Humans Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

May 20, 2025May 19, 2025

Our Pets Don’t Have Souls

Domestic animals make our lives full and sometimes are our best friends. Some people ask whether animals go to heaven, or say they won’t be happy in heaven if their pet isn’t there. Saying that our pets don’t have souls is very emotionally loaded.

I am an animal lover and have had eight dogs and three cats, all of which I loved dearly. I know what wonderful companions animals can be and how much they can enrich our lives. I also know that for some people, animals have been their primary link to sanity. People have called dogs “man’s best friend” because they don’t have the limitations of many humans. Animals trust, obey, remain faithful, are always truthful, always positive, always loving, and are always there. Our human relationships are likely to fail all these tests. Animals frequently serve as the needed equilibrium for people who have been hurt in their human relationships.

Please think carefully about the previous paragraph. It is a severe indictment of the Church. When I hear someone say that their dog is the only friend they have in the world, I know the Church has failed them. God intended for the Church to be the one force in our lives that would never let us down, but that has rarely been the case due to human weakness.

With those things in mind, the fact is that animals are not humans. The Bible makes it clear that humans are uniquely created in the image of God, giving us characteristics that animals don’t have. Our pets don’t have souls and are not the final answer to the isolation some of us feel.

When we are in heaven and no longer bound by time, will we be able to go back and revisit the animals that blessed our lives? I have no idea, but I believe our priorities and relationships will be different then. The Church often fails to support people who are hurt, isolated, lonely, and unfulfilled. I hope we will begin to do a better job of healing them with our love, compassion, and fellowship.

May 16, 2025May 13, 2025

Take It Easy and Live Longer

It’s an animal that can live for 500 years. The ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) is a clam native to the North Atlantic. They exemplify the slogan “Take it easy and live longer.”

The ocean quahogs living in deep, cold waters farther north live the longest. Those in the southern areas tend to have much shorter lives. Since these mollusks add one growth line to their shells each year, it’s possible to determine the age by counting the lines. The oldest reported specimen found in 2006 was 507 years old. That means this clam began its life shortly after Columbus discovered the Americas. Who knows how much longer it might have lived if it had escaped capture.

Ocean quahogs and a few other animals, such as tortoises, have a quality that scientists call “negligible senescence.” What that means is they don’t show signs of aging. Scientists are still trying to discover the factors that allow some animals to live long lives without apparent aging.

We suggest that one factor is obvious. “Take it easy and live longer” is demonstrated by the long-lived creatures with an unhurried and unstressed lifestyle. Perhaps we can learn something from that. The Creator had a reason for setting aside a time of rest.

May 13, 2025May 12, 2025

Questions About Life in Three Categories

Everyone is curious about the things we see in nature. Our posts here and on Facebook often concern animals, plants, and ecosystems. Most people looking at living creatures believe they see design and have questions about life in three categories.

The first category of questions, asked primarily by scientists or the scientifically minded, is, “How does it work?” We want to know how DNA determines the various traits of living things. We are curious about how green plants convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy to power their cells. How does a bat find its prey in the dark? How can an octopus control eight arms independently? The questions are numerous.

The second category is, “What is the purpose?” Atheist scientist Richard Dawkins stops after the “how” question to say, “Biology is the study of things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” But then he makes it very clear that he believes they are not designed and have no purpose. On the other hand, theologians look for a purpose. Since God created the world, He must have a purpose in mind.

Both scientists and theologians ask questions in the third category. They want to know, “How and when did this originate? How did the universe come into being? How did life come from non-living chemicals? When did the first human life originate, and how?” For believers, the Bible gives us basic answers to those questions. However, since the Bible is not a science textbook, it leaves many questions unanswered. That is where science can find answers.

Looking at questions about life in three categories, the third category is very contentious because scientists and believers disagree. I mean that unbelieving scientists disagree with believers and vice versa. But also, scientists disagree with other scientists, and believers disagree with other believers. The curious thing is that in recent years, scientists have resolved some of their disagreements. Those who once insisted that the universe was eternal have been forced to accept the evidence of a cosmic beginning about 13.8 billion years ago.

