There Are Six Kingdoms of Life—Do We Need a Seventh?

Okay, here’s my “radical” challenge. When students are taught in biology classes about the kingdoms of life, they’re usually taught that there are six different kingdoms, including the animal kingdom. Now, humans have physical characteristics like a mammal’s and are classified in the animal kingdom.

This evolutionary view has great bearing on how young people understand humanity’s place in this world.

But should there be only six kingdoms of life? Well, I’m going to suggest that we shouldn’t just use the system the secular world uses, particularly if there’s a good reason for making such a change. And I believe there is a very important reason for going from six kingdoms to seven kingdoms—with the seventh kingdom being the human kingdom. And that is because of how students are being indoctrinated in evolutionary dogma, particularly in regard to anthropology. This evolutionary view has great bearing on how young people understand humanity’s place in this world.

Over the past 40 years, I’ve talked about the creation/evolution issue and warned people that the more students believe they’re just animals who evolved from apelike creatures, the more they’ll view humans as having no more value than animals. And the more human life is devalued, the more we’ll see our culture viewing abortion and euthanasia as just getting rid of a living being who has no more value than an animal.

A good example of how people are being brainwashed to believe humans are just animals comes from a local zoo.

Think about all the children with their parents visiting a zoo’s ape enclosure and being told by the signs that they’re visiting their “family.” As they read the sign, they’re told, “There is no sharp line dividing us from the chimpanzees and the other apes . . . We humans are a part of, and not separate from, the animal kingdom.” Thus, they’re indoctrinated to believe they’re of no more value than a chimp. (This is why we have live animal programs and a variety of different animals at Ararat Ridge Zoo at the Ark Encounter and Eden Zoo at the Creation Museum—so we can teach guests to think about animals from a biblical worldview perspective!)

From a biblical worldview perspective, humans are different from animals. Only human beings are made in the image of God.

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26)

God made animals differently.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” (Genesis 1:24)

When God created Adam, he brought the animals to Adam for him to name to show Adam that there was no one like him, as none of the animals were made in God’s image, “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:20). He didn’t consider an ape to be anything like him!

Because of the emphasis today that man is just an animal—a teaching which affects people’s view of humanity and therefore how they view various moral issues—I suggest Christians use the criterion “made in the image of God,” for an additional kingdom. This would place man in his own kingdom: the human kingdom.

We need our children to understand that humans are special and made in God’s image, whereas animals are not made in God’s image. This knowledge is foundational to understanding great moral evils such as abortion. You see, right from fertilization, a human exists who is made in God’s image. So abortion is not just killing an animal, but killing a human being made in the image of God. And remember, God said, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

We need our children to understand that humans are special and made in God’s image, whereas animals are not made in God’s image.

This knowledge is also foundational to properly understanding the moral evil of euthanasia (assisted suicide). When children understand all humans are made in God’s image no matter how old they are, or their level of ability, or what problems or health struggles they may have, they understand that, like abortion, euthanasia is murder.

God’s Word never changes. But the models, such as biological classification, that man has devised to understand the world are subject to change. And because of the way the secular world is indoctrinating students to believe man is just another evolved animal, we should change the way we teach about human beings.

Help Teach Children the Truth About Biology

It matters what we teach people, especially children and young people! If you’re passionate about education—and not just education, but biblical worldview education—come and join us at our K-12 Christian school, Answers Academy here in N. Kentucky. We’re hiring for a wide variety of positions, including:

• High School Science Teacher
• Middle School Teacher (Math Focus)
• Part-Time High School Spanish Teacher
• Fifth Grade Teacher

Check out our full list of job postings for Answers Academy on our website and apply today. And please help us spread the word by sharing this information with Christian teachers you know!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.