God Did Not Make Us: The Devolution of Man
Typically, you will hear people ask the question, "Did God create the Devil? Did God create a being so evil and wicked?" The answer is, of course, no. God didn't create the Devil. God created a beautiful angel called the "Son of the Morning," commonly known as Lucifer, the angel of light. So, how did he become a devil? "Devil," by the way, means "the adversary." He became so by his own choice. He chose to rebel against God and live by principles contrary to His will. He stands in opposition to God.
What about us? Did God make us as we are? When you look at us, what do you see? Well, let’s first look at what some thinkers—some famous ones—have said on the matter:
"Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied." — Henry George
"Man is by nature a political animal." — Aristotle
"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." — Mark Twain
"Man is a reasoning animal. He must get his reasons for any untoward light into which he has fallen." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, war." — H.L. Mencken
"Man is a gold-digging, diamond-seeking, oil-drilling, bottom-feeding animal." — George Carlin
"Man is an animal that can think, and it is precisely this ability that has caused him to lose his way." — Paramahansa Yogananda
"Man is the only animal that inflicts pain for pleasure, knowing it to be pain." — Mark Twain
"Man is the cruelest animal." — Friedrich Nietzsche
"The animal is a logical creature; man is the only one who behaves irrationally." — Bertrand Russell
"Man is a wolf to man." — Plautus (later popularized by Thomas Hobbes)
"Animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater simplicity than we do... but man is an animal that can be something more, or something less, than an animal." — Jean-Paul Sartre
"There is no cruelty that a man is not capable of, which a beast would find unthinkable." — Victor Hugo
Man is animal-like. It’s no wonder that Charles Darwin, when he looked at the world, concluded that man evolved from lower forms of beings. From what he saw, he was basically saying there is no way such a being is the product of a benevolent Creator. For when he looked at mankind, all he saw was wickedness: man killing others, stealing, cheating, and spreading suffering among one another. Such a being doesn't reflect a benevolent Creator at all.
When I look at the world, all I see is suffering of all types and bloodshed. The majority of this world’s suffering is caused by man—not animals, not nature, but man toward his fellows.
Let’s begin from the smallest unit of society: the family. A man and woman seek love. They set their eyes upon each other and come before the altar, promising to love each other through thick and thin, to respect and cherish each other, etc. But, lo and behold, the greatest source of misery for that man and woman ends up being the marriage itself. They yell at each other, try to control one another, and let out the worst of their behaviors. They may seek to maintain self-control—the control of their animal passions when dealing with others—but they unleash them against those they claim to love and cherish. This is the cause of divorce; the "animal man" cannot last long in close relationships, and so, for many, marriage is a source of misery.
Parents mistreat the children they claim to love and speak to them unkindly. Some even sexually or physically abuse their own children. This is animal behavior—and it is even worse than that of animals, because man has greater understanding than animals, and many animals do not behave in such a manner.
Employees abuse and mistreat the people they need to make money. Church members proclaim brotherhood to one another and yet are in constant fights because they see things differently; they hate each other and smear one another. This is animal behavior.
Politicians promise to serve the people, but instead enrich themselves at the people's expense, leading to all manner of economic disparity that triggers revolutions—in which they themselves may become victims. Business elites enrich themselves through corrupt dealings and false balances, which create hatred and envy in the masses, leading to revolutions to seize control of these riches. The human being—the "animal man," or as the Bible calls him, the "natural man"—no matter how high or low his position is, lacks foresight. As a result, he cannot see the end result of his decisions; he makes choices that seem to benefit himself today but end up being his ruin tomorrow.
We know we are one human race, yet we hate each other and abuse one another because of our different skin colors. Man hates woman, and vice versa. We hate others who are of different religions or backgrounds. We make war against each other for resources. The human being is not only an animal in his irrationality, but he is worse than an animal because he has greater capacity than the beasts.
God didn't make us as we are. We are the product of corruption.
"Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." — Psalm 49:20 (KJV)
The Bible itself compares the man without understanding to an animal that perishes. The man without understanding lives by impulses like the animals, with no lasting foresight, and he dies like the animals with no hope of eternal life.
God didn't make us as we are. What we are now is a devolution—a downgraded version of what God created. The Bible says God made man in His image. Man was like God: loving, tender, and compassionate. But man didn't want to be like God. He chose instead to be like the animals; he listened to a snake, and his path downgraded from there. (Reference: Genesis 5:1–4)
You see in the verses above that there was a clear change. The man was no longer in the image of God; he resembled Adam in his sinfulness, in his downgraded position. The moment Adam forsook his high calling, a change came to the human being. With each generation, we resemble God less and less, becoming more like the things around us—more like the beasts in nature. It was no surprise then that Cain killed his brother, Abel. How can you kill your own brother, whom you grew up with and were supposed to love? Cain had lost reason; he had lost sense. This is the condition of the "animal man." He has no sense; he is dangerous and destructive. The animal man doesn't comprehend Divine things; his reasoning cannot grasp Divine truth, for Divine truths are foolishness to him.
"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." — 1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
It is no surprise when you tell people they have to love those who hurt them, and they rebel. You tell them they have to forgive those who hurt them, and they complain. It is no surprise they reject anything that would cause them to rise up higher, to return to the image of God. They prefer to remain bestial and sensual, with hatred and violence in their hearts.
Any deep analysis of your own heart will clearly show you the predatory animal nature within: the desire to conquer, to get even, to hurt, and to get one up on your neighbor. The desire to live for desire, no matter how destructive it is to others. The animal nature is alive and well. We are all born with this nature, and the only way out is to be born again.
What do you do if you find dangerous animals in your village? You destroy them in order to protect the life of your loved ones. In like manner, God destroyed societies that have sold themselves completely to the animal nature to protect the well-being of the universe. He drowned the people in Noah's days because they were completely animalistic, with their imagination towards evil continually, filled with violence. He destroyed Sodom because you can see they had clearly lost sight of the basic truth about the nature of sexual relationships, having to do with only man and woman. That homosexuality is an aberration of nature. And throughout history, God continues to destroy and overthrow nations that have given themselves up to animalistic tendencies and rob the earth of peace. He will destroy this world at the end because the world resembles a jungle with violent beasts of prey devouring each other physically, sexually, mentally, financially, and every other way you can think of. This is why God destroys. The animal man must be destroyed, for he is a threat to the well-being of the universe. This is also why God usually compares Satan and violent nations to animals, for that is what they are—and what we are—when unconverted.
The Gospel is true: unless we are born again by the Spirit of God, we will not even see the Kingdom of God. The same way an animal cannot comprehend higher education is the same way a man without the Holy Spirit—an "animal man"—cannot comprehend the beauty of holiness.
Friends, our solution is simple. We must see the animal in us—in our behaviors—and seek the Lord immediately and intensely. We must ask Him to crucify the flesh, the animal nature in us, and fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we may rise to the man and woman God designed us to be: the man made in His image, the man born of the Spirit.
This is why I tell people always: read the Word and ask God for the power to treat people the way He tells us to. Pray for those who hurt you, do good to them, love your enemies, etc. These are the ways of a true human. But hatred, violence, selfishness, and getting even are all animal behaviors—and remember, no animal on this earth will enter heaven.
So, Darwin was right in the sense that the man currently on earth is animalistic in nature. But God wants to do an evolution—a true process of evolution—to turn this animal into a man in His image.
Do you want to evolve to Godlikeness? Then seek the Lord and ask Him to transform your heart daily.
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