Poison or Blessing? It Depends

What are called poisons or toxins
can be beneficial in small amounts,
depending on the substance.

 

The news frequently mentions the deaths from fentanyl, an opioid so potent that two milligrams can kill a person. That’s a manufactured drug, but there are naturally occurring toxins of similar danger. One of the worst is botulinum, produced by a bacterium. Two nanograms can kill a large man, a horse, or any other mammal. Yet on the other hand, botulinum is used for a variety of health and beauty treatments. How can that be? As Dr Jerry Bergman has said in his book Why Did God Create Viruses, Bacteria, and Other Pathogens? (Westbow Press, 2023, co-authored with James Hoff), the dose is the poison (see 20 May 2021). Even water, he noted, can kill if too much is taken at once—a condition called hyponatremia (13 Oct 2019).

Another new book agrees that any substance can be good or bad depending on what it is and how much of it is ingested. Noah Whiteman, an evolutionary biologist, has just published Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins – from Spices to Vices. It was reviewed with delight by Edmund D. Brodie III in Current Biology on 19 Aug 2024 under the title, “Two Sides to Every Poison.”

Brodie begins in the first sentence with his (and his colleagues’) near addiction to coffee. Caffeine, he says, could be considered toxic. But millions of people love it and can hardly get through a day without their favorite coffee, tea, or other caffeinated drink. Borrowing from the book, Brodie explains what caffeine does:

Our friend caffeine is only one of the many toxins that Whiteman explores, but his account exemplifies the interdisciplinary treatment he gives to each. Most caffeine hounds probably don’t give a thought to how it works in the body, instead relying faithfully on its ability to energize and fend off sleep. But as Whiteman explains, caffeine has a chemical structure very similar to the neurotransmitter adenosine, which is a key modulator of sleep. Adenosine binds to a family of receptors in the brain that depress nervous system activity. Levels of adenosine increase during the time we are awake, so the longer we are awake the more adenosine is available to bind to the receptors, eventually leading to a system shutdown. Caffeine is a competitive blocker that binds especially to two of the receptors, A1 and A2A. By taking up the parking spaces for adenosine, caffeine prevents it from having its natural sleep-inducing effect.

By binding the A2A receptor, caffeine also indirectly increases the level of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, which may explain the sense of reward many of us associate with that first sip of coffee. The effect of caffeine on mood and mental health is well substantiated. One study found that the risk of depression and suicide decreased substantially — by over 50% — among people who drank coffee daily.

The dose, again, is the determiner of blessing or curse. In moderation, caffeine gives twin benefits of pleasure and alertness. “But true to one of Whiteman’s repeated themes, what may be beneficial in moderation can be detrimental in excess,” Brodie is quick to add. “The risk of suicide and depression reversed and increased by over 50% in people who drank eight or more cups a day.”

The Evolutionary Explanation

Evolutionists tend to see everything in selfish terms. Whiteman and Brodie present Darwin just-so stories about why plants make caffeine. They make it to fend off enemies.

Our plant overlords did not evolve to produce caffeine for human benefit. As is the case with many of the toxins that Whiteman covers, it probably stemmed from evolutionary arms races with insects. Plants are beset by a host of species that happily feast on their tissues, and the result is the staggering array of compounds that plants produce in their defense. Caffeine has been shown to be an effective insecticide against not just natural herbivores but mosquitoes, butterflies and a variety of other species.

He makes it sound like the plants formed a committee and decided to punish the insects. The rhododendron said, “I’m so tired of the caterpillars happily feasting on my tissues.” Replied the rose,” I grew some thorns, but they still eat my leaves.” The ranunculus piped in, “I know! Why don’t we take some of our adenosine and tweak it? I’ll bet the insects will die for lack of sleep if we make it block their A2 receptors!” All cheered in celebration of this great new idea, and they all set to work to create caffeine, an effective insecticide that worked on a variety of other species.

But Darwinism, like a dumb idol, has no mind or capacity to decide. It has no capacity to invent anything. It never took courses in organic chemistry. A consistent Darwinist would have to stop saying that an organism “evolved to” do something, or “did not evolve to” do something else. Those phrases imply purpose, foresight, or direction. Darwinian evolution is purposeless, unguided, and aimless. Nobody cares.

To believe Brodie’s just-so story, one has to pile on the miracles.

This sweeping efficacy as a defense probably explains why caffeine has evolved independently in at least four orders of modern plants. Caffeine is of course best known from coffee and tea, but it also evolved in cacao and separately in citrus and guaraná. This wide convergence on a similar defensive compound is not unique to caffeine. Many of the compounds that Whiteman explores, from isoprene in the latex sap of tropical trees that humans use for rubber to cardiac glycosides that protect milkweed and foxglove but can treat human heart conditions, crop up in multiple species. This evolutionary history along with the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of action are the keys to understanding natural toxins.

