Finally, You Can Explore Human
Anatomy & Physiology in a Christ-honoring Way!
Do you understand our human anatomy from a biblical perspective?
All facts are interpreted by fallible people — and often through a man-centered, evolutionary worldview. Modern science looks at the human body and sees an evolved, amoral being with no connection to a Creator God. Tragically, this “God-less” philosophy permeates the science textbooks, encyclopedias, academic presentations, and “common man” assumptions of our world today. This is an assault against the very foundations of Christianity.
Gratefully, our friends at Answers in Genesis have just released a new 8-DVD study course that teaches human anatomy and physiology from a Christian perspective (and with appropriate modesty as well). The study course is called Body of Evidence, and it is designed to equip Christians with a biblical understanding of our bodies, and to help students defend their faith and combat the lies of evolution.
“I Am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
(Psalm 139:14)
Body of Evidence is insightful, biblical, and hosted by former medical university professor Dr. David Menton. Dr. Menton is an excellent teacher loved worldwide for his humorous and insightful talks that leave audiences in hushed awe at the Creator’s wisdom. In this series, Dr. Menton employs anatomical props, models, and microscopic images to teach students about God’s amazing designs as he takes students on a fascinating teaching-tour through the major systems of the body.
Geared for teens and adults, Body of Evidence is a 16-part series on 8 DVDs and comes with a study guide containing more than 600 questions. As a curriculum, this course is designed for a junior high/high school audience. This course is also excellent for anyone studying the human body, and is a tremendous outreach tool for declaring a biblical view of the handiwork of God.
Produced in cooperation with the AFA Homeschool Channel.
The Body of Evidence collection is 635 minutes long on 8 DVDs, and includes a 64-page, 8.5 x 11” study guide containing more than 600 questions.
The Hearing Ear & The Seeing Eye
No organs of the human body attest more abundantly to God’s creative handiwork than the ear and the eye. The amazing hand of the Creator is obvious to anyone willing to take a brief tour just below the surface.
In the ear, sound waves pass successively through air, bone, and a watery fluid to reach the marvelous organ of Corti, which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy that the brain interprets as sound. The eye is actually a part of the brain itself, and functions as a living camera with automatic control of focus and light. In the retina, light passes through living “fiber optics” to reach the photoreceptor cells that pass information to the brain, which is interpreted as vision.
Dr. Menton’s casual humor and competence as a beloved professor — plus his use of colorful anatomical models — makes otherwise hard-to-understand concepts both fun and easy to remember!
Cells & Tissue
The human body is composed of many types of cells. But none of them perform their function well on their own because they were designed to function as part of something much more complex-you!
An adult has about a hundred trillion cells arranged in four primary tissues that make up all the organs of the body. The four tissues are epithelium, connective tissue, muscle, and nerve. An understanding of these primary tissues greatly aids in understanding the structure and function of the organs of the body. Although our skin and kidneys look totally different to the unaided eye, under the microscope they are seen to be made up of a unique combination of the same four primary tissues.
A general understanding of anatomy is important to the student of human biology, but most organs reveal little about how they actually work when viewed in this way. As with most topics in this series, Dr. Menton and his students again turn to the microscope to better understand how the various organs and organ systems work.
The Skeletal System, Cartilage, & Bone
Without bones you would be a lump of fleshy organs. Without cartilage you would have no nose, no fingernails, and folding your arm or straightening your leg would be extremely painful.
Cartilage and bone are examples of connective tissue that are widespread and very important in our bodies. Cartilage requires no blood supply and actually repels blood vessels. This, plus its rubbery and slippery qualities, makes cartilage well-suited for joints.
Bone serves many important functions such as to support our body, protect delicate organs, makeblood cells, and maintain critical calcium levels. Under the microscope, bone is one of the body’s most beautifully constructed organs. The exquisite design of osteons makes compact bone, pound for pound, as strong as cast iron. Most amazing is the fact that the bones of the adult skeleton are highly dynamic structures that constantly change shape to best meet the loads that are placed on them.
