Man-Made Body Parts by Ron Livesay

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well (Psalm 139:14, NASB).

It seems impossible that anyone could do even a cursory study of the human body and come away with the conclusion that there is no intelligence behind the design. We are quite obviously fearfully and wonderfully made, and no amount of conjecture, denial, and theorizing can change the fact that we are a special creation of God. What someone believes to be true has absolutely no impact on truth and reality. These things never change.

All of God’s creation was perfect in every way. That being the case, it could be concluded that all parts of our bodies are permanent and will never wear out. However, that logic breaks down when the fall of man into sin is factored in. There was no death, bloodshed, or suffering before Adam sinned. As it has been since then, we are all subject to death. This cannot be denied.

In 1973, I had a collision with another player in a basketball game, which resulted in torn ligaments in my left knee. I had surgery to repair the damage, and I was told that I would someday need knee replacement surgery. I decided not to worry about it and sort of dismissed it from my mind for many years. Eventually, my right knee became very painful and unstable. By this time, both of my knees were bad. I tried, with mixed results, a brace, cortisone injections, gel injections, etc., but eventually nothing helped. 

For a number of years, I struggled with simple activities, yet I steadfastly refused to consider knee replacement. One line I used when people would ask if I planned to get the surgery was, “Anything made by man is inferior to what God has created, so I’ll just keep the knees He gave me.” 

The first half to that statement is, of course, true. However, it fails to factor in the impact of sin on our human bodies. Because of Adam’s sin of disobedience, the human race inherited the sin nature from him, and therefore our bodies deteriorate from infancy through old age. I finally faced the reality that while God created the human body to be perfect for the function of living on this earth, the parts of our bodies do wear out. 

Thank the Lord that He has given many people the desire, strength, ability, and wisdom to make replacement parts. We ought to appreciate the work of such scientists and doctors, but even more so, we should be thankful to our Lord for giving them the ability to come up with such things. 

The Lord receives all the glory for these advancements. This is true in every area of life. Did the Wright brothers invent the principles of aerodynamics? Of course not – they merely took the principles they discovered to make (not “create”) the first heavier-than-air powered flying machine. Flying has gone from simple beginnings to where it is now. God knew the principles of aerodynamics long before the Wright brothers because He created them. God created the principles in the beginning, and humans, after several thousand years, made a flying machine. Whether humans choose to give God the glory or not, the fact remains that He gets the glory for every advance that has been made in human history. This could be illustrated in a myriad of ways.

I had my first knee replacement last Wednesday, and the second is tentatively scheduled for three months from now. This is in addition to the fact that last summer I had stent grafts placed in my iliac arteries and my aorta. I may soon be a bionic man.

This does not negate the fact that what God created in the first place is far superior to man-made devices. I have been told that my new knees should last 20 or 25 years. Obviously, this is not anything like the expected wear-out date for the parts of the human body. While I am very thankful for those who invented these things that potentially will give me a better quality of life, I am far more thankful for the Creator of all things, the One in whom …we live and move and exist…(Acts 17:28, NASB).