The Wonders of the Human Body — Evidence for the Existence of the Greatest Creator
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Despite the fact that current medical understanding of the human body is still quite limited, the existing knowledge alone is enough to leave us in awe of the intricacy of human anatomy and function. Each system and organ of the body is a masterpiece of creation, and even those seemingly insignificant parts have profound purposes. For example, human hair varies in type, each with different shapes and functions, and they must not be confused. Hair on the head protects the head and also serves an aesthetic purpose, which is why it can grow very long. The Bible says that long hair is a woman's glory, hence women rarely go bald. Eyebrows are there to divert sweat and rainwater away from the eyes, thus they are located above the eyes and curve to the sides. Eyelashes prevent dust and foreign objects from entering the eyes, thus they grow on the edges of the upper and lower eyelids and curve forward in a special arc, so as not to obstruct vision. When closed, the upper and lower eyelashes interlock without poking the eyeball. If eyebrows and eyelashes grew too long, they would impede vision, which is why they never grow as long as head hair or beards. Nasal hair filters the air we breathe, growing on the inner surface of the nostrils and slanting outward. If they grew inward, foreign particles would enter easily but be hard to expel. Armpit hair reduces friction and helps evaporate sweat; without it, people would have to keep their arms raised all day to prevent skin inflammation due to friction and moisture. Armpit hair, based on its function, can't grow as long as head hair nor as short as eyebrows, and it is fine and curly. If it were coarse and straight, it would pierce the skin. The epithelial cells of the intestines also have cilia, which grow downward and move in unison with a wave-like motion from top to bottom, aiding in the downward movement of intestinal contents. The cilia on the epithelium of the trachea and bronchi, however, grow and beat in the opposite direction, upward, to push phlegm to the throat for expulsion. If they followed the usual downward growth, the trachea and bronchi would be blocked by phlegm, making it impossible for a person to survive.
Let's take two simple reflex activities of the human body as examples. When foreign objects invade the nasal cavity or trachea, they trigger two protective reflexes: sneezing and coughing, both aiming to expel the foreign objects. However, because the situations are different, the reflex methods also vary significantly. A foreign object in the nasal cavity is not an emergency, so the sneezing reflex can prepare slowly. It begins with a slow inhalation, opening the mouth, lifting the soft palate to block the nasal cavity, and inhaling enough air through the mouth. Then, the chest and abdominal cavities contract sharply, forcing air out of the lungs quickly. At the climax of the exhalation, the tongue suddenly lifts to block the mouth, forcing the air to shoot out through the nasal cavity, expelling the foreign object from the nose.
However, if a foreign object enters the trachea, it is an extremely urgent situation that requires immediate removal to prevent life-threatening consequences. There is no time to waste, and inhaling is not allowed, as it would push the foreign object deeper and cause suffocation. Therefore, the coughing reflex involves no inhalation. Instead, the glottis closes immediately, while the chest and abdominal cavities explosively contract, drastically increasing the pressure of the remaining air in the lungs. When the pressure reaches its peak, the glottis suddenly opens, and the air bursts out, expelling the foreign object from the trachea through the glottis to the pharynx. At this moment, the soft palate lifts to block the nasal cavity, ensuring the foreign object is expelled through the mouth. If the tongue and soft palate acted the same as during sneezing, the foreign object expelled from the trachea would enter the nasal cavity through the back of the nasal passage, causing further trouble.
In both reflex activities, various body parts must coordinate strictly. Any disruption in coordination will lead to the failure of the entire reflex activity, with potentially severe consequences. Thus, these activities are not random but follow functional requirements and predetermined procedures. These procedures are innate, present in the brain's neural structures (nerve nuclei) at birth, ensuring the survival of infants.
Given the highly advanced computer technology available today, it is possible for humans to artificially simulate these activities. To achieve this, three conditions must be met:
1.Devices that simulate the inhalation, exhalation, and sensory functions of the human mouth, nose, pharynx, trachea, and chest and abdominal cavities.
