Your Appendix Isn't Useless — Here's What Evolution Got Wrong - FAS2627

SPEAKER A Were you taught that your appendix or tailbone are just useless leftovers from evolution? It turns out that widely cited vestigial organs actually have critical functions for your body. Today we're debunking the myth of useless body parts and looking at why the loss of function points to devolution, not evolution. Welcome to Faith and Science, I'm Kaysie Vokurka. Joining me to discuss this topic is Dr. John Ashton. Welcome to the program, Dr. John. SPEAKER B Hi, Kaysie. SPEAKER A Dr. John has written a book titled The Big Argument: Does God Exist? And in today's program, we'll be drawing on some insights from this book, particularly from chapter 8. And in the book, it talks about the coccyx and the appendix, and that apparently the coccyx is actually an anchor for muscles to attach to, and the appendix actually helps us regulate gut bacteria in our bodies. So these are obviously not, we now understand they're not useless. So why is it dangerous to label an organ useless just because we haven't discovered its function yet? SPEAKER B Yes, well, this was again part of the evolutionary model. So the coccyx, of course, was supposed to be a remnant remaining from when we had a long tail. Aha. Having evolved from an ape. Supposedly. And so it fitted into, you know, that scenario earlier on. And it's a shame, you know, with these particular organs, they were, say, something we used in the past when we were some sort of previous animal in the, or species in the evolutionary train. And unfortunately, this has led to, For example, the whole removal of the tonsils in the past and this sort of thing. And the appendix is removed? Yes, well, usually I guess the appendix were removed if they burst. And I guess this is where they thought, well, okay, this is a danger, we'll take them out. You know, for example, you can't go to Antarctica unless you have had your appendix removed. SPEAKER A Really? I didn't know that. SPEAKER B Well, they don't want it to happen when you're down there, you see. SPEAKER A Okay, fair enough, fair enough. SPEAKER B Either you have it removed or they only accept sort of applicants that have already had their appendix removed. So just something to be aware of. SPEAKER A And I guess they are removing it usually because of a crisis. They're not just going ahead and removing everyone's appendix. But even more so now, they probably would hesitate because they realize it has a beneficial role. SPEAKER B Well, yes, yes, that's right. They have. But these vestal organs, I think about 100 have been identified, I understand, of, you know, because a lot of small parts and this sort of thing that have been identified of vestal organs. And a lot of them we still think along those lines because we haven't yet fully understood, you know, how valuable they are. SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER B But I think this really highlights the negative effect of evolutionary theory. So people, you know, often say, well, people who believe in believing in creation are holding back science. You know, if you're a creationist, you know, you're dumbing down science, this sort of thing. Whereas the vestal organ scenario points to the very opposite. If we had a belief, if scientists and the majority of researchers had a belief that, hang on, we didn't evolve, we were created, things had a purpose, they would have spent more time looking for that purpose and discovered earlier on the purposes of these so-called vestal organs. And that could have saved a lot of harmful removals, particularly of organs like tonsils. When I was a little boy, it was very frequent to have the tonsils removed. For example, my wife had her tonsils removed when she was a little girl. This sort of thing where it's rarely done now. So This is evolution really held things back. You know, not to mention eugenics and all these sort of terrible things that were practiced in the name of evolution in the past. People, you know, forget some of these horror things that have resulted and philosophies that have resulted from an evolutionary model as opposed to a creator model. Where there was a creator and therefore that we were responsible then to a higher power. There's a lot of implications philosophically and morally that stem from that, that were removed when we have the theory of evolution because it then became man is master. Man is master of the environment rather than we're stewards of the environment as we read about in the Bible, all this sort of thing. Yeah. So there's a lot of flow-on, you know, effects from this. But I think one of the other interesting things is that when we look at some of these other examples, sort of like of wingless birds and so forth, and the— we see when we research into these things, a couple of things we find out that although they have small wings, they still have working muscles and a lot of other parts are involved. And often we find then that, hang on, they're involved in mating or they're involved in deterring predators or something like this. So this is, again, once we look for purpose, we find that it's there. And it's interesting, an eminent biologist, Charles Birch, Professor of Biology at the University of New South Wales for many years. And he actually wrote the foreword to my book, The Perils of Progress, how the negative side of our technology on the environment, how we have to be careful how we use our technology. He wrote a book called On Purpose, where he was looking at these purposeful aspects. Within nature. And I know when I've been in discussions with people, they talk about, well, look at the evidence that whales evolved from mammals, went back into the sea. You