Believers, however, continue to argue about young-earth and old-earth theology. All believers need to accept the fact that the Bible does not tell us when the universe began or when Adam and Eve lived. As Christians, we must let the Bible speak where it speaks and allow science to speak where it speaks. Of the questions about life in three categories, the most important for believers to examine falls into the second category. “What is the purpose of life?” That is a question the Bible clearly answers. For example, read Romans 12:1-2, Romans 6:22, and Ephesians 3:10-12.

May 7, 2025May 6, 2025

Evidence for Design in Nature

On our websites, we often talk about evidence for design in nature. When average people see the amazingly organized structures in living organisms, they can’t help but feel that they must be designed. Even Richard Dawkins, the evolutionist best known for his worldwide atheism campaign, said that living systems “give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose” (The Blind Watchmaker, page 1). Of course, he adds that it is only an illusion. Atheist Francis Crick, who with James Watson, discovered the helical structure of DNA, warned biologists that they must “constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved” (What Mad Pursuit, page 138).

The intuition of design is nothing new. Plato and Aristotle saw evidence for design in nature and thought there must be a mind behind it. Of course, they could not know about the information-rich DNA molecule and the intricate structures within every living cell. They didn’t even know about cells. Even Charles Darwin thought that cells were just jelly-like protoplasm. He had no idea that there are machines, transportation vehicles, gates, duplicators, inspectors, and trash collectors within the cell wall in a city-like structure.

The more we learn about the inner workings of living things, the more we see design evidence not even imagined in previous years. Every living cell has a DNA molecule containing the instructions for building the proteins and structures required for that living creature. Computer pioneer Bill Gates wrote, “DNA is like a computer program, but far, far more advanced than any software ever created” (The Road Ahead, page 188). Even Richard Dawkins wrote, “The machine code in the genes is uncannily computer-like” (River Out of Eden, page 17).

Is there evidence for design in nature? Let me ask another question. Has any computer program ever created itself by chance, or did an intelligent mind write it? Apply that thought to the living things you see every day.

May 2, 2025May 1, 2025

Programmed to Survive – Self-Preservation Subroutine

HAL was Programmed to Survive with a Self-Preservation Subroutine

Every living organism is programmed to survive. That is a very broad statement, but let me tell you what I mean. On this website, we often describe the way God designed creatures with the defense mechanisms necessary to avoid, evade, or defend against predators. However, they are equipped with more than defense mechanisms. In computer terms, a self-preservation subroutine is programmed into their DNA. Even plants that have no brain or desires have this self-preservation quality. I’m sure you have seen this when you try to get rid of weeds in your lawn or garden.

Where does this self-preservation subroutine come from? Living things are programmed to survive by their Creator. In 1969, I was a college student in Cincinnati when the science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey opened in movie theaters. The movie depicted space travel and “picture phone” communications. Space travel today has still not reached the level shown in the film, but today’s mobile phones make the picture phone booth of the movie seem primitive. I still don’t fully understand the movie’s meaning, but HAL, a computer with a self-preservation subroutine, fascinated me.

HAL 9000 was programmed to survive and refused to allow the human astronaut to disable him. That was the scary part of the movie for me. The concept of an evil computer or robot with artificial intelligence and a self-preservation subroutine endangering humans has become the plot of science fiction thrillers. Those human creations could become a modern Frankenstein’s monster. That terrifying scenario is what many fear AI (artificial intelligence) could lead to.

You can take some comfort in the fact that human programmers have been unable to design a computer program with a self-preservation subroutine. Look around you, and you will see a myriad of living things that are programmed to survive. God has programmed survival software into every living organism, demonstrating that He is far more intelligent than any human computer programmer. God’s wisdom and creative genius programmed all life to survive for a purpose.

March 27, 2025March 26, 2025

What It Means to Be Human

One way to trace the history of humans, apes, and monkeys is by studying the footprints they left in various earth materials. Footprints can be preserved if an animal walks across mud or volcanic ash and that material hardens. Some denominational creationists have claimed to see footprints in granite or limestone. Granite is formed deep underground and is only exposed when the overburden is eroded away. Limestone is a chemically precipitated rock that is never soft enough for an animal to sink into, leaving footprints. Sometimes, natural erosion can leave a shape that resembles a human footprint. However, a knowledge of petrology (the study of rocks) is required to determine animal footprints, and what it means to be human is more than footprints.

