Splainin’ Lucy! – Part 5

Thank you for sticking it out!!   We’ve covered a lot of information about evolution and fossils.  If you missed any of the past articles, I hope you’ll go back and take a look at them.  You’ll find the links at the end of this article.
Our prayer is that when the topics of human evolution or fossils arise, you will be better equipped to discuss and refute unbiblical thinking.  Of course we remind you that in giving an answer for the reason of the hope that is in you…always do it with meekness and fear. 
We’ve covered the claims made about the eyes & skull, hips & knees and the hands & feet, of Lucy!  Using only secular material we’ve shown that what is seen in museums and on television programs, depicting Lucy as an upright walking apelike ancestor, is not what the observational evidence shows.  So, with no further delay, let’s finish this short study on Lucy.
In order to answer, once and for all, the question of whether Lucy was a missing link between apes and humans, I will once again use secular sources.  This time we’ll go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
In 2008 I spoke in Shrevesport, LA.  Five hours away at that time, the Houston Museum of Natural Science had an exhibit of the fossil evidence for Lucy called “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia”.   Many Shrevesport school children had been taken to Houston to see Lucy’s bones.  
Some that had seen the exhibit shared with me how they felt it was almost like going to a church service.  The students were told to be on their best behavior, and to be very quite and respectful as they looked at these bones.  Children were shushed by docents, even if they spoke quietly, in the vicinity of the bones.
The experience relayed by the children brought to mind my early experiences in the church.  They were nearly identical.  Now, please don’t think that I’m advocating not being respectful or being loud and obnoxious in a museum.  That’s not the case at all.  But, to not be allowed to speak because we are looking at monkey bones just strikes me as being wrong.
What first came to my mind was, We’re not going to wake Lucy up!  That monkey’s been dead for a long time! 
Anyway, the Houston Museum of Natural Science produced a “Teacher’s Curriculum Guide” that corresponded with the “Lucy” exhibit.  

I was able to obtain a copy of this guide and will allow them to answer once and for all if “Lucy” is one of our ancestors.  Here’s what it said:

“For many years, Lucy was thought to be a direct human ancestor, but we now see her as belonging to a separate group of hominids from those which became our species, Homo sapiens.” (“ifest 2008, Out of Africa: The Three Journeys” page 20)
Just so you don’t think I’m cherry picking, here’s another source stating the same thing.  In April 2007, The Jerusalem Post featured an article with this headline:
“Israeli researchers: ‘Lucy’ is not direct ancestor of humans”
Well, so much for our supposed ancestor, Lucy.  
Let me give you one more piece of evidence to support my position.  It’s from the David Koch, Hall of Human Origins Exhibit in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  This most definitely is not a place that is friendly toward Creation or Creationist!  I lead tours through here and it’s amazing at how the docents will challenge you when you teach something other than the evolutionary position.

As you look at this diagram please notice the branch that moves off to your left.  It is entitled the “Australopithecus group”.  “Lucy” is the top left image in that group.  This image clearly shows that “Lucy” is not in the human lineage.
In another exhibit you will see this:

Let me focus in on one small portion of this graphic.

Can you see that?  It reads,
“The last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees lived between 8 and 6 million years ago.  We do not yet have its remains.”
I rest my case!  For now please allow us to say, “Thank you” for your time. It’s been a lot of material to cover and if this has whet your appetite we encourage you to do further study on fossil evidence.  Feel free to share with us anything of interest that you might “unearth.” (pun intended!) 
Stay bold,
Carl & the rforh Team