Genesis Apologetics K8 Student Zone Ape Men Real or Pretend (3-5 Grade)

The Bible’s Account of Creation and Human Origins

What is this? Looks like some sort of ape man. You're daddy, right? You're not my daddy. Hang on, folks, while I get this guy out of here. So that's where my hat went. I've been looking all over for that.

Okay, now I think we're ready. Hello and welcome to The Zone. I'm your host, Big Wave Dave. So today we're going to talk about ape men. Were they real or just pretend? Okay, let's start with what the Bible says.

The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And he did all of that in just six days. Now on the sixth day, God created the first humans, Adam and Eve. But you know, some people don't believe that.

Some people believe that humans evolved from ape-like creatures over millions of years. So which one is true? I mean, after all, if evolution is true, then your great, great, great grandpa was a monkey.

But don't worry, grandpa's not a monkey. You'll see that when we're done with this lesson. Okay, let's start by playing a game, real or pretend. I'm going to show you some slides. And what I want you to do is you decide whether it's a real creature or is it pretend and then shout out your answer.

Are you ready? Okay, let's go. Real or pretend? That one's real. Real or pretend? That one is pretend. All right, here's the next one. Real or pretend? If you said real, you got it. Okay, how about this one?

Real or pretend? That one is pretend. Two more. Real or pretend? That one is real. What about this one? Are these real or pretend? I don't know. Some of you might be hesitating right now. I mean, these ape men, they look kind of real, don't they?

Well, don't worry. They're pretend and that's what we're going to talk about. But wait, isn't evolution a proven scientific fact? I mean, we hear that on TV and all over the place. In fact, some public schools teach that we evolved from ape-like creatures over millions of years.

What about that? You have to remember that there are two different types of science. Now, the first type of science is called observational science. So this is the type of science where we do experiments.

You ever do experiments at home or in your class? It's kind of fun, right? So we come up with ideas and then we test them to see if our ideas are correct. So observational science is responsible for things like airplanes and cars and phones and medicine and all kinds of technology.

Observational Science and Historical Science

But there is another type of science. The second type is called historical science. Now, in this type of science, what happens is that people dig up fossils like this one and then they come up with ideas.

But here's the thing. There's no way to test those ideas to see if they're correct. Then there's something else to think about. Your worldview, what you think about God and the Bible and things like that, have a big impact on how you interpret these fossils.

For example, some people can look at the exact same bones and come up with two completely different ideas about what that animal was. Okay, now whenever you hear that somebody has found an ape man, there are three questions that you should ask.

The first is, what fossil did they actually find? You'd be amazed at what the pictures that they've drawn from just a little tiny fossil. And we're going to look at that a little bit later. The second question is, what is the worldview of the person who's telling you this information?

Do they love God? Do they hate God? Do they believe the Bible? That sort of thing. Because again, it's really important when we're dealing with historical science to know about the background of the person.

Finally, as Christians, how can we look at this through a biblical worldview? For example, the Bible clearly teaches that there were no pre-humans. God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, not from an ape.

Nebraska Man and the Danger of Reconstructing Too Much from Too Little

Okay, time to get into the evidence. Are you ready? Let's go. Remember these guys? Let's start with Nebraska Man. In 1922, scientists found a tooth. Just one tooth. And from that tooth, they made this.

Mr. and Mrs. Nebraska Man. Aren't they lovely? And so the news was spread all over the place that they had found proof that humans evolved from ape-like creatures. About 10 years later, they went back to the same site to try to find more fossils.

And they found one. They found a tooth that was identical to the first one. But this tooth was still attached to a jaw. The jaw of an extinct pig. So Nebraska Man was actually a pig. No, I'm not being mean.

It was really just a pig. Okay, so let's review where we're at. Nebraska Man was a pig. Let's talk about Piltdown Man. Okay, so in 1912, scientists found some fossils. And from these fossils, once again they announced, we have proof that humans evolved from ape-like creatures.

They made pictures like this. They put together textbooks. All kinds of different news that Darwin was right. But let's take a closer look. This is a replica of the Piltdown Man skull. Now the areas in black here are the bones that they actually found.

