Unconditional Love or Unconditional Affirmation?

Adam and Eve, anthropology, Apologetics, Christian Scholarship, Christianity, Creation, Evolution, Faithful Thinkers, Genesis, Gospel, Human Identity, Human Origins, image of God, Intrinsic Value, Luke Nix, science, science and faith, scientism, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Human origin is a fascinating area of research today. With all the different models for the origins of humanity being proposed, I see an increase in the discussions, both scientific and theological. For everyone reading this post, this area of research should be of utmost interest for you as well. Two critical ideas about humanity are at stake depending on which model (or family of models) is true: intrinsic and equal human dignity and value, and the sinfulness of humanity. The age-old debate about God’s existence has great implications on this area of the debate about human origins. The Judeo-Christian claim that all humans are created in God’s Image and that humans possess a sin nature that will cause them to tend toward the immoral. These paradoxical doctrines together explain…
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An Ape with Evolution on His Mind

apes, Caesar, Charles Darwin, chimps, civilization, Culture, Culture & Ethics, eagles, Evolution, films, franchise, Human Origins, humans, intelligence, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, knowledge, movies, observatory, On the Origin of Species, orangutan, Owen Teague, pandemic, Planet of the Apes, tyranny, universe, virus
“Are you familiar with the concept of evolution?” asks the ape leader who is bent on raising himself to the level of the human. Source
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War on Human Exceptionalism Turns to Tool Use

Abigail Desmond, abstraction, animals, archaeologists, bragging rights, capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, crows, debris, dolphins, environment, hands, Harvard University, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, life forms, Michael Haslam, monkeys, Neuroscience & Mind, octopuses, Oxford University, Saturn V rocket, sea urchins, tool use, tools
As the academic war on human exceptionalism motors on, researchers’ thinking sometimes shorts out — and they don’t even notice. Source
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Fossil Friday: New Evidence for the Human Nature of Neanderthals

anatomy, antibiotics, Australian aboriginals, behavior, Bence Viola, biospecies, body decoration, cave art, cavemen, eagle talons, Fossil Friday, gene pool, genetic admixture, glue, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, human nature, Human Origins, human uniqueness, jewelry, lordosis, mating partners, Michael Shermer, native Australians, Neanderthals, ochre, painkillers, paleontology, seafood, spinal curvature, stone circles, Svante Pääbo, Thomas Huxley, University of Toronto
What is at stake is not just some esoteric species problem in the ivory tower, but the very question of human nature and human uniqueness. Source
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Science or Science Fiction? Scientists Debate

Ancient Apocalypse, ancient civilization, Andrew McDiarmid, archeology, Aylin Woodward, burials, Casey Luskin, Culture & Ethics, Daniel Sandweiss, documentaries, East Carolina University, Graham Hancock, graves, Homo naledi, Human Origins, ID The Future, Lee Berger, Nature (journal), Neanderthals, Netflix, News Media, paleontology, Rising Star Cave, science fiction, Scientific American, Society for American Archaeology, The Guardian, Unknown: Cave of Bones, Wall Street Journal
Should some Netflix documentaries be labeled science fiction? Two are currently targeted by researchers in paleontology and archeology respectively. Source
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The Sense of Hearing Is a Masterpiece of Engineering

articular bone, auricle, birds, cerebral cortex, ceruminous glands, cochlea, columella, deafness, ear, ear canal, eardrum, electrical signals, Engineering, equilibrium, fish, foresight, hair cells, hearing, Howard Glicksman, Human Origins, incus, Intelligent Design, malleus, middle ear, nasopharynx, natural selection, ossicles, outer ear, oval window, pinna, quadrate bone, reptiles, saccule, sound waves, stapes, Steve Laufmann, tectorial membrane, temporal bone, temporal lobes, tympanic membrane, utricle, vertebrates, vibrations, Your Designed Body
It strains credulity to suppose that an unguided process of random variation sifted by natural selection could assemble such a delicately arranged system. Source
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Asking Questions Demonstrates Human Exceptionalism

Albert Einstein, animals, Bible, chatbot, ChatGPT, cosmos, curiosity, DNA, electronic technology, fine-tuning, history, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, humans, imagination, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, metaphysics, natural world, Physics, Earth & Space, prompt engineering, Questions
This human trait of question-asking begins almost as soon as we learn to talk. Young children can confound their parents with their rapid-fire questions. Source
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