Science and Evolution

Res Ipsa Loquitur      

In the 1860’s England a Mr. Byrne was walking along a street when a barrel of flour rolled out of the defendant’s second-floor window and landed on him. He sustained serious injuries and sued. In order to collect damages, however, he had to prove defendant’s negligence. He couldn’t; there were no witnesses as to why the flour barrel rolled out the window and he could not put forward anything to show that the defendant was negligent. The English court, nevertheless, invoked the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur and found for the plaintiff. Sometimes the causes for events are so obvious that there is no need to find supporting evidence. The thing speaks for itself – res ipsa loquitur.

When it comes to creation, God’s creatures, and the human body and its complexity, it is impossible to conclude anything but a divine Creator. Res ipsa loquitur.

Life: God’s Creation

Just for a moment think about the complexity and wonder of human life, or any life form. From a speck of cells, each with incredible complexity and the size of a pinhead, a human being grows and develops into a living organism with diverse and complementary operating systems: eyes, ears, a liver, a staggeringly complex reproductive system (two independent and complementary variations, requiring both working together to function ), a digestive system, lungs, bones, an interlocking highway of nerves and blood vessels, a brain, a heart, etc., etc., each of which is in turn supported and built by a complex assemblage of cells and their equally complex component parts. These complementary cells and organs have no meaning or use except as part of an unimaginably complex human which grows from a speck to a complex intra-active adapting structure of diverse parts mostly kept in by the skin. None of these human operational systems could ever create themselves, develop or survive for even an instant without a pre-determined target of what the end product was going to be and the simultaneous development of other systems. To illustrate, consider this image of the human ear and brief discussion of how we hear:

“Both ears collect acoustic signals from multiple directions. The complex structure of our ears then process this information and passes it to the brain for interpretation.

1.  Our outer ear collects the sound vibrations and funnels them through the ear canal to the eardrum.

2.  These sounds make your eardrum vibrate and passes soundwaves to the middle ear.

3.  The middle ear consists of three bones (the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup), one of which is the hardest and smallest bone in your body. The vibrations are then transmitted and amplified to the oval window of the inner ear.

4.  Fluid in the inner ear stimulates the hair cells. The outermost hair cells are responsible for the high frequencies, whilst the inner hair cells are responsible for the mid and low frequencies. When these hair cells are damaged it affects your ability to hear.

5.  Electrical impulses are then sent from the hair cells along the auditory nerve to the brain for interpretation.”

Still, this part of the hearing system is of no consequence unless a pre-existing communication system transferred data to the brain, which in turn must have been developed earlier or simultaneously to receive and interpret the messages. None of these systems or parts make any sense or create a survival advantage unless all three came into existence at once and worked together. For example, there would be no advantage to having a communication channel unless there were something to communicate. We could go on forever. And this is just the ear. Consider the multitude of other human body parts and systems which require an ever increasingly complex development alongside other independent and synergistic operating systems for it to function.

Take the time to google human anatomy or specific parts of the human body (shoulder, foot, eye, etc.). The intricacy and complexity of our bodies defy an explanation of simple chemicals becoming increasingly complex and working together to produce the human body.

Mere words cannot adequately explain the complexity of the human organism. I would urge you to watch some film showing the truly miraculous operation of the human body’s major operating systems. As you do so try to imagine how these complex systems could have gradually developed, considering their complexities, integration, the complex sub-systems within each, how they could have evolved one step at a time before they developed a useful function, and how the components could grow and assemble themselves from the union of the head of a sperm (microscopic in size) and an ovum (size of a pinhead) . Both the sperm and ovum are staggeringly complex, each consisting of still other operating microscopic biological machines (where did these come from?). As you view these linked videos, marvel at the complexity and numerous component parts of the sperm and ovum and ask yourself whether it is even remotely reasonable for these microscopic reproductive machines to have randomly developed on their own. Res ipsa loquitur.

As of June 2019, here are some YouTube presentations for our various systems; there are many more.

