Design in Ecology - 180005

0:04 [Music] 0:30 welcome to the creator revealed 0:34 I'm Tim Standish I'm a scientist and 0:37 being a scientist I was taught not to 0:42 believe in the Creator but when we look 0:46 at the creation we not only come to the 0:50 conclusion that there is a creator 0:52 behind it all but it tells us the most 0:55 fascinating things about his nature his 1:00 personality if you will absolutely you 1:03 know that's what Paul wrote to the to 1:05 the Romans that in Romans 1:20 he says 1:08 that God's invisible attributes are seen 1:12 in the things that he made and we're so 1:15 glad you're joining us today this is 1:18 already becoming a very popular program 1:20 in our first segment you're going to get 1:22 just a little bit of science and in the 1:25 second segment will be giving you a 1:27 practical application and I'm just very 1:31 thrilled what are we talking about we're 1:33 talking about relationships 1:34 relationships between organisms and 1:38 their environment and relationships 1:41 between one kind of organism and another 1:44 kind of organizer when we learn how her 1:47 act that I I love this this topic 1:51 because it it it tells us so many 1:57 beautiful things about not only 2:01 ourselves but also God who created us 2:05 this photograph I took one day on the on 2:09 the campus of Loma Linda University 2:11 these poppies are such beautiful flowers 2:14 and it's fascinating to watch the bees 2:18 buzzing around them the thing that 2:21 struck me when I was looking at these 2:24 was these two organisms are working 2:29 together they are not in some kind of 2:33 struggle to the death with one another 2:36 everything is cooperate cooperative 2:41 this yeah and they've got me thinking 2:45 about what the and Island cooperative 2:48 but dependent really interdependent they 2:50 are interdependent yes the begets 2:52 obviously sugar ultimately from the 2:55 flower and the flower is pollinated by 3:00 the bees so there is there's a nice 3:02 trade-off here both of them are 3:04 benefiting in a beautiful way so as a 3:08 biologist I you know started thinking 3:11 about things because one of the things 3:14 that I was taught over the course of my 3:17 education was that a central principle 3:20 of life is competition competition not 3:25 cooperation so organisms are in this 3:29 kind of struggle to the death it's a 3:32 survival of the fittest but in reality I 3:36 started to think about in reality could 3:39 life even exist if that was really the 3:44 principle when we look at living things 3:48 we see cooperation interdependence all 3:51 over the place when it comes to bees 3:56 let's say how do you how do you get a 4:03 bee where does it become from what how 4:06 does a bee exist there's a relationship 4:09 between bees and their environment 4:11 obviously without without air the bee 4:14 wouldn't be able to fly without atoms to 4:16 be made out of the bee couldn't exist 4:20 really in my thinking it sort of walked 4:23 me all the way back to the universe 4:25 without a universe the bee couldn't 4:29 exist but the universe has to be a just 4:32 right universe there are all kinds of 4:36 factors that have to be just precisely 4:40 right if you want to get a B or a poppy 4:43 or a human or a puppy just to sustain 4:47 life when you're talking about all these 4:49 factors to sustain life we've got Mars 4:52 that they're saying 4:54 perhaps they're learning a little more 4:56 but we are a planet on which everything 5:00 comes together perfectly to sustaining 5:02 oh yes this planet is a very very 5:05 special planet that's becoming quite 5:07 obvious from the study of these planets 5:11 that they're finding out there in space 5:12 Al's is special it's a very special 5:15 planet there's no doubt about that but 5:17 I'm going bigger than the planet 5:19 okay I'm going the whole universe the 5:21 whole universe operates by laws and when 5:25 I came to talk about all of them don't 5:26 panic and let's talk about one of them 5:28 gravity because gravity is something 5:30 that we all understand it turns out that 5:33 gravity is just right so that our Sun 5:38 can exist our Sun is actually a great 5:41 big hydrogen bomb up in the sky it's 5:44 it's it's made out of primarily hydrogen 5:47 and gravity pulls that hydrogen together 5:51 so that in the center of the Sun the 5:53 pressure is so high that the hydrogen's 5:57 are fusing together and when they do 6:00 that they release enormous amounts of 6:02 energy and that's what's going on up 6:05 there it's just right if if gravity was 6:11 a bit stronger you would think well that 6:13 might be good because we could somehow 6:16 rather have a hotter Sun or something 6:18 would be more nuclear fusion going on 6:21 there