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Eye Opening


I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O LORD, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 26:6-7)
 
          Have you considered the eye recently? These organs, which are about 0.89 inches in diameter is made up made up of  at least 44 parts in three coats, or layers. The outermost layer is composed of the cornea and sclera. The middle layer consists of the choroid, ciliary body, pigmented epithelium and iris. The innermost is the retina, which gets its oxygenation from the blood vessels of the choroid (posteriorly) as well as the retinal vessels (anteriorly). The spaces of the eye are filled with the aqueous humour between the cornea and lens and a jelly-like substance, behind the lens, filling the entire posterior cavity. The aqueous humour is a clear watery fluid that is contained in two areas: the anterior chamber between the cornea and the iris, and the posterior chamber between the iris and the lens. The lens is suspended to the ciliary body by the suspensory ligament  made up of hundreds of fine transparent fibers which transmit muscular forces to change the shape of the lens for accommodation (focusing). The vitreous body is a clear substance composed of water and proteins, which give it a jelly-like and sticky composition.[1]
          Light entering the eye is soaked up by 126 million light sensitive cells. The human eye can detect a luminance range of 1014, or one hundred trillion (100,000,000,000,000) (about 46.5 f-stops), from 10−6 cd/m2, or one millionth (0.000001) of a candela per square meter to 108 cd/m2 or one hundred million (100,000,000) candelas per square meter. Eyes may allow us to detect ten million colors and even a single photon. [2]
          How well we see depends on how well all of these parts work together. In other words, our ability to survive depends on how well all these parts work together. This is especially meaningful to me because what someone with good sight can see 200 feet away, I may be able to see at 20 feet away.
          According to those who accept evolutionary theory, somehow creatures with no eyes developed light sensitive spots, which over billions of years developed into the eyes we have today. This means that somehow, 49 parts, including 126 million cells, somehow all developed through billions of years of not providing any increase in survival rates and/or served entirely different functions to a point that they suddenly started working together to increase the chance of survival. The development continued beyond what is necessary for survival to allow us to perceive millions of colors and which allow us to see light from stars trillions of miles away. As some often say, "it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does in a Creator."
         Now, think about this for a moment. The Creator of these delicate, sensitive, exquisitely complex organs is a spiritual Being who, therefore, has no eyes as we could understand eyes. Scripture often speaks of His seeing. It seems evident that His "seeing" isn't quite the same as ours. This forms an interesting contrast to the various gods worshipped in ancient times. Their idols all depicted them as beings with eyes. This was one of the complaints God made about them: "they have eyes but do not see."
          This idea may bother some people. How could a being without eyes create a being with them? As a reader and a writer, I often encounter or create beings who are very different from me. True, these beings exist only in the imaginations of those people who read and write about them. Because I can imagine them, I understand how it would be possible for an all knowing, infinite, omnipotent God to imagine the universe in great detail and to "speak" it into existence (without a mouth.)
         Has your wonder at His wonderful deeds increased? I hope so. Mine has.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_eye
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_eye

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