Tag: psalm 139

The Remarkable Scientific Accuracy of Psalm 139

theremarkablescientificaccuracy

BY FAZALE RANA – MARCH 1, 2017

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

– Psalm 139:13–14

Psalm 139 has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Maybe it’s because I have recently written a couple of articles about the incredible design of human pregnancy—design that highlights just how fearfully and wonderfully human beings are made.

Posting these articles to my Facebook page prompted one of my Facebook friends, Eric, to ask a thought-provoking question:

“Psalm 139:13 says God ‘knit’ us in our mother’s womb. This sounds a lot to me like DNA replication. Is this reading science into the text?”

Given the importance of DNA replication to embryological development and the specific features of the replication process, I understand why Eric would want to make that comparison. While I think that there are passages in Scripture that anticipate (even predict) scientific discoveries, I don’t see Psalm 139 referring to DNA replication. (By the way, I appreciate Eric’s caution about reading science into the text.)

Having said that, I do think that the description of God knitting each one of us together in our mother’s womb is an apt analogy for the process of embryological development at the cellular level, because both knitting and development are predicated on forethought and rely on a special type of information—qualities that reflect the activity of an Intelligent Agent.

An Overview of Embryo Growth and Development

Embryological development begins the moment the egg cell (oocyte) becomes fertilized by a sperm cell, yielding a zygote. In turn, the zygote undergoes several rounds of cell division (referred to as cleavage) to produce a berry-like structure, called a morula. All of this happens by the third or fourth day of pregnancy.

Over the next couple of days, the morula undergoes changes that characterize the process of embryogenesis. In addition to undergoing growth and division, cells in the morula begin to migrate relative to one another to form a structure with a hollow sphere called a blastula. Within the sphere is a clump of cells called the inner cell mass.

scientific-accuracy-of-psalm-139-1The next stage in embryogenesis sees the inner cell mass transform into a stack of three cellular layers (called germ layers) through cell growth, division, and migration. At this stage, the embryo is referred to as the gastrula.

The specific cell layers of the gastrula are labeled: (1) the ectoderm, (2) the mesoderm, and (3) the endoderm. Each of these cell layers is fated to develop into different organ systems in the body. The ectoderm forms the nervous system and the epidermis of the skin. The mesoderm forms muscles, the skeletal system, blood and blood vessels, and the dermis of the skin. The endoderm forms the linings of the digestive and respiratory systems, and organs that comprise the digestive system, such as the liver and pancreas.

After gastrulation, the next stage involves organ formation. Organogenesis begins in each of the individual cell layers and involves the careful orchestration of several processes, including cell growth, cell division, cell-to-cell communication, cell migration, differentiation of cells into specialized types, secretion of extracellular materials, and even cell death (which is necessary to sculpt the tissues and organs).

These cellular processes are directed by the complex interplay between gene networks within the cells (with genes turning on and off) and chemical gradients produced from materials secreted by the cells. Some scientists think that bioelectric fields generated by the cells of the developing embryo also direct embryogenesis.1 The patterns formed by the chemical gradients and bioelectric fields direct the movements, differentiation, and behavior of the embryonic cells. Still, the scientific community is unclear what ultimately determines the chemical gradient and bioelectric field patterns. To put it another way, while scientists are beginning to understand the role that chemical gradients and bioelectric fields play in development, they have no idea where the instructions ultimately come from that direct individual cells in the developing embryo to contribute to and, in turn, respond to the chemical gradients and bioelectric fields that guide embryonic development.

Perhaps the problem has to do with the fact that the scientific community views embryogenesis from a strictly materialistic/naturalistic framework. But what if embryo development were to be examined from a creation model vantage point?

Embryological Development and the Case for Intelligent Design

Remarkably, the instructions for embryogenesis appear to be instantiated in the cells that make up the developing embryo. From a creation model perspective, these instructions must come from a Mind, because instructions are a form of information (specifically, algorithmic information) and common experience teaches that algorithms emanate from a Mind. Toward that end, origin-of-life researchers Paul Davies and Sara Walker recently acknowledged that currently there is no evolutionary explanation for algorithmic information instantiated in living matter.2

Another reason to think that embryological development stems from a Creator’s involvement relates to the foresight required to formulate the instructions so that they lead to the desired outcome for embryogenesis. Evolutionary processes do not have foresight. Foresight also reflects the work of a Mind. If these instructions are flawed for even a single cell during the early stages of development, the consequences would be disastrous, with the offspring turning into a “developmental monster,” compromised in its capacity to survive and reproduce. To put it differently, it is hard to envision how evolutionary processes could generate the algorithmic information needed for embryogenesis through trial and error, without the benefit of foresight.

