The Pieces Just Don't Fit (Part 2 of 2)


As with our previous puzzle illustration, the same exhibits of inaptness are never as observable as when seen in context of the unstinting human body. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalms 139:14) I would concur with this verse if by “fearfully and wonderfully made” the writer meant we must live in fear of the many things that are lethal to these contemptibly frail bodies of ours, and that it is an out-and-out wonder how our race ever managed to survive without hospital emergency rooms and penicillin, but I know that’s not the meaning here.


The believer revels in the regenerative power of the human body, often arguing for design using the eye or ear as examples. Now a part of me wants to empathize. Much in the world can and does look designed, making it understandable that many will go to great lengths to argue that viewpoint. But as with most theistic “proofs” offered, they end up gloriously missing the mark upon closer examination.

Yes, a genetically gifted body can surprise us in its ability to take punishment and keep on ticking. In the ministry, I knew an old woman who lived to be a hundred and ten years old. What “wowed” us even more was that she smoked and consumed eggs and whole milk like a homely Mississippi farm girl! The ability of the body to heal deep, gaping wounds, to send cancer into sudden unexplained remission, to survive grueling torture is most incredible, but its one thing to have a healthy, tough body, and quite another to have a perfect one. Sure, it is fascinating to consider how accurate our DNA copying mechanisms are to make as few mistakes in the genetic code as they do. This is good, remarkable even, but improvements could still be made. Looking for perfection, we only see an impressively lower number of imperfections, but never perfection itself. Being as generous as we can of a believer’s high esteem of our bodies, we still cannot be asked to ignore the fact that these bodies could have been made better in every conceivable way.

There is a bit of irony here too; to think, the very people who claim to see design in all of creation and marvel at God's power are the same ones who tirelessly ask for prayers from the local church because of flair-ups of rheumatoid arthritis! I don’t know how many times I heard church men and women over the years say things like, “these cursed bodies,” “frail bodies,” and such. Of course, I’m not blaming them. I’m just asking for consistency. Flawed bodies can hardly be ignored even if we want to. It’s interesting how mankind (including that unforgettable religious majority) is always looking for ways to improve on and compensate for faulty body parts and genetic disorders. On a fundamental level, Christians should find it a slap in the face of almighty God to keep reworking and replacing these body parts he gave us!

Let believers tell someone with a bad back that his body is “fearfully and wonderfully made” by a deity--his response just might not be one of cheerfulness. The nauseating, hot/cold tingling of the feet, that electrical shock-like pain inflicted from having herniated lower-back disks is terrible. Let believers tell someone who has just lost his sight how well God designed these bodies to regenerate and heal. As the blinded person sits around and wonders why God didn’t equip his body with the power to re-grow his precious eyes, he might well have a different take on how “wonderful” our bodies are. Let the believer tell someone with diabetes or kidney failure how well God made our organs--they may have a different opinion on the matter!

In 2002, I became the proud owner of a new Toyota Camry LE. With a 2.4-liter, time-tested, VVTI Lexus 4 cylinder engine, 34 highway miles to the gallon, and a crisp 5-speed standard transmission, this new baby of mine was imported straight from Japan and ready to hit the streets in style! The salesman gave us the speech and handed me the keys, along with those crisp, nice-smelling owner’s manual and warranty booklets. That sweet little Japanese engine purred as I drove off the lot with a new set of wheels and that oh-so-delightful new car smell!

I’ve owned lots of cars in my time. Undisputedly, Toyota makes some of the world’s best cars, but as with our bodies, so with automobiles—it’s one thing to have a reliable, tough car, and quite another to have a perfect one. Toyota doesn’t make a perfect car. I mean, the brakes could have been a touch more resilient. There could have been maybe a tad bit more legroom (I'm 6'4). It could have gotten over 40 miles per gallon, and could have been made with a tougher body, an even longer engine life expectancy, and on and on we could go. Toyota comes about as close to perfection as I’ve seen, but they won’t be making something that claims the title “perfect” anytime soon. Our abilities to achieve perfection in anything are woefully inadequate for the task, but I still want perfection and can’t help but see whatever imperfections are before me. It is in the very nature of living and making progress to invent something and then watch someone else come along and improve it!