2.Central control equipment that mimics the nervous system (computers and input/output networks).
These two components constitute the so-called "hardware." However, hardware alone is not sufficient; "software" is also necessary.
3.It is a strictly designed program that controls the activities and sequences of various components, ensuring seamless coordination. All three elements are indispensable, as the entire reflex activity cannot be realized without any one of them.
This software program is not a physical structure but an application of intelligence, a purely mental product. Without the application of intelligence, a program cannot be created. This raises a question: if the computer program is written and pre-stored by humans, who then writes and pre-stores the control programs in the human brain? Sneezing and coughing are merely the simplest examples. In reality, the human body performs countless automatic physiological, biochemical, and pathological control activities, most of which are far more intricate and complex than external reflexes like coughing. Some of these remain beyond human understanding to this day. So, where do these sophisticated and profound control programs come from?
Let's take a look at the human sensory organs. Why do people have two ears? It turns out that a single ear cannot discern the direction of sound. With two ears positioned on either side of the head, the brain can determine the direction of the sound based on the slight difference in the time it takes for the sound to reach each ear. The outermost part of the auditory organ is the auricle, which funnels sound into the external auditory canal.
The auricle contains a thin layer of cartilage that maintains its shape and provides good elasticity, preventing damage upon impact. Without cartilage, the auricle would just be two layers of soft skin hanging on either side of the head, serving no purpose. If it were made of thin hard bone, it would break easily upon impact, and side sleeping would crush the auricle, leaving people's ears incomplete.
The outer part of the external auditory canal has fine hairs to prevent dust and sand from entering, while the inner part secretes cerumen to deter insects. If a foreign object enters the external auditory canal, the reflex action triggered is not sneezing or coughing but shaking the head to dislodge the object. This is because the external auditory canal is a blind tube, and it is impossible to expel foreign objects with air.
Why doesn't a foreign object in the nasal cavity trigger a head-shaking reflex to expel it? This is because the human nasal cavity is almost located in the center of the head, and shaking the head cannot generate enough centrifugal force. Additionally, human nostrils face downward, making head-shaking ineffective for expelling foreign objects.
Sound is produced by the mechanical vibration of objects and is usually transmitted through airwaves, known as sound waves. The human ear is essentially a sophisticated mechanical vibration detector. Within the inner ear, there is a series of basilar membranes of varying sizes, each resonating with specific frequencies to generate corresponding nerve impulses. The brain identifies the intensity, pitch, and timbre of sounds based on these neural impulses.
It is noteworthy that while the human body has many sensory organs, only the inner ear is situated within the densest and most robust bone, the petrous part of the temporal bone. This is because, among all sensory organs, only the ear's function involves monitoring mechanical vibrations, which necessitates a relatively fixed coordinate. Without this fixed coordinate, the detection of sound would be impossible. If the inner ear were located within soft tissue, it would move with the sound waves, like a water lily floating on water, rendering it unable to detect any sound. However, since the inner ear is encased in solid bone, it cannot directly sense air vibrations. Therefore, it is necessary first to convert the air's sound waves into mechanical vibrations before transmitting them to the inner ear.
At the bottom of the external auditory canal, there is indeed such a conversion device: the eardrum (tympanic membrane). The eardrum has a relatively large surface area to receive sufficient air pressure, and its paper-thin texture allows it to vibrate freely with incoming sound waves. Additionally, it is quite resilient and capable of driving the transmission apparatus. The long handle of the malleus bone is attached to the inner side of the eardrum, and the tension created by the malleus handle maintains a slight inward curvature of the eardrum. This tension allows the eardrum to accurately convert incoming sound waves into mechanical vibrations, and it ensures that the vibratory characteristics of the eardrum are unaffected by external temperature changes.
