Of course there are differences. There are also differences between glasses and mugs, tables and chairs, Baptists and Anglicans, etc. That's not to say that you can't classify them as belonging in some of the same categories.
Biology's method of classifying Hominoids (Apes) doesn't take the potential to become a child of God or lack-there-of into account.
Thanks, but 17 years of weekly church attendance means I'm already aware of how you could become a child of God if you so desired.
17 years , then you should be aware of the classification God puts you in.The Bible explains in detail why God made man. It reveals our purpose for existence. It provides instruction on ideal human conduct. It shows our ultimate potential.
Genesis 1:25-27.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Take note of how clearly God delineates the human kingdom from the animal kingdom? In verse
25, God explained how He made each species of animal after its own kind, the cattle after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. But read verses
26-27 again: God made man after the God kind!
He didnt just create humans as a separate kingdom higher than that of the animals; He created humans after the God kind, with a colossal potential that no animal can
ever have. One person wrote: This revealed knowledge of Gods purpose for mankindof mans incredible awesome potential
staggers the imagination. Science knows nothing of itno religion reveals it
and certainly higher education is in utter ignorance of it
So if you want to classify yourself a beast of the feild because of what fallible man comes up with,thats fine. For me I will stick to the unfailling, infallibe, classification God puts me in. The difference is obvious between the two and as I have been saying the difference should be our focus.
I too have been attending church for over a decade and I guess another difference between you and I is I cant wait to get back in there. I was glad when they said unto me. "let us go into the house of the Lord"