Researchers found Homo erectus (“erect man”) and Paranthropus boisei, a species of australopithecine hominid. The word “australopithecine” is a combination of the Latin “australis,” meaning “south,” and “pithekos,” a Greek word meaning “ape.” In other words, Paranthropus was an ape from the south. The evidence is that Paranthropus boisei was a plant eater, and Homo erectus was a hunter-gatherer. The tracks are in mud in a lakeshore deposit, so both of them would have been walking along the lake but looking for different things.

Some people interpret the Bible’s account of man’s creation as suggesting that God instantaneously zapped him into an image that looked like modern Western humans. They have used that concept to justify slavery by maintaining that people of a different race were not created in God’s image. Some atheists claimed that their race was superior to others and that survival of the fittest was the rule, meaning that superior ones could exploit inferior races. That is not what it means to be human.

The biblical definition of humans is “those beings created in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26). Since God is a spiritual being, that image cannot be physical. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God “formed man out of the dust of the ground.” It doesn’t say how long that took or what method God used to form the human physical body. The Hebrew word “formed” is “yatsar,” and in other passages, it required a long period of time. In chapter 44, Isaiah uses this word to describe events that occurred over time. (See verses 2, 10, 21, and 24.)

The creation of the human spiritual makeup is unique, giving us the capacity to create art and music or to worship and think beyond death. The fossil record of human history confirms that God formed our bodies from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7). The Bible also tells us that our bodies will return to the dust from which they came (Genesis 3:19). The part of humans that is created in God’s image will live on, being united with Him in eternity. That is what it means to be human.

February 13, 2025February 10, 2025

Neanderthal DNA and Being Human

The 1856 discovery of human-like specimens that looked different from modern humans baffled scientists. Anthropologists named the specimens Neanderthals after the place where they were discovered, the Neander Valley in present-day Germany. The Neanderthals had a larger brain than modern humans, but the head was flattened, and the skull had a heavy bone structure. The media portrayed the find as a missing link between apes and humans. Atheists jumped on the discovery by saying it proved human evolution and showed that the biblical account was fantasy. Today, Neanderthal DNA reveals their relationship to modern humans.

In 1912, Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the Summer Olympic competition. Thorpe was a native American member of the Sac and Fox tribe. He was exceptionally strong and had numerous physical characteristics similar to the fossil remains of the Neanderthals. Thorpe was racially different but not a different species.

In 2010, researchers published the Neanderthal DNA genome sequence. Comparisons between that data and modern humans confirm that modern humans have Neanderthal DNA in their genome. In addition to the new genetic information, when researchers dig into places where they found Neandertal remains, they also discover the remains of complex tools, plant-based medicines, and storage of staples such as flour for making food. Evidence also suggests the use of symbols to communicate and ritual treatment of the dead. These things indicate that Neanderthals are not a missing link but an early race of humans.

The Bible does not define humans based on their physical makeup. Artists have depicted Adam and Eve as white-skinned, blue-eyed, six-foot-tall, attractive Caucasians. In my travels around the world, I have seen Adam and Eve portrayed as people of color, orientals, and even pygmies. What defines humans is not our physical appearance but our spiritual makeup. That is how we are created in the image of God.

The Bible’s description of how God created the physical human body is that we are made from the dust of the earth. (See Genesis 2:7 and 3:19.) No matter what our physical bodies are like, we are all one and are all created in God’s image. (See Genesis 1:27 and 9:6.) That concept permeates the biblical account. It helps us understand the teachings of Christ, that we are to love (agape) our neighbors and even our enemies.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: Scientific American magazine for February 2025, pages 43 -47 and scientificamerican.com

February 12, 2025February 10, 2025

Astronaut Eyes in Space

We read many quotes from various sources about humans traveling to the Moon, Mars, or some distant moon of Jupiter or Saturn. Most media stories seem to indicate that all astronauts would need to survive the journey is a space suit. They overlook the fact that the human body is carefully engineered to survive on Earth, but studies from the International Space Station show a new challenge for astronaut eyes in space.

We can address the damage to the heart and some other organs by providing enough cardiovascular activity on treadmills. However, new data on astronaut eyes in space show that long periods of weightlessness affect ocular biomechanics. More than 70% of astronauts on the International Space Station have Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS).

