Spear-chucking Chimps

The scientific journal Current Biology reports chimpanzees in Senegal regularly fashion wooden spears and hunt other primates with them, an observation, the report's authors say, that could have implications for human evolution.

Let's assume, for a moment, that the observations of researchers Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani are accurate and unaffected by their own obvious faith in the evolutionary creed.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that chimps might make primitive, little spears. It was the evolutionary scientists who taught us a generation ago that the only difference between man and other animals was that we used tools. I never bought that either.

Personally, I think the difference between man and other animals is that we are made in the image of God. That's my belief. You don't have to agree with me, but I think there is considerably more evidence to support my view than the view that life arose spontaneously from non-life and then evolved into higher life forms.

But let's stick to the topic at hand — the spear-chucking chimps.

Let's try to imagine how a chimp with a stick might somehow fashion itself into another species — because that is ultimately what the authors of this report are suggesting.

How could that happen?

Of what consequence is the spear? How might a weapon or a tool cause one species to change into another? What changes at the molecular biological level occur when that primate picks up the sharpened stick?

Help me out here. These are scientists. Why don't they explain what they mean?

The reason they don't explain is because there is no explanation.

Charles Darwin had no understanding of molecular biology. That's why he was free to speculate that if an animal flapped its arms long enough they might someday turn into wings — wings he could leave to his offspring.

Also, back in the days of Darwin, he was free to speculate that certain apes began using tools and became dominant over other apes. The survival of the fittest led to a new breed of apes — tool-using apes.

But the problem with that is you're still dealing with apes. How does the species transition into a new species? Where has that ever happened? How could it without one species dying out first?

Evolutionists don't have answers to these questions.

The DNA of that chimp doesn't change when he starts throwing a spear. The DNA of his descendant doesn't change either. You can go right down the line and the DNA of his grandchimps and great-grandchimps is still going to be the stuff of chimp DNA. It's not going to be another species. Behavior doesn't change molecular biology.

So what do you have after, say, 50 generations of spear-chucking chimps?

Maybe chimps that have perfected the art of spear making and spear chucking. But I guarantee for sure they are still chimps. Nothing has happened that could possibly affect their molecular structure — the very essence of what makes them chimps.

In fact, I'll go further. Let the evolutionists isolate these chimps and do whatever they want to them, change their environment, let them watch "Tarzan" movies, allow them to listen to self-empowerment CDs, permit them to interact with people. Do this for generations. You know what you will have when you're all done? Chimps.

You can teach them to ride bicycles. You can dress them up. You can even teach them to use some simple tools. But, at the end of the day, they're still going to be chimps. Their DNA will be no different, their molecular biology unaffected.

And, after that experiment, the people who believe in evolution are probably still going to believe in evolution. But, no matter what they believe, they can't change the fact that they, too, are made in the image of God.

To find out more about Joseph Farah, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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