Once sound waves are converted back into mechanical vibrations, they must be transmitted to the inner ear through a rigid object. Among the various tissues in the human body, the most rigid is the skeleton. However, most bones are too cumbersome and are wrapped in thick soft tissue, making them completely unsuitable for transmitting audio vibrations. However, within the tympanic cavity between the eardrum and the inner ear, there are three unique, ultra-miniature bones. These bones are extremely light, measuring only a few millimeters, and are almost completely exposed to the air in the tympanic cavity. They are connected by ligaments to form an arc-shaped conduction chain, possessing excellent audio vibration characteristics. This chain can accurately transmit the vibrations of the eardrum to the inner ear. This transmission system can amplify weaker vibrations appropriately and buffer overly strong sound waves. All of these features represent a highly sophisticated design that fully meets the requirements of acoustic physics.
The ingenuity of the auditory organs does not end here. For the eardrum to vibrate freely with incoming sound waves, both sides of the eardrum must be exposed to air. Thus, the middle ear contains an air-filled tympanic cavity. If this cavity were filled with liquid like other body cavities, the eardrum would be unable to vibrate because liquids cannot be compressed. Moreover, the tympanic cavity not only needs to be filled with air but must also have an appropriate channel connecting it to the outside world to balance the static air pressure in the cavity with the external atmospheric pressure. Otherwise, the air in the tympanic cavity would gradually be absorbed, causing the eardrum to retract severely or rupture, leading to a loss of function. When external air pressure changes (such as during mountain climbing, diving, airplane ascents and descents, or sudden weather changes), discomfort and hearing impairment can occur.
However, the middle ear cannot be directly open to the outside like the external auditory canal or nasal cavity, as this would cause external sound waves to reach both sides of the eardrum simultaneously via the external auditory canal and middle ear canal, canceling out the sound pressure and preventing the eardrum from vibrating, thereby eliminating hearing. Therefore, the method of connecting the middle ear to the outside world becomes a complex problem. But the human body has ingeniously solved this problem with a clever design: the middle ear connects to the nasopharynx through a semi-open channel known as the "Eustachian tube." Normally, the Eustachian tube is closed and only opens temporarily during swallowing, allowing the air pressure in the middle ear to balance intermittently. After swallowing, it closes again.
Aside from eating, the human body unconsciously performs a swallowing action at regular intervals, even during sleep. This helps to adjust the air pressure in the middle ear, preventing it from affecting hearing. Moreover, during swallowing, the uvula and soft palate inevitably lift, blocking the oral cavity from the nasal cavity and temporarily isolating the pharynx from the external environment. This way, at the moment the Eustachian tube opens, while air can enter the middle ear, external sound waves are blocked from entering, thus ensuring that hearing remains unaffected and can constantly receive external influences and linguistic information. Apart from the pharynx, there is no other part of the body that can so aptly meet the special requirements of the auditory system. The pharynx, being part of the digestive and respiratory tracts, does not belong to the sensory system, yet it works so ingeniously with the auditory organs that one cannot help but acknowledge the human body's structure as a product of an exceptionally advanced overall design.
The vestibular part of the inner ear is the organ that controls the body's balance. It contains three mutually perpendicular semicircular canals. When the body becomes unbalanced, the semicircular canals generate balance impulses, which, through the balance center in the medulla oblongata, trigger corresponding reflex actions to restore balance and prevent potential harm. This is one of the innate reflexes. Why are there exactly three semicircular canals, and not two or four, and why are they mutually perpendicular? The reason is quite apparent: because humans live in three-dimensional space, they can move in three mutually perpendicular directions—front and back, left and right, and up and down. Therefore, there must be three mutually perpendicular semicircular canals to fully monitor these movements. Fewer than three would be insufficient, and more than three would be unnecessary. Clearly, all these precise and ingenious structures and functions demonstrate a high level of wisdom and cannot possibly be the result of mere chance.
