Episode Transcript
Welcome to faith and science. I'm Dr. John Ashton.
We observe in western countries fewer and fewer people attending church. And there seems to be a growing, um, view that maybe God doesn't exist, or at least the God of the Bible. And people are discounting in many ways the Bible, particularly the biblical account of creation, because of the problems with radiometric dating, putting long ages on the earth, and so forth.
But there is growing evidence that supports not only the historical accuracy of the Bible, but the scientific relevance of things in the Bible. And it's very unfortunate that, in my view, that these aspects of the Bible aren't being taught in our education system. And our government, again, is increasingly, or western governments, it seem, are increasingly rejecting the values, the christian values, that are contained in the Bible.
And one of the interesting aspects of that that I've been thinking about and reading recently is the origin of the 7th day week. Recently, I was challenged to find what scientific evidence was there for the seven day week. And I found a very interesting paper titled seven day human biological Rhythms, an expedition in search of their origin, that was published in Chronobiology International in 2016.
Now, the paper was by an international group of researchers. One of the researchers was from a hospital in Israel. Another two researchers were from chrono biology research units in France.
And another one, the senior author, Michael Smoloneski, was from the department of biomedical Engineering in the Cockerel school of Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. And it's fascinating in that what they looked at was they reviewed the accumulating evidence that there is a natural 7th day cycle in nature. Now, of course, the Bible account in Genesis records how God created the earth in six days, the heavens and the earth, stars and everything in six days, and rested on the 7th day.
And of course, then we have the ten Commandments that Moses was given by God. When the Israelites had left Egypt, they'd been in a pagan society, a society that didn't recognise the creator God. And God had to sort of re educate them again and gave them the ten Commandments.
And of course, the fourth commandment was to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. They were to work six days and rest on the 7th day. And it was interesting when God was providing food for them, which they had to gather and collect.
The manor that fell from heaven, it fell on the six days. And on the Friday there was an extra helping fell and it didn't go off. It kept for over the Sabbath.
So there were quite miraculous events that are recorded there that were witnessed by tens of thousands of people and recorded in the Bible that these miracles occurred. And that's how the people lived during the time that they spent in the desert, while they were on their way to where God wanted them to settle, bringing them out of Egypt to the land which became Israel. The land of Israel.
So it's interesting, these researchers actually looked at what was the evolutionary evidence for the seven day cycle, and it's fascinating in that they couldn't find any. It's a fascinating paper, and again, you can look it up, just google seven day human biological rhythms, an expedition in search of their origin. It'll come up.
You can download the full paper, a lot of references. The paper is about 30 pages long, but it's interesting in the abstract, they say this fact finding expedition explores the perspectives and knowledge of the origin and functional relevance of the seven day cycle in the biological time structure, with special reference to human beings. And they also point out that these biological rhythms are displayed in various levels of organisation in diverse species, from unicellular sea algae to plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals, including man, and that these cycles persist under natural as well as artificial, these constant environmental conditions.
They also say, nonetheless, very little is known about their derivation. In other words, how did they come to be? And so that's what they were researching. And after looking at the research, they summarised by saying, no advantages are apparent for the endogenous, that is internally generated seven day rhythms, and that these raise several questions.
What is the significance of the seven day activity rest cycle? In other words, having activity for six days and resting on the 7th day, and for these endogenous rhythms? And the only origin that they can find of this social origin was in actual fact, the biblical mandate that was given to the Hebrews. So it's the only mandate that was given to humans, and yet it's been adopted worldwide. And so one of the things that they research why do humans require one day off every seven days? And why do seven day rhythms bestow functional advantage to organisms? And so it was a really fascinating paper.
And they go through, for example, and they list the seven day cycles. A lot of study has been done. This research isn't based on just a few research papers.
They list so many studies, for example, they talk about, and they cite a number of researchers who have studied unicellular organisms and these organisms, again, they can observe the cycles, it appears in fossils and so forth as well. And they point out that these algae and so forth, in terms of the evolutionary model, are right at the bottom. And then they again go on to plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals.
As I said, laboratory. A lot of work done on laboratory rodents, your rats and so forth, and even horses and of course humans. And they list sort of examples.
For example, the water uptake in pole bean seeds display a seven day bioperiodicy. And then all in insects studied under constant darkness, ovosition, intermolt intervals and growth, for example, in the springtail and activity level in the beach beetle. And all display these seven day cycles, even in honeybees.
Certain functions of the honeybee or parts of their biochemistry exhibit also seven day cycles. And for these numerous papers. So it's not just based on a single researcher in this area.
Number of researchers have researched these particular seven day cycles. Other ones they go on for is, for example, the production of certain compounds from the penial glands in pike fish. And then there's quite a lot of work done on seven day rhythms in laboratory animals housed in research environments.
And what they say is these animals, they have a 24 hours cycle like the standard circadian rhythm. And that has been well established. And most of us have heard of these circadian rhythms, our sleep wake cycles and this sort of thing, which is essentially around 24 hours.
