The Study of Life (as best I can remember it)

I was listening to Eric talk the other night about teaching jr. high science and it hit me, LIFE is LIFE. deep, I know, but let me expound. In Sophomore Biology, I learned about the 7 characteristics essential to physical life. So, If I believe that God is the creator of all things, corporeal and otherwise, then I can reason from what characterizes a physically alive organism to what characterizes a Life in the Son (some call this the spiritual life, others the Christian walk, whatever floats your boat, or raises your dead, man). Anyway, the characteristics of life, according to Biology, a sophomore textbook by Miller and Levine, Ph.Ds are:

1. Feeding: an organism must take in nourishment from something other than itself in order to provide energy to perform the other essential functions of life.
2. Respiration: similar to feeding, an organism must take in gases essential to cell activity.
3. Internal Transport: Some very small, simple organisms do not require internal transport to live, but once organisms reach a certain size, it must somehow carry oxygen, nutrients, and waste products to and from cells deep within its body.
4. Excretion: An organism must be able to expel toxins and poisons created as byproducts of cell function or otherwise ingested.
5. Response: Vital to escaping predators, to attaining food, an organism must respond to stimuli provided by its nervous system, if it has one, and by other specialized cells if it doesn't.
6. Movement: There are few animals who are sessile, attached to one spot. Most animals use a combination of structure and power, skeleton or body armor and muscle to move.
7. Reproduction: Organisms must create more of themselves or they will not survive as a species.

The characteristics of Life in the Son, according to Angie, who is most definitely not a Ph.D...yet.

1. Feeding: Communion: Christ said, "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:55) so He is our sustenance and eating and drinking from him is vital.
   
   Paul said, "11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Heb 5:11-14) John's Gospel begins with,"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. The same [the Word] was in the beginning with God and the Word was God. A few verses later he says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt with us." Do you see what they have in common?
   
2. Respiration: God's Inspiration: Until God breathed into us, we could not breath and its Him who sustains our every breath. Job 34:14,15 If it were his [God, the Almighty's] intention and he withdrew his Spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust. The word inspiration literally means, to breathe in, and all our inspiration, our understanding and creativity comes from the Creator. Job 32:8 "But it is the Spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. "
   
3. Internal Transport: Fellowship: Individual Christians, each a temple to the Holy Spirit, together frm the universal Body of God, His Church. In church, there is a division of labor, some are preachers, some are encouragers, some are singers, some are gift givers, etc. For these parts to function as a unified whole, they must have fellowship, the spiritual equivalent to internal transport.
   

Ok, this is getting really, really long. Maybe I'll finish it some other time. But if I don't, here's what I learned so far. You can figure the rest out and get back to me.