Spiritual Lessons from Biology

i recently heard about an experiment done on addiction.  Rats were placed alone in a cage with two water bottles.  One water bottle contained normal water. The other was laced with an addictive drug.  All of the rats in the study became obsessed with the laced water, and 9 out of 10 rats eventually killed themselves by overdosing.    Another scientist by the name of Bruce K. Alexander repeated this experiment in a social setting instead of solitary confinement.  Rats are highly social creatures, and Alexander hypothesized that their behavior would be different if they lived in a group setting instead of in isolation.  Alexander and his team got to work building the huge plywood complex.  Alexander writes in his essay: “[We filled it] with things that rats like, such as platforms for climbing, tin cans for hiding in, wood chips for strewing around, and running wheels for exercise. Naturally we included lots of rats of both sexes, and naturally t...

Behold, how good and pleasant it is When brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, Running down on the beard, On the beard of Aaron, Running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, Which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, Life Forevermore. —Psalm 133 Three days ago hiked up Deer Creek Trail.  It’s a peaceful valley, situated just behind the hogbacks.  The morning sun bathed everything in light, and the grasslands were like a swirling sea of gold.  Most birds have gone for the winter, but a few sang their cheery greeting.  As i surveyed the scene, i observed some beautifully shaped rocks at the summit of the hogback.  i assessed the thick willows and acorn bushes barricading the crest of the hill.  Figuring i could bushwhack my way up, i started my ascent. The November morning was warm and calm.  Time melted away in the methodical zig zagging th...

i’ve been memorizing the Sermon On the Mount with a group of friends.  In Matthew 5 Jesus says something rather confusing: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  It’s better to lose one of your members than for your entire body to go into Hell.  If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It’s better to lose one of your members than for your entire body to be thrown into Hell.”   Is He really telling us to gouge our eyes out and chop off various body parts when we sin?  If so, i should have lost my tongue the moment i learned to speak, and my eyes the moment i learned to see.  i believe Jesus is not telling us to literally remove our body parts (if you are skoptsy, stop it!).  He is using hyperbole to emphasize a greater teaching: the hatred of sin. i heard a story once about a woman with a pet snake.  This wasn’t just any pet snake; it was a boa constrictor.  She’d had the snake...

While i was living in Oxford, i travelled to Ireland to learn more about my family’s history.  As i was back-packing through the country, guided by old maps my grandfather drew, i was struck by the sheer greenness of that place.  i kept thinking, "How on earth is it so green ?"  Ireland gets up to 80 inches of rainfall per year, and that certainly helps.  My home-state Colorado averages only 17 inches of rainfall per year.  i love Colorado because of the sunshine, “300 days of sunshine” as we say.  But the sun does not make a land turn green. One of my favorite songs is “I Have Made Mistakes” by the Oh Hello’s.  The refrain says:  “The sun does not cause us to grow. It is the rain that will strengthen your soul.” Count it all joy, writes James, when you meet trials.  The testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  Steadfastness will have its full effect, completing you into what you are meant to be...Perfect and lacking nothin...

Recently in biology, the wolves got a new family member.  The Golden Wolf is not exactly a new discovery, it’s been observed by biologists many times.  But biologists had misidentified the creatures as a jackal, naming it the Golden Jackal.  It wasn’t until a genetic conservationist at the Smithsonian Institute began comparing the Golden Jackal to other jackals that the misidentification was found out.  He says that the “two lineages are not even closely related”.  Thus Canis aureus (Golden Jackal) has been renamed Canis anthus (Golden Wolf). It is hard to identify things in this world, especially in the spiritual realm.  Jesus warns us to beware of wolves dressed as something else (Matthew 7v14).  Most people i have met in American college campuses identify as Christian, but when asked if they have ever read the Bible or what the main tenets of Christianity are, these students often cannot answer me.  B.B. Warfield writes, “If everything ...

People find God in the mountains.  Abraham ascended a mountain so he could hear the voice of God.  Moses ascended to see His face, and he came back down with his own face glowing like fire.  As for me, i climb to lose myself in the quietness, to hear the symphony of a trillion pine needles softly strumming the wind. In the seasons when i am stateside, my aunt and i climb a different mountain every week.  She teaches me the names of wildflowers, and i tell her about my adventures.   Not long ago we summited Mount Audubon.  On the way up, as with any peak above 11,000 feet, we came to a great scree field.  It’s a desolate place above the tundra where only lichen grows.  There is no soil, only scorched rocks and slabs of granite.  It’s a place of howling winds and baking sun.  Yet something extraordinary had taken root there.  My aunt called me over to take a peek.  There, among the sterile landscape, grew the most exquisite col...

"Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge." (Proverbs 19v21) The largest mammal in the world is the Blue Whale.  But the longest living is the Right Whale.  Eubalaena glacialis is unlike other mammals because of the way it grows.  There are two main types of skeletal structures in the animal kingdom: fused and unfused.  Reptiles have unfused bones, meaning they can grow as big as they need to and, thus, live longer.  Mammals have fused bones and tend to have a set longevity.  Yet the Right Whale, unlike any other mammal, has unfused bones.  Thus they live for nearly 300 years.  And they have a very, very good memory. Unlike other whales, the Northern Right Whale displays no curiosity around human beings.  They will not approach a ship, or call to each other when humans are present.  They vanish just as soon as they are spotted.  And biologists can guess why. “Right Whales” are s...