but the problem is that if we sped 6:25 up that fusion so much energy would be 6:28 coming off the Sun very now that we 6:31 would burn up not only that the orbit of 6:34 the earth would change the earth would 6:36 have to be adjusted in many many 6:39 different ways but there probably isn't 6:41 a way of adjusting things so that life 6:43 could possibly exist if it was stronger 6:45 the earth would be orbiting closer we'd 6:47 actually have to rearrange things and 6:48 put the earth a long way away but it's 6:50 not just the amount of radiation light 6:55 coming up it's also the kind of light 6:58 there are certain kinds of light like 7:00 x-rays we don't see it but we know that 7:03 those can do a lot of damage to us so 7:06 that would be a problem as well 7:08 getting everything to work with stronger 7:09 gravity might well be and probably is 7:12 impossible for life to exist so what 7:15 would happen if we made it a little bit 7:17 weaker what if we made it so that the 7:23 fusion is not going on so rapidly inside 7:27 the Sun well then the Sun would be too 7:29 cold and we wouldn't have enough light 7:31 energy hitting the earth the earth would 7:34 freeze I said wouldn't yeah we'd be in a 7:38 permanent ice age and again the B 7:40 couldn't exist and neither could the 7:42 flower neither could the human being 7:43 neither could the elephant no life could 7:46 exist if gravity wasn't just right 7:48 that's amazing 7:49 so bear in mind yeah it takes a universe 7:52 to make a B this is just one of many 7:57 things that need to be just exactly 7:59 right so that's a relationship thing for 8:03 the relationship to exist between life 8:05 and the rest of the physical universe 8:08 things have to be just right we've got 8:12 to get them exactly perfect now let's 8:15 get back to this business of how 8:17 organisms relate to one another 8:20 Charles Darwin wrote about that and here 8:23 is what he thought this is in the Origin 8:25 of Species is his most famous book he 8:27 wrote it is the most closely allied 8:30 forms varieties of the same species and 8:33 species of the same genus or related 8:36 general which from having nearly the 8:39 same structure Constitution and habits 8:41 generally come into this appear severus 8:44 competition with each other 8:47 consequently each new variety of species 8:50 during the progress of its formation 8:52 will generally press hardest on its 8:55 nearest kindred and tend to exterminate 8:58 them that's a solemn thought isn't it 9:03 you can see by the way you can see you 9:05 can see why it is that people regularly 9:07 take this kind of thinking and Charles 9:10 Darwin also spells it out quite clearly 9:12 and apply it to human beings and say 9:15 well there are other human beings who 9:16 need to be exterminated because we're in 9:20 competition with them 9:21 mm-hmm and that is that that's not a 9:24 hypothetical situation that is something 9:26 that has been acted on over the course 9:28 of history but think about it the most 9:33 closely related are the ones that are in 9:35 the Severus competition according to 9:37 this way of thinking there is no 9:38 competition there's already no 9:40 cooperation there is that that that's a 9:44 coincidental thing that you know 9:47 whatever but the rule is competition the 9:51 rule is struggled the rule is survival 9:54 of the fittest in that particular way in 9:56 some ways like in a lion pride in a 10:00 pride where the the dominant male will 10:04 kill his Cubs or something like this so 10:08 there's some times that if you look at 10:11 that in that isolated incident that may 10:13 be true but not overall well here's the 10:17 interesting thing about something like 10:18 that don't you don't you viscerally 10:21 respond to a situation like that isn't 10:24 it awful isn't it a terrible thing 10:27 haven't we all seen nature programs 10:30 where lions are not just killing each 10:32 other they're killing all these gazelles 10:35 and the gazelles are beautiful creatures 10:37 why is it that we know that there is 10:40 something wrong about that the secret is 10:45 actually it's not it's not a secrets 10:47 it's it's stated quite plainly in the 10:50 Bible we know that that is wrong we know 10:52 that's wrong because that wasn't God's 10:54 plan yes God did not create lions to tag 10:59 Ezell's to pieces and eat them this is 11:02 the fall this is the result of sin and 11:06 and the good news is in the new earth 11:08 the lion and the gazelle will lie down 11:11 together exactly so let's look at 11:14 another example of cooperation that's 11:17 evident there in nature at fungi we 11:21 usually don't think of funguses as doing 11:23 anything other than breaking down dead 11:26 stuff but in fact they play