Did Adam Have A Belly Button?

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Sunday, 06 February 2011 19:35

February 6, 2011

“DID ADAM HAVE A BELLY BUTTON?”

Genesis 2:7

by Pastor Ole Lillestolen

As we closed out the year last year we were looking at what we called “Tough questions.” I want to pick up that theme again for a little while to see how the light from heaven shines in every area of inquiry, and I want you to know that I’m open to questions again. But, here’s a question which was asked facetiously, I’m sure, but which is actually an important question for some people: “Did Adam have a belly button?”

Why do I say this is important? Because, the way some people think, if Adam had a belly button it would make you think that Adam had a mother, so that he was not created, but that he was born. Why would he have a belly button if he was never connected to his mother by an umbilical cord? So some would say that if Adam had belly button he must not have been created by God through His act of creation described in our text.

This is sort of a moot, nonsensical point because we can’t look at even a picture of Adam’s navel to see if he did have a belly button. But, here’s a similar question where there is a ‘belly button’ to look at: “If God created the universe some mere thousands of years ago, how could the light from stars millions of light years away be already coming to earth today?” This is a reasonable question to ask and there are many reasonable questions like it; the only thing is we always need to be careful that we don’t at the same time create what seem to be reasonable yet unrealistic boundaries within which we are convinced the answers must lie.

For example, irrespective of whether or not Adam had a belly button, how old would he look on the first day of his existence after God created him from the dust of the earth? Obviously, he would have looked like a decades old grown man! In fact, it would be impossible to create a man who in every way looked like he was only one day old! He may have had perfect baby fresh skin, but an adult, intelligent Adam looked much older than a day because he was not a newborn!

I tend to believe that Adam had a belly button. Verse seven tells us that, “The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” This verse doesn’t tell us that he did have a belly button, but with everything else that made Adam look older than a day, I don’t think God was worried about confusing some people by putting a belly button on him.

Here’s the thing. I was visiting with a scientist who said that because we see light from stars millions of light years away, he tended to believe that the earth is billions of years old. He didn’t think God would create the universe that looked like it was billions of years old if it wasn’t, because that would confuse people. But, let’s remember that there is no way of creating almost anything from scratch without it having appearances of age. In other words, if a scientist isn’t wondering about a belly button, or light from different stars, there will be something else that would make it possible for him to question what the Bible tells us about how or when everything came into being.

Now, there may yet be a physical explanation for distant light getting here so fast, but why would God have to wait for slow light to come from distant stars? Light doesn’t care where it came from! Why couldn’t God create light from stars already arriving?

Well, yes, if God is God then He can do whatever He chooses, so everyone has to admit this possibility. The problem is that we have a tendency to expect God to play by our rules and do things the way we would do them, so we very often end up missing the big picture because we get so hung up on those little things that look out of place, like a belly button on Adam, or light from distant stars. God does not, however, play by our rules and we need to listen to God and look for beyond these little snaggy questions to see the bigger ones that get at the whole picture.

Take for example the fact that even though the universe is filled with light which looks like it came from stars too distant to have reached earth so fast, the universe is also structured precisely properly for life to exist on this little piece of rock, dust, and water. The same people who have trouble believing God would create light already in motion, also see the image of purposeful design in the universe.

The well known theoretical physicist with Lou Gehrig’s disease, Stephen Hawking describes the situation, "...the universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: Either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn't combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn't form the heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop, and so on..."

And, on it goes. Agnostic physicist Robert Jastrow of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calls the life-permitting constants of the universe, "the most theistic result to ever come out of science." Paul Davies, a Templeton laureate and prominent physicist moved from promoting atheism in 1983, to conceding in 1984 that "the laws [of physics]... seem themselves to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design," to in 1988 saying that there "is for me powerful evidence that there is something going behind it all. The impression of design is overwhelming.“

Even Arno Penzias, one of the two scientists who in 1965 discovered low level background radiation in the universe and interpreted it to be evidence of the Big Bang, comments, "astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly-improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.“ In other words, there may be something else going on with Adam’s belly button and the light from distant stars than what we may think! We must not try to put God into a human sized box!

Notice however that we are not talking about simply believing the light of the Bible. There’s more to a body than a belly button, and there’s more to a universe than light! Looking at the big picture forces us to rethink our questions and our assumptions about the little details! God doesn’t want us to blindly believe! What He doesn’t want is for us to in blindness not believe! Living in His light will help us to avoid that tendency.

God invites us to listen to Him as He explains to us what is going on in every area of our lives so that we are not blinded by little distractions from seeing the big picture He is working out in our lives. Jesus’ brother James, in James 1:5 says: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

There is, for example, a wonderful promise in Romans 8:28: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” There are a lot of times when we don’t feel like anything is working for our good, but our problem, again, is recognizing the difference between what we consider to be good and God’s greater good! We want God to define good using our definition!

Before we go down this path, however, we need to recognize that difficult things happen to all kinds of people, not just to Christians. Tough experiences are part of life here, and they can be devastating! Christians, however, often feel like they should get a pass on tough spots, and they can wonder, “Can anything good come out of any of this?”

Joni Earickson Tada went through a time of deep mental anguish after she dove into a swimming hole and broke her neck. She became paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of her life, and if I remember right, She went through a time where she wished she could even end her life because it was so difficult and it seemed so meaningless. Yet, eventually, with the help of other Christians, Joni was able to see that she was looking at her tragedy wrong, and that she needed to look to see if God had something special and good for her, even in her tragedy! Eventually, she began to believe Paul’s promise and began to trust God to show her the way.

She became famous for creating greeting card art by putting a pen between her teeth to paint. As she gained fame she was asked to share her story and she became a very popular speaker, helping many physically handicapped people as well as many whose handicaps were only in their minds! She has pointed many people to Christ and she has a tremendous ministry helping people overcome the challenges in their lives by putting their trust in the Lord and in His light!

Joni has written: “...we will stand amazed to see the topside of the tapestry and how God beautifully embroidered each circumstance into a pattern for our good and His glory.” She has also written: “Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”

There is nothing wrong with questioning, even questioning God. It is questions which lead us to knowledge and understanding; that is when our hearts are open to the answers we will find when we are willing to look beyond the immediate to see even just a part of God’s whole picture. So, have you merely been contemplating a navel, or are you willing to look into the face of God and see what He will shine His light upon? Are you willing to follow the path which He casts His light upon?