The gift of God
Nothing escapes them (Joel 2:3)
I caught a small part of a programme on the mechanics of virus infection last night. It described in exhaustive detail the incredible way that a virus will hijack a cell in order to reproduce itself. I was slightly distracted by the realisation that it was voiced by David Tenant, in our house both Dr Who and the stars, plural, of Nativity 2. His melodic Scots accent is pretty unmistakable. What struck me in the midst of the awful details was how unstoppable the attack of the virus appeared. As Joel puts it, 'before it the garden of Eden, behind it a desert wasteland'.
So is it most encouraging that, for the most part, our bodies have little trouble with these infections. Indeed even this most dreadful of viruses, seems to give the young little more than a slight fever and an annoying cough. Our bodies are extraordinarily well adapted to beating off the little blighters, even with all their armoury.
So why not this one? Well, I'm not a medic but, as far as I understand it, it seems to have found a route into our more vulnerable parts, our lungs, and to bring about in our own bodies a reaction that aggravates the symptoms to the point where our organs shut down and can do no more. Again as Joel might have put it, 'before them a fire devours, behind them a flame blazes'.
Viruses are intriguing things. This one uses our own defences against us, as they often do, but it is certainly without deliberation. Indeed, it is debatable that viruses are even alive. They show none of the classic signs of life, but it is hard to call them inanimate or dead, when they have such reproductive power. Textbooks define them as non-living, but it doesn't feel like that when one gets hold of you.
They are masters of disguise, imitating useful material so as to enter our cells. They are studded with clever features, so that the cells' defences actually release their attacking power, rather than disable it. And then they are the most secretive of tricksters, using the cells own replicating machinery to multiply in vast numbers.
So what are they doing on our planet? Before considering that can I tell you a different story about a virus. This one has been adapted by humans. It is designed to carry a destructive package to a very particular kind of cell, one that is reproducing itself without restraint and threatening to overtake the body. This virus invades these cancerous cells, and in the same way as its brethren, it destroys the cell but not before making many more copies of itself. In many cases, the host is thereby cured of cancer.
Even more effective is another designer virus. In my view it is even cleverer. It invades the body with a marker for cancer cells, but this time it does not attack the cells themselves. Instead it presents this marker to the body's own immune system. The system then sparks into life and starts to beat off the super replicators which are killing the host. Both these methods are saving lives. It is a trickle today but may be a flood tomorrow.
But back to the question. I have heard in my darker days, a suggestion that viruses are a result of The Fall. In layman's terms, this means that such things came into the world on the back of our rejection of God. Putting aside the problems of time and history for a moment - I think we can assume dinosaurs got the equivalent of a cold - there is a greater difficulty. It suggests God sent them in some way as a punishment and that diseases are inherently evil. I think I've dispensed with the first in a previous post or two, but the second is worth a minute.
Many of our diseases are caused by bacteria. Without bacteria nothing would rot. Everywhere we looked there would be dead carcasses. Not only that but our soil would be barren, our guts could not digest and, anyway, there wouldn't be any life on this planet at all.
Viruses are a little trickier, as they seem to have fewer upsides in their natural state. Intriguingly, they may have similar value to bacteria albeit rather further back in our planet's history. The ability of genetic material to travel may have enabled early life to learn and develop. And the tiny size of viruses may indicate that they are the remnants of that first life, that has either lost it's ability to reproduce itself, or has acquired some new skills over the millennia. Either way, it is quite possible that without viruses of some kind we would not be here.
So, apologies for all the science, but it has a single point. God is not playing games with us. This virus, though frightening and powerful, is still a part of the natural world in which we live. The garden of Eden is not all gone. We live in a beautiful, extraordinary, fascinating world. And, most importantly, it is all God's gift, not his curse.
