Many attribute the phenomenal increase of technical knowledge within the last century to evolutionary advancement in the native intelligence of man. But would they be willing to say that we are more intelligent than the founding fathers who signed the Constitution, or Leonardo DeVinci, or the Apostle Paul, or Moses and Abraham?

Much of today’s seeming rapid advancement is due to our use of the brainless computer, which, in spite of its many advantages, has also given us the technology for very real self-destruction. Most of history’s notable men have expressed a humanitarian responsibility wiser than this.

The amount of knowledge is not a valid measure of intelligence, but rather the use of that knowledge for good. And on that score, today’s performance is just an old, old story of history repeating itself—because:

Man Is Fallen

MAN today is fallen! When Darwinism was first foisted upon a credulous public as a theory of creation alleged to be more scientifically correct than that recorded in the Book of Genesis, it was not so easy to refute the claim that the human race was evolving into a higher, more perfect state of existence. But in the light of more recent discoveries in the field of archeology, scientists are admitting that every scrap of evidence thus far uncovered by the pick and shovel of the archeologist tends to prove that man today is less perfect, less advanced mentally and physically, than he was at the time evolutionists would have us believe he was but a scant step removed from an anthropoid ape.

We know that the earliest inhabitants of Mesopotamia—the generally accepted ‘cradle of civilization’—as well as the earliest known people of Egypt, Crete, and Asia Minor, actually had a civilization which far exceeded that of Europe as late as three or four centuries ago, and indeed compared most favorably with ours of the present day. Earliest historical man was not the primitive, “caveman” brute concerning which the fictionists have written so many imaginative stories. Cavemen did finally appear in the world and, indeed, savage cannibals; but they came about as a result of retrogression—the antithesis of evolution. The evidence of this is so clear that such a noted scientist as the late Professor John Arthur Thomson, of Aberdeen, a leading evolutionist, frankly admits that:

“Modem research is leading us away from the picture of primitive man as brutish, dull, lascivious, and bellicose. There is more justification for regarding primitive man as clever, kindly, generous, and inventive.”

As further evidence that scientists are now being forced to repudiate the Darwinian myth that earliest historical man was a low-browed brute from which we have gradually evolved, let us quote from the collaborated works of Professors Albert Sheppard and John Seybold Morris. In Volume 1 of their “Outline of History,” pages 28 and 29, they say:

“When we open the first page of authentic history we find man in possession of almost all the fundamental inventions. He had learned the art not only of using tools, but also of making them. … In drawing, painting, and sculpture he had developed a very respectable ability in response to his instinctive desire to express his love of the beautiful. … Such a picture as these earliest records present to us differs in no great essential from life lived today on great areas of the world’s surface. How all these inventions and discoveries came about we have no certain knowledge.”

The Bible Is True

Having examined the brief outline of creation as presented in the first chapter of Genesis, we have established that it agrees with the latest findings of scientists to a remarkable degree. Its detailed story of the creation of man is also scientifically correct. It declares that God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and it is a fact well known to scientists that every chemical element found in the human body is native in “mother earth.”

We have found scientists, even avowed evolutionists, testifying against their own theories, telling us that the earliest known facts now being unearthed reveal that man was nearer perfection ages ago than he is today. Thus the Bible is proved to be true; for it declares that at the close of the sixth creative day God made man in his own image, endowed him with the ability to know right from wrong, and gave him a law by which he was to be governed.

In passing, we wish to correct an erroneous theory concerning the Genesis account of creation which is becoming quite popular with some groups. The theory is that the first and second chapters of Genesis contain accounts of two separate creations so far as man is concerned: that the first chapter tells of the creation of the spiritual man, in the image of God; whereas the second chapter relates the creation of the carnal, sinful man. The Bible reveals clearly that this theory is erroneous.

It should be noted that God provided “every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed” as food for the man and woman described in the first chapter of Genesis. Material food of this description would not seem to be necessary for a purely spiritual man. On the other hand, the man described in the second chapter is not said to be wicked or carnal by nature. The fact that he was given a law and endowed with ability to keep that law indicates he was just like the man of the first chapter, namely, created in the image of God and fully capable of obeying divine law.

Besides, whenever the New Testament writers refer to the origin of the human race they mention only one man, not two. They reaffirm that his name was Adam, that he fell into sin, and is redeemed from sin and its effects through the “last Adam,” who is “the Lord from heaven.”—I Cor. 15:45-47

The first chapter of Genesis is what we have found it to be—merely a brief outline of the manner in which conditions on this earth were gradually developed to the point where it was suitable for human habitation. This chapter closes with a statement concerning the creation of that great being for whom the earth had been created as a home. The second chapter does not describe the creation of another man, but gives us some of the details concerning the manner in which the man of the first chapter was made.

