Has mankind evolved upward from the ape or has he devolved downward from some higher being?

In our increasingly technological world we might become convinced that we are evolving to “supermen.” People like Hitler thought so. However, both Scripture and the historical facts show that far from evolving ever upward, mankind is “devolving” downward, both physically and mentally. According to Scripture, God declared that everything He had created was “very good”, and we can reasonably assume that Adam and Eve were perfect until their Fall and thus had no genetic defects. Further, before the Genesis Flood Adam and his offspring had a lifespan of almost a thousand years, as we see in the fifth chapter of Genesis. Following the Flood, man’s life expectancy had dropped to just over 200 years (Genesis 11:10-32). Since that time, it has dropped even further to just over 70 years and is now threatened by numerous previously unknown diseases. In fact, the human gene pool is accumulating genetic defects or mutations at an alarming rate. Genesis chapter 11 also tells us of the business at the Tower of Babel several generations after the Flood. Here the human gene pool was divided into several smaller groups that went their different geographical ways. Mutations occurred in each group and more quickly multiplied because the groups were smaller.

So is there any evidence that mankind is becoming smarter? The historical evidence indicates that man in the most ancient civilizations was a lot smarter than textbooks lead us to believe. For example, we still have no idea how or even why the ancient Egyptians built their pyramids. The armchair critic may scoff at the rough-cut packing stones that today form the outside of the pyramids but is silenced when faced with the precision of the much larger cut-to-fit stones on the inside. A similar problem is presented by the famous stone wall at Cusco in the mountains of Peru. We have no idea how 140-ton stone blocks were transported 20 miles or more up-hill. Finally, there is the historical fact that when those who had the skill to produce crops, clothing and metal tools were killed in internecine warfare between tribes, those who remained were quickly reduced to naked barbarism. Such was the state of the American Indian and the African when discovered and seemingly gave evidence for man’s evolution.