The Incredible Body of Man
There are two basic ways of explaining the existence of our bodies. One is to say that we are the product of blind forces and that we are simply a gigantic accident. Huxley said it best when he said, "We are as much a product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a long series of singularly beneficial accidents" (Anthony Smith, The Human Degree, J. B. Lippincott Co, 1976). The other view of man is that we are the result of design and planning. This view does not say that change has not taken place; it simply says that the forces that produced man as we see him today are and have been intelligently directed.

 There are many ways of analyzing these two alternatives, but one of the most interesting evidences is simply the size and complexity of the human body. Here is a list of randomly selected facts about your body that have been learned by man. As you read through them, we suggest you ask yourself if such incredible size and complexity can rationally be believed to be the result of mindless forces.
 

  1.  You possess 3,000,000,000,000 nerve cells all coordinated by the brain.
  2. You have 30,000,000,000 working sections to the brain.
  3. You have 131,000,000 photoreceptors in your eyes.
  4. You have 24,000 hair cells in your ears that react to sound and convert it to nerve impulses.
  5. Your small intestine has a surface area of 970,000 square feet.
  6. Your heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood every day beating 100,000 times a day.
  7. Your liver manufacturers more than 1,000 different enzymes, each controlling a different chemical reaction.
  8. You have 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.
  9. You breathe 438 cubic feet of air a day.
  10. There are 35,000,000 gland cells in your stomach to break down food yet not digest itself
  11. Your kidneys have 40 miles of tubing and clean 500 gallons of your blood every day.
  12. Every cell has 1,000,000,000,000 bits of data in it (the same amount of information as 10,000 encyclopedia- sized books.
  13. There are 639 muscles that must work together.
  14. Joints must move 25,000,000 times in our lifetimes without wearing out.
  15. There are 30,000,000,000,000 cells in our body with 10,000 functions.


 Obviously these numbers are average figures depending on the size of the person and other factors, but they all speak of the incredible complexity built into each one of us. When David said, "I will praise thee Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), he was understanding what a marvelous creation our bodies are. Let us praise God by how we live and how we use what we have been given.

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