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  • Generosity in Man’s Creation
  • Awake!—1973
  • Subheadings
  • Similar Material
  • The Paired Organs
  • Partial Removal
  • The Heart and the Blood
  • Other Examples
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  • Your Amazing Circulatory System
    Awake!—1974
  • Wonderfully Made to Stay Alive
    Awake!—1988
  • What Is the Most Precious Fluid of All?
    Awake!—2006
See More
Awake!—1973
g73 4/8 pp. 20-23

Generosity in Man’s Creation

THE Creator has shown himself to be a generous Giver as regards mankind. (Jas. 1:5) What an abundance this earth contains to supply man with food and drink to sustain him! What an endless variety of fruits, vegetables and grains, as well as fish, land animals and fowl this earth contains! What profusion of beauty there is in flowers and birds, as well as in other living creatures, not to say anything of beautiful rivers, lakes, mountains, clouds and sunsets. Certainly there is nothing skimpy about Jehovah’s provisions for man’s existence and happiness.

And there is also nothing skimpy about the way the Creator made man. He did not proceed on the basis of the greatest of economy, of giving man only a minimum for existence and enjoyment of life. Though, according to the Bible, man has been deteriorating for almost six thousand years, the human body still gives testimony of the generosity of its Maker. Since man became imperfect this abundance has served as a margin of safety, even as noted by outstanding physiologists. Let us consider some examples.

The Paired Organs

To begin, there are the paired organs with which the Creator has endowed the body. For example, man has two lungs. These furnish all the oxygen man needs not only for everyday demands but also for emergencies. Because there are two, surgeons can collapse or remove one of the lungs, when necessity arises, and still the individual is able to carry on, although he is no longer so well equipped for emergencies. This fact, incidentally, shows why man has two lungs, although he is able to get along with just one.

We have also been generously provided with two kidneys. The work of our kidneys is prodigious, and their structure is described by physiologists as being at once wonderful and exquisite. Their ninety miles of tubules serve not only to filter the blood and keep its chemical content correct but also to keep the body’s water balance just right. Their essential work is carried on by tiny nephrons, of which a kidney has more than a million. Even if 90 percent of these were no longer able to function, the rest of them could still keep an individual healthy. From these facts we see that the kidneys have a safety margin of 10 to 1.

And what about the adrenals, one situated on each kidney? If both adrenals are removed, death follows within eight to thirty-six hours, depending upon the general condition of the individual. However, if but tenth of adrenal tissue is left, he can continue to live.

This safety factor also applies to a woman’s ovaries. Not only can one remaining ovary enable her to conceive, but even a fraction of one can. To a certain extent there is a parallel situation with the male, for one testicle is ample for a man to be able to become father of offspring.

The generosity of pairs is also seen in the sense organs. There is nothing skimpy about their endowment. Man can hear quite well without the outer ear and he can also hear with just one ear, although handicapped, in detecting the direction from which sounds emanate. Many persons have only one eye, yet they manage to get along. Still they are handicapped in a number of ways, having a range of vision that covers only about 120 degrees instead of 180 degrees, as well as limited depth perception. We also have two nostrils, which serve not only for taking in vital air but also for smelling. If one nostril is closed, neither the sense of smell nor the lungs’ supply of air is greatly impaired.

Partial Removal

The generosity with which God has created man is also apparent from the fact that quite a few of our organs of which there is only one can be partly removed and we still are able to function rather well. Humans have a goodly sized stomach, which some persons stretch to twice its length by overeating. (Also a margin of safety!) When something goes wrong with the stomach, much of it can be removed and a person can still live to a ripe old age. In fact, existence is possible even with all the stomach removed, because of the compensatory ability of the small intestine.

Then there is the liver. What an amazing number of diverse functions it performs​—upward of 500 jobs! Not without good reason has it been termed the busiest and most versatile organ in the body. And yet people are able to lead rather normal lives if but 15 percent of its cells are functioning. Persons have had 80 percent of their liver removed, and the remainder still took care of all its duties.

Another organ bearing testimony to the Creator’s generosity is the pancreas. It supplies the body digestive enzymes, as well as insulin, from its “islands of Langerhans.” Complete removal of the pancreas results in extreme diabetes and other serious consequences. But four fifths of it can be removed, and the remaining fifth is able to supply all the insulin the body needs. Similarly, very serious are the results if all the thyroid gland is removed. But the body can get along well with just one sixth of it.

Note also the intestines. It is possible for well over ten feet of the small intestine to be removed without any serious adverse ill effects. And, in many cases, most of the large intestine has been removed without creating serious problems.

The generosity of the Creator is manifest in the way the body is made to heal itself following trauma. Take, for example, when a section of the small intestine is cut out and the two ends are sutured or sewn together by the surgeon. At once, the intestines exude a “plastic” substance, which, in about four hours, cements tightly the intestine where it has been joined. Not without reason did a noted physiologist speak glowingly of the “wisdom of the body.”

