Man

AN INGENIOUS CONSTRUCTION

There is a fundamental question which follows all of us throughout life: Where do we actually come from? Closely connected to this, the very next question is: Why do we live here for a time, and what comes after that—will our existence be snuffed out forever, or do we continue to exist forever in another place?

There are ultimately only two answers to this problem:

• Model A: Evolutionary theorists and atheists tell us we just happened to arise from matter over millions of years via a process which involved no intelligence or plan, and no goal or purpose. For each of us, death is the end of everything, and there is no God, either, to whom we would one day be accountable.

• Model B: In contrast to this is the testimony of the Bible, according to which an almighty and all-knowing Maker created us with plan and purpose. Death is indeed the endpoint of our earthly existence, but at the same time it is the beginning of eternal life, for our Creator desires fellowship with us in Heaven.

These explanations are so far apart that one or the other must be absolutely false. From the perspective of 21st century knowledge, which one emerges as viable? Let’s look at a few of our sensory organs and other distinctive parts of the human body to determine whether the concepts involved either reveal no sign of intelligence, or bear its hallmarks. In conjunction with this, we’ll also look at relevant passages of the Bible. For each of these parts of the human body contemplated, we will determine which of the two models should be assigned a point in its favour.

Our Sense of Touch

Distributed over the entire skin

Each square centimetre of our skin has an amazing 6 million cells and 5,000 sensory receptors which enable our sense of touch. Everything we feel, whether heat, cold, smoothness, roughness or pain, is transmitted to the brain from every point on our skin. This requires an extremely dense network of transmission lines, plus clever coding, so that the brain can perceive every sensation according to its type and location. This information network outside the brain is 380,000 kilometres long.

Who planned this network; who laid these high-tech lines, and conceived of a program for the brain that is able to properly identify all these signals? Such a high-grade, goal-oriented intelligent system can scarcely have emerged without plan or purpose! The point must clearly be given to Model B.

The Ear

High-precision technology on display

The human ear has the unimaginable capacity to detect sound energy differences over a range of one to one trillion (= 10₁₂ ). No technological device can attain this without switchover of its measurement range. The sensitivity of the ear approaches the limit of what is physically possible. This is achieved via a two-stage conversion between three forms of signal—from a mechanical to a hydraulic signal, and finally to an electrical one.

The same sound first reaches the eardrum directly, and then once more, a five-thousandth of a second later, after it has circulated in the ‘shell’ or auricle of the outer ear. From these four values (two from each ear), the brain generates a further two signals via correlation. Due to this ingenious calculation in the brain, it’s as if we were hearing with six ears.

This sophisticated technology permits an acoustic analysis that lets us recognise the direction, location and movement of sound sources in all spatial planes. Furthermore, during a conversation with several persons, we are able to push that which is unimportant to us into the background, while consciously accentuating other aspects. No manmade technology can do that. How did this brilliant structure come to be? Can a process with no goal in mind bring something like this about? Of course not! The Psalmist gives us the short, accurate answer: He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? (Psalm 94:9) The ear did not come about through any evolutionary process; its origin is based upon an ingenious act of intelligent creation. Model B therefore gets the point to be assigned.

Blood

A universal transport medium

Our blood performs functions vital for life. It provides every cell with fuel from nutrients, as well as oxygen, vitamins, hormones, and warmth. Similarly, it transports away the waste products of metabolism, as well as excess heat. In a constant state of flow throughout life, the blood remains in an endless loop, in which the heart fills with blood every second, only to immediately expel it again.

A special characteristic of our blood is the presence of red blood cells; 150 million of them in every drop. They get loaded up with oxygen in the lungs, at the same time as they unload the waste metabolite carbon dioxide (CO₂ ). The highly specialised chemical compound they contain, that transports these gases and gives blood its red colour, is haemoglobin. Indispensable for life, one form of it is already in operation during early embryonic development. Then at the fetal stage (from the third month onwards) oxygen demands change, so a different form of haemoglobin, with a different chemical makeup, is needed. Shortly before birth, all those chemical factories again crank up to high capacity in order to start the switchover to the third (adult) form of haemoglobin.

These three haemoglobin types could not have been discovered in some evolutionary way through trial and error, because most other variants would not be able to carry enough oxygen, leading to certain death. On three occasions, different biomachinery is required to make the appropriate haemoglobin type; programmed machinery is also required to switch the production from one type to another at the appro priate point in time. Where did such complex machinery come from? Any sort of evolutionary idea fails utterly here, because any half-finished intermediate stages would have no chance of survival. This point, too, unequivocally goes to Model B.

Our Cells

Building blocks made

up of billions of parts each

Did you know that the human body consists of around 30 trillion cells, each one of which contains at least a hundred times as many molecules as there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy? Considering that our Milky Way comprises at least 100 billion (10₁₁) individual stars, that equals far more than 10₁₃ molecules. If someone wanted to count to just this number (once a second, day and night without interruption), no human life would be long enough. It would take 300,000 years!

