Re: What About Those Four-Legged Insects?

Kenneth: "This simply is not true. All insects have 6 legs. Spiders, which are not insects, but arachnids, have 8 legs. If the bible is the revealed Word of an all-knowing God, then why does it have this rather obvious and primitive error? "

Modern day taxonomic categories, like species, genus, family, etc., are not the same as the Biblical "kind." Even the term "creeping thing" finds wide application meaning, in general, small animals which exist in great numbers. In this chapter it is used for insects (v. 21), various small mammals and reptiles (vv. 29,30), as well as animals which "move" in the ocean (v. 10).

Likewise the term "flying" applies both to flying insects and birds (vv. 13-19). Obviously, the context and description must take precedence in identification, and in this case, the "four legged insect" applies, in particular, to the grasshopper/locust kind.

In our modern classification system, all insects have at least six legs. They are members of the large and varied arthropod phyla, which includes also the eight-legged spiders, the multi-legged centipedes, as well as crabs—anything with segmented legs. Some insects also have wings, but these don't count as legs.

Today, locusts are considered migratory grasshoppers. They all have two large hind legs, quite different in appearance, size, and function from the front four legs. Their front legs are used for "crawling, clinging, and climbing," while their back legs rest "above" their front legs and feet, and are used for "jumping." Furthermore, the Hebrew word translated "beetle" actually comes from the verb "to leap," implying a similar leaping insect, not our modern beetle. Thus, the Biblical description of grasshoppers turns out to be exactly anatomically correct. Far from being an embarrassment to Bible believers, this passage bears sterling testimony to the accuracy and inspiration of Scripture. As always, arguments which claim that the Bible is wrong are themselves wrong, and the Bible still stands! John D. Morris, Ph.D


KENNETH: "In any case, what does it matter if people eat four-footed flying things, or cloven hoofed animals, or animals that chew the cud... are you telling me that with starvation, wars, pestilence, human abuse, pain and suffering and injustice in the world.... that the All Powerful Creator and Govenor of the Universe really concerned himself with whether or not they ate rabbits and pigs? That's rather pathetic."

God gave these conditions to protect them from certain diseases that they could get from these specific animals. It was for their protection in an era when meat might not be properly cooked or stored.Because of these and many other scientific reasons, man's laws prior to the laws of God were very liberal. They were based on the ignorance of man and not the intelligence of God. Sexual promiscuity and incest were very common. People ate animals which died or were effected from diseases or poisonous plants and then they died.

We humans didn't know the importance of washing our hands to prevent the spread of diseases or infections until the Korean War. Before that, doctors didn't scrub the way they do today before surgery, surgery rooms were not kept scrubbed clean, and hospitals were not kept clean. We didn't even understand that touching a dead person could cause us to get the disease they died from.We now know that, because of the eating habits of pigs, they have lots of parasites such as heart and liver worms which destroy our internal organs and brains. The people back then could not properly cook their meat so God told them not to eat certain species. How could these people have known why not to eat such good tasting meats and why would they impose such laws on themselves? They didn't, God did.The other meaning has to do with micro organisms which shorten life such as the eggs of parasites, viruses, and bacteria. You see, these organisms limit the life of the organism and are, therefore, the outer limits for the life of the organism. In those days and, to a considerable extent, even today, people did not properly cook their food. If you don't cook your food well enough to kill these organisms, they will kill you. It was very difficult to cook their meat properly over camp fires and many people did and still do prefer partially cooked or even raw meat. Draining the blood from the animal before eating it decreased their chances of getting the diseases and parasites. Drinking the blood puts these organisms in your blood. These people didn't know that and could not have possibly written this law, God did.

In God's laws, He tells us that if a bull gores someone and kills them, the animal is to be killed BUT NOT EATEN. Why can't we eat it? It's good meat and these people surely couldn't afford to waste good meat out in the middle of the desert. We now know that there are diseases and plant toxins which will cause a bull to "go mad" and gore people and that, if we eat that meat, the disease or toxin will also kill us. You know, like the ban on meat from cows which have the mad cow disease. 3,600 years ago they didn't know these things so why would they write such a law? They didn't, God did.

God's law tells us that, after we have touched a dead person or animal, we are to wash and separate ourselves from the other people. We now know that this cleaning and quarantine is necessary to prevent the spread of diseases from those dead people or animals. They didn't know this, why would they write such a law? They didn't, God did.

God's law tells us that we are not supposed to commit incest. We have learned in the last 50 years that, because of genetics, incest causes birth defects and retardation in the off spring. They didn't know that and incest was and still is quite common place around the world. Why would they write such a law when everyone else was committing incest? They didn't, God did.

At a time when promiscuity was very common place, God's law tells us not to commit adultery. This is probably the most telling of all of His laws because, knowing better, we still insist on committing adultery. Hey, it's good, it's fun, and they didn't know about the micro organisms which cause sexually transmitted diseases. Why would they write such a law? They didn't, God did.

God's law tells us how to build a latrine and where to put it 3,600 years before millions of soldiers died because they didn't know about or even why they should build a latrine AND they didn't live by God's law. How could people 3,600 years ago have possibly known how to build a latrine and where to put it? They didn't, God did.

We didn't discover until sometime in the 1950's that the life of an organism is in the blood. God told us this 3,600 years ago and said that is why we are not to eat the blood of an animal. This was a very common practice in other religions and still is in many today. Why would these people write such a law? They didn't, God did. But this goes even further. Science tells us that there is a double meaning to the phrase that the life of an organism is in its blood. The first meaning is the one referred to above which is that the very life forces which cause life are in the blood.



An estimated two thirds to three fourths of the soldiers who died during the First World War died because of our lack of knowledge about microbiology. They didn't know about using latrines as bath rooms to prevent the spread of disease. The soldiers urinated and defecated in the trenches they lived in and didn't remove the bodies of other dead soldiers. They actually used their bodies as part of the trenches or stood on them to fight. Even today around the world, one of the biggest killers of people in Third World Countries are the organisms which cause disease and originate in the human body.