Lesson 22: Have Animals Evolved? Part 1

by Stacia McKeever and Dan Lietha on April 25, 2016

“And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25).

Have you ever heard that a long time ago, fish developed arms, legs, and lungs and eventually turned into amphibians, or that birds have evolved from dinosaurs?

Some people believe that life began a long time ago in a sea of chemicals which organized themselves. Evolution is the idea that over millions of years, one kind of animal turned into another kind. Eventually, the abundant variety of life we have today came about. but is this really a true story? Can one kind of animal really turn into a completely different kind?

What Does the Bible Say?

The Bible teaches us that God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1). In the beginning (about 6,000 years ago—not millions!), He created plants and animals after their “kinds” (Genesis 1:11–12, 21, 24–25). This means that each kind of plant would produce plants like themselves. And the many different animal kinds would produce animals like themselves. For example, the dog kind would produce more dogs, a cat kind would produce cats, an elephant kind would produce elephants, a bear kind would produce bears, and so on. In fact, this is what we observe happening today!

From studying the Bible, we also learn that two of every kind of air-breathing land animal and bird (seven of some) survived the worldwide Flood on the Ark. Many of the sea creatures were able to survive in the water. These animals refilled the earth after the Flood.

We know that God created animals and plants to produce others like themselves. but the Bible does not teach that one kind can turn into a completely different kind. For example, a fish can’t turn into a frog. In fact, today we observe animals and plants reproducing according to their kinds, don’t we?

See if you can find all 10 creatures!