June 17, 2011

The Vital Breath

Sadly, it is my thought that the data from genetics is being interpreted incorrectly. It is assumed that because all living lifeforms operate on a genetic structure from bacteria to man...that we had to have originated from a simple rudimentary life form. It is claimed as irrefutable proof to validate evolution. Furthermore, science considers genetics a form of evolution that can be quantified or summarized as population genetics over time.

Science has now claimed that because we are made of common substances we have all originated from a common source. I believe this is true in the sense that all lifeforms were created by the same Creator but from a biological standpoint we are dealing with a post hoc fallacy or a fallacy that is based upon the mistaken notion that simply because one thing happens the next has to also. In other words, because bacteria are genetic-based and simple life forms and man is genetic-based and is a complex life form, man came from bacteria. That's like saying: horses have four legs, my dog has four legs, my dog must be a horse. Nonsense.

The data that claims common ancestry of all life can also claim common building-block matter of all life by a Creator. If a carbon-based effectively works for one form of life why would a Creator not continue to use it? The old adage "Don't fix what ain't broke". If all lifeforms are carbon-based it makes all lifeforms compatible with man (genetically). The non-liquid sustenance that man needs to "live" or survive has to partially come from carbon-based tissue or carbon based-lifeforms or we die. Yes, we need vitamins and other minerals to sustain our lives but our primary food sources are carbon-based tissues (animal or vegatable).

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so." ~ Genesis 1:27-30

God could have just as easily made silicon based lifeforms but we wouldn't have been compatible with them, for food. Have you ever try eating sand for sustenance? It made more sense for all of the "living" created order to be compatible with man. It follows that if all genetic material is compatible with man it just may be that all of created order could have been made so that it is biologically compatible with man because...

"to you it shall be for food" ~Genesis 9:3

and

"...and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so." ~Genesis 1:30

When we eat vegetables what are we eating? When we eat the flesh of animals, what are we eating? We are eating inanimate (dead/non-living) carbon-based lifeforms. Yet it sustains our life and keeps us alive. Dead organic material allows us to stay alive. How? The Bible from the very beginning told us it was to be this way. Why can't we eat rocks or sand for dinner to survive. I posit the thought that it is God's order for things. Rocks and sand are inanimate objects just like dead plants and animals. What makes them plants and animals viable for consumption and survival versus rocks and sand?

Of like to like...

When does inanimate non-life become life? When does a molecule or cluster of molecule "jump" the chasm between non-life and life? When does protein, carbohydrates, ATP, glycogen, amino acids, nitrogen, oxygen... stop being what we are chewing in our mouth or digesting in our stomach and become the living, breathing man that types this blog post? When does it become this idea that I am trying to get across to you, the reader. Where does the "life essence" come from? What imparts this force? Do we continue to break matter down into its constituent parts to try and find this life force? Cells, molecules, atoms, quarks, gluons, leptons...trying to find the meaning and significance in the infinitesimal when the truth lies in the infinite. When does a protein or nitrogen atom take a breath and speak words of praise to a transcendent God? How does a protein or atom contemplate its maker?

They had a word for it in Hebrew:  נשמה or nĕshamah (the vital breath [of God] ), the corresponding Greek word is πνοή  or pnoe (breath) which is not far removed from πνεω or pneo (blow, wind) the verb form of pnoe. Pneo ironically is a cognate of pneuma or (spirit, wind). Breathing in signifies life or something is alive. It is the word used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed the "breath of life" into Adam and a man becomes a "living soul". It is at that moment that there is life.

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." ~ Genesis 2:7 

When do I stop being a sum of the parts that I ingest and become man rather than a pile of biological compost? Yesterday's steak dinner and potatoes became today's love for my God, my wife, my children? When and where is that instant of transcendence? How does it happen?

Science has overlooked the most fundamental aspects of man's existence in an effort to explain away God's existence. If you are a pure methodological naturalist you need to have a source for the "life" found within creation or the created order. Who creates that life force? Who sustains it? Who strikes the match to light it?

"In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." ~Job 12:10

How can methodological naturalists/atheistic science over look this fact and still have a viable scientific model? How can they reason it in a logical manner. It is balancing an equation with a missing variable [ A + B + C = D ]

"A: Food" + "B: Water" = "D: Life", while skipping "C" completely which is the actual "spark", "breath of life" or "life essence".

You can't get there from here without "C". It's like trying to get from New York to Los Angeles without passing through the midwestern states or even having the vehicle to do so. Its like sitting in a car with no wheels and an empty gas tank.

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