Next time you take a selfie or family photo, stop and think of this—those photos are “compelling evidence of evolution in action.” Of course, I say this very tongue in cheek, but that’s the actual point of a recent article from EconoTimes.
The author writes that our smiles (and the accompanying muscles), our teeth, our noses, and even our thumbs, show “how we’ve reached this point through hundreds of millions of years.” Of course, the evidence provided for this is very “compelling”:
- “[Our] cheek muscles and the accompanying smile date back about 250 million years. There were no people then; not even mammals. It was a time before dinosaurs, when earth was ruled by our pre-mammalian ancestors, the therapsids. . . . They were the first to evolve cheeks, as evidenced by the muscular scars found on their fossils.” (Of course, couldn’t these “muscular scars” in fossils be interpreted to mean that God created a variety of different creatures, including us, with cheek muscles so we could chew and swallow our food?)
- “[Your teeth] are another legacy of our pre-mammalian ancestors. They evolved an enlarged canine to seduce their mates some 300 million years ago.” (Or maybe we, and other creatures, were created with teeth from the very beginning so we could eat our food! Of course, in some animals, those teeth could have been used for attracting mates, but, again, who says that can’t be by design? And don’t forget that, what are to us in a fallen world, ferocious-looking teeth can be used for eating fruits and vegetables, too, as they would have before the Fall!)
- “Human noses are pretty unique in the animal kingdom: they’re dry. . . . The same is true for monkeys, apes and a strange tiny primate with huge eyes called the Tarsier. In fact, humans and the Tarsier have a common ancestor that lived around 50-60 million years ago – a fact that’s proved by our dry noses.” (Yes, of course, it’s so obvious! The fact that we have dry noses and Tarsiers have dry noses proves we’re related! It just couldn’t possibly be an example of common design.)
- “Another evolutionary signpost is the thumb. . . . All primates have an opposable thumb, and thumb sucking has likely been usual among baby primates since they first appeared some 70 million years ago.” (Or maybe, since both human and primate babies nurse and have thumbs, thumb sucking is method of comfort for both of them. It has nothing to do with evolutionary ancestry unless, of course, that’s the lens you’re looking at the evidence through!)
Now, this whole blog has been in a style that’s a bit different from my regular posts—the idea that selfies reveal evolution was so silly I thought I’d have some fun with it. But, in all seriousness, your face (or thumb!) doesn’t show evidence of evolution. It reveals the incredible design of the Creator who made us “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalm 139:14). The fact that we share a similar design, in some ways, with animals doesn’t show an evolutionary ancestry. It highlights the Creator who, like designers today, used similar plans and designs across His creation.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.