Our liver alone has over 140 billion cells. Scientifically, how such huge numbers of cells can organise themselves into an organ vital for life remains wholly unexplained. What sort of program accomplishes this growth? To date no-one has been able to account for this. If all of our learning is insufficient to understand this, how could the purposeless strategy of evolution achieve such a thing? Here also, it’s obvious that the point goes to Model B.

DNA

Information storage technology

still beyond computers

The most valuable material in the body—the genome, the genetic information—is stored in the interior of the cell, in its microscopically small nucleus. Here, everything required for the makeup of the body (e.g. construction of the organs and limbs, manufacture of all the necessary chemical compounds) is precisely programmed. Herewith is a graphic way of understanding the virtually unimaginable information density in the DNA molecule: The amount of information within 15 trillion paperbacks, each of 160 pages, could be stored within a volume of DNA that would fit inside a pinhead! If these books were stacked one on top of the other, it would make a pile that was 500 times higher than the distance the moon is from the earth. Guess which model gets the point here?

Our Brain

The most complex

structure in the universe

The brain is the central, primary organ of our nervous system; it steers, oversees and coordinates almost all processes in our organism. It gathers and evaluates sensory inputs, stores them, and generates meaningful responses to them. Virtually nothing is known about the actual way the brain processes information. Only one thing is certain: It must contain a large number of sophisticated programs able to process, allocate and coordinate all incoming and outgoing information. All of this needs to happen in real time with parallel processing. We don’t know how memories are stored and retrieved. Also, no one knows how we come up with new ideas, nor how the brain cooperates interactively with our non-material part, the soul.

The brain consists of about 100 billion nerve cells (neurons)—about the same order of magnitude as the number of stars in our Milky Way. Each neuron communicates with thousands of other neurons over connections called synapses. This is a network of the highest complexity. Here too, a clearcut point victory goes to Model B.

Awareness

In this world and the next

All the functions of the sensory organs of our present body come to an end with our death. So is death the absolute end of the line, as atheists—indeed, most evolutionists—assume? To this the Bible clearly says NO! In accordance with God’s plan, we are created as eternal beings, whose existence is never extinguished.

In Luke 16, Jesus tells of two people, whose earthly existence ended through bodily death. But immediately afterwards they find themselves in the world beyond, in full awareness. For one of them, a rich man, God had played no part in his concept of life. The other—Lazarus—while poor, knew God as His sustainer during life. Jesus depicts both situations after death: “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side” (Luke 16:22–23). So both have departed this world through death and now find themselves in a wholly other place. Although previously they lived in the same city, their abodes are now radically different. One experiences glory, the other finds himself in a place of torment.

Life does not end with biological death for any of us. We have a reliable information source for this fact. In the resurrection, the transformation from earthly to eternal body takes place: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44, see also v. 42). For our eternal abode, the Bible names two extremely different places, Heaven and Hell, or the place of glory in the presence of God and the place of damnation, separated from God.

Were we to describe Heaven and Hell, we could do so from the standpoint of the senses; both are places of awareness—we will experience either that which is eternally lovely, or eternally dreadful. Which one will be our destination will depend on our position concerning Jesus Christ—specifically, whether we believe in and follow Him, or not. We can say that here also the point needs to be assigned to Model B, because atheists have no information source for their viewpoint.

Man

An ingenious and

planned construction

From just the few details contemplated here, it’s already obvious that without any doubt, the construction of our body displays immense ingenuity. So it makes little sense to assume that we are the result of a planless process carried out by matter left to itself. Unless we accept an act of creation, we become trapped in a thicket of speculative evolutionary thought patterns, which fail the test of reality. According to Romans 1:19–20, when we contemplate His works, the intellectual conclusion that there is a Creator is more than compelling, for “his invisible attributes ... [are] clearly perceived ... in the things that have been made.” It’s easy to understand that all points unequivocally had to be given to Model B.

According to the Bible, there was a plan underlying the creation of mankind: “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). The execution of this plan followed immediately afterward: “So God created man in his own image ... male and female” (v. 27). The New Testament takes us deeper into the Creator’s thoughts and says of the person of the Creator: “For by him [Jesus Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16). Of Jesus it is said: “whom he [God] appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:2).

In John 14:6 Jesus makes the radical claim: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is thus the only gateway to the heavenly kingdom. It therefore holds true: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). So ask the Lord Jesus to forgive all your sins, so that you might be able to pass God’s judgement at His tribunal. Acknowledge Him in prayer as your Creator, accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour, and follow Him.

Director and Professor (retired)

Dr Werner Gitt Ph.D.

Information scientist

Title of the original German edition: Der Mensch – Eine geniale Konstruktion | Author’s home page: www.wernergitt.com | Translation from the German: Dr Carl Wieland

Publisher: Bruderhand-Medien, Am Hofe 2, 29342 Wienhausen, Germany, Telefon: +49 (0)5149 9891-0, Fax: -19, Homepage: www.bruderhand.de

E-Book-Date: 26.09.2020. Best.-Nr. 129-3: | Englisch/English | 1st edition 2020