Letters From Grandpa #315

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 315

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with supposed “vestigial” organs in the human body. The following information has been condensed from an article by Steven Rowitt, Th.M, Ph. D. He is a technical advisor to the Creation Studies Institute.

Dr. Rowitt points out that evolutionists claim, without documentation, that there are “more than 100 vestigial structures in the human body.” When I was a boy it was common to have tonsils and adenoids routinely removed as they were considered to be useless organs from our evolutionary past. Today, with increased medical information, Doctors now see them as an asset and not a liability. There is increasing evidence that every part of the body has a purpose. In this brief letter we will not try to deal with 100 supposed vestigial structures, but only two, the “appendix” and the “coccyx” or tailbone.

In 2009 Live Science reported: “Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks, said researcher William Parker, an immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a vestigial organ.” It is not! Hear is what Dr. David Menton has to say about the subject. First, let me point out that Dr. Menton has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Brown University. He has a long and illustrious career as medical school professor earning the Silver Award for Basic Research from the American Academy of Dermatology. He was awarded the “Distinguished Service Teaching Award” from Washington University School of Medicine in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997. Dr. Menton was named “Teacher of the Year” at Washington University School of Medicine in 1979 and was elected “Professor of the Year” by that same institution. Dr. Menton states “The appendix, like the once ‘vestigial’ tonsils and adenoids, is a lymphoid organ (part of the body's immune system) which makes antibodies against infections in the digestive system. Believing it to be a useless evolutionary ‘left over,’ many surgeons once removed even the healthy appendix whenever they were in the abdominal cavity. Today, removal of a healthy appendix under most circumstances would be considered medical malpractice (Menton 1994).” “So, the list of vestigial organs continues to shrink. The more we discover about our great God and Savior, Messiah Jesus, the more we stand in awe of His creative abilities. The more true science looks at the universe, the more evidence piles up in support of special creation. Today we are seeing the cracks in the foundation supporting Darwinian Evolution. One by one the pillars are giving way to true science and the warning of the Apostle Paul to his son in the faith, Timothy, becomes all the more timely”: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.” (I Tim. 6:19-20 KJV).

With reference to the “coccyx”, which evolutionists consider the “human tail bone”, “Dr. Menton corrected the erroneous statements of Darwinian scientists that the human tailbone was a vestigial structure and noted that ‘all true tails have bones in them that are a posterior extension of the vertebral column. Also, all true tails have muscles associated with their vertebrae which permit some movement of the tail’ (Menton 1994). Rather than leaving the reader with the impression that the coccyx has no real function in human beings, Dr. Menton points out ‘that most modern biology textbooks give the erroneous impression that the human coccyx has no real function other than to remind us of the ‘inescapable fact’ of evolution. In fact, the coccyx has some very important functions. Several muscles converge from the ring-like arrangement of the pelvic (hip) bones to anchor on the coccyx, forming a bowl-shaped muscular floor of the pelvis called the pelvic diaphragm. The incurved

coccyx with its attached pelvic diaphragm keeps the many organs in our abdominal cavity from literally falling through between our legs. Some of the pelvic diaphragm muscles are also important in controlling the elimination of waste from our body through the rectum” (Menton 1994).

While debating an evolutionist on this very subject, Dr. Kent Holvind challenged his opponent to prove once and for all that he truly believed that his coccyx was of no value. If he would arrange for a surgeon to remove his coccyx Dr. Holvind promised to pay the bill. Such surgery would probably not prove fatal, but that would still not prove the coccyx is of no value. You can have arms, legs, eyes, and ears removed and still live. This does not prove, of course, that arms, legs, eyes, and ears are vestigial structures that have no purpose.

The “Scopes Monkey Trial” took place in Dayton, Tennessee July 10-21. John T. Scopes was charged with violating state law by teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. William Jennings Bryan led the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow led the defense. On July 21. 1925 Scopes was convicted and fined $100. While Bryan won the case in a legal court, he lost it in the court of public opinion. Now, almost a hundred years later, the “theory” of evolution is taught as a “fact” and teachers who oppose it are in danger of losing their jobs. Consider, for example, the case of John Freshwater in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He had been teaching for 24 years and had an exemplary record. The school district’s own policy stipulated that because of varying religious traditions, teachers were encouraged to offer unbiased instruction on issues such as evolution so that students could evaluate them “in accordance with their own religious tenets.” Nonetheless, noted the Rutherford Institute, “school officials suspended and eventually fired Freshwater, allegedly for criticizing evolution and failing to teach the required science curriculum.”

In 2008 Ben Stein starred in the documentary “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed”. The documentary alleges a conspiracy in academia to exclude people who believe the universe reflects intelligent design. It also alleges that teaching evolution has contributed to the promotion of communism, fascism, eugenics, and was at the heart of core of Hitler’s atrocities committed in search of a super race. It is available on the internet, I hope you will watch it.

The church is also called the Body of Christ. God designed it with the same efficiency that He designed the human body. Every part has a purpose. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:12,13).

We should never be afraid of truth. Paul said it like this: “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21,22).

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce