God’s Design in Bones: Identifiable and Purposeful

by Dr. Jennifer Hall Rivera on Jan 12, 2026

I remember my mom playing a song for me as a child called “Dem Dry Bones.” It’s a fun song from 1928 that goes like this: “The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone, the foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone . . .” This song was actually inspired by an account in the Bible (the book of Ezekiel), and it describes how all our bones are connected together! The skeleton is a marvel of construction and could only have been created by an all-knowing God who designed our bones for a purpose.

Here is something amazing—have you ever seen a dead animal on the roadside? If you traveled by the same animal every day, you would probably notice that the organs and soft tissues break down quickly. In a short amount of time, only the fur, bones, and teeth are left. Bones resist decomposition, and it can take years (sometimes hundreds of years) to lose evidential value.

And did you know the Bible mentions bones over 100 times? They must be very important to God!

The Mystery of Bones

What makes bones so special? God designed bones with certain minerals and proteins that resist breaking down after death. Even after someone dies, their bones tell us a story. Because of these special microbe-fighting agents, scientists called forensic anthropologists use bones to figure out:

How old the person was
How tall they were
The person’s ethnicity
Whether they were a boy or a girl
Clues to solve crimes

Do you have a question about forensics or how forensic scientists pursue God’s desire for justice? Ask your parents to help you submit your question today!

Reading God’s Design in Bones

The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Did you know that males and females have different bone features? Yes! Science always confirms the Bible.

Scientists primarily use the pelvis and the skull when identifying gender. There are four bones that make up the pelvis. God created females with a rounder, flatter inlet from the top and a larger, rounder outlet below the pelvis. God made women’s bodies perfectly designed for having babies! The larger opening in a woman’s pelvis makes a safe space for a baby to grow and be born. Isn’t that amazing? He created males with a narrow pelvic opening.

Skulls also tell a story. The skull is made up of 14 facial bones and 8 cranial bones—that is 22 bones total! And yes, there are identifiable differences between males and females.

God designed boys and girls with different skull features:

Girls usually have smoother and more gracile (that means slender or delicate) features
Boys usually have denser brow ridges (the bone right above the eyes) and squarer jaws