A VIEW OF EVOLUTION BY A CHRISTIAN BIOLOGIST

T h is p a p e r , w hich o r ig in a te d as an a d d r e s s to a gathering o f Dutch R eform ed M in is te rs in P o tc h e fs tr o o m , d e a ls w ith th e r e sp o n s e o f a C h r is tia n to c o n c e p ts o f e v o lu t io n . T he p a p e r lo o k s a t th e co n ce p t o f Hth e b e g in n in g " , th e o r ig in o f l i f e , g e n e tic s , m utation and n a tu ra l s e le c t io n , th e o r ig in o f diversity or s p e c la t io n , man as a b io lo g ic a l s p e c ie s , th e m iss in g l in k (in w hich attention is g iven to va r io u s th e o r ie s ) , and f in a l l y theories o f human evolution. T h e se in c lu d e th e neoteny theory, the savan na h theory and th e a q u a tic theory. F ollow ing a d isc u ss io n o f th e v a r io u s a s p e c ts o f these t h e o r ie s , th e authors go on to a d is c u s s io n o f th e e v o lu tio n o f in te l l ig e n c e and c u ltu r e , and reach the co n clu s io n th a t " fo r a C h r is t ia n , e v o lu tio n may h e lp him to u n d ers ta n d m ore a bout God and h is lo v e and h is w o rk , and a lso th en to h a v e more s e c u r i ty in th e b e l i e f in God " .


INTRODUCTION
Students of the biological and p h ysica l sciences are confronted with the concept of evolution quite e a rly on In th e ir courses of stud y.T h e ir f ir s t Im pulse Is u su ally to reject the concept out of hand, fo r up to now the m ajority of A frik a a n s-sp e a k in g students have grown up with the idea that e ve ryth in g remotely connected with evolution is by definition a th e istic.The layman u su ally only recognizes organic evolution -the evolution of liv in g th in gs.But that 1s not all that Is meant by evolution at a ll.There 1s a so rt of In stin ctiv e tendency to compare the concept of evolution with the Genesis sto ry of creation, but 1s th is contrasting of science and the B ible v a lid ?The B ible is the true Word of God, and God 1n turn 1s the source of all scie n tific endeavour.God can also be g lo rifie d by h is handiw ork being opened up by man, and su re ly man can Interpret G o d 's handiwork and so come to a better understanding of h is Greatness.
There has never been a culture, p rim itive or sophisticated, that has not had an explanation for the origin of the world we liv e in (Kon1g, 1982).By h is ve ry nature man needs an explanation for eve ryth ing he encounters.Any particu lar explanation might not be the correct or the most useful one, but it usually The word evo lu tio n means to change or to unfold (Holmes, 1979).
But there is a difference between the p h ilo so p h ica l concept of evolution and the scie ntific concept of evolution.The former trie s to e xplain evolution by turning It Into a form of re ligio n , and the second trie s to e xplain It in terms of human standards, something that Is to be observed In the world around us.
T h is Is done by means of postulating theories on a subject that has fascinated man for ages.Theories are all ve ry well, but can only be proved as facts when they are supported by re su lts of experim ents done In the lab oratory, and th is Is of course not p o ssib le when 1t comes to b iological evolution.
The concept of evolution was f ir s t establishe d in the biological sciences with the study of organic evolution, but th is soon extended into other fie ld s as well.Students of inorganic fie ld s of study such as the life h isto rie s of sta rs and the formation of chemical elements have also adopted theories of evolution, and grad u a lly scie n tists are coming to the realization that biological evolution, which is generally thought of when evolution is mentioned, is only one aspect of evolution in all Its ram ifications.
Evolution can in the la st a n a lysis be defined as a directional and e sse n tia lly Ir r e v e r s ib le process, occurring in time, which in due course give s ris e to an increase of va rie ty and an in cre a sin g ly h igher level of organization in its products (M o rris , 1981).But: EVOLUTION IS NOT S E L F -S U F F IC IE N T AND S E L F SUPPORTING: IT IS DIRECTED BY GOO.

