LOL.. Well it's a smelly subject for sure.August wrote:Way to go GMan...now, in addition to the problem of evil, the geniuses over at the Dawkins forum are going start throwing the problem of farting our way. At least it will be an argument commensurate with their normal levels of thinking.
Thanks J.Davis... That was very brave of you. But I'm not trying to be funny here...J.Davis wrote:Great question Gman!
You know, I have always had that same thought, why do we have to fart (or worse)?
If I had to take a guess, I would say that the fruit God provided was perfect, it had no impurities. The body would simply consume the fruit without a need to discharge the repulsive byproducts of (what is clearly) sin.
I think it must have been the forbidden fruit. A body made in the image of God would obviously need away to get rid of impurities. Adam and Eve must have known the error of their ways soon after eating the fruit God told them to avoid. But they didn’t listen and now we all suffer because of it. It’s all so clear now, why else would they have shame and a need to hide from God? And the reason God gave for forcing Adam and Eve out of the garden? Like He could not have just removed the tree of life, or put an angel their to guard it? It was the smell, God simply could not deal with the smell. Their sin was a stench up God nostrils, I don’t see how I missed this before.
Thanks Gman!... Great post!…LOL!
The problem here is that flatulence is a natural occurring phenomena that simply cannot be thwarted in a natural physical environment. The Bible makes it clear that the physical laws of the universe were in full operation before the fall, therefore even gross things like flatulence must have been in place before the fall. In other words, given the laws of physics, it is not possible to create an organism that does not fart.. Given the laws of physics and the nature of quantum events, it is not possible to design an animal that operates without giving off some gas. God can't stop it, much like cancer cannot be stopped since it also a random event. It's a price you have to pay when you mix chemicals in a physical world. You simply cannot escape it.. It's a natural evil or smell.. Why Natural Evil Must ExistWhich brings us to a question.. Should God just destroy the bacteria in our intestines which would take care of the flatulence? I would hope not or we would be dead... It's simply a byproduct of living on this planet.Composition of flatus
Nitrogen, the main constituent of air, is the primary gas released during flatulence, along with carbon dioxide, which is present in higher quantities in those who drink carbonated beverages regularly. The lesser component gases methane and hydrogen are flammable, and so flatus containing adequate amounts of these, can be ignited. However, not all humans produce flatus that contains methane. For example, in one study of the feces of nine adults, only five of the samples contained archaea capable of producing methane.[1] Similar results are found in samples of gas obtained from within the rectum.
The gas released during a flatus event frequently has an unpleasant odor. For many years, this was thought to be due to skatole and indole, which are byproducts of the digestion of meat. However, gas chromatography testing in 1984 revealed that sulfur-containing compounds, such as methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) and dimethyl sulfide, were also[2] responsible for the smell.[3]
The incidence of odoriferous compounds in flatulence emissions increases from herbivores, such as cattle, through omnivores to carnivorous species, such as cats.[citation needed] Such odor can also be caused by the presence of large numbers of microflora bacteria and/or the presence of feces in the rectum.
The major components of the flatus, which are odorless, by percentage are:[4]
* Nitrogen: 20–90%
* Hydrogen: 0–50%
* Carbon dioxide: 10–30%
* Oxygen: 0–10%
* Methane: 0–10%
Causes
Intestinal gas is composed of varying quantities of exogenous sources (air that is ingested through the nose and mouth) and endogenous sources (gas produced within the digestive tract). The exogenous gases are swallowed (aerophagia) when eating or drinking or increased swallowing during times of excessive salivation (as might occur when nauseated or as the result of gastroesophageal reflux disease). The endogenous gases are produced either as a by-product of digesting certain types of food, or of incomplete digestion. Anything that causes food to be incompletely digested by the stomach and/or small intestine may cause flatulence when the material arrives in the large intestine, due to fermentation by yeast or prokaryotes normally or abnormally present in the gastrointestinal tract.
Flatulence-producing foods are typically high in certain polysaccharides, (especially oligosaccharides such as inulin). Those foods include beans, lentils, dairy products, onions, garlic, scallions, leeks, turnips, rutabagas, radishes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cashews, Jerusalem artichokes, oats, wheat, and yeast in breads. Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables that belong to the genus Brassica are commonly reputed to not only increase flatulence, but to increase the pungency of the flatus.
In beans, endogenous gases seem to arise from complex oligosaccharide (carbohydrates) that are particularly resistant to digestion by mammals, but which are readily digestible by gut flora – microorganisms (methane-producing archaea; Methanobrevibacter smithii) that inhabit the digestive tract. These oligosaccharides pass through the upper intestine largely unchanged, and when they reach the lower intestine, bacteria feed on them, producing copious amounts of flatus.[6]
In the case of people who have lactose intolerance, intestinal bacteria feeding on lactose can give rise to excessive gas production when milk or lactose-containing substances have been consumed.
Interest in the causes of flatulence was spurred by high-altitude flight and the space program; the low atmospheric pressure, confined conditions, and stresses peculiar to those endeavours were cause for concern.[6] In the field of mountaineering, high altitude flatus expulsion was first noticed over two hundred years ago.
Some infections, such as giardiasis, are also associated with flatulence.[7]
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence
It is too gross to be allowed in the Garden of Eden, but then again it is needed for survival.
bahahahahah!! That has to be one of the weirdest parts of that movie...other than the bizarre ending...jlay wrote:I am offended at your negative view of farting. And so I fart in your general direction.
Yes... That is what I see too.. The bacteria IS beneficial and the natural byproduct of their actions is gas. Therefore, there would have to be some sort of flatulence in the garden.. So no, the garden was NOT perfect. They had their embarrassing smelly moments. This is my point...zoegirl wrote:bahahahahah!! That has to be one of the weirdest parts of that movie...other than the bizarre ending...jlay wrote:I am offended at your negative view of farting. And so I fart in your general direction.
(I cant' read that without a french accent sounding off in my brain)
I also have wondered where this idea that digestive waste is bad or in some way the result of the fall....
I have written several reserach papers from my grad days about the large intestine. We have anywhere from 300-500 species of bacteria and billions of bacteria lining the intestines. The vast majority of them are either commensural or beneficial. Most serve to create a living boundary along the large intestine walls to prevent pathogenic bacteria from growing. Along the way the immune cells learn and are activated. In fact, there is some line of thinking that the large should be considered part of the lymphatic system.
I thought Gman was referring to the smell because he wrote:zoegirl wrote:But if I'm reading Gman's premise correctly, he isn't jsut talking about the smell...but rather that fact that they exist at all...
If Gman was talking about any farting, not just stinky farting, then how do we know the foods available in the garden would or would not have caused flatulence?So no, the garden was NOT perfect. They had their embarrassing smelly moments. This is my point...
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the nostrils of both of them were opened, and they realized their flatulence was horrible; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves
