Design in Other Animals - 180004

0:04 [Music] 0:31 welcome to the creator revealed my 0:35 name's Tim Standish and I'm a scientist 0:38 because I am a scientist I believe in 0:43 the created God of the Bible amen and 0:46 amen 0:47 I'm Shelly Quinn and we want to welcome 0:50 you to this program in the first segment 0:54 you're going to get a little scientific 0:56 and nugget something that will reveal 1:00 the Creator as Paul said in Romans 1:20 1:03 that God's invisible attributes even his 1:07 eternal power and Godhead are seen in 1:09 the things that he created and what are 1:11 we going to talk about oh the second 1:14 segment is kind of a Bible or life 1:17 application so what are we talking about 1:19 today we are talking about humans and 1:22 other animals okay and before we get 1:26 into the science I want to draw your 1:28 attention to the way in which the Bible 1:33 prepares our minds to think about both 1:37 ourselves and other creatures so let's 1:41 let's get back into that creation 1:43 account in Genesis where we've gone from 1:46 Genesis 1 to Genesis 2 so Moses has told 1:51 us up to this point about the days of 1:54 creation and now he goes back and he 1:57 fills in some details in Genesis chapter 2:00 2 so here he's talking about how God 2:03 created human beings and he he writes 2:07 and the Lord God formed man of the dust 2:12 of the ground I want you to notice that 2:15 the ground writes what human beings 2:18 that's what he made us out of and 2:20 breathed into his nostrils the breath of 2:24 life and man became a living being so 2:29 human beings were formed by God I love 2:33 that idea of God forming us got 2:36 personality yes out of the ground out of 2:38 the clay and then God breathed 2:42 breath of life into Adam and he becomes 2:46 this living being it's it's a little bit 2:50 hard for us to understand because we've 2:51 never seen anything like that this is 2:53 this is not science in the usual sense 2:57 it's not not the kind of thing we can do 2:59 experiments on yes it's the kind of 3:02 thing that ultimately we believe by 3:05 faith but it's also something that makes 3:08 an awful lot of sense because when we 3:10 look at human beings what our bodies are 3:13 made out of the elements here the 3:15 elements of the earth right we're not 3:17 made out of magic pixie dust like that 3:20 we we are the same stuff that the rest 3:25 of the creation is made out of but we 3:28 have a different form we're not an oak 3:30 tree we're not a mountain we're a human 3:33 being now it goes on in the same in the 3:40 same book they are the same chapter 3:42 actually God goes on and he says 3:45 something about or Moses tells us 3:48 something about the animals so he says 3:51 out of the ground the Lord God formed 3:54 every beast of the field and every bird 3:58 of the air and brought them to Adam so 4:01 you can see here that the animals are 4:03 made out of the same stuff that we're 4:06 made out of it shouldn't be surprising 4:08 to discover that perhaps there are some 4:11 similarities there yes we had some DNA 4:14 that would be duplicated if you will oh 4:18 yes you know the same God yes same 4:22 material there's going to be some 4:25 similarities there just as just as we 4:27 would expect with a designer if a car 4:31 was designed by the same engineer two 4:34 different cars we would probably expect 4:36 some similarities between those we're 4:40 creations so are the animals same God 4:43 same material and then I'm going to jump 4:46 all the way down to the story of the 4:49 flood and there's an important detail 4:51 that comes out in there so here the 4:54 animals 4:55 they're coming onto the ark and it says 4:59 this about them and they went into the 5:01 ark to Noah to buy two of all flesh in 5:06 which is the breath of life so there you 5:12 have it the animals are made out of the 5:15 ground just as we are formed out of the 5:18 ground by God and just as we have the 5:21 breath of life the animals also have the 5:24 breath of life in them you know why 5:26 that's not hard for me to accept by 5:28 faith because here we can put a man on 5:31 the moon we've got the shuttles and 5:32 everything all of the advances that 5:35 we've made no one has been able to 5:37 duplicate taking elements in bringing in 5:41 that spark of life that ignites life 5:44 exactly sometimes we would get excited 5:47 they say well what if what if life was 5:48 created in a lab well what would that 5:51 show it would it's very unlikely but if 5:56 it did happen let's just pretend it 5:58 happen would that happen as a result of 6:01 just natural forces and chance right no 6:04 it would be we would recognize whoever 6:07 did that as a genius 