Why Did Adam & Eve Need An Immune System???

by enlightenedcynic 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  enlightenedcynic

  Hello All,

  Here is a question I would like answered intelligently if possible. I asked my wife and another brother during an informal gathering of friends and was given the typical "wait till the new system, Jehovah will answer all questions" response.

  For the last year or so I began to seriously doubt the existence of a "loving, caring God". So admitedly my question does come from a slanted viewpoint but here we go anyway. Begining with the position that God put humans here on earth in a paradise, in perfect health...when then did the need for an immune system arise? Did Adam and his wife already have this when they were created? If they did, then why would a "loving, caring, God" also create organisms, bacteria, and insects that would assault this immune system. Didn't this God posses the ability to keep all living organisms and creatures in perfect harmony? Perhaps my question is a bit simplistic, but I just cannot grasp the idea that two humans were supposedly created perfect, yet they needed an immune system to protect them from a perfect garden setting. Maybe God gave them this immune system after their "fall", as some sort of gift, along with clothing to cover their loins?

  Interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

  EC
• 

  Shining One

  Uh, The Fall.
  Rex
• 

  M*A*S*H

  If I were to answer this "itulligantully" I would start by pointing out the following.
  1. Adam & Eve didn't exist.
  etc...
  
  If I were to answer this like a rather large vacuous vegetable (perhaps with mouldy bits) I would start off down the track you suggested in your post.
  1. Adam & Eve did exist.
  etc...
  
  Oh, before everyone says 'Ooo... youre so mean'. I like to say in my defence, and I quote "Interested in hearing your thoughts on this."
• 

  james_woods

  It just keeps getting sillier and sillier the more you try to put a literal interpretation on this kind of thing...

  For example, what the heck were such obvious predators as the lamprey eel or the venus fly trap created for? Ticks & Leeches? Mosquitos? Tapeworms? Did the Tyrannasauros Rex eat straw just like the bull? With those teeth and claws?

  Now, if you say snakes had legs and no poison before the sin, then why does a hila monster have both poison and legs? What about the so-called "legless" lizard species? Did they just get an unfair hit when the snake species lost their legs? What about those super-poisonous blue speckled octopus species? When did the sting ray get a stinger? Will they all go non-poisonous in the new world?

  How did flowering plants manage to get cross pollenated before bees? For that matter, what do bees have stingers for?

  And if you are going to break with the literal "days" of creation, then why not come up with a realistic number of eons rather than a "few" thousand years?

  I think the Catholics have finally put a reasonable spin on this by just calling the whole story a jewish morality fable.
• 

  parakeet

  ***If they did, then why would a "loving, caring, God" also create organisms, bacteria, and insects that would assault this immune system.***
  Bacteria ate straw in Eden, just like lions, tsetse flies, and intestinal worms.
• 

  Shazard

  Well when man have fallen he was changed. Sin affects everything including our physical bodies. Sin ends in corruption. So immune system is God's gift of grace against consequences Sin created. Sin is not just some small mistake, it is very powerfull as you can see in History. And it is so strong that it was necessity of God himself become man to save mankind. Sin affects universe. And if some creature is made by the Image and Likeness of God, then it is exactly what you get when such creature Falls... you get Cosmic cosnequences which have to be cleaned up by similar opposing or greater power. So nobody except God himself couldn't clean up things.
  So I believe Adam and Eve got his protection after Fall.
• 

  Arthur

  The probable JW response is:

  Jehovah God originally designed humans with an immune system to protect them from various germs, parasites, and viruses that would affect animals. Some JWs have speculated that Jehovah intended for viruses and germs to exist to control animal populations (as JWs believe that Jehovah didn't orginally design any animals to be predatory).

  This creates several problems. One such problem is that many viruses would have not been able to survive the global flood unless they were hosted inside animals on the ark. However, many such viruses found in mamals are deadly within a matter of days or weeks.
• 

  kid-A

  "So immune system is God's gift of grace against consequences Sin created."

  Honestly, it boggles the mind that an individual who actually believes horseshit like this could function in modern society. I doubt even the watchtower could have come up with a more moronic explanation.....sigh........
• 

  james_woods

  So god's gift of grace was to kill you presumably by some sort of genetic damage done to punish your sin, but then create a "slowdown" but not "slamdunk" mechanism to make your death a slower one?

  Kid-A have faith - I think the WTS probably can top it if they think long and hard...

  Sheesh!

  PS - no vegetarian creation fundie has yet taken on my pet examples of the Hila Monster or the Slime Eel...
• 

  TD

  Another aspect to consider is that the human immune system is more than immune globulins, the lymphatic system, T cells and all the other things that pretty much function behind the scenes and without your knowledge

  Fever is another mechanism of the human immune system. So are watery eyes and nasal discharge. So are swollen an painful lymph nodes in your armpit, and neck. In short, many, if not most of the things that make you feel absolutely miserable when you have a cold or the flu are actually your immune system working.

  Because of this, I don't think traditional explanations (e.g. "perfection" or "grace") really address the whole picture