Instinct Instincts are among the most fascinating aspects of the natural world. They are amazing, mysterious, and virtually miraculous since they are not only the source of complex behavior but also have a source which itself is so complex that it defies natural explanation. From walking to bicycling, humans learn most of their skills. Yet, they share in common with animals the fact that they are also capable of some critical behaviors before they have even had any opportunity to learn them. Though humans are by far the most intelligent creatures and are the least dependent on instincts for survival, at least thirteen instincts have been identified in babies. While some, like the sense of self-preservation and the urge to reproduce, are common to all creatures, including humans, others are distinctive to species. Some animal instincts are so complex that humans, despite their much greater intelligence, are capable of reproducing them only with the aid of intense training and sophisticated equipment. For instance, many species of animals are instinctively capable of swimming, navigation, and echolocation, whereas humans have acquired these skills only through education, practice, and technology. One of the more remarkable examples of instinctive behavior is the migration of the monarch butterfly. About early spring, these butterflies, which have overwintered in a forest in central Mexico, make a journey of as much as 3,000 miles as far north as Canada. Then, before the return of winter kills them, they must retreat to Mexico. Yet, so precise is their sense of direction and homing ability that, not only do they return to the same location, but some even to the same tree. Nevertheless, the major difference which sets apart the monarch’s migration from that of other animals is the fact that it is the fourth - sixth generation, or the great-grandchildren of those that left Mexico, that make it back there several months later for the next overwintering. Generations two, three, and four, are born, live, breed, and die during the migration. Thus, they return by a route they have never traveled, to a place where they never were. Such wonderful instincts raise two important considerations. First, instincts point to a God as the only source of their existence. Though genes seem to prepare the brain and body for instincts to work, instincts themselves are not encoded in the DNA, and even if one generation did genetically pass instinctive information or ability to the next, it would still have to be asked how the genes to hold such detailed information could have been formed or encoded with it. Why is it more credible to believe that non- intelligence created something so complex, than to believe that intelligence (i.e., God) created it? Second, while humans, like animals, have instincts, they also have the intelligence to control them. Indeed, they must; otherwise, they will be destroyed by them. Yet, there is one very important instinct which is unique to humans that they have often ignored to their great peril. That is the intuitive need to worship their Creator and recognize the distinctions He makes between moral right and wrong. Paul said, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, … they show the work of the Law written in their hearts …” (Rom. 2:14,15). This is the one instinct which God gave them to override the indiscriminate and harmful exercise of others. Otherwise, “… the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed” (Jude 10).