6:11 and the organism that was produced as a 6:15 product of genius just as we as 6:19 Christians recognize human beings and 6:22 the other animals and in fact the rest 6:24 of the creation as a product of genius 6:26 well let's let's continue on let's let's 6:29 look at this connection between human 6:33 beings and the other animals and I'm 6:35 going to start off here with a human 6:37 femur everybody has one of these unless 6:41 they've had their their legs amputated 6:42 and probably familiar with the 6:46 morphology of them or the shape of them 6:48 but if you cut open a femur there's 6:50 something very interesting inside up 6:52 there at the top where that ball goes 6:54 into the socket of your hip you can see 6:58 something called spongy bone and if you 7:01 look at that spongy bone it's arranged 7:04 in an interesting way 7:06 what you see 7:08 the direction that's right the direction 7:11 in which the bone is oriented is the 7:14 direction in which the force is exerted 7:18 on the femur and you see this with other 7:21 spongy bone as well what this does is it 7:24 makes our our bones a little bit lighter 7:28 and a whole lot stronger so great 7:31 engineering feet they're really great 7:34 engineering I look at this and I think 7:38 about those buttresses that you see on 7:42 gothic churches the buttresses coming 7:45 out they're also carrying lines of force 7:47 down to the ground so that those they're 7:52 actually quite strong structures but 7:55 they're using less material than older 7:58 kinds of construction methods allowed so 8:02 there's an engineering principle that 8:04 translates over over there it's it's 8:06 it's kind of fun this kind of bone you 8:11 find in human beings and you also find 8:15 it in other creatures so you can see 8:17 that yeah yes there are human beings on 8:20 the back of this elephant and the 8:23 elephant has bones that when we cut them 8:27 open they have a similar kind of 8:29 structure to our own on the other hand 8:32 if we look at birds they have very 8:35 specialized needs their bones need to be 8:37 as light as possible and as strong as 8:41 possible in addition to that there are 8:43 some spaces in there to keep them keep 8:46 things light to lighten them so if we 8:49 look inside a bird's bone we see this 8:52 and it does look a little bit like a 8:55 honeycomb doesn't it it's these spas 9:00 basically inside the bones really make 9:03 them very strong and yet very very light 9:07 so they they're they're different but 9:09 they're different for a reason because 9:12 of the demands of flight that's what's 9:15 going on so so they were engineered in 9:18 their design for the purpose for the 9:20 specific purpose 9:21 that they serve so what we're seeing 9:23 here is there are similarities which 9:27 indicate a single designer a single 9:30 origin but also differences to suit the 9:35 purposes to which these are being put 9:39 which indicates in thought about each 9:42 individual kind of animal let's look at 9:46 one other thing that has to do with the 9:49 with the arrangement of skeletons this 9:52 is a tortoise and if you look inside a 9:54 tortoise you can see that it's skeleton 9:57 here has has a has an amazing different 10:01 arrangement of things the clavicle is 10:04 inside the rib so this is this is it's 10:07 it's this bone here on your back imagine 10:09 what it took to move that inside that's 10:11 a whole re-engineering of things so 10:15 while we have the same general design we 10:20 have a back bone and ribs and things 10:22 like that 10:23 tortoises and turtles have this 10:27 incredible re-engineering or different 10:30 engineering things for a specific 10:32 purpose that they need and when you look 10:35 at all the other organisms that are out 10:38 there we've just been looking at 10:39 vertebrates 10:39 but the invertebrates are so diverse the 10:42 snails the the insects the sea urchins 10:48 are they they all have similarities 10:52 which point to a single designer and yet 10:57 spectacular differences or here's a 10:59 jellyfish you could go on and on and on 11:02 about these profound similarities and 11:05 profound differences you don't see 11:08 between when you look at even like all 11:11 the different kinds of birds my 11:13 husband's a birder and it is so amazing 11:16 to see the diversity within a single 11:18 species but then you start considering 11:21 everything that God has created 11:23 he loves diversity he loves diversity 11:26 and he's very good at it he's not doing 11:29 he doesn't make things different just 11:32 for the sake of making something 11:33 different he is making different 11:35 things that are profoundly beautiful 11:38 okay but when