Do Chimps and Humans Share a Common Ancestor?

The 98–99% number exists because of the way the chimp-human DNA comparisons (which started with evolutionary presuppositions) were done. And that’s why we use the term young-earth “evolution,” as there is an accepting (perhaps unwittingly) of a number of the evolutionist presuppositions in the creationist camp. You see, to get that figure, scientists only compared the chimp and human DNA that “aligns,” that is, sections of the DNA that are very similar (though not identical). And in those “aligned” sections, scientists are typically only counting one type of difference. They completely ignore the aligned sections that have no corresponding match and the unaligned DNA that has no match whatsoever with chimps—which together totals at least 20%! And even that doesn’t take into consideration the differences at the gene expression level!

All in all, new research suggests human and chimp DNA is only about 80% similar (and if that still seems like a lot, consider that the remaining 20% represents 600 million differences)—a far cry from the 98–99% touted by some.

All in all, new research suggests human and chimp DNA is only about 80% similar (and if that still seems like a lot, consider that the remaining 20% represents 600 million differences)—a far cry from the 98–99% touted by some.

No, chimps and humans aren’t nearly identical—and that’s not surprising, because we’re not related. Chimps belong to the great ape kind and humans were created distinct from the animals, in the very image of God—Adam from dust and Eve from his side—and given dominion over creation . . including the great apes (Genesis 1:27–28)!

I encourage you to read Dr. Purdom’s article (and the others in the ongoing Young-Earth “Evolution” series) for more details, as this is a very common argument evolutionists throw out there to convince others, especially young people, that human evolution is true.

Or, if you want a much more in-depth, technical look at this question, consider the brand-new resource Chimps and Humans: A Geneticist Discovers DNA Evidence That Challenges Evolution by Dr. Jeffrey P. Tomkins. Dr. Tomkins has a background in the fields of genetics and genomics, and in his book, he analyzes the data and discovers that secular scientists consistently tailor their research to fit the evolutionary narrative. He presents his own research demonstrating that instead of a 98–99% similarity, human-chimp genome matches are closer to 80%—results that secular scientists are beginning to echo. In other words, the more that DNA sequencing technologies improve, the worse it gets for the evolutionary worldview.

As Dr. Tomkins shows, not only are the human and chimp genomes not almost identical, they are too far apart to make a common evolutionary ancestor even remotely plausible.

Christians have every reason to believe the Genesis account that God uniquely created humans in his own image around 6,000 years ago. Yes, observational science confirms the Bible’s account of origins. You can find this new resource on our online store at AnswersBookstore.com.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

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