Presenting subjects in evangelistic meetings that are unfamiliar to the public demands much preparation and thought if the interest of the audience is to be held and continued for future meetings.
Let us consider a subject that is rather vague and not too familiar to our hearers—"Evolution and the Bible" and "Archaeology and the Bible." The merit of such aids as screen pictures, charts, cut-outs, and so forth, does not need to be urged here. Today, in successful evangelism many men are using these varied devices and having success with them, along with the continued blessing and presence of the Holy Spirit.
In a discussion of evolution we find that the proponents of that hypothesis usually cite the Java ape man, the Piltdown man, and the Heidelberg man, as authentic examples in the progress of man's evolutionary development. In order to use these in my meetings as illustrations, I have had large photostats made. These were glued onto plywood, which is in turn cut out to the size and shape of the picture attached. At the proper time during the address these are shown to the audience, and then placed in slotted bases, standing upright so that the audience may continue to see them throughout the service. The impression made is lasting and indelible.
The steps are progressive. First, the head bones of one are shown. Then, the next picture portrays them assembled in formation, held together with plaster of Paris in the shape of a human skull, with the "missing" portions added by man's creative imagination of what "was."
Interesting factual data and proper anecdotes, showing some of the foolishness of man's ideas on the subject, helps to enliven the discussion and take away the coldness and stiffness of such presentations.
To say something designed to put your audience at ease, yet not trying to appear clever, is an art, and such a tactful approach on these two diversified themes, particularly in dealing with evolution, helps to put over this rather heavy subject.
One important desire in public evangelism is to carry your audience with you. In your dealing with evolution, something that many of your hearers sincerely and honestly believe in, a little winsome wit helps to break down prejudice and win them to your way of thinking, based on the Bible.
(In the article following an analysis is submitted of the actual original skeletal remains uncovered in the cases of the foremost specimens of the Java Man, the Piltdown Man, and the Heidelberg Man.—By FENTON E. FROOM, Pastor-Evangelist, Orlando, Florida)
The weight of evidence, gained from a careful study of the available material thus far uncovered, points unmistakably to the ultimate conclusion that there is no substantial scientific basis for the complete construction or reconstruction of the alleged ape man.
Pithecanthropus Erectus (Java Ape Man)
In 1891-92, while Dr. E. Dubois, a surgeon in the Dutch Army, was engaged in paleontological excavations on the left bank of the Solo River, near Trinil in central Java, he uncovered several skeletal remains which are supposed to be from the oldest and most famous of all the missing links However, note the following inconsistencies :
I. COMPLETE SKELETON NOT FouND.—Six specimens in all were found. Total remains uncovered consist collectively of a skullcap, three teeth, a fragment of a lower jaw, and a femur.
2. BONES NOT FOUND AT SAME specimens were uncovered between years 1890 and 1897. Jaw fragment was found November, 1890, ten months before first molar, September, 1891. Skullcap was uncovered October, 1891, one month after the first tooth and eleven months after the jaw fragment. Femur was found August, 1892, ten months after skullcap and twenty-one months after jaw fragment. Second molar was picked up October, 1892, two months after femur and twenty-three months after jaw fragment. And third tooth was uncovered in 1897, seven years after discovery of jaw fragment.
3. BONES NOT FOUND IN SAME PLACE.—The skullcap was found more than three feet from first molar ; femur fifty feet from skullcap; and second molar, thirteen feet from skullcap, and thirty-seven feet from femur. Jaw fragment was 40 kilometers from where other specimens were uncovered.
4. BONES FOUND "AMONG OTHER FOSSILS."—Along with the supposed ape man remains were found twenty-seven different kinds of animals in the same bed. These animals were from recognized species and showed fossilization similar to the ape man.
5. SKULL NOT COMPLETE.—The skull was a partial brain pan with nothing below the eyes or ear holes. The complete facial skeleton was missing.
6. BONES NOT BURIED IN NATURAL CONDITION.—The scattered condition in which they were found would indicate they were not buried in a natural way, but washed in by the stream.
7. BONES DIFFER IN AGE, ABRASION, SEX.—The skull suffered considerable loss of parts as well as substance conditions not present in femur. The skull also shows obliteration of all vault sutures, and indication of an elderly individual. Whether human or anthropoid, in such elderly beings, teeth are generally more or less worn. But in case of the three teeth associated with Trinil cranium, the anterior left lower premolar shows practically no wear, the last right upper molar is a little worn, while the penultimate left upper molar shows a surface that is smoothly worn off. Skullcap plainly indicates a female. However, the femur corresponds to medium human stature of a male (165 cm.), considerably above that of a female average (153 cm.). These conditions inconsistent with notion that all the Trinil specimens belong to the same individual.
