Oh boy, a scientific word. Let’s see what I can cook up here. You may want to know the nutrition facts of this blog before you eat it. Active ingredient: Jesus and (meat). Inactive ingredients: me and a pinch of science. Except there might be more than a pinch of science.
Sometimes I take for granted the small things that God reveals to me in and through scripture, but they are a huge blessing. At least to me anyway because I get to know God better.
So I know a little bit of science, and I know a little bit of Bible. I was reading yesterday, and a thought came to me. I closed my bible because I didn’t want to develop the thought at that moment. Why? I don’t have an answer for that. I had to actively get up and do something else just so my mind would not be on this topic. Literally my mind never stops (my loudest moments are in silence) so I had to distract it.
Well I am back to ponder my thoughts. I have the scripture. I have the “knowledge” of the science, but I’ll google just to double check. (actually I didn’t) Warning: This is not a scholarly article, peer reviewed source, or primary research. I’m just an amateur, if that.
I am back in an attempt to develop the thought I never had. Today is Friday, January 19, 2018. I probably won’t post this today. Ya know, developing purposes. Usually takes 3-5 business days. Wow. I am ranting. This post is going to be lame anyway. So yeah, my brain is basically just plastering the keyboard with its own thoughts. I’m not sure where most of them come from.
You may know that I was a chemistry major… I was also a biology major. One of my favorite classes as a biology major was Genetics. I love Genetics! When I took Genetics, I was not a Christian. However, the year after I took it, I was a SI (Supplemental Instructor). I was a Christian at this point. So, pretty much I got to take Genetics twice – once with a non-Christian viewpoint, once with a Christian perspective.
Here’s the meat of what I intended to share with you. Maybe I should add meat to the ingredients… okay. I added it. Meat and bread as the main ingredients now. Maybe you see the accidental pun there.
Okay, Start Reading Now! This is where the story really starts.
The most fascinating topic to me in Genetics, both times, was microchimerism. Let me explain what this is.
Microchimerism – the harboring of small numbers of cells that originated in a genetically different individual.
If you aren’t a science person and the above definition is gibberish, hopefully the example I give clears it up for you. This is just one example, but it’s the one that got me all excited on the inside. I’ll explain in the simplest way I can.
When a mother is pregnant, there appears to be some exchange between the mother and baby where some of the baby’s cells are incorporated into the mother’s bloodstream and taken to other organs.
Timeout! Do you know what chromosomes are? Chromosomes are inside your cells and they contain your DNA. You can squish or break open a cell at the right stage, use a stain, and see the chromosomes under a microscope. They have a distinct X shape. For the most part, each individual has 23 pairs of chromosomes. One set is termed sex-chromosomes. In a female, the sex chromosomes look like two Xs. In a male, one looks like an X, the other is small and called Y. In summary, a female is XX and a male is XY. You can take different cells and see this. Might I add that when a new human is conceived, it gets an X from the mom and either an X or Y from the dad. So the dad kind of determines what the baby will be (physically).
Now, back from our side lesson. Suppose a mother is pregnant with a son. Some of the son’s cells are incorporated into the mother’s organs. If we looked at the mother’s cells, we would see some Y chromosomes. Females are XX; there should be no Y chromosome. Where did it come from? The baby? Yes, that is correct. The Y chromosome is from the baby boy. But where did the baby boy get his Y chromosome? Where did he get that portion of DNA? The answer is the dad.
I’m going to make an assumption that the mom and dad are married. So we have wife and husband. I know, so traditional.
So if we zoom in on the microscope and zoom out on the scenario, what we are seeing is this: We see cells taken from a wife. In the mixture of her cells, we also see her husband’s Y chromosome. Isn’t this cool?! Can you see where this is going now?
Okay. Time for a break from the science and a look into scripture.
I was reading Ephesians 5:21-33. It’s about a loving relationship between husband and wife which is compared to Christ and the church. When I got to verse 31, well, that’s where the sparks flew.
As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one [or become one flesh].” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. Ephesians 5:31-32
There are so many places I could go with this, but I want to leave some things unsaid.
Some other scriptures that come to mind are:
Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. Mark 10:9
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
The two really do become one flesh. It might be hard to wrap your head around at first, but to me, this was a wonderful sign of God in the details, especially since I was a new Christian in the science world. (It was a sweet gift from God). With a microscope, you can see a wife’s DNA with her husband’s DNA in the same tissue sample. And this lasts for decades! Wow. I’m in awe.
When we study science, we are really studying God’s design. There are many perspectives in which one can see scientific evidence. I see love.
I think it is amazing. I’ve thought all this before. It has been a few years since I was a SI for Genetics, but I have never forgotten what I heard about Microchimerism.
What made it different this time? God revealed to me verse 32. I always connected microchimerism to “a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” But God showed me verse 32. “This is a great mystery.” It is a mystery because scientists don’t know exactly how this happens. They also don’t know why. That’s probably not a question they will ever be able to fully answer. “But it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.”
A husband is imprinted in his wife’s body. Christ is imprinted in the church, his body.
Wow. Can we just let that sink in. Man and wife are physically joined together. There is evidence. But it’s also an illustration of the way Christ and church are one. We, believers, are the church. We are joined to Christ, and we are joined to Him in ways that may not yet be revealed.
Awesome. Humbling. Speechless. Peace. Love. Amazement. Mystery. Wonder. Creation. Mighty. Design.
Questions? Questions? I love questions. Leave a comment too if you read the whole thing. Let me know what you took away from this.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
