If you have a disorder, I have just said a little prayer for God to reveal His good purpose to you, if you do love Him. We know that even the great Apostle Paul had a “thorn in his side” that God left there for a purpose. Yours may be a penalty or it may be a teaching tool.
Part of my problems were brought on by my pride.
Your comment about having no reason to be penalized for anything is a bit of a red flag, wouldn’t you say? (“For all of us have sinned and fall short…”). Just saying…
No. Where did I say I had no reason to be penalized for anything?
Sorry if I miss interpreted, “Are you hinting that God wants to penalize me? For what?”
Then tell me the reasons God wants to penalize me.
I don’t know, Beaglelady. You would know far better than I.
Every good parent disciplines their children, but as I mentioned, this may just be a teaching tool. My final suggestion is to wait and watch closely for the good purpose. It always shows up eventually for me. Maybe He just wants more of your attention. He doesn’t mind questions but He dislikes being ignored, especially when He works so hard for us. This is a facet of our Atomic Biology project.
Perhaps He just wanted us to have this discussion to help bring us closer to Him.
Nice corresponding with you.
Tom
Tom
I share your wonder at the way biological systems work. And I agree that just as the “Heavens proclaim the glory of God” so do all living cells. But we need to be careful about ascribing specific aspects of biological function to God guided processes. I dont know if you are saying that all biological processes are too complex and too amazing to be explained by natural processes, but if you are, then as John Mullen said, it would be a mistake. We know an awful lot of the detailed mechanisms by which biology works. That includes your example of red blood cell genesis and hemoglobin synthesis, and pretty much all of physiology. I suggest that it would be very beneficial for your project to pick up a basic molecular biology textbook and study it. You will be inspired and refreshed in your faith in the wonders of God’s works, but you will also be able to avoid trying to fill gaps of our real knowledge that are actually not there. Such study should point you in the right direction to apply your ideas of God’s design in the right place. Peace.
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Good idea. And any biology book you look at is going to start with a chapter on the chemical basis for life.
Sy, I would be happy to read a molecular biology textbook that gives God credit for the wonders of His works. Could you recommend one or two for me?
Thanks.
Tom
Yes, we are definitely wonderfully made of chemical elements. However it takes a lot more than just chemical reactions to build cells and assemble them into living entities, doesn’t it.
With all our accumulated scientific intelligence, knowledge and special equipment, we cannot build even one significant part of a cell from scratch. That is why we should not expect an unintelligent process to be capable of building whole living entities.
Atoms have no internal means to move themselves into their precise position in a cell, therefore they require an intelligent external force to precisely select and place them.
English speaking people and governments call this force “God”, as “In God We Trust.”
Why don’t you start with a course in chemistry? Go to coursera.org and find some free courses online.
Tom
I dont know of any basic biology texts that include any mention of God. But I do recommend Francis Collins The Language of God, which included a good deal of information about how DNA works. It is a very important book for Christians and those who want to incorporate science into their faith based world view. Its written by one of the most outstanding scientists in the world. (and btw, the founder of this organization and web site)
I have an award in chemistry, dear Beaglelady.
What kind of award?
Thank you, Sy. I had not found any such textbooks either.
I purchased and read Collins’ book shortly after it was published, and underlined many points and turned down many page-corners. Your message prompted me to pull the book off the shelf and open it up once again.
In the second paragraph of his Introduction he states, _"The human genome consists of all the DNA of our species, the hereditary code of life. This newly revealed text was 3 billion letters long, and written in a strange and cryptographic four-letter code. Such is the amazing complexity of the information carried within each cell of the human body, that a live reading of that code at a rate of one letter per second would take thirty-one years, even if reading continued day and night. Printing these letters out in regular font size on normal bond paper and binding them all together would result in a tower the height of the Washington Monument. For the first time on that summer morning this amazing script, carrying within it all of the instructions for building a human being, was available to the world."
We now know that when our cells are made from the atoms in our digestive system, the majority of them have a DNA molecule such as Collins describes. Every persons DNA in unique, although much of the coding is the same.
But the DNA in each cell has to be assembled with the right numbers of the right atoms precisely placed, doesn’t it.
It is now over 10 years later since Collins’ team made this discovery of the “…instructions for building a human being…”, and we still can’t build one significant part of one cell using atoms, let alone building a whole DNA molecule.
Doesn’t this tell us that a super-intelligent, dextrous, reliable, and careful force has to do this physical work of assembling all parts of every cell, as well as adding the “breath-of-life” to the otherwise inanimate atoms? Then, of course, the cells have to be precisely assembled, wired with nerves, and plumbed with blood vessels. We know who the builder, electrician, and plumber is, don’t we.
