> What do you think about the differences between the main elements of
> the ground and human body? The human being (and other organic creatures)
> is composed mainly of carbons but the main elements of the ground (or
> soil) are oxygens and silicons, as far as I know. What makes this
> difference possible even though Genesis 2:7 says, "... the LORD God formed
> man of dust from the ground, and breathed..."?
> What can we say about this honestly?
I don't see a problem here, probably because I wouldn't interpret Scripture
in such a strictly literal way. We are *essentially* formed of the dust of
the ground (Carl Sagan, I believe in his Cosmos series, said we are formed of
"star stuff" which I think is pretty much the same concept). I don't think
it matters that the exact proportions of elements in our bodies don't exactly
match that of dirt. The important point is that God creates us out of
ordinary, natural materials and that there's nothing immaterial about our
physical bodies (they will die and rot). Don't get too attached to your
physical body and lose sight of eternal things since "for dust you are and
to dust you will return" (Genesis 3:19). I don't read the Bible to learn
"facts" about the natural world (many people think women have one less rib
than men, for example), but rather to learn of God and how to relate to Him.
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich KB9LCG s-schim@uiuc.edu Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 245 Natural History Building, Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 244-1246 http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/s-schim Fides quaerens intellectum