WHEN WAS "THE BEGINNING"?
The m ysteries surrounding the o rig in s of the universe have occupied m en's minds since the dawn of h isto ry .Many explanations attempt to go beyond the bounds of m an's imagination, for man 1s not content to have no explanation.Theories have been proposed based on m an's ob servations of the universe as he sees it in an attempt to present the natural world as an event that is taking place within the context of time.It is essential, 1n the lig h t of th is , to keep an open mind about "the beginning".
For e ve ryth in g in the universe there must have been a beginning -somewhere in time.
But where did time come from ?Time is an entity that we cannot fu lly understand.We c a n 't even begin to define it because of th is in a b ility fu lly to understand it without reference to matter and to space.(Gibbon, 1981).
One th e ory about the o rigin of the universe 1s the "B ig Bang" theory.
Most scie n tists agree that there could have been something lik e the B1g Bang.T h is proposes that eve ryth ing started from a vast prim e val e xp losion which scattered gas and dust p article s throughout space.The scattered matter 1s then thought to have formed galaxies and other cosmic bodies, and the process is thought to be going on s t ill.
In the present universe, matter 1s distribu ted throughout enormous expanses of space In the shape of thousands of m illions of sta rs and ga la xie s.At some time In the past, however, these in d iv id u a l masses (the total weight of which is calculated 4 0 to be in J;he region of 7 octillio n tons, that is, 7 x 10 ) m iss not on ly the actual course of events, but also e verything that Genesis trie s to exp lain.God is tim eless, He was before the beginning of time.For Him there is no "before*, no "now" and no "afte r*.He is there, from "eternity to e te rn ity ".The lim itations of space do not ap p ly to God.He cannot be understood in terms of matter and thus cannot be conceived of 1n the shape of Images created by man.

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Uhat Is life ?The sim p le st and best way to d istin g u ish between the liv in g and the n o n -liv in g 1s that liv in g things (plants and anim als) are able to reproduce -they can make copies of them selves (Gibbon, 1981).(Gibbon, 1981).T h is Is the sk in of the earth and Includes the e a r t h 's crust, the oceans and the atmosphere.
In the beginning the b iosphere was no bigger than the liq u id la ye r of the p rim ord ial ocean (De Chardin, 1966).Without water, there can be no life , thus 1t 1s only logical to assume that the f ir s t forms of life originated 1n th is p rim itive ocean.(Gibbon, 1981).
The e a rly atmosphere of the earth had been Ideal to get life  1977).In th is paper certain aspects of these areas w ill be considered.

GENETICS
The b a sis of evolution 1s to be found In the fin g e rp rin t of

43?
life -the genetic code.The whole process of evolution rests on a change from one form Into another, and to understand th is , a closer look at the genetic coding system Is essential.
T h is genetic code is something that determines, fo r example,  (Gibbon and Cherfas, 1982).The genetic code is the reason for the d iv e rs it y 1n the sto ry of life because eve ry liv in g thing has a unique DNA message.

