TASC

Introduction

The question presents itself: why do we need to breathe? We are well aware that breathing comes easily to each of us, both awake and asleep! Of course, there is a sudden alarm when we can’t breathe, as our life depends on it. Why is that?

Our body is a highly complicated machine that requires a considerable amount of energy to maintain and repair itself. We need energy to conduct daily activities such as walking, talking, thinking, climbing, sitting, and breathing. Where does this energy come from?

Prepare to Thrive: A Survival Guide for Christian Students (Answers in Genesis, 2021) is a must-read book for any Christian student bound for a secular university. Engler discusses what students will likely encounter in the culture and classes of college and how to keep the faith despite the opposition. She explains in detail how students can grow strong spiritual, intellectual, and interpersonal foundations against anti-Christian propaganda, faulty assumptions, logical fallacies, and self-defeating secular philosophies promoted on campus. She explains how to develop critical thinking skills for analyzing false claims about Christianity, the Bible, and evolution. She shows how students can separate fact from interpretation.

Once again it is the time of year that we remember and celebrate the first coming to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, came to save sinners and give us eternal life (John 3:16). Sinners are people who have a sin nature, naturally rebel against God, and break his commandments. Everyone who descended from Adam and Eve, which includes all of us, has a sin nature (1 Cor 15:20–22). The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Jesus came to live the sinless life we could not live (Heb 4:15), pay the just penalty for our sins by dying in our place (Heb 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 Pet 3:18), and then, being raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:1–11), give eternal life to those who would trust Him (John 10:10, Rom 5:17).

Routine conversations among individuals often include health issues such as weight loss, smoking, alcohol, and blood pressure to name a few. Seldom do we discuss the function or importance of the human pancreas. Most individuals are familiar with organs such as heart, lung, kidneys, brain, etc., but the pancreas is a mystery to many. Disorders of the pancreas can give rise to well-known conditions such as diabetes mellitus, malnutrition, severe inflammation of the abdomen, and life-threatening malignancies. For example, failure of the pancreas to secrete sufficient insulin into the blood stream causes diabetes mellitus.