Vision is the most important sense for the human body, providing more information than all other senses combined. Vision involves the perception of images and space, requiring the visual organs to have the most precise, accurate, and distinctly different structures from other sensory organs. Therefore, from the perspective of embryology and neuroanatomy, the main structure of the eye is not an ordinary sensory organ but rather a part of the cerebral cortex. The optic nerve, unlike other cranial and spinal nerves, is essentially an internal structure of the brain, responsible for transmitting the most complex and refined visual information.
Functionally, the eyeball resembles a precise camera. The retina, composed of photoreceptor cells, is akin to the film; the lens, iris, and cornea correspond to the lens, aperture, and filter, respectively. However, the eye's precision and automatic adjustment capabilities surpass those of any advanced camera. For example, camera lenses today are made of special glass or hard plastic, with fixed focal lengths. To photograph objects at different distances, the lens position must be adjusted, which is a cumbersome method. Imagine if human eyes had to adjust similarly; our eyes would have to bulge or retract when viewing objects at different distances, which would not only be aesthetically unappealing but also detrimental to eye health and function.
However, the human eye's lens is a transparent, elastic, gel-like body that can automatically adjust its focal length based on the distance of objects, ensuring that all images are accurately focused on the retina without changing the lens's position. This automatic adjustment capability is something no camera can achieve.
From the perspective of modern television technology, the eye resembles a television camera, but it is much more precise. Television images are composed of densely packed pixels (dots of varying brightness), and even the best television screens only have hundreds of thousands of pixels. In contrast, the human eye has about 20 billion pixels. This incredible resolution allows the human eye to perceive even the finest details. However, no matter how precise and clear, the image itself remains a flat representation; the visual images from each eye do not inherently provide a sense of depth. The key to complete vision lies in converting this flat image into a three-dimensional perception and creating a sense of space. Achieving this transformation, however, is not a simple task.
For a long time, people were puzzled by this phenomenon, but it was later understood that the human body exhibits extraordinary wisdom and technique in this regard. The process involves simultaneously sending the flat images captured by both eyes to a central nervous system for comparative analysis. This analysis uses the slight difference in viewing angles between the two eyes, due to their different positions, to determine the distance of objects, creating a sense of depth and forming a three-dimensional image. This is why humans need two eyes to have complete vision. This understanding led to the creation of 3D movies. However, this description only covers the external process of vision formation, and much remains unknown about the internal workings of the visual center. We must acknowledge that the complexities of the human body's structure and functions are far beyond human wisdom.
Using the parallax between the two eyes to judge distance is essentially a precise and automatic form of triangulation. To perform accurate measurement, two prerequisites are necessary: (1) Both eyes must simultaneously focus on the same target; otherwise, double vision will occur, where one object is seen as two. To prevent this, the eyes are equipped with a highly developed neuromuscular system, making them the most agile and precise organs in terms of movement. The ciliary muscles within the eyes can adjust the lens's refractive index as needed to focus on the target, creating the sharpest image. (2) The retinas of both eyes must correspond precisely to each other; otherwise, the images from the two eyes cannot be compared. Additionally, these corresponding images must be transmitted simultaneously to the same visual center for comparative analysis.
The brain's visual centers are located on the left and right sides, each responsible for processing the respective halves of the visual field. Objects in the left side of the visual field are projected through the pupils onto the right sides of the retinas in both eyes. These corresponding images are then transmitted simultaneously via the optic nerves to the right visual center of the brain. Conversely, objects in the right side of the visual field are reflected onto the left sides of the retinas, and these corresponding images are also transmitted simultaneously via the optic nerves to the left visual center of the brain. The visual centers compare the corresponding images from both eyes simultaneously, thus creating a three-dimensional effect of the entire visual field.