you say if animals and 11:42 people are made of the same substance we 11:45 all have the breath of life what is the 11:48 difference between animals and people 11:50 there's a profound profound difference 11:53 and it has to do with relationships 11:58 relationships so I have a pet dog her 12:02 name is Jill there are obvious 12:05 differences between my dog and my 12:07 daughter yeah but I have a different 12:12 kind of relationship with my daughter 12:13 than I have with my dog but we have a 12:17 relationship really I love my dog 12:20 yes and she loves me I know that when I 12:24 go home from making these programs I am 12:27 going to get a loud and joyous welcome 12:30 from her you see God made human beings 12:36 to fit a specific purpose in his 12:40 creation 12:41 it's actually written about in Genesis 1 12:44 it's laid out there right at the very 12:45 beginning this is this is what God said 12:48 this isn't Moses this is God Moses well 12:51 then God said let us make man in our 12:55 image according to our likeness let them 12:59 have dominion over the fish of the sea 13:01 over the birds of the air and over the 13:04 cattle over all the earth and over every 13:07 creeping thing that creeps on the earth 13:10 so God made us like him he formed us in 13:16 some profound way to be like him and he 13:21 gave us a relationship both with him and 13:24 with the rest of creation yes so he and 13:28 he created us to dominate that was the 13:30 purpose is we were to let in a loving 13:34 way like him oversee everything that 13:38 happened over we're in charge which 13:40 means we're responsible - yes and that's 13:44 a very big deal we're not - lord 13:48 over the rest of creation we are to 13:50 treasure it so what does this reveal to 13:54 us about the Creator 13:56 well his love of diversity is 13:59 demonstrated in the variety of other 14:02 organisms so many different things and 14:05 his love of diversity is evident in the 14:08 in the rest of creation it's not it's 14:10 not just the animals it's everything he 14:12 loves diversity God made diverse 14:15 organisms to have a relationship with us 14:18 just as we have a relationship with him 14:22 so by looking at this we see God's love 14:25 of diversity yes and you know it is so 14:29 exciting that God loved us so much even 14:32 to make animals that we with whom we 14:36 could relate and have these special 14:40 creatures in our life well we hope that 14:42 you'll stay tuned we'll be back in just 14:45 60 seconds welcome back to the creative 14:55 reveals we've been talking today about 14:58 our wonderful Creator and all the 15:01 beautiful creatures that he formed from 15:03 the dust of the ground for our enjoyment 15:06 exactly you know the diversity of life 15:09 is truly amazing yes and anyone who 15:14 isn't just just blown away not just by 15:16 the the diversity but the beauty of 15:18 what's there I don't know it seems to me 15:20 that they've lost their soul in a way 15:23 but there is this question that we have 15:27 in our minds as Christians I think all 15:29 people and that is how do we relate to 15:33 these other creatures what does the 15:35 Bible tell us about that and to assist 15:38 us with that we have dr. Joanne Davidson 15:42 she is a professor of systematic 15:44 theology at the seventh-day Adventist 15:47 Theological Seminary at Andrews 15:49 University and I'm delighted that she is 15:52 joining us this to discuss this really 15:56 important topic so dr. Davidson one of 16:01 the argue 16:01 I've heard is God made human beings to 16:06 have dominion over the rest of the 16:08 creation over the other animals and so 16:10 on so we really don't have any 16:14 responsibility to be caring for these 16:19 creatures it is just you know the earth 16:23 is ours to do with what we want and I'm 16:27 wondering is that really a biblical 16:28 position or not you know that a lot of 16:32 people have that position but they 16:34 haven't learned to read the text 16:35 carefully if you look at Genesis 1 and 16:39 God gives a definition of rulership even 16:42 before he creates humans and animals on 16:44 day 4 he says the Sun is to rule the day 16:46 and he put it in place so it can 16:49 conserve life and bring forth life from 16:52 the ground and so when God asks us to 16:54 rule he's he's wanting us to display the 16:57 same benevolence that the Sun does and 16:59 he also I think it's tragic that the 17:04 though people believe that God is the 17:06 creator the ideas of evolution have 17:09 subtly affected their thinking often 17:11 without them realizing it perhaps and we 17:14 just think that animals are just a 17:15 little lower than we are and we finally 17:17 advanced