a very 11:28 important role in nature they also taste 11:32 good if you eat mush 11:34 but when you see a mushroom what you're 11:37 seeing is really the tip of the iceberg 11:39 so let's go let's go way back to the 11:41 very beginning with mushrooms and we 11:43 need to start looking at the tips of 11:46 roots these could be tree roots or any 11:49 other plant root what do you commonly 11:52 find their way out at the root tips is 11:55 that there are things called micro rise 12:00 a that are growing into the root tips 12:04 those are fungi when you look at a 12:08 mushroom that's the tip of the iceberg 12:11 the rest of the organism is this hair 12:16 like structure this the that's growing 12:19 down there in the soil into the into the 12:23 roots of plants and people thought oh 12:26 those must be parasites stealing stuff 12:30 from these poor plants in fact the 12:32 opposite is true when we start looking 12:34 at what the what the plant gets from 12:40 these fungi it's quite amazing first of 12:43 all they get water and obviously water 12:45 is very important for plants it 12:47 increases the size of their root system 12:50 the surface area so they can absorb 12:52 water pass it on to the plant in 12:54 addition to that the fungi help to 12:56 absorb minerals that the plants need to 13:00 grow and they give protection to the 13:03 plant they stop other things that might 13:06 come in and want to eat the plant or and 13:09 and finally and this is one of the most 13:11 amazing things they actually have a 13:14 communication system that they use from 13:17 one plant to another through these micro 13:19 rising what a fungus all the time at the 13:22 root at the base of our oak trees mmm 13:25 didn't realize they were doing the tree 13:27 some good quite possibly they are it 13:29 depends obviously if the tree is dying 13:32 the fungi will help to break it down and 13:34 recycle it but when everything is alive 13:38 and thriving it's great so what does the 13:40 fungus get it gets sugar from the plant 13:43 and and that's mostly it 13:47 but they are interdependent so they are 13:49 interdependent this is that this is a an 13:51 exchange that they're making this brings 13:54 to mind this text in Proverbs there are 13:59 three things that are too amazing for me 14:01 for that I do not understand the way of 14:04 an eagle in the sky the way of a snake 14:06 on a rock the way of a ship on the high 14:09 seas in the way of a man with a young 14:12 woman 14:12 so all relationships all relationships 14:15 the bird and the air the the man and the 14:18 woman cooperating working together so 14:23 what does this ultimately tell us about 14:25 the Creator the Creator loves these 14:28 beautiful relationships relationships 14:30 between bees and flowers those sorts of 14:33 things he he gets joy from these 14:36 cooperative relationships that we see in 14:39 ecology and his desire for cooperation 14:43 with humans and the rest of creation is 14:45 evident in the interdependence we see 14:49 among all things the living part of the 14:53 universe and the inanimate universe so 14:58 ultimately the created things reveal the 15:01 creator's desire for harmonious 15:04 relationships and that is exactly what 15:08 we want to talk about in the second 15:10 segment so we ask you to stay tuned with 15:13 us we'll be back in 60 seconds 15:16 [Music] 15:21 welcome back to the Creator revealed 15:23 today we've been talking about the 15:25 beautiful relationships that exists 15:28 between God's creatures and plants and 15:31 organisms and ecology and we see that it 15:34 isn't all about struggle and competition 15:37 is it no actually I would say my 15:41 observation is that life itself could 15:43 not exist unless there was this 15:46 beautiful cooperation that we observed 15:49 between interdependent organisms and in 15:52 fact I find that myself to be possibly 15:55 or arguably the most beautiful thing 15:58 about the creation everything seems to 16:02 need to work together in a beautiful way 16:05 for life itself to exist there's a 16:09 sermon in that probably on the subject 16:13 of sermons during the break we were 16:17 talking about how people have this idea 16:19 that somehow other people with PhDs in 16:22 theology as stuffy and things like that 16:25 we're just delighted right now to have 16:28 dr. Joanne Davidson with us somebody who 16:31 is definitely not stuffy dr. Davidson is 16:35 a professor of systematic theology at 16:38 the at the seventh-day Adventist 16:41 Theological Seminary at my alma mater 16:43 Andrews University thank you so much for 16:47 joining us dr. Davidson oh I'm glad to 16:50 be invited when you talk about this 16:52 subject one of my favor 16:53 exactly who doesn't love