In the human body, the lateral organs on each side correspond to each other, such as the symmetry of the feet. However, the retinas correspond in a homolateral manner—left with left and right with right. This is because light is directed straight, and if the retinas did not correspond in this way, the visual centers would not receive matching images and thus could not produce coordinated vision. Moreover, the structural correspondence between the retinas of the two eyes must be extremely precise, with no margin for error; otherwise, the corresponding images from the two eyes will not align properly, resulting in blurred vision.
Furthermore, to ensure that the corresponding images from both eyes are transmitted to a single visual center, the optic nerves must have a special structure to achieve the crossing of images, known as the "optic chiasm." This is unique to the optic nerves, as no other cranial or spinal nerves handle images and spatial information. If we were to simulate the human visual process using computers and cameras, the computer's input network would also require a similar type of crossing; no other design would suffice. In summary, it is evident that all the structures and functions of the human body's organs demonstrate an extraordinarily sophisticated pattern of intelligence, each with its necessary and well-reasoned design.
Some people believe that there are organs in the human body that seem to be useless, such as the thymus, appendix, tonsils, and coccyx, suggesting that the body's structure may not be entirely rational. It was once thought that these organs had little purpose and were more likely to cause diseases like appendicitis and tonsillitis. Removing these organs appeared to have little impact on the body. In the past, even the spleen and other organs were included in this category. Historically, the list of so-called "useless organs" was once shockingly long, with more than a hundred items. However, this lengthy list was not due to the organs being useless, but rather due to a lack of knowledge. As understanding of the human body has advanced, most of these organs have been removed from the list, leaving very few remaining.
Some people believe that these organs are evolutionary remnants, referred to as "vestigial organs," and use this as evidence for evolution. However, this is clearly a misunderstanding. It is now understood that there are no truly "vestigial organs"; rather, the lack of understanding about these organs was the issue. For example, the thymus was once thought to have an unknown function, but it is now recognized as a crucial early warning system for combating internal and external infections. It is sensitive to infections and can activate the body's defense mechanisms to prevent more severe infections, making it essential for maintaining health. Similarly, if the coccyx were fractured, it would cause significant functional impairment, indicating that the coccyx does have a function and is not superfluous. As for causing diseases, any organ in the body can become diseased, including the heart and brain, and this does not mean that the heart and brain are harmful or useless. While some organs may not have as direct or significant an impact on the body as the heart and brain, their removal does not mean they lack function. Just as losing hands or feet does not immediately threaten life but undoubtedly results in a loss, so too is the removal of other organs a form of bodily impairment.
After understanding the extraordinary intelligence reflected in the structure and function of the human body, people naturally ask where this high level of intelligence comes from. Who designed and created these complex, precise, and remarkably unique organs? This question is unavoidable. Any objective person would acknowledge that such intricately designed organ structures could not have emerged by chance, as they could not possibly be the result of random coincidence. If someone gave you a high-end automatic camera and claimed that it had no designer or manufacturer, but was a natural product, would you accept this claim as "scientific"? Yet, the organs of the human body are even more ingenious, precise, and adaptable than any man-made object. This leads one to recognize that there must be a creator with exceptional intelligence and ability behind the human body.
