February 7, 2022 - The Convictions of a Monkey’s Mind?

“But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?”

Thus were the words of Charles Darwin himself, musing out loud about some of the implications of his theory. That is, if evolution were true, and we humans and everything about us, including our minds—and the thinking processes that go on in them—were the products of only random mutation and natural selection, then why should be trust anything that we think? They are the pure chance products of pure chance processes that go back to the beginning.

Our minds, in his theory, didn’t evolve toward truth but only toward survival. Period. Hence, Darwin, and others, have been forced to seriously question the reliability of our thoughts processes, Why should we trust in “the convictions of a monkey’s mind”?

We shouldn’t. The paradox of the situation is amusing: if evolution were true, we really have no reason to trust in any of our beliefs, including the belief in evolution.

In contrast, instead of us being made in the image of apes, we were made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:2), and whatever that image might entail it would certainly entail the ability for logical, rational thinking. The plan of salvation involved belief, faith—"the just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11)—and that’s a faith, a belief, that, yes, we can indeed trust.