NASA collected data on 13 astronauts who spent between 157 and 186 days in a weightless environment. The studies detailed a 33% decrease in ocular rigidity, an 11% decrease in interocular pressure, and a 25% reduction in ocular pulse amplitude. These changes caused decreased eye size, an altered focal field, optic nerve edema, and retinal folds. The researchers point out that some of these effects can produce long-lasting changes in the eye’s mechanical properties.

Science shows that the human body is engineered and designed for the gravitational effects of our planet. If only one or two things were essential for life on Earth, you might attribute it to chance. We are not talking about one or two things but the human body as a total unit. Every organ has to adjust when the body is subjected to weightlessness, but most organs cannot change. When NASA put Scott Kelly in space and his identical twin Mark stayed on Earth, it provided a comparison. Scott was in space for 340 days during 2015-16, and there were changes in his DNA and numerous changes in his body.

Now, we have additional data showing the effect of weightlessness on astronaut eyes in space. Some items like ocular pressure have potential complications like glaucoma. It is obvious that our bodies are engineered with many individual characteristics essential for life. The more variables that must be “just right,” the less likely it is that the final product could exist by chance.

For an airplane to fly, thousands of features must be carefully engineered. That requires engineers, not chance. That is even more true for the human body. God carefully designed us to live on planet Earth, and the media often oversimplifies what we need for space travel. Look in the mirror and behold the handiwork of God. (See Psalms 139:14.)

January 31, 2025January 28, 2025

A Pregnant Woman’s Brain

In our day of surrogate mothers, in vitro fertilization, and abortion, we need to understand how a pregnant woman’s brain functions. Many husbands will describe very different thinking in the minds of their wives during pregnancy.

Dr. Liz Chrastil, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Irving, realized she could be her own study subject when she became pregnant. Chrastil exposed herself to four MRI scans before pregnancy, 15 during pregnancy, and seven scans in the two years after the baby was born.

The data on Chrastil was astounding. Pregnancy caused a 4% reduction of gray matter in 80% of Chrastil’s brain. At the same time, some of her white matter tracts that carry information around the brain grew stronger, reaching a peak in the second trimester. By the end of Chrastil’s pregnancy, the white matter returned to the pre-pregnancy level. Her gray matter changes seem to be permanent.

This research on a pregnant woman’s brain has enormous implications. As we have said before, If a woman has an abortion, the vestiges of her pregnancy continue with her for life. Pregnancy permanently alters the brain of a surrogate mother. Those who ridicule the biblical design for motherhood and families are encouraging great risk to women who choose to alter God’s plan. Humans cannot improve on God’s system for families. When they try, the result harms everyone.

January 30, 2025January 28, 2025

Collateral Damage from Using Marijuana

This ministry is located in the marijuana capital of Michigan, and the quantity of marijuana sold in this state is vast and growing. Widespread marijuana use in America has not been around for a significant amount of time to see the effects. The New York Times has been surveying doctors, hospitals, and psychiatrists as more and more people have collateral damage from using marijuana.

Psychiatrists are seeing a massive increase in the number of people who have had delusions, paranoia, and other symptoms of psychosis from marijuana use. Hospitals and urgent care facilities are dealing with patients who have severe vomiting induced by marijuana.

Marijuana is a thirty-three billion dollar industry that is “turning out an ever-expanding range of cannabis products so intoxicating they bear little resemblance to the marijuana available a generation ago.” Cannabis addiction is common in our world today, and the medical profession is just beginning to understand the extent of it.

The collateral damage from using marijuana is very similar to that of alcohol. People turn to drugs or even to common substances, which, when misused, produce consequences for the users. Many years ago, when I was a teenager, a cough syrup called Hadacol had a high percentage of alcohol. We teens would buy a case and use it as an alcoholic drink. In my teaching experience, I had students getting high on everything from peanut butter to laundry detergent, frequently with negative results.

God tells us to treat our bodies as temples, and one part of taking care of God’s temple is to add only those things that will help it. In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul tells Timothy to “use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” If marijuana is used as a medical treatment, that can be a good thing. However, we must avoid the collateral damage from using marijuana as a recreational drug.