Parasites in Paradise
Ryan Cox • October 26, 2021
Parasites in Paradise
“If there was no physical death or bloodshed before Adam and Eve sinned, then what did carnivorous animals eat?
What did mosquitoes drink? How do you explain parasites?”
These are some of the questions we come across, most often not from evolutionists, but from Christians trying to answer basic questions about the pre-Fall world. Now, as Dr. Sharp would teach, we can never fully understand perfection this side of the Fall. However, there are good, science-based answers for such questions.
Carnivorous Animals
It has been well established that all animals can or could at one time survive on a plant-based diet. Today we see dogs eat grass when they are sick. Fossils reveal that some ancient crocodiles were herbivores.¹ And then there is Little Tyke: a female African lion that 75 years ago refused all meat, including milk containing blood droplets. Living on a vegetarian diet, she grew up to be, according to one zoo curator, the best of her species he had ever viewed.²
So, yes, it is an observable reality that all animals could have survived on plant-based diets before the Fall when there was no pain, suffering, bloodshed, or death.
Mosquitoes
When we address the subject of mosquitoes in the Garden of Eden, most do not realize that today there are nearly 3,600 species. They ALL
feed on nectar, honeydew, and other plant juices. None of the males in any species suck blood. It is only females in some species that ever feed on blood, and the only reason for their bloodsucking is the acquisition of protein and iron for egg production.³
Yet, even that is not always necessary. Some females can produce eggs through autogenous reproduction, which is without any bloodsucking.⁴
Therefore, based on observational data, it is a reasonable assumption that in perfection, mosquitoes survived on nectar, as they do today, and females produced eggs through autogenous reproduction. There was no need for bloodsucking before the Fall.
Parasites
A parasite is one organism living on or in anther organism. They can range anywhere from animals (lice, etc.) to fungi (ringworm, etc.) to plants (mistletoe, etc.) or single-celled protozoans (malaria, etc.). Let’s take nematodes (roundworms) as an example. Estimates as to the number of species within the phylum of Nematoda
range anywhere from 25,000 to 1 million. Of those, only about 35 occur as parasites in humans.⁵ They feed on the insides of algae and bacteria while decomposing organic matter, which allows for soil fertilization. Hence, they can be found underground, in oceans, and even on mountains. One cubic meter of dirt can contain over 1 million of them, laying an estimated 200,000 eggs at one time. They are a vibrant, essential part of life on Earth.⁶
At some point in history when there was a scarcity of resources, they learned to feed upon insects that had previously transported them unharmed. The insects, like blackflies, transported them to humans, and they eventually adapted to infect people. But because of how few species do this, even evolutionists do not believe they were originally parasitic.⁷
Heart Condition
This, sadly, does not keep some from using parasites as a “reason” for rejecting our Creator God. Sir David Attenborough of the BBC responded in an interview, “There are creation legends everywhere; every society has one, all over the world. But they can’t all be true. If you want to decide what the truth is, how are you going to do it? As far as I’m concerned, you look for the evidence in the rocks and in the creatures around you… The evidence is for evolution.”⁸
What concrete evidence did he find? “…I tend to think instead of a parasitic worm that is boring through the eye of a boy sitting on the bank of a river in West Africa, that’s going to make him blind… Are you telling me that the God you believe in, who you say is an all-merciful God, who cares for each one of us individually, are you saying that God created this worm that can live in no other way than in an innocent child’s eyeball? Because that doesn’t seem to coincide with a God who’s full of mercy.”⁹
As is evident in his response, it was not a matter of scientific observation that led to his rejection of God, but rather a matter of his heart. This is a clear example, as the Apostle Paul said, of “professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
“¹⁷
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
¹⁸
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart…
²¹
…truth is in Jesus,
²²
that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self…
²⁴
and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (Ephesians 4:17-24)
Endnotes
1.
Tim Collins, “Ancient crocodiles were not fierce meat-eaters but survived on a diet of PLANTS, study finds”, UK Daily Mail, 27 June 2019, <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7188337/Ancient-crocodiles-survived-diet-PLANTS-200-million-years-ago-study-finds.html>.
2.
David Catchpoole, “The lion that wouldn’t eat meat”, Creation
22(2): 22-23, March 2000, <https://creation.com/the-lion-that-wouldnt-eat-meat>.
3. "Mosquito”, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., ed. 23 October 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito#Feeding_by_adults>.
4.
K. Sawabe & A. Moribayashi, “Lipid Utilization for Ovarian Development in an Autogenous Mosquito”, Journal of Medical Entomology, Vol. 37, Iss. 5, 1 September 2000, pp. 726-31.
5.
Anderson, Roy C.
Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission. CABI, 2000, p. 1.
6.
Scott Arledge, “Can a Merciful God Great Parasites?”,
Acts & Facts
50(8), 2000, <https://www.icr.org/article/can-a-merciful-god-create-parasites/>.
7.
Christoph Dieterich & Ralf Sommer, “How to become a parasite – lessons from the genomes of nematodes”,
Trends in Genetics, Vol. 25, Iss. 5, May 2009, pp. 203-9.
8.
"Wild, wild life”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 March 2003, <https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/wild-wild-life-20030325-gdghkj.html>.
9.
Ibid.
The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat. Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms.