Amazing Ancient Achievements

Were our forefathers the ignorant, unlearned "nitwits" that many people today make them out to be? Did they resemble the brutish, club-carrying cavemen that Hollywood movies show-savages who communicated by using grunts and groans rather than real language? Did our ancestors really lack the brainpower to build houses, erect monuments, and count time by watching the Sun, Moon, and stars? Absolutely not!

Research shows that many of our ancestors were very intelligent. Take, for in­ stance, the ancient Egyptians. More than 4,000 years ago, they built great pyramid­ shaped "tombs" in which to bury their dead kings. One of these tombs, known as the Great Pyramid, stood nearly 500 feet high. [That is three times taller than the Statue of Liberty, and almost as tall as the Washington Monument-the tallest stone structure in the world!] The Great Pyramid was made of over 2 million blocks of stone that had to be cut, transported, and assembled to create the almost 6-million-ton structure. To this day, modern man still does not know how the Egyptians built such a pyramid. What an amazing accomplishment!

The ancient Mayans are another example of our "finely tuned" forefathers. More than one thousand years before astronomers found that the length of a year was precisely 365.2422 days, the Mayans (without computers or modern measuring devices) calculated it to be 365.2420 days long. They also figured the orbit of Venus to be 584 days, when current science shows it at 583.92 days. Amazing! What accu­racy! What intelligence!

As you would expect, the Bible verifies these historical facts. By reading just the first six chapters of Genesis you learn that: (1) Adam was created with the ability to speak a language (naming all of the animals God brought to him the very day of his creation); (2) Jubal, one of Cain's descendants, "was the father of all those who play the harp and flute" (4:21); (3) Tubal-Cain, Jubal's half­brother, formed tools out of bronze and iron (4:22); and (4) Noah built an ark bigger than many modern-day cruise ships. All of these things were accomplished without electronic calculators or lightning-fast computers.

Truth be told, our ancestors were no dummies; man has been intelligent since the beginning of time. God made us that way. He created us in His own image (Genesis 1:26- 27), and crowned us with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).

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