The white is a reconstruction. Now they were really excited about this. In fact, as I mentioned, they wrote textbooks like this one here. This is Piltdown Man on the cover, teaching all about how scientists have proof that we evolved from ape-like creatures.

So they were going to make a national park and they were going to name it after Piltdown Man. So they said, you know what, let's take a look at the fossils one last time. Now when they did, they found something shocking.

Piltdown Man was a fake. Somebody had taken the jaw of an ape and joined it with the skull cap of a human and then used tools on it and stained it to make it look like it was real. Do you know what that means?

That means that people were taught a lie for over 40 years. Ouch. All right, let's review. Nebraska Man was a big. Piltdown Man was a fraud. Let's take a look at Neanderthals. So this was one of the first skulls that they found, and from that skull they hired somebody to make a picture that looked like this.

Wow, that's really scary. Now since then, scientists have found all kinds and hundreds of different fossils and artifacts. We now know that Neanderthals, they made tools and musical instruments and jewelry.

They cooked, they buried their dead, and all the evidence shows that Neanderthals were not ape men. They were fully human. Okay, let's review what we got. Nebraska Man was a pig. Piltdown Man was a fraud.

Neanderthals Were Fully Human

Let's let God take care of this one. Neanderthals were fully human. Okay, so let's talk about the latest poster child, Arty. This is what they found. I don't know about you, but that kind of looks like E .T. or something like that.

I mean, that's just what a mash of bones here, right? But that didn't stop them from doing this. They made all kinds of movies and posters and videos and pictures. They put it in textbooks. In fact, Arty is on display at the Museum of Natural History as one of our ancestors.

But how could they get all that from this smashed up collection of bones here? Because the only thing that I see that is really kind of clear that we know anything about is Arty's feet and her hands. And here's what's interesting.

Her feet and her hands are totally ape-like. So why would anybody claim that she's our ancestor? After all, these hands and feet are what apes use to climb in trees and to get into lots of trouble. Okay, so based upon those hands and feet and that they are indeed ape-like, Arty was nothing more than an extinct ape.

Ardi and Lucy as Ape-Like Fossils, Not Human Ancestors

Okay, let's review. Nebraska Man was a pig. Piltdown Man was a prod. Neanderthals were fully human. And Arty was nothing more than an extinct ape. Okay, let's finish our time together with Lucy. So the scientific name given to Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis.

Wow, that's a big fancy name, right? Do you know what it means? Southern ape. So even the name, Lucy's name says she's an ape. So anyway, this is what they found originally. You can see not a whole lot there.

But from that, they made all kinds of statues and they put them in museums and they made her look very human-like. But why? Let's look at a few facts about her. First of all, discovered in 1974. And as you can see, they only found 40 of her skeleton.

A lot of it was missing. Now since then, scientists have found more fossils. So they have a better idea of what Lucy's kind look like. And based upon those fossils, she looks like an ape. For example, her skull was sloped and ape-like.

Her hands and fingers were curved and ape-like and designed for swinging in trees. Her wrist bones, well they could lock into place for knuckle walking. Her toes were curved and ape-like. Everything about these fossils indicate that Lucy was nothing more than an extinct ape.

Even some evolutionists say that she was not our ancestor. By the way, if you want to learn a whole lot more about Lucy, check out our video, Was Lucy Really Our Ancestor? We're doing great one last time.

You ready? Here we go. Nebraska man was a pig. Piltdown man was a prod. Neanderthals were fully human. Artie was an extinct ape. And so was Lucy. So let's get rid of her, shall we? Were people once apes?

Did we evolve from ape-like creatures? No way. We can trust the Bible. And the Bible says that we were created in God's image. We're special. We are not animals. You are a child of God. All right, so what about this guy who was here at the very beginning of our time together?

What about him, Mr. Harry? Well, he is clearly pretend. So it's time to say goodbye to Harry. See ya. Okay, so that's all the time that we have together. Remember my friends, you did not evolve from apes.

God made you and he loves you. I'm Big Wave Dave. I hope to see you next time here on The Zone. God bless you.