Are Humans Just Animals?

A common view
It is becoming increasingly common to view human beings as just one species out of the 9 million living things thought to exist on the planet today. Indeed it is regarded as "speciesism" by some to think of homo sapiens as in any way elevated or distinct.

Many Similarities

It is well known that  human beings and animals share much in common. Genetically they are remarkably similar (for example, we share around 99% of our genes with Chimpanzees). Our biochemistry is similar and our basic body plan, four limbs, two ears, two eyes, one nose and one mouth, etc. bears much resemblance to many animals. (The animals we tend to fear or find alien, such as spiders and octopuses have different body plans to which we simply can't relate; the animals we find cuddly have a similar body plan to our own).

But at the level of mind, absolutely everything changes. There is an enormous gap between the mental abilities of an adult human being and the "mind" of any other adult animal.

The Human Mind

Helped and facilitated by a large brain, we humans rise almost infinitely above the wonderful animal kingdom. This is not a put-down for animals but a rise-up for human beings. And this immense difference is a rather big problem for evolutionists, not least because most of our superior skills are totally unnecessary for survival (maths, painting, music, etc.) - chimps have arrived without these abilities, why do we need them?  And to be frank, these extra abilities could actually pose a hindrance to survival. Counting how many lions are running towards you, or working out their speed and hence how much time you have to escape, may hinder flight and hasten your last fight. 

So where does the mind come from? 

There is not - and never will be - an adequate answer from the present theory of evolution. Eminent atheist philosophers such as Thomas Nagel have pointed this out - to his personal cost ("A once-great philosopher" was one insult thrown at him for thinking outside the religious box of Darwinitis). Nagel says that mind cannot come from matter. In the same way that if you don't put cinnamon into the cake at the start you'll never get a cinnamon cake at the end, so you'll never get mind out of evolution unless you start with mind.

From the Christian Scriptures we know that Mind comes from God. Adam and Eve were made different from the animals, in the image of a thinking active, creative God. "In the beginning was the word (Logos, mind, thought)." There is a step difference between man and animal. 

Beware of the "aping of mankind"

Two pincer moments, according to another atheist philosopher, are taking place today, both designed to lessen the infinite gap between animal and human and reduce mankind into a mere ape. The first is done by inflating the abilities of animals and the second by deflating the abilities of humankind. A great example of this pincer movement is seen in the attempted comparisons between human and animal abilities. Ardent evolutionists determined to eradicate the chasm between man and beast are using this clever tactic. They find an activity both animals and humans can do and invent a name for it. This name crosses the human-beast divide linguistically but hides the human-beast divide practically. 

For example, when someone talks about animal “Tool Use,” ask what they mean. They probably mean that the animal has picked up a stick to fish out termites, or picked up a rock to crack open nuts. Very simple stuff - just what we'd expect from a beast. But when we talk about “Tool Use” to describe what humans do, we mean something so much more complicated. Think about a “simple” human tool—a hammer. We have to mine the ground for iron ore, tame fire to smelt the ore, use complicated other tools to forge the metal head into a hammer shape. Then we decide to use wood rather than metal for the handle, because wood is more flexible, and then decide which wood to use. Then we determine how to fix the handle to the head so that it won’t fly off and injure someone (because humans are concerned about safety). 

 

Complex human “Tool Use” simply can’t - and shouldn't - be compared to very simple animal “Tool Use!” 

And the level of complexity required to make a hammer is nothing compared to that needed to make a lathe or a sewing machine! What is true of “Tool Use” is also true of every other animal-to-human comparison (see diagram).

The steady erosion of the high dignity of human beings

As our western culture drifts away from its Christian moorings we will find that human life is diminished and human dignity downplayed. Only Christianity maintains the high dignity of human beings, made in the image of God, to know God, to serve him and to live with him forever.