Gentle Giant

“Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” [Ecclesiastes 7:29]

Perhaps the greatest myth about gorillas is that they are violent creatures. Since they have been featured in monstrous films of fantasy, such as King Kong, we often think of them as aggressive and dangerous. They are actually gentle and will never attack a human unless provoked. Male “silverbacks,” who are the troop leaders, have been observed carefully nurturing an orphaned baby gorilla. In spite of their size, they are shy, non-aggressive, and very calm animals.

Gorillas live in central Africa and are primarily grouped in to Eastern lowland and Western lowland gorillas. Males usually weigh between 300-500 pounds and have very muscular arms that are longer than their legs. A male gorilla can spread his arms eight feet across and is as strong as four to eight strong men. They “knuckle walk” using their long arms. They can grow to over six feet tall and don’t usually stand upright. Adult female gorillas are about half the size of the males. An adult male becomes a silverback at about age 15, when he is fully grown and the hair on his back begins to turn silver colored.

Some scientists go to great lengths to show a connection between the gorilla and humans in order to demonstrate them as our closest ancestors. They show comparisons of DNA, the make-up of hands and feet, abilities to communicate and show expression, using tools, and even their blood types to connect us as relatives some 7 million years ago. Are these plant-eating gentle giants our next closest kin, along with chimpanzees?

The Bible says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). If you take Genesis 1 at face value, there is no room for eons of evolutionary time to eventually produce people! “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (verse 26).

Whose image and likeness do you most want to reflect?