ecology 16:57 especially when we're coming at it from 16:59 the perspective that the Bible gives us 17:02 on on nature and the creation and I I 17:07 like that you talked about how this 17:08 cooperation must be there I mean it's 17:11 there and what and you as a biologist 17:13 could have added down to the cellular 17:16 level even what since L works together 17:19 how individual cells have parts that 17:21 work together as cells work together and 17:23 it just no matter where you look there's 17:25 this wonderful cooperation and and 17:28 interestingly enough we as human beings 17:30 we 17:31 instinctively know that there is 17:33 something wrong going on when we see a 17:37 breakdown of that cooperation things 17:39 like cancer that's a breakdown of 17:42 cooperation between cells and and and I 17:47 but we naturally wince when we see these 17:51 sort of terrible things that do 17:54 occasionally occur in nature like lions 17:56 killing gazelles and stuff we know in 17:59 our hearts that that's just not the way 18:02 it's supposed to be the creation is is 18:07 broken in some profound way oh yes and 18:12 you know it's when people think about 18:14 heaven they think about golden streets 18:17 and playing harps on a cloud but when 18:19 God describes heaven in Isaiah 11 18:21 he describes all of this cruelty being 18:25 erased away the Lions gonna lie down 18:27 with the lamb and the goat with the 18:30 leopard and the little kid can put his 18:31 hand in a cobras hole and and then it 18:34 says the reason why this is gonna happen 18:36 is because the world will be full of the 18:38 knowledge of God as a waters sea and so 18:42 God is looking forward to this day - he 18:44 I someday his dreams for this planet are 18:47 gonna come true 18:49 it's such a glorious thing but it's and 18:53 it's not just that these are kind of 18:54 empty unfounded promises or something 18:58 that we that we see in in out there 19:03 these are things that we can see 19:05 foreshadowings of already in the 19:08 creation as we look at these beautiful 19:10 cooperative relationships and even 19:12 occasionally we see beautiful things 19:15 between human beings and creatures that 19:17 you would expect I think about those 19:19 occasional stories that you hear about 19:21 lions that bond in some way with human 19:24 beings and it's such a warming and 19:28 beautiful thing to see however there is 19:31 an argument that that I've heard made 19:34 that goes basically like this if Jesus 19:37 is coming again if there's going to be a 19:40 new creation and if this old creation is 19:45 why why should we care about it why why 19:50 worry about taking care of nature at all 19:53 and you know being conservationists or 19:56 something like that this earth is going 19:58 to be destroyed by fire when Jesus comes 20:02 why should we worry about about it oh 20:06 that's that's a question I hear so much 20:09 but I'm thinking then that people aren't 20:11 aware of the message of Scripture 20:13 because before sin Adam and Eve were 20:16 given a job to tend and to care for the 20:18 garden and there wasn't that was a 20:21 privilege and a joy and why aren't we 20:24 thinking we need to work with that 20:26 special instruction even now even though 20:29 things are broken why aren't we thinking 20:31 of caring and tending for this great 20:33 place that God made I find it 20:35 interesting in Psalm 98 and other places 20:38 but it's very clear in Psalm 98 all 20:40 nature it says the rivers are clapping 20:43 their hands the hills are joyful 20:45 together and all nature's rejoicing and 20:47 then it gives a reason why it says 20:50 because God is going to come to judge 20:52 the world and judge the earth and the 20:55 people's with equity and it includes 20:57 both the earth and the peoples then 20:59 God's going to judge and he's gonna hold 21:01 us responsible for not caring for this 21:03 great place that he gave us in the book 21:06 of Revelation as the Bible closes it I 21:08 see I think it refers back to that 21:10 because in Revelation 7 it talks about 21:12 the angels holding back the winds of 21:15 strife from the earth and the sea and 21:17 the trees but untile either the elders 21:20 around the throne say but it's time that 21:23 you destroy those who destroy the earth 21:25 and heaven is watching and seeing how if 21:28 we appreciate this great nest that God 21:31 has given us don't you think that part 21:34 of the reason dr. Davidson that God gave 21:38 us when he gave us dominion we were to 21:41 learn to rule in covenant to love as he 21:45 does with us it was all about our 21:47 character development don't you think oh 21:50 yes and if we're created in God's image 21:52 we should think it'd be a natural thing 21:54 