“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” 1 Corinthians 15:39
Learn more about creation in “God versus the Big Bang” or in The Book of Genesis on audio.
Mankind: God’s Upright Creation: There is a profound connection hidden within the pages of the Bible that should change the way we look at our own existence. In Ecclesiastes 7:29, the text drops a massive truth bomb: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” To modern ears, an “invention” sounds like a neat gadget. But a literal reading of Ecclesiastes 7:29 shows that inventions are actually the opposite of our original, upright design. When God made us physically and spiritually erect, we were meant to walk in His ways. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. Human “inventions” are the schemes, workarounds, and idols we create with our hands when we choose to rely on our own cleverness instead of God. Every time we seek out these worldly inventions, we walk away from the upright path God set before us, effectively bending ourselves down toward the earth, toward destruction.
Scripture reveals that imaginations are the blueprint in the mind, the proud, ungodly thoughts man contrives in secret (“the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5). Inventions are the implementation of those imaginations with the hands, the physical building, action, or worldly work that brings that hidden imagination to life. This is why 2 Corinthians 10:5 commands the “casting down [of] imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” When we fail to cast them down, a corrupt imagination inevitably leads to a worldly invention, and away from our uniqueness and the Creator of all things.
When Ecclesiastes 7:29 declares that God made man “upright,” it uses the original Hebrew word yashar. The literal, concrete definition of yashar is to be straight, right, or level, like a smooth road completely cleared of crooked obstacles. Throughout the Bible, the same word is used to describe a direct path or doing what is morally right in the eyes of the Lord. When God created humans, He designed us to be yashar, straightforward, uncorrupted, and perfectly aligned with His character. Every time we choose to rely on our own cleverness instead of God, we walk away from that uprightness, effectively rejecting the light path God sets before us.
This spiritual uprightness is beautifully mirrored by our unique physical framework. While beasts navigate a horizontal existence, God purposefully set our spine vertically, lifting our heads so we can look up at the heavens and worship Him. Out of all earthy elements, man is the only creation standing permanently vertical and gifted with the logical, rational capacity to process truth, repentance, understand morality, and consciously choose a relationship with God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, the Son.
Think about how a chimpanzee or a dog navigates the world: its spine is horizontal, its head is low, and its eyes are fixed on the ground to find its next meal. It is bound to the earth. When God made man upright, He set our spine vertically, lifting our heads so we can look up at the heavens, to seek and worship Him. When we reject God’s wisdom and choose our own “inventions,” driven by unchecked imaginations, pride, greed, or worldly schemes, we are spiritually denying our eternal inheritance. We stop looking up at the Creator, focusing on the Cross and eternal life, and start obsessing only over material things on the earth: food, wealth, survival and “things.” Jesus specifically touched on this danger by telling us in Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” When we worry about earthly things and give in to those earthbound imaginations, we participate only in earthly systems. In doing so, we take the unique, upright, worshipping frame and mind God gave us and force them into a horizontal, earthbound posture, focused on earthy things instead of God, destined for eternal damnation.
Evolutionists, who believe humans evolved from primates and not by God’s grand design, are looking through a narrow, distorted lens. If we only shared DNA with monkeys, the evolutionists would have a stronger argument for an “ape-to-man” family tree. But the fact that all animals share DNA with each other completely shatters their narrow argument. When you look at the raw data, the reality goes far deeper than a simple “monkey connection.” The scientific fact is that ALL animals share DNA with man and with each other. Every single living creature on Earth, from a human to a chimpanzee, a whale, a fish, a worm, and even trees and plants, shares a portion of its genetic code with every other living thing. It is a universal, interwoven web of biological information. From mammals to birds, and even down to the creatures of the sea, there is an undeniable genetic DNA blueprint that runs through every living thing. “”For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12
This should not surprise us if we read the Bible literally. Genesis 1:24 and Genesis 2:7 state that both beasts and man were formed out of the same dust of the ground. Because we all share the exact same Creator and the exact same earthy raw material, it makes perfect sense that all animals share a foundational genetic code, similar blood components, similar skeletal makeup, and matching flesh tones. The crossover of DNA in all of creation is not proof of evolution; it is the Creator’s code used in earth’s creation. Because we are all built from the same earthy “material,” our physical bodies share the exact same biological foundation. We possess the same basic skeletal structures, organs, and tissue frameworks as the rest of the creation.
