We do NOT descend from the apes
Christ willed freely with His divine and His human will to be obedient to God the Father till death, for free will is absolutely inherent in every rational nature. After all, of what good can rationality be to a nature that does not reason freely?
Now, the Creator has implanted a natural appetite in brute beasts which constrains them to act for the preservation of their own nature. For, since they lack reason, they cannot lead; rather, they are led by their natural appetite.
From this we may see that the human race does not descend from the apes; however it seems that as we move away from God, we are becoming more like them.
Based on Saint John of Damascus, father Arsenie Boca
A photo from the Vespers of the Nativity of Mother of God. On the throne, Metropolitan Pavlos of Drama.
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Kristofer Carlson
First, evolution does not say humans descended from apes, but that both descended from a common ancestor. Second, Genesis is a figurative description of creation. Third, theological anthropology is focused on the eschatological end, on the purpose for which we were created; we cannot apply theological anthropology to creation.
e.s.
Charles Darwin said that all life is related and has a mutual common ancestor, whom he didn’t find.
However, most of people, based on what they have heard about the Darwin’s theory, think and believe that Darwin said that humans descended from apes or monkeys. This is the reason why Christians respond to them: “human race does not descend from the apes, but God created human beings in his own image”.
Ioan Toma
Even if I can respond one by one to your points, the gist is that if we get out the theological anthropology from creation everything falls: from where we come from (there is no explanation for our soul, our culture, rationality etc.), who we are (why we sin, for example) and which is our purpose. This is very important because if we say that God didn’t told us the truth / lied to us in Genesis, then the Christ’s resurrection and deification doesn’t have any existential sense – we remain in the same monotony of an earthly (material, technological, cultural etc.) advancement. Deification is something totally different – it is not just a “better place to be”.
Holy Fathers were very clear on this, specifically on the fact that our intellect, rationality (see the above the text of St. John) is what is the main difference from other animals and makes us something totally different and not descending from any other animal ancestor being it an ape or not.
Mind you, the only thing which is also rational in creation, and, hence somewhat close to our soul, are the angels which doesn’t have anything in common with the animals and plants.
e.s.
Quite meaningful explanations.
Thank you very much!