MUTATION AND NATURAL SELECTION
The purpose of the DNA code Is to produce proteins that form the real b u ild in g blocks of the body.Ev e ry population that makes such a s h ift may be an evolutionary pioneer and eventually become a new species.Not e ve ry evolutionary experim ent, though, 1s a success: it Is a fact that most of them are fa ilu re s.
The rates of evolution of different organs are often d ra stic a lly different, Some may rush far ahead w hile others may stagnate.
As a re su lt there is not a steady and harmonious change of all the parts of a "ty p e ", but rather a mosaic of evolution.1977).
The f ir s t tree-dw elling creature In the line of homlnid evolution was R a m a p lth c c u s , which live d nearly ten m illion ye a rs ago in Europe and A sia (Gibbon, 1981).Others, however, Immediately revolted against the idea of Neanderthal Man being an ancestor of man.Some maintained that It was the bones of an old so ld ie r who had Isolated him self from h is people and who had died alone (C la rk , 1967).
But how can a dying old so ld ie r clim b up a steep c liff, crawl and Homo s a p ie n s made a perfect evolutionary continuum (Reader, 1981).
Thus, three hom lnlds existed at the same time at the Olduval Gorge -the robust australoplthecine, represented by Zinj, is the s u rv iv a l tool of the species (C la rk , 1967;Mayr, 1977;Reader, 1981).
The evidence of human evolution 1s ra re r than diamonds and the study of th is Is therefore an In triguing mixture of science and of treasure-hunting.The Ideal fo s s il evidence would be a sequence of complete fo s sil skeletons spanning a known period of time, but the nature of the fo sslllza tlo n process v irtu a lly elim inates all chance that such an Ideal could ever be achieved.(Gibbon, 1981).Most animals complete the bulk of th e ir brain development before b irth , and even man's nearest re lation s, the chim ps, complete th e ir brain growth by the end of the f ir s t year of life .In humans, though, the brain 1s only a quarter of its final size at b irth , and growth continues for nearly 25 y e a rs.T h is slow development Is a feature of neoteny, and it means that the brain can grow to a size that would be Im p o ssib le p rio r to b irth .If all th is development were to take place In the womb, the baby would sim p ly have too big a head to be born without k illin g the mother.
One re su lt of th is continuing growth of the brain Is that Infants and even young adults are out in the w orld, learning about it, while the brain Is s t ill growing (Gibbon, 1981;Gibbon and C h erfas, 1982).(G ibbon, 1981).
Neoteny 1s not an explanation of evolutionary change -1t is only a mechanism by means of which such changes as happened In human evolution may be brought about.
The aquatic th eory T h is th eory starts with the observation that among those m orpholo gical and p h ysio lo g ic a l features commonly regarded as being unique to man, a s u rp risin g number are not re a lly unique at a ll.They are quite common among those species of animals which had left the land and returned to an aquatic existence.
Among mammals, the f ir s t to return to the water, some 70

LOSS O F BODY HAIR
Homo s a p ie n s has been d escribed as the naked ape, and nakedness 1s one of the s trik in g differences between man and the apes.
Man Is not all naked, but the h a ir 1s much shorter and finer, and therefore much le s s conspicuous.
Homlnlds did not lose h a ir as a cooling device when running or to enable him to free h im se lf of p arasite s. retain th e ir h a ir, fo r they often spend weeks ashore on cold beaches.In A frica th is 1s not n ecessary, however.
It has been commented that the women spent long periods 1n the water, with the c h ild re n hanging on to th e ir h a ir.
T h is offers a p o ssib le explanation why the h a ir of the scalp did not d isa pp e a r along with the body h a ir.It would also offer an explanation why woman's scalp h a ir begins to grow more t h ic k ly during pregnancy.

WHERE AND WHEN DID I T H A P P E N ? SOM E R E F L E C T I O N S
The crucial gap between apes and hom lnlds Is that between

