The Human Body an Incredible Machine
The automobile in which you ride is truly a magnificent machine. It has a fuel system that changes gasoline into energy, which allows the car to move down the road. Your car's engine has powerful pistons that are almost like arms. These pistons supply the force that causes the car to roll. There is a wonderful gear system that allows your automobile to move effectively at different speeds. Most modern cars have an onboard computer system, which is the "brain" that instructs different parts of the car to operate together smoothly. The car is a great machine! But it did not invent itself. It had an intelligent designer. Any machine that shows design must have had a designer. Common sense tells us that.
Yet your body is a much more amazing "machine" than any automobile. Let us consider some of the ways it demonstrates design.
The body has been organized on four different levels: cells, tissues, organs, and systems. The cell is the smallest unit of life. You have about 100 trillion cells in your body. That is many, many more cells than all the people who live upon the Earth. Cells come in different shapes and sizes, depending on the job they perform. These cells are marvelously designed. For example, they contain tiny power plants that manufacture energy. They have little garbage disposal units. Cells even have an excellent "memory" system that allows them to let certain food products in, but keep harmful things out. Cells did not happen by accident!
Cells that work together to do the same kind of job are known as tissue. For instance, you have "nerve" tissue that carries messages from the brain to all parts of your body. You have "skin" tissue that provides an excellent covering for your internal organs. Even blood is called a tissue.
When the different kinds of tissues work together for the good of your body, this arrangement is called an organ. Organs come in many kinds—like the heart (the body's "pump"), and the liver (that helps dispose of waste materials your body does not need). Isn't this amazing?
When organs of the same kind operate together to help keep your body going, this cooperation is called asystem. Did you realize that you have ten major systems working together to keep your body living day and night? Think about just a few of these for a moment.
The skin system covers the body and protects it. Theskeletal system provides a strong inner framework, like the steel structure in a building. The muscle systemcontains the "engines" that power your movements. Thenervous system is the "computer" network that gives the body its instructions. The digestive system changes your food into power that helps you run fast, study hard, and do many other tasks. Men and women even havereproductive systems by which new human beings come into the world. No machine that man has ever invented can do this!
The body could never have come together one system at a time. The systems have to work together or the body cannot survive. Surely every thoughtful person has wondered: Who organized the human body in such an amazing way? The answer is very clear. It took a great and wise "Mind" to do it. The Bible reveals that this wonderful "Mind" is GOD!
David, the great king of Israel, once wrote a beautiful song that contained these words: "...I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." (Psalm 139:14). Paul, one of Christ's apostles, said: "God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as it pleased Him" (1 Corinthians 12:18). The human body is no accident!
Let us thank our Creator for the body He has given us. Let us promise Him that we will use our minds to study His Word, the Bible, and that we will use our bodies to serve Him each day.
Reason & Revelation Bound Volume 2013
A year's worth of Reason and Revelation articles
