ARDI & THE

MISSING BELIEF
SHEPHERD PRESS
Newsletter 70
October 14, 2009
A
rdi, short for Ardipithecus rami-
dus, is the newest star in the eld
of paleontology. Both National Geo-
graphic and Te Discovery Channel
are promoting this discovery on their
websites and television programs. Tis
announcement is the culmination
of research and studies that began in
Ethiopia in 1994. Ardi has supplanted
Lucy, the previous record holder of the
oldest fossil with direct links to mod-
ern man. According to the National
Geographic website:
Te fossil puts to rest the no-
tion, popular since Darwins
time, that a chimpanzee-like
missing linkresembling some-
thing between humans and
todays apeswould eventu-
ally be found at the root of the
human family tree. Indeed, the
new evidence suggests that the
study of chimpanzee anatomy
and behaviorlong used to
infer the nature of the earliest
human ancestorsis largely ir-
relevant to understanding our
beginnings
Te Ardipithecus ramidus fos-
sils were discovered in Ethiopias
harsh Afar desert at a site called
Aramis in the Middle Awash
region, just 46 miles (74 kilome-
ters) from where Lucys species,
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Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 5 2009
34
Ardi & the Missing Belief
Australopithecus afarensis, was
found in 1974. Radiometric dat-
ing of two layers of volcanic ash
that tightly sandwiched the fos-
sil deposits revealed that Ardi
lived 4.4 million years ago.
Tis means that we no longer have to
consider ourselves as directly linked to
chimpanzees. Te remains of Ardi in-
dicate that there is no missing link in
the family tree of humans. Ardi is the
forerunner of man. Or at least that is
what these researchers are telling us.
Te question remains, however, will
another skeleton be found that will dis-
prove the theories about Ardi? Will this
information about the human family
tree eventually need to be labeled as ir-
relevant also?
Te reason that these ndings are
an issue has to do with starting points.
Paleontologists believe that Darwin is
essentially correct. Teir belief is that
modern man has emerged as a species
as the result of a processa random
process, at that. Tis belief is one that
oers a stark alternative to the biblical
view that man is not the result of a ran-
dom process.
In Genesis we read that man, as a
species, is the product of the mind of
God. Man was notand then he was.
Man was planned by God before there
was a Universe. Genesis records that
God executed his plan at a particular
time and place of his choosing. Some-
where in the geographic area known
as the Ancient Near East, God created
man from the earth that he had also
created for this exact purpose.
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35 Counsel of Chalcedon Issue 5 2009
Ardi & the Missing Belief
the LORD God formed the man
from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and the man be-
came a living being. (Gen. 2:7)
So man is not the result of a random pro-
cess, but the result of a plan. Tat is why
the earth looks as though it produced
man via the agency of a process, evolved
over time. But the reason that man ts
with the earth is not that he evolved
through a process, but that
the earth was created on
purpose, as a habitat in
which man would live
and move and have
his being. Genesis 2:7
plainly teaches that man
did not result from a
natural process. God
took the natural, the
dust of the ground,
and added to it the
supernatural breath
of lifeand man be-
came a living being.
Man was notthen
he was.
Te propo-
nents of the evo-
lutionary process do
countless hours, days, weeks,
and years of challenging study, only to
have these labors swept aside by a single
line in an article in National Geographic
that deems their work irrelevant. Why?
Because someone found some old bones
in an arid, desolate place, and used these
bones to write a new page in paleonto-
logical history. I suspect this process of
research, conclusion and irrelevancy
will continue as long as unbelief itself
continues. You see, what is missing is not
a link, but belief!
Attempting to discover mans be-
ginnings based on the belief that man is
the result of a process will never lead to
understanding who man is or how his
struggles can be resolved. Following the
path of process inevitably leads to false
hope and even to a sense of betrayal.
Te sense of betrayal comes when all
the energy expended in searching for
understanding of the process leaves one
with more questions
than answers, no
matter how hard one
works. But God calls
all men to a dierent
belief. Man naturally
rejects and sup-
presses that belief
(Romans 1:18). So
mans mistaken
faith in the pro-
cess inevitably
leads to betrayal
and frustration.
Genesis tells a
dierent story. Gen-
esis tells the story of a
plan carefully and faith-
fully executed by the
living God of Heaven
and Earth. Genesis
teaches us that at just the
right time God brought man into
existence on this planet. Te express
purpose of planet Earth was to provide
the ideal environment in which man
could bring honor and glory to God in
the universe.
Man was notthen he was.
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