Aping The Man Aping The ManGod made man; God made the apes: God made them separate and distinct. They
may appear alike (we will get back to this in a minute) in certain respects but
nonetheless they are distinct, different and separate (DDS).
Certain learned fellows have decided to "put the ape into the man". It
is hard to fathom the reason for this: except to say the devil's got a hand in
it. But on the whole, the same learned people do not believe in the existence of
the devil (nor of God for that matter - or how else would you decide to be a descendant
of the mindless apes when God says he made man in His image?)
Only Jesus knows the mind of God in its entirety and all its Wonder. But if
we may venture into its mysterious waters, we will ask (and even try to answer)
the question "Why did God make the apes?" or "Why are there
apes?"
The simple answer is God made the apes, just like he made all the other living
and non-living things; because he has the power to; because he wanted to;
because He is able to do all things. But this will not even begin to satisfy our
learned "colleagues". I can faintly hear the snigger; the disgusted or
amused (depending on the party's temperament and disposition) "You've got a
brain son, think! Use it!" So using our brains and heart, we will give a
more thoughtful answer.
It is true that man is unique among the creations of God; man is in fact like God. It is also a fact that throughout history, there have been men who in the quest for power, have tried to take the likeness to God to the next level: be God. Humans build increasingly sophisticated robots by the year. But do we really want them to be us? Yes we are fascinated with the idea of robots with the capacity to think, but do we really want robots that will demand equality with us? Some may answer yes, but if man can't even stand the thought of fellow men being equal to him, or women being his equal, would he in all truthfulness want a machine to be equal to him? Would you want a robot to turn up one day asking for your daughters hand in marriage? God has no such fears because he is all in all, and it is logical that there should only be one God else chaos will reign supreme - see Greek mythology and its "cast" of bickering gods. We suspect that the gods of Greek mythology arose from mans quest to become God; man in this quest elevated his heroes and heroines up a notch by seeing them as gods, but the realities of life and the knowledge that in this world, man has limited control over his fate, made the storytellers and bards of old imbue these gods with as many human frailties as they could get away with before the whole dream/wish breaks down and the story of the gods become another human fantasy - which it is in reality. We venture to say here again that the devil may have rendered help, no matter how small. While one should keep in mind the true saying that "man is the architect of his own fall", it should also be noted that the devil is always more than willing to lend a helping hand.
Man only need look in the zoos and forests to remember the awesome power of God. This knowledge should keep man "grounded" and remind him that man is nothing by himself. As Poseidon told Odysseus in "The Odyssey" (slightly modified :-) "Man is nothing without God". Even his fate that he claims to be the master of, ends (in a matter of sorts) the day he dies (man is able to influence the hereafter by his actions while alive). Thus, we end this piece on a note that seems entirely different from what we started out to do by quoting Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."
June 2004
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