Do ‘vestigial’ organs have a function?
Welcome to Creation Basics where our goal
is to make God’s creation part of your everyday
conversation, and in today’s episode we
are going to continue a series featuring number
7 of 10 different instances where evolutionists
have changed position on a major concept that’s
part of the creation/evolution controversy,
towards more of a creationist viewpoint.
Now, as I’ve been saying, please understand
I am not saying they have switched to believe
in creation or Intelligent Design over an
evolutionary story, I’m just highlighting
this to show you that science is revealing
creationist interpretations of facts we see
in God’s world, are better understood according
to God’s Word than an evolutionary explanation.
So, today’s example is – vestigial organs.
And our questions is - Are there really useless,
non-functional organs left over in our bodies
from our evolutionary past?
From your school textbooks you have probably
heard about “vestigial organs”.
According to the story evolution, there should
be “leftover” organs kicking around from
before we became human, and these leftovers,
called vestigial organs, are either useless
or they don’t work well.
The Bible of course, teaches us that we were
created by God in His own image, so each part
of our body was made for a purpose even if
we aren’t sure what that purpose is yet.
In a biblical worldview there is no such thing as a 
vestigial organ, but of course evolutionists disagree.
So let’s go through a few examples and then
we’ll ask whether this is a good argument
over-all for evolution anyway  -  just a hint - it isn’t!
But anyway…
One example of a body part that is often referred
to as ‘vestigial’ is the coccyx, what
is commonly called the tailbone.
I remember an evolutionist asking me why we
had a tailbone if evolution wasn’t true
and I just said because your spine has to
stop somewhere.
But see we are often told that the coccyx is an
evolutionary leftover from the days 
when people had tails.
Now the Bible teaches us that people were
specially created in God’s image, not evolved
animals, so we know that people never had
tails, and actually, the coccyx has a very
important function.
Your pelvic muscles attach to the coccyx.
These muscles form slings that keep all your
pelvic organs in their proper place.
The coccyx is very important because it gives
a place for these muscles to attach so they
can work properly, so you should thank God
for creating it!
If you don’t think the coccyx has a function
you should ask your Doctor to remove it and
you’d quickly find out it definitely does
have many uses! (Tongue in cheek)
Now another organ commonly thought of as vestigial
is your appendix.
For a long time, people thought that the appendix
didn’t do anything and was just a useless,
old leftover, you could just cut it out and
it was no big deal.
Now most scientists and doctors today understand
that the appendix is very complex and important.
This small organ helps keep us healthy.
For example sometimes diseases cause our bodies
to lose some very important bacteria that
live in our intestines.
When this happens, the appendix supplies new
bacteria to your intestine and it is also
very important during your development in
the womb, so the appendix is not an evolutionary
leftover; it is an organ that was specially
designed by God to help us fight disease in
a fallen world.
Of course, we don’t have time to go over
every single example of vestigial organs but
there are lots of articles on the Answers
in Genesis website you can look up if you’d like.
As a matter of fact, did you know that at
one time evolutionists proposed the idea that
the human body contained over one hundred
‘vestigial’ organs!
They are now down to a handful that are highly
contested, even in the evolutionary community.
But think of the big picture of history anyway,
does the idea of a degenerate organ really
support the story of evolution anyway?
No.
Biblical creationists of course believe we
were perfectly created but then the Fall occurred.
We started off perfectly, and have fallen
and degenerated over time.
Even if evolutionists could point to some
degenerate organs or DNA in humans, that would
be expected in a sin-cursed world.
What evolutionists should be able to show
is brand-new genetic information for forms,
functions and features that never existed
before coming into being to support their
story, not the corruption of good genetic
information.
That supports the biblical narrative!
So, are there useless, left-over vestigial
organs in humans?
Nope!
Although some evolutionists still try and
cling to a handful of bad examples, the creationist
explanation of organs being useful and functional
is better supported by science.
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