One Sunday morning in the spring of 1954, when I arrived at the church, I saw a young man sitting alone there, whom I did not recognize. After talking to him, I learned that he was a student from Peking Union Medical College. He said, "Since studying human anatomy and physiology, I find the human body so marvelous that it is impossible to explain without a deity." He had come to the church seeking the correct answer. This young man's experience is not an isolated case. I remember that when we were studying anatomy and physiology at school, some classmates continually asked a physiology teacher questions, seeking answers. Eventually, the teacher, overwhelmed, said, "Don’t ask any more questions; if you do, you will end up turning to religion." In the social context of that time, this warning had a significant deterrent effect, and the students fell silent. This incident left a deep impression on me, and I have not forgotten it to this day. My thought at that time was that recognizing the marvelous and creative work of the Greatest Creator in the created world is quite natural; the teacher's comment was indeed to the point. Although this teacher was not a Christian, he had to admit a fact: that if one continues to seriously explore the mysteries of the human body (a part of the mysteries of the universe), one would ultimately arrive at the conclusion of the existence of a deity (turning to religion), otherwise, it simply cannot be explained. As the Bible says, "For since the creation of the world, The Greatest Creator's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) Was the teacher demonstrating true scientific spirit? No. The scientific spirit should be about seeking truth and confronting it boldly, without avoiding any contradictions. Although this teacher knew that further inquiry would lead to acknowledging the Greatest Creator, he was unwilling to continue on the path of truth and instead discouraged his students at a crucial moment. This incident illustrates that many people refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Greatest Creator not because of scientific reasons but due to various other considerations, such as social pressures, personal interests, and concerns about future implications, as was evident in the teacher's behavior. However, the existence of the Greatest Creator is not altered by such considerations, and one cannot live forever under such practical considerations. Eventually, everyone will have to face the final choice and confront the supreme ruler who created the universe and humanity. The Bible says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27) If people do not accept this eternal the Greatest Creator now, it will be inescapable in the end.
When we discuss the origin of the universe and all things, some young people often ask, "You say that humans are created by the Greatest Creator, but who created the Greatest Creator?" Such questions, seemingly reasonable at first glance, are actually flawed. This is because the Greatest Creator is the Creator, not a created being; you cannot equate the Creator with the created. A table is made by a carpenter, but you cannot then claim that the carpenter and the table must have the same origin. Our understanding of the Greatest Creator can only be based on the revelation that the Greatest Creator gives to humanity. Otherwise, humans would be unable to comprehend the mysteries of the Greatest Creator’s nature. God says He is the self-existent, eternal, and ever-present God (Exodus 3:14; Revelation 1:8). For The Greatest Creator, there is only eternity, with no concept of time or beginning and end.
Even in the field of science, excessive analogical questioning is not allowed. A scholar was discussing belief in The Greatest Creator with some students. One student arrogantly asked, "Where does the universe come from?" The scholar replied, "The universe was created by The Greatest Creator." The student then asked, "Who created The Greatest Creator?" The scholar answered, "The Greatest Creator is self-existent and eternal; He is not a created being." The student responded, "That seems rather unscientific."
The scholar countered, "Where did the Earth come from?" The student answered, "From the Sun." The scholar then asked, "Where did the Sun come from?" The student replied, "From a nebula." The scholar asked again, "Where did the nebula come from?" The student hesitated and reluctantly said, "The nebula came from nature." The scholar pressed on, "Where did nature come from?" The student could not continue and angrily responded, "Nature is just nature; it exists by itself." The scholar laughed and said, "Isn’t that also rather unscientific?"
It can be seen that even the so-called "scientific" answers are not very insightful. For instance, science tells us that matter is composed of molecules. So, what are molecules made of? Molecules are made up of atoms. And what are atoms made of? Atoms are made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons. But what are these particles made of? Currently, it is difficult to provide a definitive answer. Atomic physicists are working to explore so-called "elementary particles." The term "elementary" implies that scientists do not expect matter to be infinitely divisible and believe that one day we will find the ultimate component, the "elementary particle." Of course, scientists do not intend to answer what these elementary particles themselves are made of. This represents the limit, and everything stops there. Materialists claim that the universe is infinite, matter is eternal, and it is infinitely divisible, etc., but these are merely arbitrary philosophical assertions with no scientific basis. Moreover, materialist logic also has an ultimate, which is matter itself. They say matter is self-existent and eternal, but they cannot answer where matter came from.
From a mathematical perspective, all numbers originate from one, because one leads to two, two leads to three, and so on, extending to infinity. You cannot ask where one comes from, because one is just one and does not come from other numbers. In other words, one is the "origin" of all numbers. Similarly, if the Greatest Creator created everything, then the Greatest Creator is the origin of all existence. Asking where this origin comes from is evidently meaningless.
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