When discussing religion and evolution, the phrase "We live in a fallen world" is often used. Apparently being designed by a perfect being, does not mean that humans were designed perfectly. Disobeying God somehow made humans susceptible to all kinds of ailments and malfunction. Somehow this effect on our bodies, caused by disobedience to God, as designed by God. Well, that or we weren't designed at all...
A talentless designer or a malicious designer
There's a lot wrong with the human body and if you take the position that it was designed by an all powerful all knowing designer, then you could question the motive of this designer, on why it put all these poorly designed features in the human body. Why would any selfrespecting designer create something and willingly put so many bad features in it? That makes no sense. Unless...
Don't forget, God is supposed to be all knowing. So, prior to making humans in the way that he supposedly did, he knew humans would disobey him. So, did he design the human body in such a way that disobeying him would randomly cause bodily issues to humans? If he did make it a design feature, then why punish people later on for disobeying him? Weren't they already punished? Or was he incapable of making a better design and was there no way for him to make a body able to resist the challenges of life?
What's wrong with you?
To me, it doesn't seem that the human body was designed at all. And... I also don't think God would have been incapable of making a better body. Therefor it would have been poorly designed with malicious intent. It has to be. Why would God not create a better body? And let's be honest, there is quite a bit wrong with it.
Apparently in heaven we would spend an eternity, but while occupying our bodies in life we only live to be about 80 years old. During the aging proces, our bodies deteriorate quite a bit. Bones become fragile, hearing, sight and cognitive abilities worsen, our strength decreases and our bodies start to ache more and more easily, while also taking more time to recover from injuries. But sure, you can discard this as a natural thing.
Besides aging and the problems that come with it there is a wide variety of other "design problems" to look at. For example, the humans physique isn't ideal for bipedal movement. Walking on our hind legs gives a lot of strain on the lower back, making backpains and lower back problems an unnecessary issue.
Obviously using the same orifice for breathing air and swallowing food and drinks, also is a designrisk, leading to possible death, when something gets stuck in there. Even having something as simple as having a blocked nose, when having a cold, can cause a lot of breathing problems already.
And what to think about reproduction? The human males testicles hang outside the torso, between the legs, where they're vulnerable to be hurt, damaged and lost. They have to be positioned there, so they stey cool enough to function. If they overheat, the production of semen gets compromised.
Besides these couple of bodily "design issues" there are a lot more, leaving humans to experience a lot of discomfort. These weaknesses mean that the human body is proned to ailments, pain and diseases. How that is an indication of design, I don't know. But still people tell me that the complexity of the human body must mean it is designed.
Why does God not heal amputees?
During discussions regarding these "design flaws", a question that comes up is "Why doesn't God heal amputees?". I, as an atheist, usually respond to that question with "Well, he does, if you're an Axolotl". And with that, I am referring to the fact that for many of the bodily "design issues" that the human body has, there are solutions in other animal species. Like the Axolotl, which is an amphibious Salamander.
Axolotls can regenerate bodyparts. They can regrow complete limbs, where humans can not. The only organ humans can regrow is the liver. But lack of regeneration isn't the only problem humans have, for which there are solutions in other parts of nature.
Dolphins and Whales have a solution for the suffocation problem, as they don't depend on the same orifice for breathing and feeding. And even for the overheating scrotum there is a solution in nature, as male elephants have internal testicies. Their testicles work at a higher temperature, so their balls aren't exposed in vulnerable position.
With these solutions existing in other species of animal, you could wonder why humans, if they were actually designed, do not have these design features that would prevent a lot of their issues. Just imagine the amount of heartship and suffering that would be prevented if humans were cancer resistent, for example, as Whales, Elephants, and some species of Bats, Squirrels and Naked Mole Rats are.
It's a feature, not a bug
If one hold the position that the human body was designed by God, then one must also hold the position that all the problems with the human body are not a bug, but a design feature. The human body purposely must have been designed this way. There is no other logical conclusion. The question then is, why did God design it that way? It's one of his mysterious way, I guess...
I've had people tell me that, humans committing sin is what causes all these ailments and diseases. It would be a 'natural consequence of being a sinner. But that would have to mean that when God, knowing that humans would disobey him, made it a design feature. Disobeying God would lead to the human body being proned to ailments and diseases, the consequence would have to have been built in to the design.
The other option, obviously, is that life isn't designed and that all the problems with our bodies are the result of a natural process in which mutations and environmental influences lead to changes that may compromise our health. Different beings have different features, due to different environments. Somehow, to me, this seems a whole lot more likely, than a deity who made the human body with a feature, out of spite for disobeying him, that makes them proned to ailments and disease.
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