Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Russell M. Nelson's Appeal to the Complexity of Creation as Evidence for God

  

The fact that man exists is a miracle. As physicians we do not know how two cells unite to form an embryo or how those cells differentiate and divide, some to become eyes that see, some to become ears that hear, and some to become fingers that feel the beautiful things around us. As scientists we can study this process, describe it, and even manipulate it within the laws that God has provided. We are incapable of complete understanding, but our observations cause us to have faith in the process and in Him as the provider of the process.

 

As a youth, I remember wanting a fine camera. I wanted one that had a light meter and, hopefully, an automatic focusing device. Then one day I stood before a mirror and flashed a light into my own eye, and recognized the change in my eye as I withdrew the beam of light. Suddenly I realized that I already had two cameras finer than man could make. I had instant focus and instant accommodation to light and to darkness; not only that, but stereoscopic vision as well, for my two “cameras” were able to transmit images to the brain not be fused into one three-dimensional picture.

 

The miracle of hearing leaves me in awe. First, wound waves strike the eardrums, making them vibrate so slightly. Then that motion is amplified by three tiny ossicles, which transmit that energy to the auditory nerve, which in turn sends an electrical signal to the brain. This amazing mechanism is the model on which all electronic recording and sound amplification systems are based. Our Divine Creator knew all about these processes long before man “discovered” them.

 

The heart has four little valves that open and close more than 100,000 times a day, over 36 million times a year. There is no material yet devised by man capable of flexion that many times without ultimate fatigue and fracture. The best artificial heart valve available to us now is that taken from the lowly pig. Man has learned to harvest that pig valve, prepare it, mount it on a strut, and then implant it to serve as a human valve would. To date, it is better than any of the valves man has made from steel and plastic, although we don’t know yet how durable it may be.

 

The amount of work done by the heart is most amazing. Each day it pumps enough fluid to fill a 2,000-gallon tank car and performs work equivalent to lifting a 150-pound man to the top of the Empire State Building, which consuming about 4 watts, less energy than is used by the smallest light bulb in our home.

 

At the crest of the heart is a little electrical transmitter, the sinoatrial node, which sends its signal over the network of special conduction tissue throughout the heart to organize the heartbeat and synchronize it in response to the extra demands of exercise and the lessened demands at rest.

 

As I go to meetings of the American Heart Association, I see thousands of doctors attending myriads of special scientific sessions, all probing deeply to learn more about this simple pump. It seems all the more we learn, the more we have yet to learn.

 

Even more amazing is the phenomenon of the human mind. The electrical signals emitted from the mind can be recorded by electroencephalographic means, and some researchers have even induced recall of memory by stimulating specific areas of the brain electrically. Nevertheless, physicians do not know how the mind is able to store and retrieve information. The mechanism of the brain is marvelous, and the possession of the mind a sacred responsibility. To see and hear is also a sacred privilege, and the contamination of the memory storage bank by anything unworthy of its divine origin and its infinite capability is sacrilege. As I marvel at the minds of the prophets, I know it is possible for the human mind to receive inspiration and revelation and to provide prophetic and inspired pronouncements. The aging process itself does not dull the mind, but indeed enriches it if one has continually filled the mind with worthy and worthwhile things.

 

The power of the body to autoregulate has fascinated me. Most of us have a blood sugar level between 80 and 100 milligrams per 100 milliliters when fasting. This is all regulated without our having to do a thing about it. Countless other constituents of the blood are similarly regulated without any thought of outs. One gains a greater appreciation of this when one considers the hospital use of a blood gas analyzer. It is a rather sizeable instrument, about half the size of an upright piano. How excited we were when we could put a specimen of blood in this analyzer and learn, without five minutes, what the concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide were. This was a great boon in our treatment of patients who required artificial respiration. Yet, in our bodies are two little clusters of cells, situated on each side of the neck that continuously analyze oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood. This information is then transmitted by nerves to the brain, which in turn governs the muscles of respiration. It is this mechanism that only permits us to stay so long under water without an overpowering drive to come to the surface for air. That is because as the carbon dioxide accumulates and the blood pH begins to go down, these sensing centers are sending signals to the brain that the pressure of oxygen is low, and that the level of carbon dioxide is high. A few good breaths of fresh air will correct these abnormalities. These sending centers are ours as a gift from our Creator. (Russell M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart: An Autobiography [Salt Lake City: Quality Press, Inc., 1979], 287-88, 290)