Credit USAID Africa Bureau, Wikipedia, Public Domain
So, have you ever heard the term “Humanzee”?
Most of us have probably never heard that name, but it is easy to decipher. Imagine a cross between a human and a chimpanzee.
Also, imagine a dedicated Atheist, who want to prove that there is no God. If humans are what Darwin described, descendants of ancient apes who climbed down from the trees, where monkeys lived, and then learned to walk upright, on only two legs.
If we follow the story of human evolution, as described by scientists who do not believe in the existence of God, those ancient apes evolved to become us, and there is no need for God the creator, in the universe.
There is a famous experiment, that happened about one hundred years ago, in the nineteen twenties. A Russian scientist named Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov wanted to create a human – chimpanzee hybrid, and he was inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution.
For him, humans and chimpanzees were closely related animals, and he believed he could prove that with his new hybrid, the Humanzee. This would be an animal like a mule, a cross between a horse and a donkey, and the Humanzee idea made sense to Atheist and Evolutionary scientists.
When the Communists came to power in Russia, he appealed to them for support. Every Communist was required to be an Atheist, and Dr. Ivanov’s ideas appealed to them. Apparently, the Communist dictator of Soviet Russia had another interest in the experiment. He wanted to create an army of hybrid ape-men who could fight wars with great ferocity and not much complaining.
This may sound like a strange science fiction story, but apparently it really happened. A team of Soviet Russian scientists and technicians travelled to Guinea, in West Africa. In those years, African countries were European colonies, and Guinea was governed by the French.
The Communist Russians inseminated a female Chimpanzee with human semen, but she did not become pregnant. When the French authorities learned what the Russians were doing, they were shocked and disgusted, and ordered them to leave the country.
The research team travelled back to Soviet Russia, but they brought some African passengers with them; several male Chimpanzees. The plan was to extract semen from a male chimpanzee, and inseminate at least one human female.
I am not making this up.
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator had supported the project with a generous financial grant, and he expected results. When the last viable male chimpanzee died, in captivity, the experiment collapsed, and Dr. Ivanov was sent to a Gulag prison camp, and he probably died a miserable death there.
Stalin was not pleased.
Here is one brief video about the Russian scientist Ivanov:
You can learn more about this experiment by searching the term “humanzee” on the Internet. You will also find stories about Oliver, a Chimpanzee that seemed to be a human – chimpanzee hybrid, to many people.
Oliver lived mostly in the U.S. and became an international celebrity, as famous as a movie star. He was famous for walking on his two back legs, more like a human than an ape.
Eventually genetic scientists were able to prove that Oliver was completely chimpanzee, with no human genetic content, and his fame faded, but there are many articles and videos on the Internet.
There are rumors about other Humanzee experiments, in places like Communist China and even in the U.S., but so far, no useful scientific evidence has been found. Scientists have not yet proven that chimpanzees and humans are really the same, on the evolutionary tree.
So, what is the lesson for us? These stories are entertaining, and we might be like the French authorities in Guinea; shocked and disgusted. Beyond reactions, we could think about our human condition.
I am writing as a Christian, and I know that I am like millions of others, I have converted and now I am travelling on a new path. My life has a new direction.
The words in the Bible are:
Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you … (Ephesians 4: 22 to 25)
If a Christian claims that they have made a choice, and their life in travelling on a new path, probably no-one would be surprised. We should also understand, but everyone who is living a life has chosen a path. We are more than what we are, we are also what we will become. If we honestly follow the path that we have chosen, we will travel to new places.
A scientific research project with chimpanzees and humans could make sense to someone who sincerely believes that there is no God, and that we are all products of random evolution. Every direction has a destination, every life choice gives a future direction.
I believe we should all be reminded that every life has a direction, and we each choose our own road, and every road has a future destination. That explains some odd things in history; we become more of what we are.
We must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up. (Hebrews 12: 1 to 3)
