Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in this episode we're asking the

question is crying evidence for God this

is in response to a New York Times

article I read this week looking at what

scientists would call the mystery of

humans tears and the reason for that is

because in some ways humans are like

other creatures when it comes to crying

but in some ways we're entirely

different most creatures have what they

call Basil tear and reflex tear basil

tears are tears that you don't even

realize your eyes are shedding to kind

of keep them moist uh reflex tears are

tears that your eyes shed when the room

is Smoky or Dusty it's a way of

protecting most creatures do this uh but

humans have a third kind of tier that is

distinctly theirs and that is what

scientists call emotional tears now I'll

come back to those in just a second it

should be noted that even though animals

shed basil or reflex tears just like

humans they also will use a kind of

wailing or howling as a signal of danger

and humans do this too most not most

notably in newborn babies who are crying

to let their mom know that they're

hungry or cold or or need changed or

whatever and scientists will say that's

very similar to animals who cry in that

way in fact when babies do that those

tears are uh reflex tears they are not

emotional tears even newborns are crying

more animalistic tears emotional tears

are tears that humans cry prompted by

feelings of Joy or loneliness

powerlessness helplessness fear those

kinds of things and believe it or not

those tears actually come from a

different part in your brain so there's

actually a separate mechanical process

that produces those tears distinctly in

humans and not in animals now there are

two reasons why this is so important the

first is that a purely evolutionary

understanding of of how humans came to

be really doesn't describe the full

Human Experience it can tell us for

example why our eyes would shed tears to

protect themselves from dust or dryness

or smoke it can tell us why we wail and

Howl in times of danger when we're newly

born to let our moms know we need help

but what it can't tell us is why you and

I cry at that one scene in the movie

that's because that emotional state is

distinctly human and by the way the same

is true of things like our voices

science can tell us that we might have

learned to communicate from a

evolutionary standpoint of realizing

that if you and I could communicate we

could save ourselves from predators it

doesn't tell us why we like to quote

Shakespeare or sing music or recognize

the beauty in various form of Arts that

of art that includes the human voice

that's because evolution is an argument

for what we needed to do to survive but

we're not talking about survival we're

talking about culture we're talking

about flourishing and that leads to the

second point which is the reason why

these things exist whether it's singing

or whether it's crying at really great

or really bad singing is because we're

made in the image of God we are like the

animals in many ways but we are not

animals we are fundamentally Community

Driven feelings oriented entities we are

made in the image of God God himself who

responds in real time to his people

we're made in the image of God who in

the form of a man Jesus stood outside

the tomb of Lazarus and wept because

death is awful and The Human Experience

lets us know that we are not animals we

are something more we're made in the

image of God and listen Arguments for

the existence of God Arguments for

creation and design don't just come from

big thick textbooks or or or historical

proofs of the Resurrection they come

every time you cry where evolutionary

biologist don't have an answer but the

Bible does you're made in the image of

God who loves deeply who desires truly

and in his fashion you are responding to

the ups and downs of life isn't it

pretty neat to think that God made us a

little different a little more like him

and the next time you cry I hope they're

happy tears but regardless the next time

you cry remember you're bearing the

image of God by the way

uh one thing that I want to add just at

the end is that actually science tells

us that when we cry we often feel better

my wife will sometimes say she just

needs a good cry which you can probably

appreciate being married to me but the

science tells us that overwhelmingly the

reason we feel good after a cry is when

the people around us respond positively

to us crying it's when they show up for

us that's because of course we're made

in the image of a god who lives in

community a God who made us for each

other you are not an accident you are

not the mere product of an evolutionary

process you're made in the image of God

so cry but make them happy tears hey

thanks so much for watching this video

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