These are just some of God’s wondrous works.
Our proposed science of atomic biology is established to study and apply this amazing work.
Hopefully, the majority of scientists still want to go where the evidence leads, even if they are under duress to disallow “a divine foot in the door”, as Lewontin said.
Tom
Wondrous works indeed. I do have one more suggestion for you. I have spent well over 40 years studying biology, and then working in biological research, and am very familiar with some of the mechanisms of physiology and genetics. So, my suggestion is to spend very little time on investigating how animal bodies work, in other words, the assembly of tissues from cells, innervation by nerve fibers and the intricate patterns of blood vessels and capillaries. There are some basic mysteries about how all of this can happen, but not very many, and there is a vast amount of knowledge that you might not have access to.
My advice is to focus on the individual cell, like a bacterium, which is far simpler than the kinds of cells in our own bodies, but still contains an amazing degree of extremely complex molecular systems. We do have knowledge of almost all of the mechanisms of how these systems work, but almost no knowledge, or even any good theories for how such “simple” cells came to be. If there is any part of biology that is in need of new ideas, that is it. May the Lord bless you, and bless your work.
Thank you so much for your comments, Sy.
As Meyer said in “Signature in the Cell”, “The simplest extant cell, Mycoplasma Genitalium - a tiny bacterium that inhabits the human urinary tract - requires only 482 proteins to perform its necessary functions and 562,000 bases of DNA (just under 1200 base pairs per gene) …” If the first cell was something like this, it is hardly something that could be formed by chance. Our hypothesis is that a super-intelligent force is required to find, sort, select, and precisely place the right numbers of the right atoms to build even the simplest cell.
Thank you for confirming that this area of biology needs the new ideas.
As we are gathering the names of scientists recommending the thorough investigation of the atomic biology concepts, it would be an honor if you would consider being on the list.
Blessings to you and yours, Sy. Have a great weekend.
Tom Rogers
Hello Thomas,
Where do you get the idea that anyone thinks that the first cell had anything remotely resembling the complexity we observe in modern cells?
Are you laboring under the spectacular misconception that evolution produces a ladder instead of a bush of relatedness?[quote=“GodsBiology, post:43, topic:5251”]
Our hypothesis is that a super-intelligent force is required to find, sort, select, and precisely place the right numbers of the right atoms to build even the simplest cell.
[/quote]
Can you point me to an empirical prediction that your hypothesis makes? Please note that “empirical” in this context means what one will directly observe, not subject to any interpretation.
You need to sign up with these guys, benkirk
Benjamin, as a believer in evolution, how do YOU think the first cell was assembled?
I am giving no credit to macro-evolution for anything because our research shows that super-intelligent physical work is essential to build every living cell and entity.
This is work that macro-evolution is incapable of performing because it has no intelligence to use.
One of the beautiful parts of our proposed Godly science of atomic biology is that it is full of empirical predictions, e.g. if a healthy human sperm and a healthy human egg are united in a healthy mother’s womb, the right numbers of the right atoms will be found in the mother’s digestive system, then sorted, selected, and precisely assembled in proper sequence to make every one of the trillions of new cells for all the various complex tissues, organs, bones, blood cells, brain cells, nerves, etc., etc., etc. to build a baby human. Then the right numbers of the right ingested food atoms in the baby’s digestive system will likewise be found, sorted, selected and precisely assembled into the trillions of new cells necessary to build the baby into an adult. The DNA and RNA for most of the cells will be carefully programmed and the necessary breath-of-life added to these assembled inanimate atoms as no cell lives or functions without it. This work is performed brilliantly by the designer and builder for thousands of new people every day. This empirical prediction applies similarly for the construction of every other creature and plant.
We have the privilege of being able to witness God’s type of evolution by observing a crawling caterpillar building its cocoon, then being completely disassembled down to atomic soup, then having most of these same atoms precisely and carefully reassembled into a beautiful flying butterfly. All this super-intelligent physical work is performed in a matter of about 12 days, not millions of years. Correct?
We already know about babies and how they are made, so that doesn’t count as an empirical prediction.
Fertilization occurs in the fallopian tubes; that’s where egg and sperm are united. The fertilized egg must then travel to the uterus and implant there. Sometimes it will implant right in the fallopian tube, causing a dangerous ectopic pregnancy. Many other things can go wrong as well. As a matter of fact, many spontaneous abortions occur in the early days of pregnancy, sometimes before the woman even knows she’s pregnant.
As for digestion, nutrients aren’t necessarily broken down into atoms before being absorbed. Many are broken down into simpler molecules and then absorbed.
Well, that’s a start.