How much would you be willing to pay for a car with brakes that never wore down and never gave out? How much would you be willing to invest in a car with tires that cannot go flat, with an engine that never wears out or needs troublesome maintenance? How about for a car wherein it is impossible to die from an airbag malfunction, a crash, or a flying piece of debris? What about a car that never needed repainting, that performs always to par in its expected performance parameters? In our world, such a vehicle would be priceless, but if it were within the realm of possibility and feasibility, should it be optional? Obviously, we realize that it is neither possible, nor feasible to make every economy car as stout as a fifteen hundred horsepower tank or with the weight-handling capacity of a D9 bulldozer, but should we not come as close as is possible in proportion to the function of the car and the limits of our technology? Without the slightest of doubts, you bet we should!

Would we not hold a car company responsible for knowingly making a car that can more easily catch on fire when it could have been prevented? Absolutely. The American government demands that every car pass certain tests and maintains that vehicles must operate within certain specks and parameters; a car’s lights can only be so bright, a horn must be X decibels of sound, crash test results must be within or above a certain safety range. If these specs are not met or exceeded, the car cannot legally be put on the market and shouldn’t be. The point being, would we not demand even from an imperfect builder a certain level of less imperfection? Of course we do. Cars now are much more efficient and better quality than they’ve ever been—and despite what you may hear from misinformed and crotchety old-timers who never mentally made it out of the 1960s—vehicles are much safer now than those big, steel, blasted, square cereal boxes we used to drive from previous decades. I take great comfort in staying with the industry standard, knowing that although I may be driving a deathtrap to work everyday by tomorrow’s standards, I am driving a much safer vehicle than what was available years earlier.

Since this is true, how does it follow that a perfect creator with inexhaustible resources and the ability to create absolute perfection is not held to a perfect standard for his work? He puts out bodies that lowly mortals can find fault with and improve upon, leaving God-believers with nothing more than that vacuous this-creation-has-been-ruined-by-the-fall response we’ve heard for so long.

If the builder is workably capable of doing better, then we expect it of him. Settling for less than perfection when you have a perfect God is unjustifiable in any possible world. And while I once subscribed to the idea that the human body was fearfully and wonderfully made, now I would rather just accept my limitations, avoid all known dangers, and call in a much loved prescription for Vicoden to deal with the all-too-common aches and pains of the daily regime!

(JH)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've often wondered how theists supposedly believe that they are the "perfect" creation of a god, then justify changing so many things that aren't even life-threatening. Such as: face lifts; tummy tucks; breast augmentation; hair cutting, dying, perming; capping teeth . . .

If they really believe that a god made them, wouldn't it be ungrateful, if not downright "blasphemous," to do such things?

Anonymous said...

Man was perfect - then he sinned and his nature turned into the "sick" contradiction we see around us today.
Something changed.
Now why dont you try having faith and seeing the redemption for yourself?
You never tasted an orange, but analyse the look, colouration, consistency of its juice, etc.
Still, I have been am a non-believer and now a believer; you have never believed, and yet your suppose you can hold an informed opinion about the matter.
Hubris goes before a fall!
Why do my comments never get published?
Cos you all just want to preach to your coverted atheistic-peers.
Austin (Moulcular Biologist)- Lagos, Nigeria.

Anonymous said...

Austin, I've only seen you comment twice in your name, and both comments were published, even though they were both below par. For instance, when you say we were never Christians, apparently you didn't read the link on our sidebar.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the theist does believe God can and did make perfect bodies, and will do so again. He purportedly created angels, and he will also create imperishable bodies for the lucky ones who were born in the right time and place who get to go to heaven.

My question is why didn't God create us all in heaven with heavenly bodies to begin with? As the direct result of this choice of God's there will be "many" in hell. And many of those who wind up in heaven will suffer here on earth.

Anonymous said...

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