Yet, scripture clarifies that what separates us is not our biological tissue, but the breath of life, Genesis 2:7, and the upright form given to us by God, which allows man to hold the specific spiritual light required to be transformed from glory to glory, in His image, and to face Him in Jesus Christ. The physical similarities are real because we share the same Creator and the same dirt, but the upright posture and ability to reason for repentance, or turning away from sin or immorality, was preserved uniquely for man to be made in God’s likeness and image. A chimpanzee cannot stand perfectly erect for long, nor can its throat anatomy support complex speech. Man’s physical body was uniquely designed to worship his Maker.
Recognizing our unique physical stature and spirituality does not mean animals are just mindless, biological robots. A literal reading of the Hebrew text reveals that animals absolutely have a soul. In Genesis 1:20 and 1:24, when God creates the animals, the original Hebrew phrase used for “living creature” or “life” is nephesh chayyah, which translates directly to “living soul.” Scripture directly applies the word “soul” to animals across both testaments: Numbers 31:28 explicitly counts the souls of livestock: “…one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep.” Revelation 16:3 describes marine life the same way: “…and every living soul died in the sea.” The distinction lies in how the soul was animated. While animals were spoken into existence from the dirt (“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing…” Genesis 1:24), Genesis 2:7 says God uniquely breathed into man’s nostrils the Neshamah, the divine breath of life and moral light. Animals possess a living soul (nephesh) and the breath of physical life (ruach), but man alone received the spiritual light required to bear the heavenly image of Christ (“let us make man in our image”). Because animals are living souls, all of creation is intimately tied to God’s eternal plan. Jesus noted that if human praise fell silent, the literal stones would cry out. Luke 19:40. The Apostle John confirms this cosmic worship in Revelation 5:13: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne…” Animals are not disposable footnotes; they are part of a creation designed to reflect God’s glory.
When sin entered the world, the physical posture of creation shifted. Look closely at the wording of the curse in Genesis 3:14:”And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go…” If the serpent was cursed above all cattle, it implies a hierarchy of consequences. The entire animal kingdom was lowered and pulled away from its original nobility, leaving man uniquely upright. And yet, when humans choose to live by their own worldly cleverness rather than God’s wisdom, scripture warns that we lower ourselves to animal status. As Psalm 49:20 states, a man who relies purely on his own honor without spiritual understanding becomes “like the beasts that perish.”
This is exactly why Apostle Paul draws a hard line between us and the animal kingdom in 1 Corinthians 15:39: “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts…” Evolution tries to trap us in the dirt, claiming that our upright posture is just a random biological accident. But evolution only looks at the “earthy” side of man. It completely misses the spark that makes us human. We are uniquely upright, because Jesus is the true light that lights every man that comes into the world. John 1:9. We are not stuck in a permanent downward spiral. Because of that inherited light, we are given the discernment to recognize sin, turn away from it, and climb higher, out of the quagmire, towards God. As Paul beautifully concludes in 1 Corinthians 15:49, “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
The undeniable truth of our design is written directly into our genetic code. While the mainstream establishment uses a shared toolkit to group humanity with the beasts of the earth, the hard science reveals an entirely different story: all human beings across every corner of the globe are 99.9% genetically identical. There are no half-animal lineages or evolutionary transitions; we are entirely, uniquely human. That remaining 0.1% of genetic variation is not a product of random mutation or mindless chance, but the intentional, masterful handiwork of the Creator. Every unique genetic trait, ancestral lineage, and geographic placement was woven together by God according to His sovereign predestination, equipping each distinct culture to fulfill His divine plan and reflect His image as the pinnacle of His upright creation.
Creation is not just decaying and dying: For those in Christ, it is a journey of ultimate restoration. We are being transformed from glory to glory into His image. 2 Corinthian 3:18. Our physical bodies are temporary, but our spiritual bodies are a prophetic canvas. To walk upright is to walk in the integrity of our original design, in His likeness and image (“Be thou perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”), looking up toward the Heavens, not down towards earthly things. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:16–17.
The next time someone tells you that you evolved from a beast, remind them of Scripture: your flesh may be from the dust, but your stature and spiritual nature were made upright to contain the image and Spirit of God.
In love and light.
Read more about the Big Bang in “Seventy Years.”
What is “Righteous Indignation”?
Last updated on July 18th, 2026