The entire Bible, as a matter of fact, is concerned with this man and his offspring. Genesis not only tells us how he was made but also relates the story of his disobedience to divine law and the subsequent penalty of death pronounced upon him. The remainder of the Bible outlines the divine method whereby fallen man is to be recovered and the whole earth filled with the progeny of Adam, all of whom will enjoy everlasting life and happiness conditional upon having learned to obey the Creator’s laws willingly and joyfully.

It will be a surprise to some when we assert that the creation of man, described in Genesis as occurring toward the end of the sixth creative day, was only the beginning of what God had purposed concerning him. Of the lower forms of animal life the Creator said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,” and then the statement, “It was so.” To man God gave the commission to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, but there is no statement to the effect that “it was so.”

Nor do we read that “the evening and the morning were the seventh day.” Why this difference when it comes to man and the seventh day? Genesis 2:2, NEB (See also Genesis 1:31.), declares that God “ended” his work on the sixth day. This indicates that man’s creation was toward the end of the sixth day. Thus there was no time remaining in the sixth day for the earth to be filled with the offspring of Adam; hence, it could not be said on this day that “it was so.”

That the Scriptures do not say “The evening and the morning were the seventh day” is strong circumstantial evidence that at no time previous to the completion of the inspired record of Genesis had the seventh day, or epoch, come to an end. This strongly suggests the thought that not until the close of the seventh day, or epoch, will the divine purpose for the perfect man to fill the earth be realized. Not until then will the record of the seventh day be completed as was the record of the other days, with the statements “and it was so” and “the evening and the morning were the seventh day.”

Freedom of Choice

While we marvel at the immensity of the universe and the orderly arrangement of all its parts, we should not overlook the fact that divine law operates to control all things which have been made. Back of nature’s laws is nature’s Lawgiver, and the whole universe is held together and functions because of obedience to his laws. But this is a blind, mechanical obedience imposed by the mighty power of God and correlated as between the myriads of created things by the Creator’s wisdom.

The divine purpose in the creation of man is just as dependent upon obedience to God’s law as is his design for the stars. But man is not a machine. He was created in the image of God, with ability to think, to reason, to choose one course or another. Not only was he competent to exercise a choice, but he was given freedom to use that ability. And God, with all his power, will not hinder man’s liberty of choice; yet the divine purpose concerning man is to be fully accomplished, not through coercion, but through education based largely upon experience.

Viewed in this way, we see the entire seventh day of creation is set aside to complete God’s purpose as it pertains to man. And what is the method by which that purpose is being accomplished? The Bible shows it to be the testing of the entire race representatively in the first man, Adam, then the redemption and restoration of the same race through Christ.

As each generation of Adam’s dying children has come upon the scene, it has experienced its baptism of tears and has passed on into the sleep of death. Finally, this process of bringing forth the human race will have reached the point where sufficient children have been born to fill the earth comfortably.

Then will come the closing scenes of the seventh creative day, the last thousand years of which will be devoted to the restoration of the dead race. The people will not only be awakened from the sleep of death, but will also be given an opportunity individually to experience good, in contrast to the evil they experienced before they fell asleep in death.

Thus they will know good from evil. They will have learned the terrible consequence of disobedience to divine law and will have learned the glorious results of obedience. Then they will be in a position to choose intelligently what course to take. There is little doubt that the vast majority will choose to obey, and it will be a willing, enthusiastic choice. This final choice of obedience on the part of the human race will result in the same order and harmony among the children of men as the obedience of the stars brings to our solar system.

The training of man up to this point of intelligent, freewill choice to obey the divine law may be properly considered as a part of the creative process pertaining to him. When Adam was first created, God pronounced him “very good.” (Gen. 1:31) But not until he had been tested and had experienced evil could he enthusiastically fulfill the divine purpose in his creation. This thought also applies to Adam’s entire race.

The Scriptures indicate that approximately six thousand years have been required for this educational program, and there is still another thousand years yet to come—the thousand years of Christ’s kingdom. There is every evidence now that we are approaching this last thousand-year period of the seventh creative day, or epoch.

During these last thousand years God’s will in the hearts of the human race shall be established, in answer to the Christian’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” When the divine will or law is thus established as the ruling principle in the lives of men, the work of the seventh day will be completed. The earth will be filled with a perfect and happy race, enjoying God’s favor and blessings of eternal life!

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