R a m a p eth icu s and A u s t r a io p c th lc u s .
In genetic terms, the sto ry of human evolution through a sequence Of all the anim als, m an's brain size is outstanding, and the most s u rp risin g fact is that he does not even begin to use all the a va ila ble brain power (Sagan, 1977).
suffices until a better one Is presented.Man has alw ays wanted to know by which forces and processes the universe and e verything contained in 1t came into being.The B ible does not provide a God-creator In a world that knew only innumerable Id o ls and gods caught In an eternal struggle for supremacy -and none of these gods or id o ls could e xplain adequately why or how man and the universe came Into being.The purpose of th is paper Is therefore not to attempt to harmonize the concept of evolution and the B ib le , fo r they are two completely different ways of Interpreting something that man can neither prove nor d isp ro v e .Knowledge allows man to understand more of the universe he In h ab its and m an's hunger for knowledge and freedom can be brought Into harmony with religion.
some anaerobic plants do today.They produced oxygen as a b y-p ro d u ct and so the f i r s t oxygen came to be Introduced Into the atmosphere.T h is was the f i r s t step towards b uilding an ozone la y e r (or atm ospheric la y e r) that Is essential to life on land, as It b locks out harmful u ltra -v io le t radiation and X -ra y s from the sun.The fundamentals of life had been e sta b lish e d , and from then on the sto ry of life -and of evolution, then -has been one of competition between various life form s, competition for a va ila ble food and fo r protection against each other.Evolution ary research Is ca rrie d out by v ir tu a lly e ve ry Issu e s such as the material of evolution, the rate of evolution, the causes of evolution and the evolution of adaptation (M a yr, With mutations and with natural selection, off-spr1ng are produced which may look e n tire ly different from the remote ancestors and b io lo gists may even c la s s ify them as different species.(F igure 4: see at end of article) Imagine an ancestor A with a sp e cific DNA.A mutation occurs and accumulates with a constant rate In the follow ing generations.Part of the population becomes separated, and no Interardly d iffe rs from A 1n, for example, the fact that the h a ir 1s now s t iff and red and not black and c u rly .Other members of A undergo another mutation -when B has already been e sta b lish e d 1n a new environment, and form organism C. From A through to B and C a line d iv id e s Into two separate branches, and the re su lt 1s two organism s B and C that are e n tire ly different from each other.B and C each follow th e time, lik e Archaeopteryx, a b ir d -lik e re p tile that 1s sometimes called the "m issing lin k " between re p tile s and b ird s.How 1s 1t then that a new structure can suddenly come Into being?Old it go through an evolutionary process in replacing the old form, or 1s It en tire ly new? the conversion of the five-to ed foot of the p re -h 1sto r1c horse E c h ip p u s to the one-toed foot of to d a y 's horse, Eq uu s.The most important cause of the origin of new structures 1s a change of function, e.g.many p rim itive fish e s had two Independent organs for re sp ira tio n , g ills and p rim itiv e lungs.In landdw ills Into endocrine glands of parts of the digestive system .In more modern fis h e s , the lungs have been converted Into a swimming bladder or into sense organs.U su ally when an animal s h ifts Into a new niche or adaptive zone, the sh ift is Initiated by a change in b ehaviour, e.g. a sh ift to eating leaves and b errie s Instead of g ra ss.With all th is evidence as background, a few more misconceptions need to be cla rifie d : * Evolution is not p rim a rily a genetic event.Mutation merely su p p lie s a gene pool with genetic variation.It is selection that Induces evolutionary change.* A character is not the product of a sin gle gene, .e .more than one gene can e xp re ss the characters.* Genes cannot be c la ssifie d Into su p e rio r and In fe rio r ones.It Is not the gene that 1s selective, but the external en viron ment (M a y r, 1977).The species are the real units of evolution.Without speclatlon, species of animal, Homo sapiens, and Is also a product of evolution.He shares many ch a ra cte ristics with other animals, but man 1s not "m erely an anim al".Man Is unique; he d iffe rs from all the other animals 1n many properties such as growth and parental care.Man Is as much a product of evolution as Is any other organism .He not only has a biological heritage, but also a cultural one.M a n's gradual sh ift from the status of animal to that of "not merely an animal" and the forces that brought about th is evolution are by no means fu lly understood, and are a source of constant and virulent co n tro ve rsy, 1n part because the reconstruction of m an's biological h isto ry 1s s t ill la rg e ly a matter of guesswork {M a y r, 1977).Man Is so s t r ik in g ly sim ila r to certain other mammals in biological terms that no b io lo gist can question th is close re la tio n sh ip .Linnaeus placed man In the same orde r as apes and monkeys, viz the prim ates.He c la ssifie d man as a homlnld (m an-Hke creature), and not as an anthropoid (a p e -H k e creature), but later regretted it.He said : " I demand of you, that you show me a generic character by which to d istin g u ish between man and ape.I m yself a ssu re d ly know of none.I wish someone would Indicate one to me.Rut if I had called man an ape or vice ve rsa , I would have fallen under the ban of all the e ccle sia stics.It may be that as a naturalist I ought to have done so " (Gibbon and C herfas, 1982).There are s t ill two questions: * Did the homlnld line branch off an anthropoid line, and 1s there a m issing lin k ?* Through what stages did the homlnid line pass after Its separation from the anthropoid line, before the tru ly human le vel was attained?BROTHERS UNDER THE SKIN M a n 's c lo se st re la tive s among the primates are the so-called anthropoid apes.They co n sist of three groups, perhaps regardes as three genera.These are the chimpanzee and the g o rilla (genus Pan) in A frica , the orang-utan ( Po ng o ) in the East In d ie s and the Gibbon group (H y io b a t e s ) in South-eastern A sia and the East In d ie s.T A B L E 1 (a g e n e ra lize d re p ro d u c tio n ) D iffe re n c e s In anatom y betw een man and a n th ro p o id apes C h a ra c te ris tic lly compressed with sid e rows of teeth, almost paralle l Not opposite the fingers At back of sk u ll Exp e rts do not alw ays lik e to admit how little Is known about Ram a p ith eciis.There are ju st a few fo s s il fragments, Identified , from the shape of the jaw, as an ancestor of the human line.From here there is a .The threads of the sto ry are picked up where the la st of the R a m a p lth e c u s line liv e d alongside the e a rly forms of our own lin e (Homo), and two Other homlnidlin e s ( A u s tr a lo p ith e c u s A fr lc a n u s and A u s t ra lo p it h e c u s r o b u s tu s ) , which were related to theHomo line but with no ce rtain tly of having been our Immediate ancestors.The search for the m issing lin k started with renewed eagerness when an e x tra o rd in a rily p rim itiv e and apelike sk u ll was found 1n a sandstone cave 20 m up a steep c lif f in the that some authorities regard him as being nearly human, to the extent that they have named him Homo neandect h a ie n s ls .