8. SCIENTISTS DISAGREE ON APPRAISAL.—There is considerable question whether all the remains belong to same individual. Some of the specimens are classified as human by eminent scientists; others are considered anthropoid.
Eoanthropus Dawsoni (Piltdown Ape Man)
In 1910-13 Charles Dawson, a lawyer of Lewes, Sussex, England, visiting Piltdown common, a moorland where workmen were digging in a small gravel pit, discovered several skeletal fragments which are alleged to be the remains of the earliest specimen of true humanity yet found. But note:
I. COMPLETE SKELETON NOT FOUND.—TWO parietal fragments, a piece of the frontal bone, two fragments of occipital bone, a, section of temporal bone, right half of lower mandible, two tiny nasal bones, and one apelike tooth comprise the total remains recovered.
2. BONES NOT FOUND SIMULTANEOUSLY.—The first fragment of the parietal bone was found in 1908. The section of the frontal bone was recovered in 1911. In 1912 another fragment of the parietal bone, the section of temporal bone, the occipital fragments, and the right half of the lower jaw were discovered. In 1913 the two nasal fragments and an apelike canine tooth were found. It took five years to gather together these few fragments.
3. BONES NOT FOUND TOGETHER.—The fragments from which the Piltdown ape man were constructed were "scattered some yards apart." Some were found in the gravel pit; others were recovered from the dump heaps.
4. BONES NOT FOUND ALONE.--The shallow pocket of gravel at Piltdown yielded not only the supposed ape man remains, but also in the same stratum were found fragments of several animals which were recognized species. One bone revealed definite human markings, slightly above the level of ape artistry.
5. SKULL, NOT COMPLETE.—All the pieces of the cranium were fragmentary, and none of these parts "touched each other" at any point to reveal the contour of the skull.
6. BONES NOT BURIED IN NATURAL CONDITION.—All the bone fragments were found resting in stream-laid deposit, and their exact relationship from the standpoint of discovery is most difficult to determine.
7. BONES DID NOT REVEAL SAME ABRASION.—The section of jawbone did not manifest the same degree of abrasion as the skull fragments.
8. SCIENTISTS DISAGREE ON APFRAIsAL.—There is disagreement on the size of the brain capacity, and many contend that the ape jaw does not conform to the human cranium.
Homo Heidelbergemis (Heidelberg Ape Man)
On October 21, 1907, a workman, digging in an undisturbed part of an eighty-foot-deep sandpit by the little village of Mauer, about ten miles southeast of the university city of Heidelberg, Germany, unearthed an alleged primitive human jaw which is considered the oldest known human fossil from a geological standpoint.
I. COMPLETE SKULL NOT FOUND.—The Heidelberg ape man is represented only by a lower jaw. The mandible was recovered at a depth of eighty-two feet from the surface.
2. HEIDELBERG MANDIBLE NOT BURIED ALONE.—In the lower strata, at the same level in which the mandible was found, the remains of many different kinds of animals were also discovered. These were from recognized species.
3. MODERN JAWBONES SIMILAR TO HEIDELBERG SPECIMENS HAVE BEEN Po-min.—Dr. A. N. Burkitt, of Sydney University, has found jawbones of modern human remains from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands resembling in many details of structure the Heidelberg jaw.
Note:
Andrews, Roy Chapman. Meet Your Ancestors. New York : Viking Press, 1945.
Burkitt, A. N. "Neanderthal Man and the Natives of New Caledonia," Nature, Sept. 29, 1928.
Gregory, W. K. "The Dawn Man of Piltdown, England," Journal of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 14, 1914.
Hooton, Earnest Albert. Up From the Ape. New York : Macmillan, 5936; Apes, Men, and Morons. New York : Putnam's, 1937.
Howells, William. Mankind So Far. New York : Doubleday, Doran, 1944.
Hrdlicka, Ales. "Ancient Remains of Man."Annua/ Report Smithsonian Institute, 1913, P. 495;" The Skeletal Remains of Early Man," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, vol. 83, July 24, 1930.
Keith, Sir Arthur. The Antiquity of Man. London: Williams Sz Norgate, 1915,
Miller, Gerrit S., Jr., "The Controversy Over Human 'Missing Links,'" Annual Report Smithsonian Institute, 1928.
