Surgical Spirit: The Mouse Dissected

Ruth Eardley is a GP and member of Affinity partner Little Hill Church, Leicester. She writes a regular piece for her church entitled ‘Surgical Spirit’. We have been given permission to reproduce them. This is her latest contribution:

“How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (Psalm 104: 24)

I have always loved Biology. As a young teen I dissected a poor dead mouse that the cat had brought in. I had it all laid out on the slabs by the back door and was half way through the ‘operation’ when the doorbell rang. My dad came outside and hurriedly told me to put it away; he ‘didn’t want people thinking we were odd’.

The patient was removed to the garden shed but I was puzzled as to why the inner workings of this small creature (so like our own – kidneys, stomach, liver, gut) were not relished by all. To me it was magical that such a complex and intricate organism could actually function – move, breathe, grow, reproduce – all the things that living things do. Part of the fascination was how all these systems (cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurological) were so beautifully contained within such a tiny form. Despite a medical degree and years of work and study, I still find it astonishing.

I took it for granted that mice were created. We sang ‘All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small; all things wise and wonderful the Lord God made them all.’ And even controversial poets like the American Walt Whitman (1819-1892) wrote that ‘a mouse is miracle enough to stagger trillions of infidels’ (Song of Myself).

At secondary school we were taught evolutionary theory (that is, macroevolution, where new genetic information transforms one species into another e.g. reptiles to birds). I thought it was preposterous. I asked my science teachers about it and they, too, seemed to think it stretched the imagination. We could all accept microevolution (well-documented loss or mutation of genetic material within species, e.g. different breeds of dog). No problem. Good science teachers do not indoctrinate, they educate. I thank God for mine.

Today we can pray for Christian organisations which defend and explain a biblical worldview, especially regarding origins. Thank God for their work in strengthening Christians in defending and proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray for Christian teachers that they will have both wisdom and boldness and have opportunities to speak the truth without fear.

Pray also for students of science all over the world: that they will clearly discern ‘God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature’ (Romans 1:20).

May the wonder and miracle, even of a mouse, open their spiritual eyes.