the fault is not in the design but the construction...
Posted on 11/11/2005 4:47:36 PM PST by Wolfstar
Each year in the United States, about 150,000 babies are born with birth defects ranging from mild to life threatening. While progress has been made in the detection and treatment of birth defects, they remain the leading cause of death in the first year of life. Birth defects are often the result of genetic and environmental factors, but the causes of well over half of all birth defects are currently unknown.
Following is a partial list of birth defects:
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Achondroplasia/Dwarfism |
Hemochromatosis |
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Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency |
Huntington's Disease |
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Anencephaly |
Hydrocephalus |
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Arnold-Chiari Malformation |
Klinefelter's Syndrome |
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Ataxia Telangiectasia |
Leukodystrophies |
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Blood coagulation disorders/Hemophilia |
Marfan Syndrome |
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Brain malformations/genetic brain disorders |
Metabolic disorders |
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Canavan Disease |
Muscular Dystrophy |
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Cancer: Neonatal, newborn, infant and childhood |
Neural tube defects/Spina Bifida |
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Cerebral Palsy |
Neurofibromatosis |
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Cleft lip and palate |
Niemann-Pick Disease |
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Club foot/club hand |
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) |
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Congenital heart disease |
Phenylketonuria |
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Conjoined twins |
Prader-Willi Syndrome |
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Cystic Fibrosis |
Progeria (advanced aging in children) |
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Down Syndrome |
Sickle Cell Anemia |
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Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome |
Spinal Muscular Atrophy |
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Eye, ear and speech defects |
Tay-Sachs Disease |
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Fragile X Syndrome |
Tuberous Sclerosis |
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Gaucher's Disease |
Turner's Syndrome |
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Genital and urinary tract defects |
Wilson's Disease |
Some birth/genetic defects, such as near-sightedness, are mild and do not affect the person's ability to lead a normal life. Others are so severe that the person has no chance to even live. Efficiency and economy are part of intelligently designed systems. If the "design" of human systems is so intelligent, why do tragic inefficiencies such as the following occur at all? Warning, the linked photos are graphic medical images, and are very, very sad.
Conjoined twins, i.e., monozygous twinning in which there is fusion of the twins. The popular term is "Siamese" twins. This happens when identical twin embryos become fused together during the very early stages of development. Conjoined twins occur in an estimated one in 200,000 births, with approximately half being stillborn. Here are links to three photos of severely conjoined twins:
Photo 2: essentially one torso between two babies
Neural tube defects are are one of the more common congenital anomalies. Such defects result from improper embryonic neural tube closure. The most minimal defect is called spina bifida, with failure of the vertebral body to completely form, but the defect is not open. Open neural tube defects with lack of a skin covering, can include a meningocele, in which meninges protrude through the defect. Here is a link to a severe neural tube defect.
Defects of the head/brain: In the linked photo a large encephalocele that merges with the scalp above is protruding from the back of the head. The encephalocele extends down to partially cover a rachischisis on the back. This baby also has a retroflexed head from iniencephaly.
The form of neural tube defect in the next linked photo is known as exencephaly. The cranial vault is not completely present, but a brain is present because it was not completely exposed to amniotic fluid. Such an event is very rare. It may be part of craniofacial clefts associated with the limb-body wall complex, which results from early amnion disruption.
Congenital and pediatric neoplasms: One type that can occur is a teratoma. The next linked photo shows a large nasopharyngeal teratoma that is protruding from the oral cavity.
Tumors: In the next linked photo there is a large mass involving the left upper arm and left chest of the baby. This congenital neoplasm turned out to be a lymphangioma. This baby and the one in Photo 9 were essentially riddled with cancer before birth and shortly afterwards.
Next is a gross neuroblastoma arising in the right adrenal gland. It is the most common pediatric malignancy in infancy, and 75% of cases are diagnosed in children less than 4 years old. These tumors most often present as an abdominal or mediastinal mass.