Figure
Figure 5 Illu stra te s the supp osedly evolutionary process of Homo s a p ie n s.

Figure 5 :
Figure 5: see at end of article.

Figure 6 :
Figure 6 : see at end of article.
sp rln g and su ckle th e ir young, but the y have lo st th e ir h a ir, and resemble fis h so close ly that C atholics were allowed to eat them.More than 50 a rs ago some b e a r-lik e mammals took to the water.Those were the ancestors of fu r-se a ls, sea lions and w alruses.Despite the Im p ro b a b ility of such dramatic changes In life sty le , the fact remains that the adaptation of aquatic habits happened again If he did he would su re ly have died of cold, without an In su lator.It has also been of exaggeration of some feature which Is already ch a ra cte ristic of the sp e cie s, e.g. the t a ils of b ir d s of p aradise, and not then the a cq uisition of some new character.The fetus of the ape I s at one stage quite naked, w hile the human fetus, at the s ix th month, Is com pletely covered with a fine coat of h a ir, known as lanago.T h is would seem to suggest that man could have gone through an aquatic period in h is e volutionary h ist o ry , since the arrangement of the tracts of h a ir rem inds one of the passage of water over a swimming body.V irtu a lly all the h a irle s s mammals In the world today are e ith e r aquatics or w allow ers.The longer an aquatic animal has been in the water, the more complete I s the h a ir lo ss.Fur as an In su lator Is ve ry valuable as 1t traps a la y e r of a ir next to the sk in , but fo r a fu lly aquatic animal lik e habitat by changing the nature of the fu r, rather than by shedding 1t.An animal lik e Australopithecus -about four foot ta ll -would not have been sm all enough to follow the latter road.Climate also has an Influence -most sea lions