To help make this point clear, consider the analogy between embryogenesis and the routine performed by cheerleaders during a competition.3 Throughout the performance, each cheerleader has a specific set of movements and actions she will perform. Before the performance, her coach instructs her in exactly what to do, when to do it, and where to do it on the mat. Her individual movements and actions are different from every other team member, but when performed in conjunction with her teammates (who have their own set of instructions), the outcome can be dazzling. All this is possible, because the coach choreographed the routine ahead of the performance, with an eye toward how the routine would unfold at different stages of the performance. That is, the routine was intelligently designed with the benefit of the coach’s foresight and that design was implemented through the instructions given to each girl. If not for the coach’s foresight and instructions, chaos would ensue during the performance as each girl did whatever seemed right to her at the time.

In like manner, during embryogenesis, each cell harbors a set of instructions that tell it: (1) what chemicals and how much of these materials to secrete to establish the gradients needed to guide development, (2) when to reproduce, (3) when and where to migrate, (4) when to differentiate, (5) when and what materials to secrete to form the extracellular matrix, and (6) when to die. In a sense, the cells are like cheerleaders. And the process of embryological development is akin to the choreography of a cheer routine. The only difference: the choreography of embryological development is much more complex, elaborate, and sophisticated.

As with cheerleading, someone must give the cells instructions ahead of time with the end goal of embryological development in view. And I see that “someone” as the Creator.

Knit Together in the Womb

I also find “knitting” an apt metaphor for embryological development. My mother is an avid knitter. And whenever I watch her knit, I can’t help but recognize the similarities to a cheer routine. Knitting consists of a choreography, of sorts. Someone who knits a sweater has a final product in mind before she even picks up needles and chooses the yarn. Making use of a set of instructions—algorithmic information—that tells her which yarn to use and which knitting strokes to employ, she performs a series of actions that will eventually lead to the final product, though what that product is may not be evident at the instant those actions are performed, at least to the uninitiated.

In this context, it is intriguing that David, the author of Psalm 139, would describe embryological development as a knitting process. David writes,

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

– Psalm 139:16

In light of what we have learned about embryological development, I find the scientific prescience of Psalm 139 remarkable.

Resources

Endnotes

  1. Michael Levin, “Bioelectric Mechanisms in Regeneration: Unique Aspects and Future Perspectives,” Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 20 (July 2009): 543–56, doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2009.04.013.
  2. Sara Imari Walker and Paul C. W. Davies, “The Algorithmic Origins of Life,” Journal of the Royal Society Interface 10 (February 2013): doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0869.
  3. One of my daughters was a competitive cheerleader. Before she started, if you would have asked me, “Are cheerleaders athletes?” I would have laughed. But after spending several years around cheerleaders, I am truly impressed with their athleticism. In short, cheerleaders are amazing athletes.
Reprinted with permission by the author
Original article at:
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/read/the-cells-design/2017/03/01/the-remarkable-scientific-accuracy-of-psalm-139

Placenta Optimization Shows Creator’s Handiwork

placentaoptimizationshows

BY FAZALE RANA – OCTOBER 19, 2016

The Creator of the universe desires an intimate relationship with each of us.

It is one of the more outrageous claims of the Christian faith. And no passage of Scripture expresses the intimacy between Creator and creature more than Psalm 139:13.

A fresh perspective on this passage of Scripture comes from recent work by researchers from Cambridge University in the UK. This study reveals the central role the placenta plays in properly allocating nutritional resources between mother and child, illustrating the intimate care God provided for us through the elegant design of embryological development.1

This research also has important pro-life implications, providing a response to the claim that the fetus is nothing more than a harmful mass of tissue.

Nutritional Demands of the Fetus and the Mother

For a pregnancy to be successful, nutrients must be carefully distributed between the fetus and the mother. Yet sharing nutrients runs contrary to the biological tendencies of the mother and the unborn baby. The fetus has a genetic drive for growth and craves all the nutrients it can get. So does the mother. But for the fetus to grow and develop, the mother must provide it with the nutrients it needs, setting up a potential tug of war between the mother and the developing baby in her womb.

Ironically, if the fetus hoards nutrients excessively, the hoarding can backfire. If the mother doesn’t have access to sufficient nutrients during the pregnancy, it can negatively impact lactation and the mother’s long-term health, which, in turn, compromises her ability to care for the child after birth.

