Creationists: How do you explain the anatomical similarities between humans and the living great apes?

Question

There are a number of anatomical characters and genetic markers that define the zoological family that great apes belong to. Humans share all of those characters, from skeletal anatomy to musculature and internal organs, right down to the specific, unique cusp pattern on our teeth.

So, if we are not descended from great apes, as Creationists claim, how exactly do you explain why there are so many physiological and genetic similarities between man and the great apes?

I'm not just talking general similarities (lungs, vertebrae, hearts) between great apes and humans, I am referring to the virtually identical anatomical similarities between the two groups - i.e. the tooth cusp morphology.

Also: Evidence shows that we are not directly descended from any of the living species of great ape, but the common ancestor of humans and the modern great apes was definitely a great ape itself.

If the 'intelligent designer' only a limited set of design options, and chose to build humans using the stock parts left over from the chimp design (i.e. like building a Hyundai Sierra on the Elantra frame), then how is that NOT evolution? Why is god's parts bin so limited?

Answer 1

God used the same template in His creations. He wanted to create similarities between creatures, so there would be a great debate between evolution and creationism later on.

Answer 2

I want to correct some of the misconceptions here... Evolution has never claimed we evolved or descended from the great apes, but instead that we share a common ancestor. 5 million years ago there was a lifeform (now extinct) that separated and went different ways. Some of them became humans and others became chimps. Gorillas and others branched off earlier. That is why there are still apes today.

And the idea that matter comes from non-matter has absolutely nothing to do with evolution - which is the study of how life changes over time.

And creationists have no real argument against this. They have a couple that they tout but these have all been easily defeated time and time again, yet they still use the same dead arguments. It's largely due to psychological phenomenon such as cognitive dissonance that they are able to ignore reality and carry on with their fallacies.

There is yet no convincing argument against our primate features or vestigial organs such as our appendix (which other primates use to digest cellulose and plants but stopped working for us), tailbone (some children still being born with tails), our third eyelids, and so on.

Answer 3

I doubt there is any answer that would satisfy you. I understand evolution somewhat and I believe in some things, such as natural selection, mutation, similarities, etc. I simply have a very difficult time believing that so many diverse species have evolved over even billions of years into what we have now.

I saw a documentary once where a flower had a section that looked exactly like a bee's back end. Not just similar, but about as close as a flower could get in mimicking a bee's behind. Other bees would come and try to mate with the flower. This would cause pollen to stick to the bee's feet and thus the flower would pollinate. I don't want to go as far as to say this is God making fun of evolutionists, but it does make me think that scientists still have a lot to learn.

Answer 4

God said we were made in his image. He is the divine creator/intelligence that brings DNA matter together that makes up all species of life.

If you want to look in the mirror and see an ape that came from some pri-mordial muck that is your choice. God says I resemble him so that works for me.

Some more science to refute the evolution propaganda:

"We must make it clear from the start that it is no surprise that living creatures on the earth should possess very similar DNA structures. Living things' basic life processes are the same, and since human beings possess a living body, they cannot be expected to have a different DNA structure to other creatures. Like other creatures, human beings develop by consuming carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, oxygen circulates through the blood in their bodies, and energy is produced every second in each of their cells by the use of this oxygen.


For this reason, the fact that living things possess genetic similarities is no proof of the evolutionist claim that they evolved from a common ancestor. If evolutionists want to prove their theory of evolution from a common ancestor, then they have to show that creatures alleged to be each other's common ancestors have a direct line of descent in their molecular structures; in fact, however, as we shall shortly be examining, there have been no concrete discoveries showing any such thing.
In fact, when the results of DNA analyses from different species and classes are compared, it is seen that the sequences clearly do not agree with any evolutionist family tree.

According to the evolutionist thesis, living things must have undergone a progressive increase in complexity, and, parallel to this, it is to be expected that the number of genes, which make up their genetic data, should also gradually increase. But the data obtained show that this thesis is the work of fantasy.

http://www.darwinismrefuted.com/myht_of_homology_04.html

Answer 5

Adam is an icon like word for first race on the red earth. There were anatomical similarities to the Great Apes and also to what we are today. You can put it in perspective in half a second when you realize that the those early Adams with their hands hanging down past their knees, with their furry bodies did not have the spirituality to even live to survive after death--something he had in common with the great apes and with our dogs and cats etc. Adam existed for one reason: The seed, used on I'hins (very very high spiritually) produced creatures with enough human similarity to allow spiritual survival of bodily death.. getting what was to become us and our forerunners to live as educatable human spirits in the very real heavens around earth and higher.

Answer 6

There are connections and similarities to all organisms in the animal kingdom. Some are small and basic, like the nuclei within our cells, and others our huge, like the four chambered heart within the crocodile. We share so much with other creatures it's hard to understand creationists inability to acknowledge that.

Answer 7

A pigs heart is compatible for transplant in a human, but an apes isn't...does that mean we came from pigs? Similarities can abound while inherent difference can remain. A dog has 4 legs and a tail..so does a cat. similar, yet different.

Answer 8

There are a certain amount of anatomical things that are required to live. For instance, all animals need to eat so all animals have a mouth. Take a look at the link below for a web site that has a relatively good explanation of this kind of thing.

Answer 9

Design convenience - what works in our particular physical environment. We also have physiological similarities with lab rats and genetic similarities with perch. (yes, the fish).

Why do all aliens look like modified humans?

Answer 10

EXACTLY
- except for the fact that we are not descended from great apes, we just share a common ancestor.