know, they've got all these remnants of bones where they walked. And of course, as we do more research, we find that those bones are involved both in male and female. They're slightly different and they're involved in the reproductive process. So again, What happens is the theory of evolution, because it's based on random mutations, that there's no, you know, teleological, there's no purposeful reason for this, we don't wanna go anywhere there, has blinded them to the actual real purposes of a lot of these vestigial organs. And to my mind, this has really hampered the development of science and particularly hampered research in the areas of medicine. And, you know, that was an area I did a lot of research in earlier on, looking at mechanisms, how we can know and predict outcomes within biomedical research, mainly because that's, you know, very difficult to predict due to synergistic reactions and so forth. But again, if we believe that things are created for a purpose and we begin looking for that purpose, We usually discover what the purpose is, and that helps us to understand the biochemistry that's behind it and becomes clear of the role of those particular organs and this sort of thing. Whereas if we have an evolutionary reason, we have no reason to believe that it should be the case. But one of the interesting things, as we've pointed out in earlier discussion, is that the evolutionists are trying, have to cling to whatever little clues they can to complete their story. Yes. Because essentially the evolutionary scenario is a story. It's a made-up story. It's wishful thinking. And so any little clue that they can find, they've got to sort of really exaggerate or make an issue out of it. And again, when we drill down into it and find that, hang on, it's a so-so story, the evidence is such and such, it has a purpose. They tend to be very reluctant to acknowledge that. And that's why so many of the textbooks are still promulgating this, these ideas that are wrong and have been proven wrong. It's a very sad situation because we have these generations of teachers now that are not aware that what they are teaching is incorrect and is not based on actual factual research supporting the claims. SPEAKER A So that's pretty— yeah, I guess it's a very significant thing in terms of like if you're wanting, as you say, a generation of young people learning the science, if you want to give them, you know, the latest information and you want to also give them the greatest opportunity to understand the world around them, they— the evolutionary model of seeing things, some things as like a waste from an evolutionary process tends to stop you from seeing that everything here has a role and let's try and understand it. SPEAKER B Yes, yes. SPEAKER A So it's really, if we were giving our children that perspective, the door would be wide open to greater advancement and understanding. SPEAKER B Yes, yes. And that was the purpose of the other book, The Perils of Progress, too, to point out that when we look at the systems in nature and understand their purpose, we can better adjust our advances in technology so that we're working in harmony with nature and not destroying necessary functions in nature. So this point, but the other very important point that comes out of the evidence when we look at these vestigial organs and so forth is that the Bible talks about how originally the creation was perfect and was amazing, absolutely amazing. And we know that just when we look at the, fossil record of the amazing number of different types of creatures. You know, most young people know about dinosaurs, but there are so many other amazing creatures that existed at that time that it would've been a very amazing space. But few people realize that, hang on, something like 98% of the species that have ever existed in the world are extinct now. You know, it's— yeah, there's only 1 or 2% of all the different species that we have in the world now are only 1 or 2% of what was originally created. And we're losing species. And this natural selection, this competition, right, which is a product of sin. So this is where the Bible talks about how once sin, evil was allowed to enter the world, evil principles were allowed to enter. This perfect creation, this led to a degradation of the environment down there. And that's what we see, the degradation of the species as reproduction went on. We've got the loss of information, not new information. SPEAKER A Which is where the word devolution comes in, biological degeneration. We are seeing that as we've examined the natural selection, and we are seeing that the things that do remain, everything had a purpose. But even with these changes, changes that we are seeing. We're losing information. And, um, yeah, I think in the Bible it also talks about being in bondage to decay. That's how this is, right? Which is totally diametrically opposite to the, the evolutionary mindset where everything is supposed to be advancing, like we're supposed to be growing, there's new species and all of this stuff. But as we're examining the evidence, we're seeing the complete opposite. Um, and certainly if you count the biblical worldview alongside that, which is in harmony with it, um, yeah, we are seeing this, this degradation instead, this loss of information, as you mentioned. Yes, in the genetics. So thank you for sharing that. And, um, yeah, and, and unpacking the idea of purpose in creation, which is really something that we can have a lot of value from. Have you ever struggled with doubts about God's existence or known someone who has? What helped you through it? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments. Your journey could inspire someone else who's searching for answers.