I have a few questions about evolution and the Bible. First of all if we evolved then in 100 million years could humans have evolved into a different animal like how apes apparently evolved into humans? Secondly if evolution is true then that means there were land animals before birds but the Bible says birds were made first. Like for example dinosaurs apparently evolved into birds.

First of all, the Bible does not mention evolution, one way or another. Neither does it explain how the different species which exist today came to be.  What the Genesis creation account does is it gives God credit for creating life and all species, but does not specify how God did this.  Whether it was through a process of evolution or not is not stated, as Genesis 1 is primarily a theological account of creation, not an orderly scientific account.

Second, it is not likely that humans will evolve for the next 100 million years, because surely Jesus will come back a LOT sooner than that!!!  So, the question about our evolving over the next 100 million years is not relevant.

Third, all species are constantly evolving.  The evolution of viruses and bacteria are easily observed in the laboratory.  The evolution of animals, with their longer lifetimes, is much slower, but it is inexorable.  Humans are not now exactly the same as they were 10,000 years ago.  Evolution is always happening.  There is a great deal of genetic diversity among humans today.  Mutations happen.  So does natural selection.  Yet, we are one specie.  What makes us special is not our genetic makeup, but that we are created in God’s image.  Our God-nature includes such things as our having a soul, our being spiritual beings, our having a conscience, our self-awareness, our ability to give and receive love and more.   If humans evolve slowly over time, which they have always done and will continue to do, then this will have no effect on our being made in the image of God.  If we can assume that Jesus will come back either relatively soon, or at least in the next couple of thousand years, the amount of ensuing human evolution will be quite small.  The kind of evolution from a common ancestor to produce the apes, oranangutants, bonobos and gorillas takes millions of years.

About the possible insconsistency in Genesis 1 between the fossil record about birds versus land animals, I believe we should be very cautious to declare this an inconsistency.  The Genesis creation account was never intended by God to be a precise scientific description of what God did in his creation.   It is a description of what God did for sure, but whether modern, Western, scientific standards apply to an ancient Near Eastern genre of writing is not clear.  Also, the words used for living things in Genesis are not precise.  The creation account gives credit to God for creating light, the heavenly bodies, water, land, life in water on land and in the air.  It is not clear that the intent of the Genesis writer was to give a perfectly chronological account of creation.  So, whether it is a lack of chronological exactness, due to the genre of the Genesis account, or whether it is a lack of precision about the words used for the different kinds of species is hard to say.  I believe that the Genesis creation account in Gen 1 is an inspired account of creation, but one appropriate to a people in the second millennium BC.

John Oakes