Jy is meer as ‘n slim aap
Kort antwoord: Ja, ons is deel van die diereryk, en die Bybel het dit lankal gesê: ons is stof. Maar geen aap het nog ooit gevra of hy spesiaal is nie. Die feit dat jy die vraag kan vra, is deel van die antwoord.
Jy het die video seker al gesien. ‘n Sjimpansee druk ‘n stokkie in ‘n miershoop, trek dit stadig uit en eet die miere wat daaraan vasklou. Onder die video staan die kommentaar: Ons deel 98,8% van ons DNS met hulle. Ons is maar net slim ape. Kom oor jouself.
Dit voel soos ‘n klap vir die geloof. Is dit?
Wat waar is
Begin by wat waar is, want daar is baie. Ons liggame is van dieselfde stof as die res van die lewende wêreld gemaak, en ons is ten nouste verwant aan ander diere. Die DNS-syfer is reg genoeg.
Die Bybel skrik nie hiervoor nie. Genesis 2:7 sê God het die mens uit die stof van die aarde gevorm. Psalm 103:14 sê die Here weet dat ons stof is. Die Christelike geloof het nooit gesê die mens sweef bo die natuur nie. God werk deur die natuur, nie daarteen nie.
Die woordjie “net”
Die probleem lê nie in die wetenskap nie. Dit lê in een woordjie: net.
Die Skotse neurowetenskaplike Donald MacKay het hierdie denkfout nothing buttery genoem, die “niks-anders-as-heid”. Jy beskryf iets korrek op een vlak, en dan sê jy daar is geen ander vlak nie. ‘n Liedjie is net lugtrillings. ‘n Brief van jou ma is net ink op papier. Die ink is werklik daar. Maar wie sê die brief is net ink, het nie verkeerd gemeet nie. Hy het vergeet om te lees.
Ons deel 98,8% van ons DNS met ‘n sjimpansee. Vir omtrent 60% van ons gene is daar ook ‘n eweknie in die vrugtevlieg. Niemand dink jy is 60% vrugtevlieg nie. Die syfer sê iets oor die boustene. Dit sê nie wat met die boustene gebou is nie.
Die draai
Kyk nou weer na die video. Die sjimpansee gebruik ‘n stokkie. Dit is werklik slim.
Maar die sjimpansee maak nie die video nie. Hy skryf nie die kommentaar nie. Hy lees dit nie, en hy lê nie snags wakker en wonder of hy spesiaal is nie. Net een skepsel op aarde doen dit.
Die Franse wiskundige Blaise Pascal het in die 1600’s gesê: die mens is ‘n riet, die swakste ding in die natuur, maar hy is ‘n denkende riet. Die heelal kan hom maklik doodmaak, maar hy weet dat hy sterf. Die heelal weet niks daarvan nie.
So die vraag “is ons spesiaal?” is eintlik self die antwoord. Psalm 8 vra dit al drieduisend jaar gelede onder die sterre: wat is die mens dat U aan hom dink? En die antwoord is nie dat ons onsself spesiaal gemaak het nie. God het ons met eer gekroon. Dis ‘n geskenk, nie ‘n prestasie nie.
Volgende keer
As iemand sê ons is maar net slim ape, kan jy eerlik antwoord: “Ons is ape wat wonder of ons net ape is. Dis ‘n vreemde soort aap.”
Die sjimpansee, intussen, is heel tevrede met sy miere.
Gaan dieper
- Reeks 3, Sessie 1: Wat is die Mens? (binnekort)
- Reeks 2, Sessie 5: Evolusie: Wat Staan Werklik op die Spel?
- Reeks 2, Sessie 6: Brein, Bewussyn en die Siel
You are more than a clever ape
Short answer: Yes, we are part of the animal kingdom, and the Bible said so long ago: we are dust. But no ape has ever asked whether it is special. The fact that you can ask the question is part of the answer.
You have probably seen the video. A chimpanzee pushes a twig into an anthill, draws it out slowly and eats the ants clinging to it. Underneath, the comment reads: We share 98.8% of our DNA with them. We’re just clever apes. Get over yourself.
It feels like a blow to faith. Is it?
What is true
Start with what is true, because a lot is. Our bodies are made of the same stuff as the rest of the living world, and we are closely related to other animals. The DNA figure is right enough.
The Bible is not startled by this. Genesis 2:7 says God formed man from the dust of the ground. Psalm 103:14 says the Lord knows that we are dust. The Christian faith never said man floats above nature. God works through nature, not against it.
The little word “just”
The problem is not the science. It lies in one little word: just.
The Scottish neuroscientist Donald MacKay called this mistake nothing buttery. You describe something correctly at one level, and then you say there is no other level. A song is just vibrations in the air. A letter from your mother is just ink on paper. The ink really is there. But whoever says the letter is just ink has not measured wrongly. He has forgotten to read.
We share 98.8% of our DNA with a chimpanzee. About 60% of our genes also have a counterpart in the fruit fly. Nobody thinks you are 60% fruit fly. The figure tells you something about the building blocks. It does not tell you what was built with them.
The turn
Look at the video again. The chimpanzee uses a twig. That really is clever.
But the chimpanzee did not make the video. He did not write the comment. He does not read it, and he does not lie awake at night wondering whether he is special. Only one creature on earth does that.
The French mathematician Blaise Pascal said in the 1600s: man is a reed, the weakest thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The universe can easily kill him, but he knows that he dies. The universe knows nothing of it.
So the question “are we special?” is itself the answer. Psalm 8 asked it three thousand years ago under the stars: what is man that you are mindful of him? And the answer is not that we made ourselves special. God crowned us with honour. It is a gift, not an achievement.
Next time
When someone says we’re just clever apes, you can answer honestly: “We’re apes who wonder whether we’re just apes. That’s a strange kind of ape.”
The chimpanzee, meanwhile, is quite content with his ants.
Go deeper
- Series 3, Session 1: What Is Man? (coming soon)
- Series 2, Session 5: Evolution: What Is Really at Stake?
- Series 2, Session 6: Brain, Consciousness and the Soul