“My eye balls could work better, of course.”
This is sometimes the response to the, “Eyes are so complicated that God must have designed them” type of argument.
But it’s a response that’s a tad ungrateful, don’t you think?
“Yea – thanks to the Universe (or Evolution) for giving me eyes. But you could have done a better job of evolving them, eh?”
Isn’t there a touch of ingratitude there?
Often people point to:
- the inverted nature of the image on the eye’s retina
- the spot where our optic nerve goes thru into our brain where we all have a blind spot
- nerves are actually positioned at the front of our retina, not behind our retina, getting in the way of the retina doing its job.
And then, if we are particularly on a roll, someone might point to the human Appendix and exclaim – “It has no purpose – why would a designer include it? It must be a vestige of evolution…just like the problematic eye design I have to put up with every day!”
In response I’ll suggest 3 things.
First – it’s much better to go thru life with an “attitude of gratitude”. And that includes gratitude for our health. Life looks and feels better for us when we are grateful for each day. When we are grateful – new opportunities open up for us. It’s a more healthy approach to life! Sermon over.
Second – I’m not a Doctor – and I don’t have a degree in Biology and Anatomy. But I know that Biologists have done some work to explain good reasons why our bodies are wired up as they are. Google is our friend if we want to investigate further.
Third – tricky arrangement of parts is NOT actually proof of NO design. What do I mean? Let me draw an analogy.
My first car was a rust coloured Mini Clubman – it was naturally rust coloured…and it was also actually falling to pieces because of rust. Now – whenever I opened the bonnet and tried bravely to do some work on it…I found myself hitting problems. There wasn’t a lot of space for that 1.1 liter engine in the tiny bay. If I wanted to try to get at the spark plugs, that was okay (although the skin on my knuckles was always at risk). But try to get to the oil filter or the Distributer cap? Forget it! Tried that – got frustrated – gave up. I had to take it to a mechanic who could do it.
My second car was a light blue Volvo 340. It wasn’t as rusty. But it was always better at driving in a straight line, rather than going round corners. This was a problem. Anyway – it had a much bigger engine bay than the Mini. Open the bonnet – there was more space in there where than 1.4 engine sat. This time – the oil filter was much more reachable! It was to the side – easy to get to. Brilliant. And the Distributer cap? Yes – I could get to that easy enough. But the plugs were a pain and the sump to drain the oil was a nightmare. Tried it – got frustrated – and covered in oil – so I gave in and paid a mechanic to service the car instead!
I’m going to suggest two things from this analogy.
ONE – just because a mechanism isn’t put together as I would have liked it to be – does not mean it hasn’t been carefully designed. It just means that the designer hasn’t spoken to me first about how I would like it done! Frankly – I know nothing about car design – so why would the designer speak to me anyway? And I bet you don’t know too much about Biology either. Get my point? Let’s not be too complain-ey about how our bodies work – let’s just enjoy the fact we have them. And admit there are probably good reasons that we just don’t know anything about.
TWO – just because a Volvo engine is tricky to work with – doesn’t mean it wasn’t built by Volvo. It just means there must be a close relationship WITH Volvo for the car to work at peak efficiency. In my case – I would take it in to them to be serviced regularly. Tricky design means Volvo get money for car servicing. Funny that!
If our lives are a bit tricky right now…I wonder if this might just be the thing that God has allowed in order for us to come close to OUR Designer…to the one who has a service for our soul waiting for us? It’s just a thought. Why struggle – when the one who can do it for us…is just a word away?
Embark on a close relationship with the Designer – life runs better that way.
