One of the greatest mysteries on this planet concerns you as an individual. You are absolutely one-of-a-kind, there are no doubles, no clones. Of the seventy-five billion people who have been born on this planet, not one has ever been a duplicate. Not one!
One of the reasons, of your individuality has roots in the science of genetics. Scientists have determined that there is only one chance in seventy-trillion of another person being physically exactly like you, excluding identical twins. An enormous amount of dried beans and a very large box will help illustrate this point.
First, imagine you are standing in front of a huge sack of navy beans. The sack is four feet across and seven miles high. Suppose that each bean in the sack contained a miniaturized set of blueprints on how to build a human. These building plans would include codes for the facial features, the shape of skull, the size of the brain,the sex, race and everything else that together makes one human being. Each hollowed out bean would contain a different and unique set of plans...all seventy trillion of them in the bag!
Now, using a strong imagination, push the bag over and let the beans spill into a giant wooden box. This container is about three miles square and has sides as tall as an average man. It will hold all seventy trillion beans if you even them out carefully. Using a very large rake, level the bean pile and then go stand in the middle of the box. Prop yourself up on the handle for a much deserved rest. Now survey the flat sea of white beans all around you. Six feet deep and over a mile and a half in every direction are beans. These beans represent the human genetic combinations possible for gene pool of the human family.
It is estimated that only one thousandth of these combinations have been used up since the beginning of life on this planet. This means there are blueprints in this giant box for every person who has ever lived. Moreover, there is enough left over to populate one thousand more planets like earth!!
When compared to all of the rest of the human family you are one-of-a-kind. This great mystery of your individuality is a clear cut evidence of a Creator God at work on this planet making people one person at a time.
You are More Special Than the Animals
When compared to the rest of the living inhabitants of this planet, humans have one striking difference and advantage. Your brain sets you apart. Nearly half of all species of animals have no brain at all. Those that do have some sort of brain are no match for the superior ability of people to think, memorize and use the imagination. The cerebrum, which is the seat of thinking, memorizing and imagining, comprises ninety percent of the weight of your brain. However, it is not the size of your brain alone that makes you smarter. The brain of Einstein was not remarkably large. There are animals with brains larger than humans, such as the dolphin, elephant and blue whale.
All these unexplained differences have led to creating a method that provides a rough estimate of intelligence for comparing man to animals. Scientists have developed a method for predicting intelligence by comparing the weight of the spinal cord to the brain. They have found that lower animals have brains weighing two to four times as much as their spinal cords. In more complex animals, such as apes, the brain weighed nearly fifteen times as much as the spinal cord. However, the astounding fact is that a man's brain is fifty-five times heavier than his spinal cord. As you can see, your superior brain gives you great advantages over every other mammal, which is just the way our Creator planned it.
Having Culture Makes You Special
In addition to man's superior brain, there is another unmatched feature--the ability to acquire culture. The most distinguishing characteristic that separates man from animals is culture. Man is able to develop attitudes, habits and values and then pass them on to the next generation through the use of language. Culture cannot be biologically transmitted, it comes with learning. Attitude, habits and values aren't inherited from our parents. As is well demonstrated in the human family, having saints for parents does not guarantee the children will also be saintly. The teaching of habits, attitudes and values has a long biblical tradition. In the beginning, before written language, knowledge was passed from generation to generation as oral and written tradition. "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates." Deuteronomy 11:19,20 Humans send their children to school. Humans build libraries to house knowledge for sharing with future generations. Only humans pass on culture.
You Are Special Because You Can Talk!
Animals communicate, but they don't talk. Many animals communicate with chemicals. Chemical scent trails can be left in the air or on the earth. It is common for social insects to produce a substance called a pheromone that influences the behavior of members of the same species. For example, female silkworm moths can produce an attractant so powerful that it is recognized by males up to two miles away. But pheromones are more than powerful perfumes. Ants use pheromones to mark paths to a food source. An ant returning to the nest from a food-find touches the ground every-now-and-then with her abdomen. As the ant travels it leaves behind a scent trail for the others to follow and return to the source of food. Each ant, in turn, as it travels the scent trail also places its pheromone marks. The marking continues until the food source exhausts. Within minutes after the trail is abandoned the pheromones evaporate and erase the existence of the track.
For humans, the usefulness of leaving chemical scent trails is about as practical as the bread crumbs of Hansel and Gretel. Foremost, because of our unique individuality, superior intelligence, language and communications skills, culture and conscience, humans have a choice in what determines their course. To think that God gives each of us a free-will choice, is one of the greatest mysteries of all time!
Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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