Yes it was on the list as a defect, since in the past the children had a limited chance of survival past the parent's demise, but I think I would like to ask Wolfstar to clarify.
Wolfstar?
The sample is neither random, uniform, nor orderly.
Good post. This is a basic question that should not be easily dismissed. To ask questions is NOT to question God's existence. Suffering exists as an integral and important part of this world, and what is God's purpose in it? If we are given the charge to "grow closer to God", and seek to "know" God, we can't avoid this question.
I'm not interested in the ID part of the discussion. God is, this world is, and evolution is. I just can't understand why this is a problem.
the fault is not in the design but the construction...
Thank you. This is closer to what I hoped to explore. I can only say that evolutionary theory does not carry the burden of either "intelligence" or "design." It merely is. I can believe in God and believe in evolution. (I know that isn't true for some folks.)
Species which survive DO develop various survival mechanisms. A virus runs through a population, and the survivors develop immunity, for example. Then the virus mutates and the cycle goes on.
You don't know much about the Down's children or adults. They are capable of emotional and physical pain as well as everyone. They have heart disease and heart attacks. they know the difference between living and dying. If institutionalized, they often have anger which results in their being strai jacketed, given drugs, even beaten and killed.
You've jus made a lot of parent's day.
Hick argues that heaven cannot be made real now for a good and simple reason. God’s purpose – and a highly commendable one – is to create free, rational beings and bring them to moral perfection in an arrangement whereby people all love God and each other. The only way this can happen is for the world to be a “laboratory of soul-making.” This means that we must have some uncertainty about ultimate matters. It means that we learn to fight evil and love each other in a setting in which there are challenges and genuine options that can be freely chosen. In other words, sin, evil, and suffering are deliberately built into the design of the world or permitted so that we can learn through choice, defeat, struggle, and in mortal combat with evil and suffering to love God and neighbor.
In the words of Kenneth Cauthen, the only possible road to heaven runs straight through the middle of of the hottest portion of hell.
With all due respect, I don't see the difference.
Don't you get the feeling some of these people don't get out much, lol?
Don't want to come off like a broken record, but with all due respect, this discussion has zero to do with the value of children born with birth defects. It has everything to do with the concept of intelligent design, starting with attempting to have an intelligent discussion of its interpinnings.
What is the underlying premise of intelligent design? I think I know, but would prefer to have someone who understands it better than I explain it.
The word "design" infers deliberate construct. The word "intelligent" infers efficiency. ID is supposed to be a scientific theory. Yet nearly every one of the response to this thread so far are emotional and not in the spirit of scientific inquiry. That is where i wanted this discussion to focus.
So far as I can tell though, I have answered your basic question: the existence of birth defects can be explained within the rubric of ID by postulating either an incompetent or a malevolent design, preferably both.
ID is not science. You can just make it up as you go along. So, when little Billy asks his teacher: "Since life is intelligently designed, why are there Siamese twins?" then she can answer: "Because the designer is a wicked moron, dear."
Bam! It's reconciled..
It is in his list.
;-)
Questions like whether God created the world do not trouble me. When I was nine years old, I had a visit from that mysterious being called the Holy Spirit and experienced the most joyous ten minutes of my life. It only happened once but it left me with the sure knowledge of His existence and His love.
Folks, Heaven is real and it's going to be a fun place. All our questions will be answered there.
I don't presume to know anything. Do the proponents of the theory of intelligent design not welcome questions? When the theory is taught in schools, will children be discouraged from asking questions?
today maybe
Not only can intelligent design and birth defects be reconciled, they have been.
The Intelligent Designer did not take upon Himself human flesh for any reason but to reconcile the world to Himself.
The root of all birth defects is sin. The Intelligent Designer became sin on behalf of His creation, thereby reconciling the world to Himself.
So it happens that the Intelligent Designer's desire, above all things, is to show Himself as merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in grace and mercy. That's just one reason He does not intrude upon His creation in ways we might expect.
His is an everlasting mercy that applies to the best and worst of all creation from generation to generation.
BTW, that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
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