that we want to reflect reflect God's 21:57 loving concern for the 21:59 like he does that's what it means to be 22:01 created in His image yeah you know in 22:05 thinking about this myself what the 22:09 analogy that I would draw is something 22:12 like this you know if you go to the 22:14 Louvre in Paris there there are lots of 22:18 fabulous works of art there but the 22:19 Venus de Milo is there now when you 22:22 think about it the Venus de Milo is an 22:24 old broken statue right but it is still 22:30 so fabulously beautiful if I went into 22:33 the Louvre with a hammer and smashed the 22:35 venus de milo to pieces i mean wouldn't 22:38 any reasonable rational person anybody 22:41 with a soul be horrified at that and yet 22:45 you know surely we're if we go and and 22:50 just destroy this wonderful work of art 22:57 that God created it it says something 23:03 profoundly evil about ourselves there's 23:06 something wrong with with us if we if we 23:09 actually feel it that's okay and you 23:13 know I think the ancients were more in 23:16 tune to creation than we are I love that 23:17 passage in job the oldest book in the 23:19 Bible where job says the animals if you 23:21 watch will teach you and they'll help 23:23 you learn about God and I think that I 23:25 think that's really important if we if 23:27 we turn away and don't care for this 23:28 earth we're gonna lose a lot of lessons 23:30 that God is trying to show us how 23:32 wonderful he is and what he's given us 23:34 there the nature itself praises God and 23:38 it can teach us how wonderful the 23:39 creator is so there's a theologian as 23:42 and obviously a lover of nature itself 23:47 tell me this in from from your 23:51 perspective what do you what do you see 23:54 out there that you consider to be the 23:57 most beautiful thing that the thing that 23:59 teaches us the most about God and and 24:02 his nature I heard one person described 24:06 it this week which I've taken to be my 24:08 own that said every animal can teach us 24:11 a character quality that 24:12 wants us to have and we can't look at 24:15 each other anymore we can't see Jesus 24:17 but every animal displays some character 24:19 quality God wants us to have and at that 24:21 time we had a beloved dog who's recently 24:23 died but you know dogs can show you what 24:26 forgiveness is like they never hold a 24:28 grudge 24:28 they never hold a grudge and they they 24:31 always want to be with you and are 24:33 always having a forgiving spirit no 24:34 matter and I got to thinking about that 24:37 what what what qualities do animals 24:39 display that God wants me to have you 24:43 know when you said that my initial 24:44 thought was oh no that's ridiculous 24:46 insects what could and then I thought go 24:49 to the ant thou sluggard good so it's 24:53 there it's it's it's amazing yes that's 24:56 that's a really deep point and and my my 24:59 favorite Old Testament description of 25:01 this is in 1st Kings 4 when it talks 25:04 about Solomon being the wisest man in 25:06 the earth and that people from all 25:07 around the world came to see here listen 25:10 to Solomon's wisdom and then it says 25:11 what he talked about says he talked 25:13 about trees about flowers about the 25:15 animals and and people came from all 25:17 around the world to learn the wisdom of 25:19 Solomon what does he talk about the 25:21 wonders of creation very good well thank 25:24 you so much for joining us dr. Davidson 25:26 I could talk about these things I know 25:29 probably for the rest of my life it is a 25:31 wonderful topic you know what thought 25:34 occurred to me is after Jesus did the 25:37 miracle with the fish in the loaves he 25:40 told his disciples to gather together 25:43 the ring the remnants of what was left 25:46 he never wasted anything and if we waste 25:51 our resources that God has given us if 25:54 we aren't taking good care of it I think 25:57 we're not following in the footsteps of 25:59 Jesus I have to agree with you there's 26:02 something ugly about wanton wastefulness 26:06 and something beautiful actually about 26:11 conserving what God has given to us in 26:14 such unbelievable abundance in this 26:18 world I I'm just amazed at the 26:23 gratuitous beauty these glory 26:25 relationships and and just the abundance 26:30 of resources that we have to support our 26:33 lives and the lives of other creatures 26:38 and that's that's something that we need 26:40 to keep in mind is not just for us it's 26:42 for everything 26:43 remember the first angels message says 26:47 worship the Creator when we worship God 26:50 in the beauty of His Holiness we will be 26:53 appreciating what he has done for us 26:56 thank you for joining us 27:00 [Music] 27:21 you