Did Humans Domesticate Ourselves?

According to new studies, “tameness” was supposedly selected for in human evolution, resulting in genetic changes as we “domesticated” ourselves. One researcher suggests that over the last alleged 200,000 years “humans began acquiring skills which would have allowed early humans to gang up against bullies. . . . Those who got along, got ahead.”

So it’s survival of the fittest, except when, according to a different study, it’s survival of the prettiest, survival of the most moral, or the survival of the least aggressive (according to these studies). It’s a constantly changing story because it’s just that—a story.

If bullies supposedly died out as we “tamed” ourselves—why are there still so many bullies?

And if bullies supposedly died out as we “tamed” ourselves—why are there still so many bullies? If “those who got along, got ahead,” how do you explain the many brutal dictators (such as Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini) and others throughout history who got ahead by killing people? Human history is not a story of increasing peace and harmony as we have supposedly learned to get along. It’s a story littered with evil and bullies—and the tale continues.

From a biblical perspective, this view makes sense. God’s original creation was perfect, but mankind sinned against God. We now have a sin nature. Humanity isn’t getting progressively better—we started out perfect, but sin tainted that, and it has tainted mankind ever since (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). Yet we still bear the image of our Creator (Genesis 1:27) and share some of his attributes (though not perfectly, because of sin), so we still see remnants of kindness, peacefulness, and selflessness in mankind. We’re living in a fallen world that still exhibits a remnant of the original “very good” creation.

When we look at the world through the lens of God’s Word, what we see makes sense.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.