The Integumentary System
Skin serves to waterproof, cushion, and protect deeper tissues. In addition to numerous other vital roles, it provides Vitamin D synthesis and protects against infectious organisms. Other parts of the integumentary system include the skin’s glands and appendages such as hair and nails.
The skin is the largest organ in the body and the one we are probably most familiar with. It is right there before our eyes every day, but without the aid of a microscope we cannot really appreciate its complexity and many important functions. Our very life on this planet depends on a dead layer of epithelial cells no thicker than refrigerator shrink wrap. The connective tissue of our dermis is woven in a way to make our skin tough but elastic. Our sweat glands control our body temperature and allow us to work in hot weather. Our pigment cells protect our skin from the sun’s radiation.
And wait till you see, through the technology of high magnification, the marvelous complexity of the hair follicle and hair!
The Cardiovascular System
The cardiovascular system (the heart and blood vessels) is the most vitally important organ system in the body. Your heart pumps blood, and your blood vessels channel and deliver nutrient-rich oxygenated blood throughout your body.
The heart is a pump about the size of your fist. In your lifetime, this little pump beats about 2 billion times (without stopping) and pumps over 100 million gallons of blood. This blood travels through over 60 thousand miles of blood vessels — arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins — to bring nourishment and oxygen to all parts of your body. You may be surprised to learn that the heart is actually two pumps: one pumps blood to the lungs and the other pumps blood to the rest of the body
The Bible says the “blood is the life.” Indeed, our life critically depends on about 30 trillion blood cells consisting of red cells that exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide and white cells that help to prevent infection and reject foreign materials.
The Respiratory System
The human respiratory system — of which the lungs are the largest component — is the most high-tech air purification and conditioning system on earth. Although we don’t normally think about how smoothly and effectively our lungs work unless they start to malfunction, practically every human is launched into life with two of them!
Finely tuned yet sturdy enough for 90 years or longer on this earth, our lungs are ventilated with voluntary muscles about 20 times every minute and yet we breathe all day without even thinking about it.
Man has never designed a workable substitute for blood. Blood plasma carries nutrients; red blood cells bind life-sustaining oxygen to hemoglobin; white blood cells combat infections and diseases; small cell fragments called platelets patch up holes in our blood vessels and keep us from bleeding to death
The Digestive System
The average person eats about 100,000 pounds of food during his lifetime. Have you ever considered what happens in the body to make use of all those grains, meats, and vegetables — plus all those fun sweets? Did you know that your stomach produces hydrochloric acid, and your colon harbors more than 400 distinct species of helpful bacteria?
The adult digestive system is amazing. The digestive tract itself is 20-30 feet long. It takes about two hours for food to be rhythmically propelled through this system, during which carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water pass through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream. “Accessory glands” such as the pancreas, liver, and salivary glands aid in the digestive process and the utilization of food to make the fuel that the body uses for growth and metabolism.
Join Dr. Menton as he uses computer graphics and anatomy models to reveal intriguing facts that inspire you to eat properly and to give glory to Christ the Creator!
The Urinary System
The once-terrifying thought of the loss of kidney function is now seen by many as just another medical inconvenience. But is that accurate? Most of us know someone who has been helped by high-tech machines that attempt to do the job of the kidneys. Yet with all of man’s skills, machines and medications are insufficient substitutes for God’s original design.
The kidneys rid the body of the waste products of protein metabolism in the form of urea and maintain a balance of salts, water, and other substances. The kidneys’ unusual approach for ridding the bloodstream of unwanted substances is to essentially throw nearly everything out and then absorb back what the body needs. The three basic functions of the kidneys — filtration, excretion, and absorption — are carried out by nearly 2 million “filtering” units called nephrons.
In this DVD, Dr. Menton uses human anatomical models, microscope imaging, and detailed computer illustrations to describe the importance and incredible design of the human kidney.