As it turns out, the placenta plays a critical role in managing this trade-off. Instead of being passive tissue that absorbs available nutrients from the mother, the placenta dynamically distributes nutrients between mother and fetus, optimally ensuring the health of both mother and developing baby. To do this, the placenta receives metabolic signals from both the mother and fetus and responds to this input by regulating the nutrient amounts made available to the fetus.

One of the key genes involved in nutrient regulation is called p110α. This gene codes for a protein that integrates the metabolic signals from mother and fetus. The Cambridge University researchers wanted to understand the role that the maternal and fetal versions of this gene play in parsing the nutrient supply between mother and developing baby.

What Happens When p110α Is Defective in Mother and Child?

What happens when p110α is defective in mother and child? To answer this question, the research team used mice as a model system, preparing genetic mutants, so that either the mother or fetus had a defective version of the p110α gene. If the mother had a healthy p110αgene, but the fetus a defective version, the placenta developed abnormally. But in spite of its defective appearance, the placenta compensated so that it would still take up the nutrients the fetus needed to develop. However, if the mother had a defective version of the p110αgene, the placenta (which formed abnormally even though the fetus had a healthy version of the p110α gene) transported fewer nutrients to the fetus.

In adult tissue, the p110α gene plays a role in regulating growth in relationship to nutrient supply and mediates the metabolic effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factors. That means that a defective version of this gene models conditions in which the mother’s health is compromised due to disease, poor nutrition, stress, or other factors.

On the basis of this study, it appears that when the mother is healthy, the placenta readily transports nutrients to the fetus and dynamically adjusts, even if it forms abnormally. On the other hand, if the mother’s health is compromised, the placenta restricts nutrient flow to the fetus to ensure the mother’s long-term health, with the prospects that the fetus can still grow and develop.

This insight has important biomedical implications. In the developing world, one in five pregnancy complications involve the placenta. In the developed world, this number is one in eight. The researchers hope that this insight will help them understand the etiologies behind problem pregnancies and also help them identify biomarkers that will alert physicians to problems earlier in the pregnancy.

This work also has important apologetics implications, as well.

Indeed, We Are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

This work highlights the elegance of embryological development. It seems an exquisite rationale—a biological logic, if you will—undergirds every aspect of development. The optimal way the placenta partitions resources between mother and fetus, carefully managing trade-offs, evinces the handiwork of the Creator, and reveals the Creator’s intimate care for the fetus.

The devastating effects caused by mutations to the p110α gene raises questions about the capacity of evolutionary mechanisms to explain the origin of the reproductive system in placental mammals. Because the placenta is not a passive conduit for nutrients between mother and fetus, the challenges of explaining its genesis via unguided evolutionary process become insurmountable. If the placenta lacks the capability to effectively allocate resources between the mother and fetus—or even if this process operates in a suboptimal manner—the fetus may not survive, or the mother may not be healthy enough to nurse and rear the child once it’s born. In other words, it becomes difficult to imagine how the placenta’s role in embryological development could evolve from an imperfect system to an optimal system under the influence of natural selection because of the critical, dynamic role the placenta plays in embryological development. If this role isn’t properly executed, the child isn’t likely to make it to reproductive age.

Is the Fetus Like a Tumor?

This work also has implications for the pro-life debate. I have often heard pro-choice advocates argue that abortion is not murder, because the fetus is like a tumor. But the work by the scientists from Cambridge University makes this view impossible. Because the placenta dynamically allocates resources between the mother and the fetus in a way that preserves the mother’s health, the fetus cannot be viewed as a tumor robbing the mother of nutrients. Instead, it looks as if the placenta’s function has been designed in such a way to ensure optimal health for both the mother and the fetus. This study also shows that if the mother’s health is in jeopardy, the placenta actually compromises the health of the fetus so that the mother’s health is not unduly harmed by the pregnancy.

Resources
“Curvaceous Anatomy of the Female Spine Reveals Ingenious Obstetric Design” by Virgil Robertson (article)
“What Are the Odds of You Being You?” by Matthew McClure (article)
“Morning Sickness May Protect Embryos from Toxins” with Fazale Rana (podcast)

Endnotes

  1. Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri et al., “Maternal and Fetal Genomes Interplay through Phosphoinositol 3-Kinase (PI3K)-p110α Signaling to Modify Placental Resource Allocation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 113 (October 2016): 11255–60, doi:10.1073/pnas.1602012113.
Reprinted with permission by the author
Original article at:
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/read/the-cells-design/2016/10/19/placenta-optimization-shows-creator’s-handiwork