I had volunteered myself to write a paper originally focusing on the discourses surrounding the origin of humans. Later I re-organized the idea to focus more on the discourses on the origins of human life. Growing up as a Christian – a devout one at that – and with a scientific background, I cannot dismiss the theory of evolution as lightly as other Christians do. To me, to be able to prove the literal translation of the Genesis account is one which would highly impact my faith. It would not nullify my belief in God, He has done so much to prove to me His existence, but it would have serious implications as to how he did create the world and what he would have wanted or why he did it in such a manner.
To find out the truth would not mean dismissal of who God is or what He did. He would forever remain the Creator to me – the loving Creator who has a special place for me on earth. Rather, finding the truth would concretize my belief on what the Genesis account claims to be. Is it literal or is it a mere metaphor to the reality and complexity of creation? When God said let there be this and that, was he referring to the mutation of this and that gene? God, who is all for order and design, could have also orchestrated creation in such order and design – much more than what the Genesis account can accommodate.
The catalyst for this thinking is the recent National Geographic documentary Human Ape. They presented various scientific studies on the similarities of humans and some ape cousins. Then they ended the documentary with the recently discovered genetic mutations which would account for the survival and proliferation of the human species. There is the mutation in the jaw muscle which created in humans a weaker jaw requiring a much less bone support from the skull thus enabling it to be smoother and less rigid in structure allowing for more expansion of the brain. The expansion of the brain is critical in the development of knowledge and social skills which are essential to human survival. Then as to speech there is the mutatin in a foxB gene which allowed for the coordination of tongue and lips to bring forth speech.