to a higher stage and we're 17:20 really of more value and more Worth and 17:22 that's not right either that's not right 17:24 either the creation story is so 17:26 beautiful because the first three days 17:28 God creates habitats and then the last 17:32 three days he fills each of those 17:33 habitats in turn with the creatures that 17:35 live there and then he he gives both 17:39 humans and animals a plant-based violent 17:43 free diet and then he finished his day 17:45 six rubbing his head you could almost 17:46 see him rubbing his hands together thing 17:47 odd is is very good and he he gives 17:50 animals and humans the same diet and on 17:55 day five interestingly he talks to the 17:57 animals it says in Genesis 122 22 God 18:01 created all the great sea creatures of 18:03 the sea in the air and then it says and 18:05 God blessed them saying be fruitful and 18:09 multiply well who was God talking to 18:12 there was no humans around to 18:14 listen and he gives the same blessing 18:16 only a day later to humans and he puts 18:19 them in a in a world filled with new 18:21 life and and tells them to be fruitful 18:25 and multiply the same blessing he'd 18:26 given to date by and and if you go to 18:29 the Book of Psalms over and over again 18:33 dozens of times the psalmist praise God 18:35 for the works of his hands the works of 18:38 your hands are the works of his hands 18:40 referring back to that passage you 18:42 referred to to him about God creating 18:44 the creatures from the dust of the 18:45 ground the works of his hands and he any 18:48 any it's so excited about it and praises 18:51 God it just draws worth praise over and 18:54 over again the works of God's hands in 18:56 fact there's one choir in Psalm 148 that 19:00 speaks of humans praising God but before 19:03 it mentions humans praising God talks 19:05 about the animals praising God and 19:07 praises wenting to the Great Creator 19:09 from all his creatures it's just 19:12 unfortunate that we have such degraded 19:16 hearing that we can't hear all the 19:18 praise that's going to God in fact one 19:19 scientist wrote as we're destroying 19:22 these different species of the earth 19:24 were muting God's praise Newton goes 19:28 that's great that's really kind of a 19:31 poetic but kind of a depressing thought 19:33 when when do you think about yes I I 19:37 wonder myself how is God going to 19:41 respond to us if we are destroying these 19:46 works of art that he's created as a 19:50 scientist I'm taught to think about the 19:52 Moroz in an engineering almost sort of 19:56 sense but also the beauty and yeah this 19:58 praise what what kind of specific 20:02 instructions if any does God give us 20:04 about how we should be treating animals 20:08 for example well you look at the story 20:13 of the flood it's interesting to me that 20:16 when God had to destroy sin because it 20:18 was so corrupt and the word there in the 20:21 original language is the strongest word 20:23 that could be used for violence and evil 20:26 they were corrupted that God had to 20:28 destroy it but he you wanted to make a 20:30 way of escape Eve God never destroys sin 20:33 without making a way of escape in this 20:35 case he had Noah build an ark and then 20:37 he told Noah please bring the animals in 20:40 because I want to spare them too and so 20:42 God as he prepares to rid the earth of 20:46 violence and evil he he has an ark for 20:49 humans and animals to be preserved in 20:51 then after the flood when they come out 20:53 of the ark it's chapter 9 it's very 20:56 interesting God gives a major covenant 21:00 statement there and four times in that 21:03 statement he says I'm making this 21:06 covenant with you and your family and 21:09 all the animals with you in the ark and 21:11 he lists them and mentions them many of 21:13 them by name four times he repeats this 21:15 end of one covenant statement and we 21:18 know we're knowing now is we learning to 21:19 read biblical narratives at any time 21:21 something is repeated it's a key point 21:23 the anxious didn't have underlining and 21:25 italics and and bolding letters to 21:28 emphasize something important so instead 21:30 they would repeat it and in this case 21:32 God four times repeats it he has a 21:34 covenant with all the creatures he's 21:37 made humans and animals 21:38 later when God gives the Ten 21:45 Commandments the fourth commandment his 21:47 Sabbath blessing and he includes the 21:49 animals even in the Sabbath blessing if 21:51 they deserve to they deserve to rest and 21:53 the Old Testament laws the Mosaic lost 21:56 marvelous how God says I loved some of 21:58 them I'll repeat one that one of my 22:01 favorite God