S
U B C U T A N B O U S F A T Marine mammals lik e d olp h ins replaced fu r as Insulation with laye r of fa t under the sk in all over th e ir b odies.T to give them a rounded, stream lined outline.It Is also one of the features which d istin g u ish e s Hom o s a p ie n s from all other prim ates.T e rre stria l animals also have fat 1n th e ir bodies, but It Is d iffe re n tly located and has fewer functions.Orang-utans may become potbellied in th e ir old age, but w ill never have fat th ig h s, fat cheeks or fat fin ge rs.Only the aquatics and Homo s a p ie n s d isp ose of a fat su rp lu s a ve ry e a rly age.Humans produce Infants which weigh almost twice as much as those of the apes.Viewed as an aid to bouyancy and heat Insulation 1n water, control was a solution to over-heating.T EA R S A ll mammals have tear glands to moisten the eyes.V ery few mammals, how ever, excrete a flu id at moments of emotional agitation so that it can weep.Man Is the only weeping primate.Tear glands are not triggered off by d rin kin g too much sa lt water -as are the nasal glands of sea b ir d s .A stud y of mammals who actually shed tears (se a ls, sea otters) supports the h y p o th e sis that there 1s a strong connection between weeping and a marine habitat, and also that among mammals emotional stre ss Is the ch ie f stim ulus to the shedding of te ars.When the female of the sea otter 1s d ep rive d of her young, she would weep ove r the affliction just lik e humans (Morgan, 1982tears, lik e urine, are waste products -presum ably the chem icals produced 1n the body by stre ss.Why th is should belong only to marine mammals Is not clear.BIPEDA LISH For the man of today It Is faster and easier to p rogre ss g re ssiv e ly adapted for 1t in the course of m illions of ye a rs.The pattern of the muscles of the human body and the arrangment of internal organs o r ig in a lly evolved to su it the requirements of the quadruped.been ve ry powerful.Hardy (1960) suggested that the f i r s t Im puls tow ards blpedallsm came when the ancestral primate waded Into the sea.It would not have been able to advance ve ry fa r into the water on four le gs, and s up and proceed on two.The next point to consider 1s what would happen when the aquatic ape ventured out of Its depth.If he was by then su ffic ie n tly accustomed to water not to panic, he would find that treading water would keep him ve rtica l and h is head above the water.A ve rtical position 1n the water is a favourite posture.Seals w ill float 1n th is p osition, sta ring fix e d ly , fo r up to h a lf and hour at a time.When a sea otter or man gets tire d of gazing and begins to swim away, the position changes to the horizontal.But the position of the spine and lim bs does not change.They align in one stra ig h t line, quite different from the 90° angle of a lan d -d w e llin g quadruped.A s h ift in the p e lv is of Homo sapie ns and seal has been ob se rve d .The ve rtica l position now would not be precarious or unique, fo r being ve rtica l In the water does not lead to in st a b ilit y and fa llin g down.If, after a few m illion y e a rs of aquatic life , the primate returned to the land, he would adopt and maintain the erect posture of e a rlie r.The s h ift of the p e lv is and the more fle x ib le spine of aquatic life would bring better balance to a te rre stria l creature.No mammal, except man and marine mammals, can balance a to-face.The scie n tific term for th is Is ventro-ventral.
use of tools would never have set man on the road to technology(Gibbon, 1981).But is a language necessary fo r reasoning?T h is is an Issu e which has Involved soc1ol1ngu1sts fo r a long time.In human beings reason has taken the place of In stin ct.In stin ct 1n animals never reaches the level of free thought.Only man took the step tow ards the level where objects and experience have th e ir own value, and man has become more Independent of h is environment to the level that he learnt to manipulate 1t (Le w is and Tow ers, 1969).It can be said that when m an's brain size started Increasing, Intelligence began e vo lvin g.The connection between the evolution of Intelligence and the level and awareness of pain in c h ild b it of the tree of knowledge of good and e v il, God sa ys to Eve: "In pain sh a ll thou b rin g forth they c h ild re n " (Gen.3 :16).T h is punishment is not for any kind of knowledge she might have, but 1t In vo lve s the difference between good and e v il, and It Is a matter of abstract and moral reasoning.The extent of pain in c h ild b irt h can then be related to the e x tra o rd in a ry recent phenomenon, fo r the b irth banal did not have time to e volve along with the Increase 1n brain size (Sagan, 1977).There 1s a mental gap between man and animal.The evolution of conceptual thought goes along with the requirement of s e lf consciousness and a conscious ob servation of the environment.From f o s s il evidence It is clear that man acquired a h igher mental a b ilit y e a rly on 1n the e volutionary stages.Signs of the b urial of the dead were found when Homo n e a n d e r th a iis fo s s ils were excavated, together with strange arrangements of flow Even at the time when the Eden sto ry was written, the development of cognitive s k i l l s was seen as endowing man with go d -H ke powers and awesome re sp o n slb lltle s.God says: "B eho ld , the man Is become as one of us, to know good and e v il, and now, le st he put forth h is hand, and take also the Tree of Life, and eat, and liv e fo re v e r" (Gen, 3:22), he must be d rive n out of the Garden.God placed cherubim with a flam ing sword east of Eden to guard the Tree of Life from the ambitions of man (Sagan, 1977).Perhaps the Garden of Eden 1s not so different from the world as it appeared to human ancestors some 3 or 4 m illion ye ars ago during a legendary golden age when the genus Homo was perfectly Interwoven with the other beasts and plants.Man now concentrates on e th ics, religio n and s u rv iv a l In a manner ve ry different from that of animals.The mind of man Is now capable of nearly anything -because e ve ryth in g 1s In it, all the past as well as all the future (Sagan, 1977).CONCLUSION A ll these theories are but speculation.If they were to be "p ro v e d " sc ie n tific a lly , be the fin a lly correct answer, but fo r the moment It woilld sa tisfy .If we have been placed In th is small corner of the U niverse with the ca p a b ility of becoming consciously aware of It, to Influence it and If only m odestly to change it, is It then sufficient merely to subject It to our w ill without consid ering behind 1t perhaps a duty, a cosmic purpose?Albe rt Einstein put It th is way: "M y re ligio n co n sists of a humble adm iration of the Illim ita b le Superior S p ir it who reveals Him self FIGURE IsA PART OF THE DNA MOLECULE OF A CHROMOSOME(GIBBON, 1981) FIGURE 2 :GENE MUTATIONS To make In te llig ib le It takes ye ars to select only the fitte st.T h is theory Is not fo ol-p roo f -1t is , ra th er, a mechanism that operates In nature, and might be a mechanism for evolutionary processes.