Matter of fact, they've done studies where they've isolated people in caves for long periods of time. So they've totally lost track of time. And their natural cycles as a group will initially, some will have shorter cycles, some will have longer cycles, but they will eventually all end up at around a 24 hours cycle.
In one study I read, yeah, they all synchronised 24.8 hours cycle. So this is your standard circadian rhythm.
And what they're saying is that these same rhythms, although they're less perceived, but there are these biochemical rhythms that have these seven day cycle. And they go on to list quite a few other things. The studies in rats, cardiac creatine, phosphorkinase, enzyme activity, urinary sodium extretion, immune system functions, time course of antibody response to vaccines and all these sort of things follow this seven day cycle.
There were studies done on semen volume in horses, in human beings, huge list of seven day cycle studies on human beings. And they point out there's been a wide variety of studies, although often they haven't involved huge numbers, thousands of people in a particular study. But nonetheless there have been a large number of studies of smaller groups of people, maybe 40.
These sort of numbers, for example, they've observed biological oscillations of your six day, one day cycle, total seven day cycle in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, cortisoloid binding activity of human breast milk of lactating mothers, heart rate and body weight gain of neonates, including twins just after birth, nutrient and calorie consumption of four year old infants, detention and enamel deposition of children. So seven day cycle there. And very importantly, seven day rhythms of cognitive function reported in school age children and adolescents of both genders and also adult men and women.
Quite a lot of studies, they list a whole lot of researchers in that from 1988. Well, the earliest ones, just looking down the list there from 967. There seems to be the earliest one right through to 1998 in adults only.
Looking at physical activity level. Number of researchers there right up to 2016 looking at all time. Nighttime sleep duration follows the same seven day cycle.
Core body temperature, seven day cycle, cell mitosis, positive and negative moods, functional attributes of the immune and hemostatic system, least a whole lot there. Researchers going back from the early 80s through to two seven total calories and dietary constituent consumption. 2016 research stress associated nighttime eating behaviour.
Again, seven day cycle and that was 215 research. Urine resodium excretion, seven day cycle in plasma, dosterone and cortisol concentrations of men being studied under long term spaceflight stimulation. So lots of studies have been reported and these are indigenous things.
In other words, our biochemistry is programmed with this seven day cycle. And this is quite fascinating. This is really powerful evidence for creation.
And one of the reasons why it is powerful evidence for creation, as these authors note, is that there have been a lot of studies done to try and find some sort of cosmic or sort of electromagnetic field variation or some sort of clear origin of this. And it's interesting, they say there no clear evidence indicates that the concept of the week, seven day week as now defined, existed in the near eastern and middle eastern non hebraic populations in the Mediterranean Sea region. In other words, Babylon, Egypt or elsewhere.
And they've done quite a bit of historical research on this. It's quite interesting. They talk about the people of Maori residing along the Euphrates river, worked nonstop, day after day, while some Babylonians observed a five day week.
And they point out that although the Hebrews used a lunar calendar with twelve months, that was recognised a name, and they had all sorts of other groupings, but they still had the 7th day week. The 7th day week included the rest day of the Sabbath was a commandment of God to the Hebrews. And also they point out that it doesn't seem to have been, even though it was given by God, they actually didn't respect it that much until their 70 years of captivity.
And so the babylonian captivity, 580 to 516 BC, or thereabout, 70 years of captivity, I thought it was a little bit before that, because I thought Babylon fell 539 BC. But anyway, this is the date in their paper, then they interpreted that of God's punishment, of course, and they went back to keeping the 6th day of work and 7th day of rest. So there was a lot of emphasis by the Jews then to keep the seven day week themselves.
But it's very interesting that the other cultures weren't keeping it at that time. And so this is one of the evidences that the origin of the seven day cycle came from the Bible, because again, in those areas the people weren't, the other cultures and civilizations around the Jews weren't keeping the seven day cycles. And the Jews actually became influenced that way, except for those who were religious and honoured serving God and continued to keep the Sabbath.
Of course, the babylonian empire fell to the Persians about 539, and then the persian empire fell to the Greeks, the Alexander the Great, about 331 BC. And then greek empire was gradually taken over by the Roman Empire. But of course, in the early 300s AD, when Constantine had become emperor, he was converted to Christianity and he promoted the unrestricted practise of Christianity in the edict of Milan in 313 AD, and promoted then christian worship.
But it's interesting that Constantine in 321 mandated that Sunday must be observed as the weekly day of rest, except for agricultural field workers, when seasonally dictated. But actually Sunday was already the weekly pagan day devoted to the sun deity that had been adopted by the Roman Empire as a substitute for the Hebrews Saturday Sabbath. And it was interesting that the authors of this scientific paper that was published in chronobiology actually talk all about this in their paper there.
So the Sabbath, they point out as a holiday associated with holiday meaning of the latter being vacationed or vacant, with reference to the latin root vacuum meaning empty, no work. So that was in keeping with the hebrew tradition way of thinking. But of course, they then go on, it's quite fascinating.