says if you see a donkey 22:03 over loaded with a heavy load and he 22:05 falls down you need to help that donkey 22:07 back to its feet even though that donkey 22:09 belongs to your enemy yeah III guess I 22:13 the the text that jumps to my mind is 22:16 the one that says that you shouldn't 22:17 muzzle the ox that treads the corn these 22:22 these animals are worthy of that their 22:30 wages allowed to enjoy the harvest that 22:35 they're reaping yes 22:38 Sibley working for humans but they're 22:40 part of the team and they deserve to 22:42 enjoy the harvest too so if we if we 22:45 sort of say well these animals as are of 22:48 such great value and they're very much 22:52 like us then what does that what does 22:56 that do to human beings oh because does 22:59 it does it degrade us to say hey you 23:02 know we're not as special perhaps as we 23:06 thought we were or how does how are we 23:10 supposed to think about that well you 23:13 know that's the idea of hierarchy 23:15 thinking that the people up higher are 23:16 more important but God has a different 23:18 system I think he he has gives us the 23:22 privilege of caring for his creation and 23:25 the animals depend on us for that and we 23:29 should be caring for the creation just 23:31 like God Himself doesn't say it's very 23:32 very good instead of thinking that 23:35 because we are supposedly have more 23:38 intelligence that we are above them and 23:42 don't have to care for them but you know 23:44 this thing of intelligence is really is 23:45 really significant to me because 23:47 scientists of which you are a noble one 23:49 dr. Tim it's coming out with many many 23:52 books now about the intelligence of 23:54 animals and like the last one I read I 23:56 love the title it said the wise guys of 23:59 the avian world Ravens and crows and it 24:02 talks there about how they scientists 24:04 used to think that monkeys were closest 24:06 to humans and intelligence but now they 24:08 realize that Ravens are smarter than 24:09 monkeys and the fact that and 24:12 tongue-in-cheek says now when you call 24:15 someone a birdbrain that's a compliment 24:20 but join you will agree we are humans 24:24 are special in a way because we were 24:27 created in the image of God so there's a 24:31 form and a function for everything 24:33 that's right and when we see how God 24:35 cares for the animals and as well as he 24:39 cares for humans that should give us a 24:41 lesson on what how we should care for 24:43 the animals if we're created in the 24:45 image of the Creator we need to have the 24:46 same care and loving concern for them as 24:48 he does 24:49 okay well thank you so much for joining 24:52 us dr. Davidson it's been a privilege to 24:55 hear your thoughts and the way that you 24:58 have bought out these lessons that are 25:00 contained therein God's Word I am 25:03 absolutely convinced that we have a duty 25:08 as Christians to care for the entire 25:12 creation but especially these 25:15 intelligent other beings that inhabit 25:18 the earth with us you know it's so funny 25:21 because you and I were talking I think 25:23 yesterday we were talking about the 25:26 intelligence of animals and pigs oh you 25:29 know like how intelligent a pig is I 25:32 want a pet pig but I have never lived in 25:36 a household where the true bosses of the 25:40 house would allow me to have one you're 25:44 saying your mother and your wife allow 25:46 it sometimes I think they just don't 25:48 understand me but we don't always 25:50 appreciate the intelligence of an animal 25:53 and you know my mother always told me 25:56 don't trust someone that is not good to 26:00 animals exactly that was one of the one 26:02 of the core pieces of advice I gave my 26:04 daughter do not date anybody who is 26:07 cruel to animals because they will be 26:09 cruel to you as well at the same time 26:12 when you see kindness to animals and 26:15 when when we ourselves develop these 26:18 amazing relationships that we can have I 26:22 talked about my dog Jack but I still 26:24 have our other dog Jill you know and the 26:28 joy and the love that we share with each 26:31 other even though we're not the same 26:33 species it is a beautiful thing 26:36 and I suspect it models something about 26:39 the relationship that we ourselves can 26:40 have with God amen 26:42 and I think in in many ways it makes us 26:45 as we are totally dependent upon God 26:48 when you have any creature that's 26:50 totally dependent upon you you can't 26:52 help but love them for some reason so 26:55 it's just an idea a model of how much 26:58 God loves us we hope that you've been 27:01 blessed today 27:02 and you'll join us next time 27:05 [Music]