z in ja n th r o p u s b o s e l. -
Into a cave and bury him self under 1 i m of mud?None could argue with th is , and it was conceded that it was a ve ry old extinct human form.It was later dates as being nearly 400 000 (Reader, 1981)ld ," he wrote."Here,Iwascertain,wasone of the most sign ifican t fin d s ever made 1n the h isto ry of anthropology."ThesepleasantdaydreamswereInterruptedbythe bridegroom him self tugging at his sleeve."Comeon,Ra y", he sa id , "Y o u 'v e got to fin is h d re ssing immediately -or I ' l l have to find another best man.The b rid a l car should be here any moment"(Reader, 1981).It was indeed a precious find.A fo s s il brain cast is formed when the sk u ll ca v ity of the dead creature, ly in g undisturbed in a cave, f i l l s with d e b ris, such as, for Instance, bat d roppings, h is wife, Mary, and th e ir d isc o ve rie s at Olduval Gorge.F o ssil bone may .rev e a l the p h ysica l ch a ra cte ristics of the creatures whose flesh once covered them -th e ir height, weight, re la tive proportions of th e ir bodies -but the tools they have left behind add a dimension of understanding.A stone tool may have lain undisturbed for more than a m illion ye a rs, but we may be certain that the hand that made it d iffe rs h a rd ly at all from the hand that p ic k s It up today.On the morning of 17 Ju ly 1959, Mary took the dogs and walked across the site where the f ir s t stone tools had been found in 1931, and where she and Lewis suspected there might be an old liv in g floo r.At about 11 a.m.she noticed a sk u ll eroding from the top of the bed.She brushed away some of the covering so il were named Homo h a b i l i s -handy man.Leakey also found some Homo e r e c tu s (u p righ t man) fo s s ils 1n the upper la y e rs, and drew the conclusion that the sequence Homo h a b i l i s , Homo e r e c tu s

Homo ere ctu s and Homo h a b i l i s . The
(Reader, 1981)he line of hom lnlds that culm i nated in Homo s a p ie n s remains.buteveryone was also aware of the fact that It was a ve ry p riva te moment whose import was not e a sily sh ared.The sig h t of the fo otprints left by an ancestor so long ago combined the commonplace and the miraculous 1n a way that language cannot accommodate.As the a ssista n ts returned to th e ir own work In search of th e ir own d isc o v e rie s, M ary, s t ill on her knees, s t ill puffing at the ciga r and s t ill gazing at the footprint, said q u ie tly, "A h , it is p re tty "(Reader, 1981).

Homo s a p ie n s s a p ie n s . T h is actually means w ise w ise man. It
of succe ssive stages has to date culminated In the emergence of In the s lig h t details we are able to perceive with our fr a il Hand of God, the A lm igh ty, without whom we would not have been able to in te rp re t what we are now able to conceive.Without God, there can be no meaning 1n all t h is , and no purpose.The wonder of e ve ryth in g would then Just be reduced to cold fact, and not be embedded in something glorio u s and h oly.