Now, I refer you to the intricate structure and operation of the human cell and the diverse biological machines within. These separate microscopic entities work together to maintain and divide the cells. Each cell within the body (and there are trillions of them) has its own complex infrastructure with its various components each having a specific role and purpose. The twisting DNA defies explanation. And this is just for one human body. Now consider the billions of such human individuals. Consider also that there are literally a million different species, each with its own individual DNA composition and each again containing a message of complexity and impossibility.

These billions and trillions (and trillions beyond) of min-universes of unfathomable diversity and wonder cannot be explained by the use of one word, “evolution”. Evolution doesn’t explain anything about the process of life creation and development; it can’t. When you strip away all the adornments it is merely a word which states that different life forms exist at different places and at different times. It does not and cannot explain how the astronomical improbabilities inherent in this belief system were overcome.

For example, consider our visual system which includes the eye, the optic nerve and brain. The eye itself functions through a number of independent and inter-related systems. Here is how webmd.com describes the process:

 “Light reflects off an object, and if that object is in your field of vision, it enters the eye.

“The first thing it touches is a thin veil of tears in the front. Behind this is your eye’s front window, the cornea. This clear layer helps focus the light.

“On the other side is liquid called the aqueous humor. It circulates throughout the front part of your eye and keeps pressure inside constant.

“After the aqueous humor, light passes through the pupil. This is the central round opening in your iris, the colored part of your eye. It changes size to control how much light gets in farther back. Next up is the lens. It works just like a camera to focus light. It adjusts shape depending on whether the light reflects off something near to you or far away.

“This light now pierces the center of the eye. It’s bathed in moisture from a clear jelly known as the vitreous.

“Its final destination is the retina, which lines the back of your eye. It’s like the screen in a movie theater or the film in a camera. The focused light hits cells called photoreceptors.

“Unlike a movie screen, the retina has many parts:

“Blood vessels bring nutrients to your nerve cells.

“The macula is the bull’s-eye at the center of your retina. The dead center is called the fovea. Because it’s the focal point of your eye, it has more special, light-sensitive nerve endings, called photoreceptors, than any other part.

“Photoreceptors come in two kinds: rods and cones. They’re special nerve endings that convert the light into electrochemical signals.

“Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a layer of dark tissue beneath the photoreceptors. These cells absorb excess light so the photoreceptors can give a clearer signal. They also move nutrients to (and waste from) the photoreceptors to the choroid.

“The choroid is separate from the RPE. It lies behind the retina and is made up of many fine blood vessels that supply nutrition to the retina and the RPE.

“Sclera is the tough, white, fibrous outside wall of your eye. It’s connected to the clear cornea in front. It protects the delicate structures inside the eye.

“Signals from the photoreceptors travel along nerve fibers to the optic nerve. It sends the signals to the visual center in the back of the brain.

“And that’s how you see: Light, reflected from an object, enters the eye, gets focused, is converted into electrochemical signals, delivered to the brain, and is interpreted, or “seen,” as an image.”

 Vision is but one of the numerous complex systems which grace our bodies. Ask yourself how a clump of inorganic material could self-assemble into diverse and completely different parts to enable vision. The construction would have to be immediate and simultaneous. The retina cannot function without the cornea; nothing works without the optic nerve; the brain would have to be functioning to interpret the data, etc., etc. There can be no rational explanation other than a Creator.

As you view the videos and consider the complexity of the human operating systems and the underlying trillions of cells, it should be apparent that these wonderous machines could not self-assemble.

When God Shows Off — Res Ipsa Loquitur

Be sure to go to When God Shows Off! where we have inserted some pictures of animals, fish, birds, etc. showing an embarrassingly small segment of the wonder of God’s creation that we can see. I don’t know the original source of these pictures so if anyone knows please tell us so that we can give proper credit.

As you scroll through these pictures I think you will conclude, res ipsa loqutur! Be sure to access some of the extraordinary videos on YouTube showing the complex and beautiful dances by some species of birds. For example go here for one of the bird of paradise dances.

Some related pages, websites, and references

Footnotes and Attributions

The diagram of the ear was retrieved from the Digisound Hearing website.

Last modified July 25, 2019