The Heart and the Blood

The heart has a certain normal beat, putting forth an adequate amount of blood into the circulation at a calm and moderate pace. But when emergencies arise, it responds to them, for it too has been generously built. Not only does it step up its beat 100 percent or more, as is necessary, but it also increases the volume of blood to be sent into circulation with each beat. The arterial pressure is increased some 30 to 40 percent and, as a result, the blood flows very rapidly to the capillaries for the feeding of the body’s cells, which are crying out for added nutriment. Thus when a muscle is laboring hard the number of capillaries at work is many times the number that work when the muscle is at rest.

As for the blood itself: Every second of every minute of every hour of every day, year in and year out, “eight million blood cells die . . . and are replaced by new cells produced in the bone marrow, lymph glands and lymphoid tissues of the tonsils, spleen, thymus and intestine.” (The Body, by Life Science Library) Each cubic millimeter of blood (even smaller in circumference than this letter “o”) contains five million red blood cells. But this is true only at average altitudes. When a person goes to a far higher altitude, where there is considerably less oxygen in the air, the body is able to increase the production of red blood cells by 50 percent or more. In this way the body’s tissues still get enough oxygen, although the individual red blood cells carry less oxygen.

Vital also in the support of life is the sugar content of the blood. Too much may mean diabetes, as many persons know. And much has recently been published about the harm that results from hypoglycemia, a chronic lowered sugar level in the blood. Yet, under normal conditions the blood sugar may fall as much as 50 percent before the “deficiency threshold” is reached.

The body’s being generously made is so apparent when there is a hemorrhaging, with considerable loss of blood, as caused by an accident or operation. Many compensatory responses are made by the body. The blood pressure can drop temporarily 30 to 40 percent before reaching the critical level and in just a short time may be restored to normal. The compensatory mechanism is very complex. For example, the spleen helps to remedy the situation, for it has a large reservoir of blood on hand. By contracting to about one fourth of its size it empties this reservoir of blood into the circulating bloodstream. Also, the sympathetic nervous system responds by decreasing the caliber of the blood vessels so as to keep up the pressure in spite of a reduced quantity of blood.

A built-in safety factor is also seen in that the heart and the brain get preferred treatment. Thus when more blood is needed than what the spleen can supply, the blood vessels to the muscles and skin constrict, but not those leading to the heart and the brain, for they need their normal flow of blood or irreparable damage may result. When there is a great loss of blood there is also great thirst, for the water in the body is also used to provide fluid so that the blood volume can be maintained.

The generous provision of the Creator is seen, even in the very mechanism that constricts the blood vessels, in the event of such an emergency. Under normal conditions the response is triggered by the medulla oblongata, that part of the brain next to the spine. However, if it is injured, there are a number of vasomotor centers in the dorsal medulla that take over. And in the event that it is not functioning properly, other body forces take over; in the last resort even the vessels themselves constricting without external stimulation, so as to adjust their size to the volume of blood in them, to keep up the blood pressure.

Other Examples

Consider the body’s capacity to store food. Some persons may actually fast for weeks. Of course, the length of time a person can do without food depends somewhat upon the size of the individual and particularly upon the amount of fat in the body.

Man can likewise live for some time without water, but not nearly as long. One reason for this is that the body is continually giving off water in perspiration and respiration (breathing), and through the kidneys, even though no water is imbibed. And even though the body is two thirds or more water, a 10-percent loss of body water is very serious and a 20- to 22-percent loss results in death. God therefore wisely arranged that, since earth was to be man’s home, there should be an abundance of water so that few persons are ever forced to go without water for any length of time.

The way our bodies have been constructed gives them the greatest margin of safety when it comes to going without food and water. But extremely brief is the time that the body can go without air, without oxygen. Its lack of oxygen for eight minutes is sufficient to cause irreparable damage, if not even death. Should you ever have to assist an unconscious person, be sure that there is no obstacle to the victim’s being able to breathe.

For a concluding example, consider the human frame: The muscles are able to stretch very little beyond their length and, indeed, have no need to do so, their ends being fastened to bones. But generosity of construction does mark the structure of the bones and cartilages. In sound health these have strength far above their normal need.

Truly the Creator has generously endowed the various organs and systems of our bodies. He has not contented himself with a bare minimum. It is as if profusion rather than economy was his motto. This is all the more remarkable in that, had perfect man not sinned, he would have had far less need for all the margins of safety built into our bodies by our God. Should not these facts call forth gratitude to our Creator as well as cause us to have a wholesome respect for our bodies? Surely!

Take good care of your body. It is for your own good. In time of need, your margin of safety may well spell the difference between sickness and health, if not also between life and death.

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