Bible and Science - The Human Body

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” - Psalm 19:1-2

The mysteries of the universe pale in comparison to the intricate complexity that is God’s greatest creation: the human body. Scientists are still trying to figure out how it works. It seems that every week new discoveries about the body are made that beg to be explained. Let’s look at some examples of discoveries in the past.

What is this red liquid that courses through our bodies? Down through the ages many scientists and doctors have believed that blood was bad. Up until 120 years ago sick people were "bled" to try to heal them. They would cut a sick person and let them bleed in the hope that the sickness would be washed out of the body along with all that useless “goo”! Needless to say, many people, including George Washington our first president, died because of this belief.

But what does the Bible say about blood? Blood is treated very specially in the Old Testament. In fact, Leviticus 17:11 says “For the life of a creature is in the blood…” That was written 3,200 years ago! In fact, today we know that blood is the source of life. Blood replenishes our oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. It distributes essential nutrients to cells and carries away metabolic waste materials for disposal. Blood recognizes antigens (foreign substances) and produces antibodies (immune defense mechanisms). Without blood we die. If only doctors would have listened!

In fact blood is so vital to the human body that it carries an element called prothrombin to clot in case you get cut and blood starts escaping the body. Isn’t it amazing that blood carries it’s own protection? Now check this out:

In Genesis 17:12, God commands baby boys to be circumcised: “For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised.” We won’t get into the reasons for circumcision here, but the interesting thing to note is that God says it should be done on the 8th day? Why? Read carefully, this will blow your mind. The eighth day is the only day in the entire life of a human that the blood clotting element prothrombin is above 100%. There is never a better day in the life of a person to bleed! Wow! Does God know us or what?!!!

One thing that science has discovered since the invention of the powerful microscope, is microscopic disease. Anton van Leeuwenhoek of Holland (1632-1723) was the first to see and describe bacteria and other microscopic organisms. Before this, doctors did not know about microscopic disease and so did not wash their hands. Even after this discovery was made doctors still washed their hands in a basin of water. This caused the death of thousands of people.

You can read in the Encyclopedia Britannica that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who were dying after giving birth in hospitals. As many as 30% of those giving birth died. Dr. Ignaz noted that doctors would examine the bodies of those who had died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next wards and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Doctor Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped down to 2%. Today doctors must wash their hands under running water.

In Leviticus 15:13, God commands that a man who wants to be clean should wash in running water. The text reads: “he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and will become clean”. How could the writers of the Bible know about microscopic disease 3,000 years before modern science? God truly knows us because he created everything - from the biggest supernova in space to the smallest living creature. This also tells us that God loves us. His commands might seem to be silly for thousands of years, but now we know why he gives them. He wants to protect us! What a God we have!