In a sense, he’s right. The Stuff Happens Law is the key to understanding everything in biology. Stuff happens! What else do you need to know? Why did insects feed on plants? They evolved. Why did plants invent insecticides? They evolved. Why did caffeine evolve? It evolved. And it evolved multiple times! So did many other complex organic compounds in multiple species. They all evolved! Darwin’s work is done! They evolved because stuff happens according to a universal law of nature, the Stuff Happens Law (SHL). It’s obvious—at least it should be to those inebriated with the simple, elegant, puerile explanatory power of the SHL.

Caffeine is bitter and should act as a deterrent to foraging insects. But experiments have shown that caffeine placed in food sources for bees causes them to drastically overrepresent the quality of that food resource. When a forager returns to the hive and dances to recruit nestmates, “a stimulant-induced rave-like atmosphere erupts in the hive” causing many times more bees to go to the caffeine-laced food. Moreover, one of the indirect effects of caffeine binding to adenosine receptors is an increased release of neurotransmitters that enhances long-term memory. The evolutionary advantages to citrus trees that can increase pollinator visitation through stimulation and memory should be obvious.

Let’s get this straight. Coffee plants wanted to fend off insects, so they invented caffeine, a general-purpose insecticide. But then they needed to attract insect pollinators, so they invented caffeine to attract bees, a substance to make them rave about their flowers. But the plants’ chemists made a horrible mistake. The caffeine attracted humans, who forced them into hard labor to build bigger and stronger caffeine-bearing beans.

The evolutionary explanation requires more miracles than those in the Bible. Darwin is the idol of the scientific community. Just say it evolved, and you can go back to sleep after the caffeine-induced rave of storytelling wears off.

The Creation Explanation

The God of creation is good. He saw everything he had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Plants were designed for good; they were not made to be selfish organisms battling insects and people, like the Darwinists portray them. God gave the plants to all living animals for food (Genesis 1:29-30).

Tragically, our first human parents rebelled by disobeying His clear command. Sin requires punishment. But God remains good eternally as part of His intrinsic being. Instead of sentencing Adam and Eve to instant death, He delayed it. He instigated a principle of decay and decline on the world, promising that the Seed of the woman (Jesus Christ) would crush the head of the deceiver, Satan, and would redeem the whole earth. Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they sinned, being separated from God, the giver of life. They lived for centuries because of God’s grace before they physically died. In that time, they enjoyed many pleasures of creation in spite of having to work hard to support themselves. It wasn’t easy as it had been in the Garden, but there were still abundant evidences of the goodness of God.

In I Timothy 4:1-4, the apostle Paul explains that pleasure and comfort are gifts of a good Creator. “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.” It is “deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” who promote lies leading to ascetisim: “forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” This implies that godly people can righteously enjoy coffee, tea, and the other foods and drinks that please our created taste buds and olfactory neurons if taken in moderation with thanksgiving and prayer, as long as they are consistent with Biblical values and good sense.

Even before sin, Adam and Eve had to use their God-given brains. Tree branches are good, but not to be used to bash in one’s head. Fruits in the Garden were good, but it would have been foolish to eat 500 at one time. Moderation of pleasurable sensations would have been a common-sense value even before the world was cursed. Moderation is still a value now.

Romans 1:18-32 describes a passive divine punishment: speaking of thankless rebels, God “gave them up” to their own lusts. An element of that may have been the means of the curse on creation. God did not have to immediately create thorns and pain in childbirth, but described to Adam and Eve what was going to be the result of him “giving them up” to a natural order with less of his good supervision and more of Satan’s authority, which they had chosen by believing his lie that ‘they would be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ The Lord, however, restrains how far Satan can go (Job 1). God remains good to all people through what theologians call common grace—his kind disposition toward all He created (Psalm 97:6, Psalm 104:19-24). Paul told the pagan idol worshipers in Lystra that they needed to leave vain things; “nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:14-18).

Creation explains the good, the true, and the beautiful. Evolution turns everything into a random assortment of selfish, thankless ingrates seeking to gain power over their neighbors. Even for that, evolutionists must resort to miracles of chance to keep their Stuff Happens narrative going.

What should Christ followers do with this? We can enjoy the blessings of food and drink with thanksgiving, knowing that a good Creator made them to be enjoyed! A month ago, I made the case for abstaining from alcohol (25 July 2024), on the grounds that it is not necessary given the vast array of non-alcoholic drinks that taste great and don’t have the bad side effects and risks. But that is a personal choice a believer is free to accept or reject.

Remember, it’s not the Garden of Eden anymore. Degradation of plants and animals has led to new risks that were not present originally. But much of creation remains good, beautiful and pleasurable. One principle can guide our decisions about food, drink, and the dangers of other risky substances: treat your created body as a temple of God. Paul warned against defiling the temple of God, so for the best life possible in a fallen world, make wise choices to maintain your body for God’s glory (I Corinthians 6:12-20). Within that principle, enjoy your body! Use your hands, brain, muscles and senses and accomplish good things with them while you can. But “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Do not fear; the goodness of God will extend beyond the grave for those redeemed by the Lord. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:4, 6). “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118:1).

from Psalm 103:
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

from Isaiah 40:
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.