Experts

[jmwhalen]

Romans 7:18: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing...."

http://start.earthlink.net/article/top?gui...0420-1081975951

Expert: Apes May Be Key to Human Nature

April 20, 2005 8:11 PM EDT

DES MOINES, Iowa - Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh sounds like a proud mother when she speaks about her brood of bonobos, eight ultra-intelligent apes that will take part in unique language research meant to shed light on their nature and maybe our own.

The first two bonobos will make the 16-hour road trip from the Language Research Center at Georgia State University to their new $10 million, 13,000-square-foot home near downtown Des Moines later this month. All eight - three females and five males - will arrive at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa by mid-May.

Bonobos, a species of ape from the Congo, are the most like humans, Savage-Rumbaugh said. They constantly vocalize "as though they are conversing" and often walk upright.

"If you want to find a human-like creature that exists in a completely natural state ... that creature is the bonobo," said Savage-Rumbaugh, an experimental psychologist who is one of the world's leading ape-language researchers.

If the apes are able to learn language, music and art, once thought to be distinct to humans, then "it strongly suggests that those things are not innate in us," she said.

"Those are things that we have created, and create anew and build upon from one generation to the next ..." she said. "Then we have the power to change it and make it any other way. We could have an ideal world, if we but learn how to do it."

The bonobos will be able to cook in their own kitchen, tap vending machines for snacks, go for walks in the woods and communicate with researchers through computer touchscreens. The decor in their 18-room home includes an indoor waterfall and climbing areas 30 feet high.

The longevity of the project is unlike any other.

The animals, which have a life span of up to about 50 years, will be allowed to mate and have families - and develop cultures that will be studied for generations to come, Savage-Rumbaugh said.

Visitors are allowed, but they must understand that the Great Ape Trust is not a zoo, she said.

Using a network of cameras and computers, the bonobos can see visitors who ring the doorbell - and will be able to choose through a computer touchscreen who will be permitted into a secured viewing area.

"Only if they want to open the door can you enter," Savage-Rumbaugh said.

Karen Killmar, an associate curator at the San Diego Zoo, said the Great Ape Trust is unlike other research programs.

"There's studies all over the place in terms of intelligence and learning ability and behavior," she said, "but to be able to sort of pull it all together in one place I think is a wonderful opportunity to give us a much clearer picture of what our closest relatives are."

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On the Net:

The Great Ape Trust: http://www.iowagreatapes.org/

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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My "expert" commentary:

What would we do without these "experts"? Perhaps this "expert" 's name, Savage-Rumbaugh, inadvertently spoke some truth about "human nature"- kinda like "Balaam' ass", eh?

Gee, I guess searching the scriptures(Acts 17:11) for the LORD God's declaration of the truth of man's inherent nature is just too "unlearned and ignorant"(Acts 4:13), and just isn't enlightened enough for our "modern, civilized" society! We need an "expert" to "set us straight" on this "deep philosophical mystery"(kinda like the Roman Catholic "Magesterium", don't ya think?!).

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5

"...the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth...." Genesis 8:21

"How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?" Job 15:16

" Behold, I am vile...." Job 40:4

"they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Psalms 53:3(Romans 3:12)

"... the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Eclessiastes 8:11

"...yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead." Eclessiastes 9:3

"...neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." Jeremiah 3:17

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

"And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." Jeremiah 18:12

"If ye then, being evil...." Matthew 7:11(Luke 11:13)

"And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7:20-23(Matthew 15:18-19)

"...and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Ephesians 2:3

As all believers should know, as it is written:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God..." Romans 3:23

According to this so-called"expert opinion","....Then we have the power to change it and make it any other way. We could have an ideal world, if we but learn how to do it."

Gee, Adam and Eve had "an ideal world", and it didn't seem to help them " walk upright", now did it?

No, the Holy Bible's constant unifying theme is that regeneration("learn how to do it"), and the whole transforming work of redemption, are accomplished solely on the ground of the sacrificial blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection 3 days later; and if these statements of scripture are rejected, whether that rejection come from a so-called "EXPERT", such as John M. Whalen, "the pope", a priest, a nun, a minister, a "reverend", a pastor, a bishop, an elder, a so-called "biblical expert", a "theologian", a "professor", "philosopher", or extra-biblical authority(for example, the "Book of Mormon", the Watch Tower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Catholic Catechism............), the discussion can never be one of interpretation of the scriptures, but it becomes a question of the authority of the testimony of the scriptures.

In Christ,

John M. Whalen

PS:

1. Any one have some "opinions" on how one might qualify as an "expert"? Never mind! I just proved I am an "expert" in sarcasm(besides being an "expert" Sports commentator and TV trivia master, as Wayne would verify).

2. Apes are our "closest relatives"? Gee, I am so confused about my family tree! My "great, great, great, great........................grandad ", "Grandpa Sludge", never passed this information on to my family!