ascent, natural self-improvement is always there."
             
    2. Biblical revelation
      1. Since we can understand nothing of our origin unaided, it is reasonable that God should reveal it.
      2. The plain statement of Scripture indicates that God created every form of life as it is.
        He gave power to each to develop within the limitation of its species and to propagate after its own kind (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7,21-22; 5:1-2; Mt. 19:4; Acts 17:26; Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:21-22,45-49; 1 Tim. 2:13).

        These passages make it plain that:
        1. God created man.
        2. Man is the last and culminating act of God's creation
          (1) 6th day -- We do not know the age of man. Scripture does not explicitly indicate. Usher's old chronology lists it as 4004 BC. The LXX, around 5500 BC. It may be earlier. Also, dates before 2500 BC should be cautiously used.
          (2) Note man's authority over rest of creation (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:5)

 

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