During my undergraduate years i was learning how to fast.  As i progressed, i decided to try fasting and praying for three full days.   i was still attending classes and working during this time.    By the third day my stomach had stopped grumbling and the hunger pains had subsided.  My last class of the day was a mammalogy lab.  We were learning to stuff animals for taxonomic collections.  Our specimen that day was a mouse. While i was preparing the specimen, something very strange happened.  i cut into the skin of the dead animal, tearing gently to expose the flesh inside.  My eyes widened and my stomach leapt.  All at once i came to the sickening realization that i was hungering for a mouse carcass.  After three days without a scrap of food, my body trembled at the thought of consuming the scrap of meat on the dissecting table in front of me. i composed myself, left the classroom, drank a ton of water, and returned to finish ...

On 5 August 2015, 3 million tons of toxic waste was spilt into the Animas river.  Iron, Lead, Zinc and Copper, deadly heavy metals, filled the water rapidly.  Fish choked in the Arsenic, Beryllium and Cadmium.  A terrible stench filled the air around the river, and just looking at the color of the water was enough to make your stomach turn.  By the end of the first day, the polluted water had reached New Mexico. Who was the culprit?  An atrocity so potent as this was surely the doing of some villain.  Ironically, The Environmental Protection Agency was to blame. The Gold King Mine is a suspended mine; it hasn’t been used for centuries.  Yet the EPA thought they would do some investigating to make sure the mine was ‘secure’.  Yes, indeed, the  mine was secure until the team began digging around to see just how secure it was.  That’s when all hell broke loose and the sleeping monster was unleashed.   It’s not totally clea...

" Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.  He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." -  Psalm 126 v5&6 "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness." - Psalm 30:11 "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 My grandmother came down with a case of pneumonia, and i went to visit her in the hospital.  They kept her in the ICU for days, trying to revive her.  Yet, for all their efforts, she worsened daily.  Eventually they put some kind of helmet over her head to help her breathe.  Trying to speak to her through that contraptio...

"Love one another deeply, from the heart." -  1 Peter 1v22 "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." -  1 Peter 4v8 “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” - Romans 12v9&10 Traffic in Denver has exploded.  Construction and road maintenance cannot keep up.  Furthermore, many people on the roads have recently moved here from places without snow, making the roads extra dangerous in winter.  Accidents are on the rise, as well as road rage.   Yesterday i was driving somewhere, and i was becoming frustrated.  i kept shaking my head, raising my eyebrows, tsk-ing my tongue, even laughing out loud at the sheer insanity displayed by other cars in front of me.   i was in a hurry, and grumbling to myself wasn't helping.   At one point i found myself in a turn lane at ...

“ Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” (Hebrews 12v1-2) Humpback Whales migrate farther than any other mammal on this planet, and they do so with astonishing accuracy.  Their trajectory is reportedly less than 1 degree off at any given time during their 6,000 mile journey.(1) How are these whales capable of such precision?   Sea turtles often follow a particular current.  This is impossible for humpbacks as sea currents are highly variable for the duration of the trip.   Sharks take cues from the earth’s magnetic fields.  Not so for the humpback whales; magnetic north changes as much at 12% along the way.     Migratory birds often follow the sun.  Yet the sun alone cannot explain the whales’ near-perfect navigation.  In a report from “Biology Letters” (2), humpbacks from the same area were found t...

My choice for ‘Best Colorado Bird’ seems to change with every season.  For a long time i favoured the Peregrine Falcon for his speed and power.  Next i fell in love with the mountain hummingbirds; floating jewels of the pine forests.  As of now i fancy the Magpie. Magpies are common.  There is nothing splendid about their colouration.  Yet i could watch them for hours.  The way they move is simply captivating… their walk echoes  the gait of an ancient therapod.  i love the expansion of feathers leaping out from wing and tail as they swoop in to land on a tree.  But what i love most of all is the way they talk. Like all corvids (crows, ravens, jackdaws, bluejays), magpies speak different languages.  Alarm calls, assembly calls, scolding calls, distress calls, and many others are used in its repertoire.  Magpies also imitate other species in their vocalizations, and a youtube search will bring up all kinds of stories of Magpi...

There was a time when i could not sleep.  Each night when my head hit the pillow, a heatstorm of fearful thoughts began billowing up in my psyche.  i would worry about the following day, and i would regret the previous one.  i'd analyze, reanalyze, and re-reanalyze until i felt sick.  And over all of these thoughts hung a burning orb of anxiety. I recently read a beautiful bit of literature out of South Africa.  In low latitude deserts, daily air temperature may reach 50ºC (122ºF), with surface temperatures reaching 70ºC (158ºF)!  A normal mammalian response to such heats would be sweating, panting, or licking its body.  These responses are called “evaporative cooling”, but such responses are impossible for desert mammals because they would dry up like a furry raisin in a matter of hours!  So how do they dump heat without dumping water?  The Oryx of Saudi Arabia has an answer. Temperatures above 43ºC cause brain damage.  Yet the O...