Creation Science Rebuttals

Institute for Creation Research

Bacteria in the Human Digestive Tract

First Published 8 October 2014

I was excited to see the article from the Institute for Creation Research on 8 October, titled "Were Intestines Designed for Bacteria?¹It spurred me on to investigate one of my commonly held beliefs, and possibly confirm my suspicions.

The article on ICR, written by Brian Thomas, concluded that yes, intestines and bacteria were designed to work together. This is wonderful news for old earth creationists. Let me explain.

Bacteria is required in the intestines to break down and digest food. Referred to as 'gut flora', the human body carries about 100 trillion microorganisms in its intestines. Most estimates say there are about 500 different species, however about 99% come from 30-40 species. Interestingly, bacteria make up most of the flora in the colon, and up to 60% of the dry mass of feces.

Why is this important for the age of the earth? When bacteria is in the colon, it can live for a long time. However, since up to 60 percent of feces is bacteria, once it leaves the body, the bacteria begin to die. Information on the life span of bacteria in human feces is hard to find, so I can only give generalities. One website said bacteria in feces starts to die quickly, while another says they can live as long as they have a food source. And some species can live indefinately.

The important point here is that if bacteria in feces die, then there was death before sin, as bacteria is a living organism. As soon as Adam and Eve had their first bowel movement, death would have been introduced, as the lifespan of the bacteria is limited outside the body. Another factor to consider...some insects/organisms feed off of fecal matter. There is no doubt that they ingest bacteria in the fecal matter, thus again, killing the bacteria.

The only possible young earth answer...Adam and Eve must have sinned before their first bowel movement! This would seem to introduce other problems, such as not giving Adam enough time to name all the animals.

To me, it appears that human poop proves death before sin, thus invalidating the YEC argument of no death before the fall. If you have any comments or inputs on this topic, I would love to hear them...especially if you have knowledge of the lifespan of bacteria in feces. Please post them on the Facebook post for this article (linked below).

¹ Brian Thomas, Were Intestines Designed for Bacteria?, ICR website.

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