Daily Dose o' Comfort: Man comes from the soil – the proof is we share six common constituents!

It's becoming increasingly hard to read Ray Comfort's daily posts without bursting out in pure derisory laughter. Seriously. The complete absence of any critical thinking or even remote signs of intelligence have me continually baffled – though mostly just amused.

Now, Comfort examines the Biblical claim that humans were created from the Earth and its soil (always fun, Biblical literalism is). And what's his "proof" that mankind was indeed molded from the dirt? That we share six common elements.

Just wait 'til you read it – it's even more mind-boggling.

Right from the very first paragraph he says something completely stupid and contradictory, and this time I honestly did let slip an amused guffaw just reading it:

It was eminent scientist, Stephen Hawking, who said, "There have been various ideas, but for me the most attractive is that the universe was spontaneously created out of absolutely nothing." So it’s not too difficult to take that a step further and believe that it was God who spontaneously created the heavens and the earth.

Uh – what the hell? No, Hawking specifically said "out of absolutely nothing"! What part of "from absolutely nothing" translates into "Goddidit"!?

And now, onto Comfort's unique brand of reasoning that allows him to demonstrate how humans come directly from the soil:

But the Book of Genesis goes on to tell us that God then made man from the soil of the earth. Such a thought seems a scientific impossibility. However, according to Yale university, the elements that make up the soil are:

1. Potassium, 2. Calcium, 3. Magnesium, 4. Phosphorous, 5. Iron, and 6. Manganese .

If God made the human body from the soil, it make sense that both the soil and the body would be made up of the same elements. Let’s then see if these six elements that are present in the soil are also in the human body:

1. Potassium: "Potassium plays an important role in smooth muscular and cellular functioning, cardiovascular functioning, muscle contractions, nerve transmission, in conversion of glucose into glycogen and muscle building etc."

2. Calcium: "Calcium comes in many forms, and is a whitish substance which is a primary ingredient in things such as chalk, ivory, pearls, and bones. It is known as the fifth most common element in the earth’s crust and is a primary mineral in the human body."

3. Magnesium: "Magnesium is essential to the functioning of the human body because it transmits nerve impulses, causes the contraction of muscles and is integral to healthy development of teeth and bones."

4. Phosphorous: "Phosphorus is present in bones and teeth and combines with calcium to form calcium phosphate which is the substance which gives the skeleton rigidity. It is also present in every cell in the human body and in the body fluids as well."

5. Iron: "Iron is a mineral found in every cell of the body. Iron is considered an essential mineral because it is needed to make part of blood cells."

6. Manganese: "Manganese is an essential element to the human body..."

Is it then a coincidence that the same six elements that are in the soil are also in the human body? That’s what you have to figure out before death takes you into eternity . . . when your body decomposes and turns back to the soil, from which it came.

Nearly impossible to read that with a straight face, isn't it?

Sure, those basic six elements are found both in soil and in the human body. But, um – they're also found in animals. And bugs. And trees. And mountains, plains, rivers and oceans. I'll even bet some distant planets have 'em (though I'm not certain, lacking in astrophysicist degrees as I am). That's because they are incredibly basic elements of nature, elements that constitute most of the known world around us. The fact that we also include them is proof of absolutely nothing, other than that we come from this world and not some strange alternate dimension where potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron and manganese don't exist naturally.

But that's not the stupidest aspect of his claims. The problem with Comfort's assertions that us containing these six basic elements constitutes proof we come directly from the soil, is that we – and other lifeforms in general – also hold many, many other elements within our bodies. A few seconds of basic biological research will show this. And those are elements not found in the soil, nor found via combinations of earthen constituents. They are unique to biological tissue and life.

Saying that humans and soil having the same six elements is proof of our Creation is tantamount to claiming the Earth comes from the Sun because they also share common chemical and physical elements. It doesn't necessarily prove anything, though, does it now?

(I'm also tempted to point out how humans do not return to the soil per se as he claims, instead undergoing very complex processes of decomposition and basically becoming mulch, but that's time wasted, really.)