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Discovery Magazine 09/01/2009


Human Languages

by  A.P. Staff

Our ability to speak in words came from God. Adam and Eve (and all
human beings since) were created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27). Among other things, that means we were created to speak by means of language. Animals were not created in God's image. They cannot speak like people can speak.

Adam and Eve, and all people up to Noah's day, spoke the same language. But sometime after the Flood, God directly intervened at the Tower of Babel, and caused people to begin speaking several different languages. Since that time, thousands of languages and dialects have developed from the original languages that God brought into existence at Babel. Archaeological evidence shows that humans have had the ability to speak (and write) language from the very beginning of human history.

If evolution were true, all human languages should have evolved from an original primitive language (which itself came from the grunts and noises of lower animals). But the evidence does not support this idea. The evidence suggests that all languages have developed from a few (perhaps less than twenty) languages. These "proto-languages" were distinct within themselves. They did not come from a previous ancestral language. These few "mother" languages came from God Himself when He brought them into existence at the Tower of Babel. God's action forced the people to cluster
together with others who spoke their own distinct language. Just as we must talk to each other in words to communicate, so God talks to us through His Word (1 Corinthians 2:4-14). 



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Advanced Reader: Amazing Teeth Designed by God

by Eric LyonsGod’s “fingerprints” are all around us (Psalm 19:1; Isaiah 6:3)—even in the structures we call teeth. From the elephant’s 10-foot-long tusks to the beaver’s buckteeth, children will enjoy improving their reading skills while learning about the brilliantly designed teeth of several amazing creatures.

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