Famous paleontologist Marcellin Boule (1861 - 1942) did the first Neandertal reconstruction. His evolutionist "missing link" bias was so pronounced that forty-four years later a major reanalysis of his work was carried out by leading scientists who were themselves evolutionists. Neandertal Man was reclassified as Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis which is essentially just a subset of modern humans. It made quite a splash when Neandertal's status was uplifted and many in the field were proud to show that science could correct its errors.

Evolutionists had been looking all over the earth for missing links. Sadly, they did not restrict their search to old bones like those of Neandertal Man. Evolutionists went to Australia where the aborigines were regarded as subhuman. Many scientific researchers murdered aborigines and boiled down their skulls in the late 1800s. Museums sought pickled brains of aborigines and also their skins. (For documentation of the atrocities committed against aborigines see the article Darwin's Bodysnatchers available at answersingenesis.org.) Sub-Saharan Africans were also regarded as missing links. New York's Bronx zoo even had a living African Pygmy as an exhibit for a brief time in the early 1900s. All manner of racism was justified by Darwin's theory. In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler made many references to Darwinism in his attempts to prove the superiority of the Aryan race.

 Though Neandertal's status had been upgraded by the 1950s some scientists still clung to the claim that Neandertal Man was a missing link. The controversy continues to this day.

In the 1990s new advances in DNA analysis came along that flipped the table over. Not only did the new DNA analysis techniques roil the Neandertal debate but the whole evolutionary timeline based on mutation rates of the mitochondrial DNA has been called into serious question. The principle advance has to do with the development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. This allowed the much more efficient replication of short strands of mitochondrial DNA from ancient bones. Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in the mitochondria of cells and is different from the DNA found in the nucleus of cells. Scientists had long thought that mitochondrial DNA was passed down from mother to offspring without any input from the father's DNA. Scientists calculated the mutation rate of the mitochondrial DNA and put it on a time scale and used it to formulate all kinds of evolutionary family trees. The PCR technique is so sensitive it has discovered that there is input from the father's DNA after all and this has upended many evolutionary assumptions and lent support to the creationist view. The scientist who proved by experimentation that mitochondrial DNA also comes from the father is the late biologist John Maynard Smith of Sussex University, England. All of the glossy illustrations of evolutionary family trees composed of the supposed relationships between fossils are now called into serious question by a notable scientific advance. It is a frequent pattern that scientific advances undermine the theory of evolution which I regard as an obsolete nineteenth century theory.

The creationist view is that ape to man evolution is a hoax. New advances in science from the PCR technique to CAT scans of fossil skulls to the discoveries of more complete fossil skeletons all prove fossil skulls to be either fully ape or fully human. Fossils like the famous "Lucy" skull found in Africa are fully ape. Neandertal is fully human. Evolutionists are slow to accept this view. Even the recent PBS series on evolution took the view that Neandertal is a missing link or an evolutionary dead end. I am confident that if we persist in showing evolutionists the latest findings in science they eventually will reject the theory of evolution and will acknowledge the Creator.   

The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.  

Steps to salvation: Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

1. Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2. Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
3. Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
4. Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
5. Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)

To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."

If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA

(C) 2009 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given

DEFENDING THE FAITH APOLOGETIC ARTICLES Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world. The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel. All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given. To receive these articles which are sent out once per month fill in your email address below and click the SUBMIT button. *Security: Write the characters in the image above (Case sensitive)