14. My writing life, path to authorship Dr. Plamoottil V. Cherian Page

Dr. Plammoottil V. Cherian*

My life in the North America began in 1969, when I joined my wife in London Ontario Canada from where we moved to United States for my doctoral program at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. Before I left Kerala, I taught eight years in St. Thomas College Kozhenchery, and Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla. where I taught biological subjects including the theory of evolution enthusiastically. The more I learned and taught the theory of evolution, I felt that my childhood faith instilled in me by my parents seem to be adrift, and often I was confronted with the thought that the account of creation in Bible is a myth, and evolution by random chance is the cause of everything.

With this intellectual tug of war between my faith and knowledge in science, I undertook my Ph. D program. When I studied for my M. Sc., degree in University College, Trivandrum, in 1962 I learned that Electron Microscope can magnify cell structures from thousand to ten million times. For my graduate research, it was providential that I indicated my interest to study the ultrastructure of cells, and microbes that causes dreadful diseases. My graduate committee’s Chairman Dr. Don Dusanic was a famous tropical disease parasitologist. I used electron microscopy in combination with immunocytochemistry to study the fine structure of trypanosome that causes Trypanosomiasis, a tropical disease of African countries to localize surface molecules to target for possible therapeutic intervention. I used the same technology to study the ultrastructure of microfilaria, the larva of the parasite that causes filariasis (elephantiasis), a dreadful disease of tropical countries including India.

In my research career throughout, as a faculty member at department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan I used these techniques to study the pathogenesis of breast cancer, lung cancer, nerve structure and diabetic neuropathy. While these researches were undertaken, I was fascinated at the machinery of the single cells in human tissues, the structure of a virus, a bacterium, and a trypanosome—all microscopic, which I could see magnified 100,000 times to million times than their original size. These microscopic structures with the precise geometric arrangement of their molecules convinced me that they cannot be organized randomly but only by Divine Design by God, the Creator. See the pictures below.

As I became more convinced, the concept of the theory of evolution slowly began to evaporate from my intellect and finally dried out, replenishing and nourishing my brain cortex with the living waters of faith. Then I concluded, theory of Evolution is a hoax and nothing but a myth, schemed from the systematic creation account in Genesis 1. I denounce the unguided evolution and its proponents, and confirmed God and incarnated Christ as the Creator of the Universe, Life and Species.

Then my motivation was to write what I learned and saw with my own eyes from my own research. I collected more data both from science, and examining the Bible for every scientific discovery that has been made since days of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and Galileo to Isaac Newton to Watson and Crick who discovered the structure of DNA in 1952. I collected these over the course of 25 years, and finally, my first draft of first book on Science and Theology was completed. I started contacting publishers. It was a Himalayan task, brutal rejection and total disappointment.

Publishing industry has changed and has become a business of multiple sources of revenue and they select only books worth of high number of readerships, which are fiction, thriller novels and books on politics. These books grow as mushrooms after the spring showers, and gone like the way they came. Moreover, people have much less interest in reading Bible-related content because of the general apathy. To make the story short, because of the rejection by reputed publishes, I decided not to pursue to publishing and almost decided to discard all the work in frustration. However, in answer to my prayer, I had a call from a reputed International Christian Publishing Company whom I have not contacted at all, strange enough or providential indeed! As the conversation went on, I found

that they got my inquiry to publish the book from Thomas Nelson, Book Publishers who forwarded my letter of inquiry to them. They agreed to look at my manuscript. After editorial review, they informed me they would publish the book because it contains a wealth of scientific facts and biblical truth.

I was so thrilled, and my first book ever published linking science and theology is the largest with 1,010 pages, because it contained data on the whole universe, life and creation of all species, and theology which I fitted together perfectly as the pieces of a jig saw puzzle. My first book was titled, “Origins of the Universe, Life and Species: New Perspectives from Science and Theology” with the sub title “Science Proves God in Action.” My only intention in this book and in my subsequent books or any future books is to prove God is the Creator of the universe and everything within it, life and all organisms. By proving God’s Divine Design in everything in the universe, I also have categorically disproved Darwin’s theory of Evolution which does not have an iota of scientific evidence is a hox and a myth, which was schemed from the systematic creation account in Genesis 1, as the process of evolution. Later evolutionary scientists, atheists, agnostics and academic institutions found this acceptable because, humanity doesn’t want to live under many “dos and don’ts” of the biblical instructions.

Knowledge in various branches of science and the technology I used convince me beyond the shadow of doubt that even the subatomic structure is precision tuned and arranged by God. For just a simple example, water is the matrix of life. Its composition is two hydrogen atoms combined to a single oxygen atom with the molecular formula H2O. Water is a molecule that is bent due to the repulsion by two electropositive hydrogen atoms of a single oxygen which is slightly electronegative. Because of this bent, water is a dipolar molecule with higher electronegativity of oxygen compared to the electro-positivity of hydrogen atoms. It is this polarity that makes water the most unique medium essential for life, so that it becomes a solvent for hundreds of substances to dissolve instantly, associate or dissociate. Every physiological reaction in life of every living organism takes place in water. See the amazing pictures below. Jesus offered the Samaritan woman the “living water, under this principle as he is the creator of water (John 4:10).

Figure 1.Atomic structure of water molecule and the ultrastructure of a trypanosome, a protozoan that causes African trypanosomiasis. On the left is the molecular structure of water and how it forms a lattice sheet in a lake, river or sea. On the right is the 3D arrangement of microtubules (mt) in the single ultramicroscopic trypanosome and the 9 + 2 rings in its flagellum (fl). Picture of water molecule courtesy of Creative Commons under license CC-BY-SA 3.0. Trypanosome flagellum is copied from Dr. Cherian’s Ph. D thesis in 1977, own work using electron microscope. As I relate the biblical theology with science, God’s first creative act was to shine his eternal light to the precreation darkness that prevailed, over which the Spirit of God was hovering (Gen.1:2), by which he separated light from darkness. Without God’s eternal light nothing was created. Then, on the second day God separated the waters into beyond and above the firmament, the dome shaped opaque top of the outer space we see. Thus, even during the first period he created the water with its unique structure as the life matrix for all living organisms in the biosphere of earth which God created on the third, fifth and 6th days. Unguided evolution could not and will not precision structure water molecule without which life is impossible. Also see the precise geometric arrangement of microtubules in a circle of 9 + 2 in a microscopic organism.

I have done research in various areas like structure of viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and on human diseases such as arthritis, emphysema, lung cancer, breast cancer, diabetic neuropathy and general ultramicroscopic structure of cells—all of which convince me God is the author of life and the designer of everything from A—Z, animate and inanimate in universe. Since 2012, I have been writing books. The copies of my books are listed below with the ISBN numbers and are available on iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon. I have given copies of my first book, “Origins of the Universe” to three of our bishops, and more than a dozen of vicars who wanted copies, but haven’t heard from them.

With the strong foundation of faith built in me by my parents, I was able to use my knowledge in science, linking the truth of science and theology. My only intention in writing these books is to proclaim God is true, Christ is the Redeemer Saviour, salvation is by grace of God, and heaven and hell are real using scientific discoveries and biblical truths. I have been keeping my faith journey along with my profession as a scientist, theologian, historian and a loyal Marthomite, serving the diocese of North America and Europe since its beginning in 1982, served as the Associate Secretary until 1990, and now as an unknown lay person. I pray God to give me strength to witness him until the last breath of this wretched man to fall into the hands of the Savior.