I caught a small part of a programme on the mechanics of virus infection last night. It described in exhaustive detail the incredible way that a virus will hijack a cell in order to reproduce itself. I was slightly distracted by the realisation that it was voiced by David Tenant, in our house both Dr Who and the stars, plural, of Nativity 2. His melodic Scots accent is pretty unmistakable. What struck me in the midst of the awful details was how unstoppable the attack of the virus appeared. As Joel puts it, 'before it the garden of Eden, behind it a desert wasteland'.
So is it most encouraging that, for the most part, our bodies have little trouble with these infections. Indeed even this most dreadful of viruses, seems to give the young little more than a slight fever and an annoying cough. Our bodies are extraordinarily well adapted to beating off the little blighters, even with all their armoury.
So why not this one? Well, I'm not a medic but, as far as I understand it, it seems to have found a route into our more vulnerable parts, our lungs, and to bring about in our own bodies a reaction that aggravates the symptoms to the point where our organs shut down and can do no more. Again as Joel might have put it, 'before them a fire devours, behind them a flame blazes'.
Viruses are intriguing things. This one uses our own defences against us, as they often do, but it is certainly without deliberation. Indeed, it is debatable that viruses are even alive. They show none of the classic signs of life, but it is hard to call them inanimate or dead, when they have such reproductive power. Textbooks define them as non-living, but it doesn't feel like that when one gets hold of you.
They are masters of disguise, imitating useful material so as to enter our cells. They are studded with clever features, so that the cells' defences actually release their attacking power, rather than disable it. And then they are the most secretive of tricksters, using the cells own replicating machinery to multiply in vast numbers.
So what are they doing on our planet? Before considering that can I tell you a different story about a virus. This one has been adapted by humans. It is designed to carry a destructive package to a very particular kind of cell, one that is reproducing itself without restraint and threatening to overtake the body. This virus invades these cancerous cells, and in the same way as its brethren, it destroys the cell but not before making many more copies of itself. In many cases, the host is thereby cured of cancer.
Even more effective is another designer virus. In my view it is even cleverer. It invades the body with a marker for cancer cells, but this time it does not attack the cells themselves. Instead it presents this marker to the body's own immune system. The system then sparks into life and starts to beat off the super replicators which are killing the host. Both these methods are saving lives. It is a trickle today but may be a flood tomorrow.
But back to the question. I have heard in my darker days, a suggestion that viruses are a result of The Fall. In layman's terms, this means that such things came into the world on the back of our rejection of God. Putting aside the problems of time and history for a moment - I think we can assume dinosaurs got the equivalent of a cold - there is a greater difficulty. It suggests God sent them in some way as a punishment and that diseases are inherently evil. I think I've dispensed with the first in a previous post or two, but the second is worth a minute.
Many of our diseases are caused by bacteria. Without bacteria nothing would rot. Everywhere we looked there would be dead carcasses. Not only that but our soil would be barren, our guts could not digest and, anyway, there wouldn't be any life on this planet at all.
Viruses are a little trickier, as they seem to have fewer upsides in their natural state. Intriguingly, they may have similar value to bacteria albeit rather further back in our planet's history. The ability of genetic material to travel may have enabled early life to learn and develop. And the tiny size of viruses may indicate that they are the remnants of that first life, that has either lost it's ability to reproduce itself, or has acquired some new skills over the millennia. Either way, it is quite possible that without viruses of some kind we would not be here.
So, apologies for all the science, but it has a single point. God is not playing games with us. This virus, though frightening and powerful, is still a part of the natural world in which we live. The garden of Eden is not all gone. We live in a beautiful, extraordinary, fascinating world. And, most importantly, it is all God's gift, not his curse.
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| The glories of spring on a hill overlooking Yetminster |
It's scary to consider that scientists may be trying to develop deadly viruses to destroy their enemies. Do you think it is possible that this is such a virus, George?
ReplyDeleteInteresting but it'd be a bit odd to make something that left the strong relatively unaffected and had a 2 week time lag, I think. Not much of a weapon.
ReplyDelete