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Why would a spider make news? Normally a spider would make news if it bit someone and that person died. Of course “news” is a general term and in the realm of science “news” might not be “news” to the rest of the world. If a spider were to bite someone and that person died then it would be Worldly “news”. If it were just the discovery of a weird species then it might not make it to the mainstream press. Current Biology recently released one such article that will probably miss the worldly news. This article details a new species of spider that they found to be quite fascinating. The researchers who published the paper found a spider that prefers to dine on vegetation. The species is named Bagheera kiplingi and is found through much of Central America and Southern Mexico.
Vegetarians aren’t new; most of the world’s animal population prefers to eat vegetation rather than meat and most of the insect population as well. What makes this little spider so different is that most spiders thrive by eating other insects. This one thrives by eating vegetation from the acacia bush. Other spiders have been found that are herbivores but this one is unique in that its primary source is the acacia bush. It also hunts for the vegetation, hunting in the sense that it has to share the plant with ants that are dangerous and will usually kill anything else that comes close. It is able to get its food by being very cunning and agile.
From a biblical perspective this spider is also interesting. In Genesis when God says everything was good, creationists believe that before the flood all animals and insects were vegetarians. It also says, after the flood of Noah’s time, that this would change. God told us that we could eat the meat of animals and that they would fear us (Genesis 9:2 NIV). Finding spiders like these help to show the world that what God said about the world through the bible is true. Herbivorous spiders can exist and thrive.
This isn’t the only occurrence of something that is commonly known to be carnivorous turning out to be herbivorous. Many years back there was a tiger that refused to eat meat. It would not even drink blood if it was mixed in with its food. As weird as it sounds, the Bible speaks of this happening again when the world is created new. The wolf will lay down with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6 NIV). When the world is created new we will not have anymore carnivores. We will live in peace with all of God’s creation as it was intended in the Garden of Eden.
With over 40000 species of spiders in the world a new species might not make the worldly news. Biologists find this spider fascinating and the spider will forever be in the history of the world because it made news on a much smaller scale. It is also hard to imagine that this same spider could provide hope. After all it’s just a spider. For those who have a hope for an eternal life on a newly created world then this little spider shows what a very small portion of our inherited new world might look like. For those who have no hope for an eternal life this little spider is just an odd and in their mind defective version of the spider. God gave it to us to show us his creative nature. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, (1 Corinthians 1:27)”. He gave it to us to show us that we can’t know everything and that we should expect things like this that will confound the men that seek knowledge outside of God’s grace.
For more info: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091012121331.htm
Picture : Adult female Bagheera kiplingi eats Beltian body harvested from ant-acacia. (Credit: R. L. Curry)
Comments
Wrong - the spider is an omnivore, not a vegetarian. This does not provide any evidence that the bible, and by extension God, is true and exists. This is clutching at straws.
And as for the vegetarian tiger - citation needed!
6000 years ago the Earth was dark as night. G-d pulled on a chain and said "let there be Light!"...
Rivers began to flow blue whales began to blow
flowers began blooming monkeys began grooming
He made a Dude and a Chick from his rib..
the serpent ended Eden's fable Adam sweat to put food on the table Cain killed Abel girls ahd pain in labor
noaah built the Ark God turned itinto a floating park Moses parted waters Israelites had sons and daughters..
that's how we became the holy Earth!!
So, a spider evolved to be omiverous. What does this have to do with Yahweh?
There are reasons these sorts of articles don't make main stream media, people who read science related articles usually don't want to have the bible quoted for them, and might rather learn a wide range of information about the subject of the article.
My bad, the animal was a lion. Sorry i must have the picture of a tiger in my head when I typed it. Here is the citation for the original article about the vegetarian lion.
Westbeau, G., Little Tyke: the story of a gentle vegetarian lioness, Theosophical Publishing House, IL, USA, 1986.
I still don't understand why the example of a lion eating veggies is evidence of a herbivorous past? How about the other lions who eat meat? Are they not an example of how the bible is wrong....based on this line of thinking?
If one person is born with no eyes, does it become true that humans once had no eyes?
This kind of reasoning is suspect.
to covenant,
The example of a person being born with no eyes is good because you bring about a good point. It has been shown that people can be born with no legs and even extra parts. I have never looked it up but I am sure that somewhere there has been a person born with no eyes. My point is that there is potential in the DNA for that possibility. Just like the potential for a herbivorous spider or lion. Is it proof that they existed in the past? No. Is it proof that it is possible for them to have existed in the past? Yes. I wasn't touting the spider as proof of creation history. Carnivorous animals are often used as evidence against the history of the Bible because it is assumed that God must have designed them that way and that any animal eating flesh would have been considered not good. Seeing the contrary is affirmation that it possible for animals that seem to be designed as carnivores could have survived in a pre-flood world.
Hi CreatorsKnight,
Thanks for your response - it's appreciated :-)
My example of a person with no eyes was more of an example of a developmental defect than genetic coding. I was implying that, just because someone (or something) happened to have an additional (or less) bodily appendages does not mean that they had those (or the absence of those) in their evolutionary past.
But, you hold-up this example of a omnivorous spider as an example of the possibility of herbivorous animals as suggested by Genesis in the OT of the bible. For me, that is an illogical step which rests on my assumptions and is purely faith based.
Faith has no part in science. Hence why science has no part in religion. There is simply no evidence of any part of Genesis.
Unfortuntely, the character limit on this comments section severly limits responses. Thank you, again, for replying.
to covenant,Faith has no place in Science because we, as men, don't allow it. The founding fathers of science were mostly theists. They believed in God and many of them wanted to know more about the wonders of creation ,this is why they studied the way they did.
I am assuming that the pre-flood world had spiders like these in it because that is what God said in his word. I have no reason to doubt him especially now that I have seen that it is possible for it to exist.
Maybe I am not understanding you correctly but the missing of arms legs and eyes is a genetic defect brought about by something happening with the genetic coding. Just like this spider is geneticaly coded to exist as an herbivore. You are assuming yourself by thinking that this spider is defective. What if this is how they were supposed to be. Just becuase every other spider in the world is one way does not mean that it was how they started out. To assume differently is putting faith into facts that aren't there.
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