So this is in this scientific research paper, they point out that the Sabbath is far more than a day of rest, since it also includes, when looking backwards, appreciation and satisfaction of one's accomplishments and achievements during the preceding six days of work. Thus the Sabbath is a kind of day of thanksgiving for work that was allowed to accomplish on the other non holy days of the week, and consistent with God's model of the 7th day week, as relayed in the Book of Genesis. During the 24 hours rest of the Sabbath, man should devote no time to being creative, which perhaps explains the forward in time motivation for creativity activity during the ensuring weekday.
So this is actually I'm reading directly from the paper. And so they then go on to comment, however, which I think is quite relevant to today. And quoting from the paper.
However, as subsequently discussed, the feelings of accomplishment linked in the past to adherence of the week's holy day are, in the growing secular society of today, increasingly being transformed and monetized. Indeed, for the sceptical and nonbelievers, both the 24 hours day of rest and the nighttime sleep span have negative connotations of squandering time. From a chronobiological point of view, it's impossible to eliminate the seven day component from the inherent organisation of processes and functions of the biological time structure.
And so what they're essentially saying is that this is part of our intrinsic biochemistry of these seven day cycles. And they also summarise and point out that it is of significant relevance. And again, quoting from their paper to this discussion is the failure of past attempts to redefine the traditional seven day week.
The leaders of the French Revolution in 1789 rejected the 7th day week founded on religious doctrine, promoting instead the decimalization of time, initially in the form of a ten day week termed a dicardi. Even highly fit individuals were unable to tolerate the tough, mainly physical, continuous nine day work span with no interspace day off. Thereafter, the five day week term, the quintidi was promoted, but this too was a disaster and rejected in favour of the traditional 7th day week.
So it's a very interesting historical fact. Also, they point out the redefinition of the 7th day week was attempted also by the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution, who insisted a five day week of one day of which was for s to achieve a goal of 20% of the workforce having one day off per five day period. After an eleven year span from 1929 to 1940 of the dramatically compromised industrial production, Stalin abandoned the five day week in favour of the traditional seven day one.
Isn't that fascinating? And it's interesting that what they point out is that scientifically, the origin of the seven day bioperiotic phenomena is unknown. In fact. And they go on to say, in fact, results of studies involving complex organisms, insects and human beings, conducted under constant conditions, devoid of usual 24 hours, lunar and annual ambient and social clues, but necessarily ones of cosmic origin, are not consistent with the contention that these rhythms are generated and maintained or synchronised by cyclic, external, cosmic, electromagnetic or other phenomena.
In other words, they're programmed into us. And one of the other fascinating things that they point out in the paper is that the rotation of the earth around this axis was probably slower in geological times. That would be pre flood time.
And the evidence comes that the year was about 400 days. And that fits, because in the Bible, four is the number for time, ten is the number for law and order. And so I did some looking up about that, actually.
And there is evidence from corals and so forth that the day was slightly shorter then about 22 hours, and that the year was 400 days. So same total time duration around the earth. And so it's very important that we can see that the origin of the seven day cycle is purely from the Bible, but yet it's intrinsically programmed into our biochemistry, the biochemistry of insects, algae, mammals, all and plants.
It's programmed there. And it really goes back to God saying creator for six days and then rested on the 7th day. There's no other explanation for this.
And yet all the attempts for secular, non religious governments to change this have sort of failed and not be successful. I find this very, very fascinating. And they summarise by saying, from our point of view, the failed experimental attempts by the leaders of the French Revolution to redefine the week as ten days and then five days, as well as leaders of the russian revolution to define the five days, constitute population based evidence that backs our proposed hypothesis of the biological basis for the seven day time structure.
And they cite a modern example, actually, in two seven. The french minister for education, who they describe as a naive political appointee, mandated further reduction in the school week to four day, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Friday. And they say this misguided mandate, which disregarded the chronobiological and other determinants of the stamina and capability for sustained children of children, resulted in a consequence that 50% of french school children develop symptoms of intolerance, like burnout symptoms, abnormal fatigue, poor attention and sleep disturbances.
And additional test scores, such as measured of learning, dramatically increased. So even in modern times, people have tried to change again. They say, we propose the biological requirements for one day of rest per six day of work derives from one or more chemical substances that progressively accumulate in association with the six day work active span as an internal signal perceived by the brain.
And this is an endogenous seven day time structure. So we have this powerful evidence for creation there. And while the seven day self sustained oscillator system does not appear to be as strong in terms of amplitude as most circadian and other cyannial rhythms.
Its biological and clinical significance cannot be dismissed. So it's fascinating evidence for the Bible, for the literal six day creation account of us. You've been listening to faith and science, and if you want to re listen to these programmes, just google 3abnaustralia.org.au. Click on the radio button and on the listen and the faith and science button. And remember to tell other people about these programmes that provide the evidence that we have an amazing creator God.
I'm Dr. John Ashton. Have a great day.
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