(This post is a follow up to a previous post titled Darwin's Telescope.)
When Alma and Korihor debated the existence of God, Korihor demanded evidence of God’s existence. Alma responded “Thou hast had signs enough” (Alma 30:44) and went on to describe natural phenomena as evidence for Deity. He told Korihor that “the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). According to Alma, order in the natural world manifests an Intelligent Creator.
Arguments for the existence of deity based on order in nature are just as valid today as they were two thousand years ago. In fact the evidence is more abundant today than what was in Alma’s time. Today some of the most convincing natural evidence for intelligent creation is found in the living cell.
During the late 1800s scientists knew that the inside of the cell contained the foundations of life. They called the contents of the cell "protoplasm" -- a term still in use today. They thought that protoplasm was a homogenous jelly-like substance. The jelly-like protoplasm was believed to have formed from chemical reactions between common elements like hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.[1] This explanation for the creation of protoplasm suited 1800s Darwinists because it involved simple, natural processes that fell within the limits of what evolution could produce.[2]
Thanks to technological advancements enabling us to see the contents of cells, we’ve learned that protoplasm is much more than a simple jelly-like substance. Protoplasm contains, among other things, sophisticated machines called proteins. Proteins carry out numerous processes, from regulating organs and their functions to receiving messages and catalyzing chemical reactions. Also there isn’t a one size fits all protein. Specific proteins carry out specific functions.
Proteins are formed from chains of amino acids. There are about 20 different kinds of amino acids that can be ordered in various ways. The high number of available amino acid sequences is what allows our bodies to produce thousands of different proteins needed for survival. Amino acids must be ordered a certain way for each and every protein. If they are not properly sequenced, a protein designed to carry out a specific function will not form.
How do chains of amino acids form into functional proteins? Does it happen by chance? No. An incredible amount of specific information is needed to properly sequence amino acids. Once functional proteins are created, even more information is needed to instruct them on what functions to perform. Where does this information come from?
The information for creating proteins comes from our cells' Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is a double-strand structure that looks like a twisted ladder. The two sides of the ladder are sugar-phosphate strands. The rungs of the ladder are made up of pairs of nucleotide bases called Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine. The information needed to form proteins and direct their function comes from these nucleotide bases. Specifically information is contained in the sequencing (ordering) of the nucleotide bases.
It may be helpful to think of sequencing in nucleotide bases in much the same way we think of sequencing in binary computer code. The sequencing of nucelotides contains information in much the same way that sequencing of ones and zeros in binary code contains information, except that the sequencing of nucleotide bases is much more sophisticated. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates commented that “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”[3] DNA can last thousands of years.[4] Also, according to recent estimates, one gram of DNA can store up to 455 exabytes of data[5] which is roughly the equivalent of 455 million terabytes or 455 billion gigabytes. The storage capacity of one gram of DNA kicks butt on your 500 gigabyte or 1 terabyte X-Box.
Where did all this information come from? Who arranged all the nucleotides so that they contain specific information needed for survival? Could this information have evolved? There are no satisfactory explanations for how this information evolved through unguided processes.[6] DNA and the massive amounts of information it contains can no more evolve than the information stored in your X-Box can evolve. Unguided processes are incapable of creating lengthy sequences of detailed information. This sort of information is created by intelligent beings just as the information stored in your X-Box was created by intelligent beings.
Although information-rich DNA points to the existence of an Intelligent Creator, evolutionists won't concede the point. They won't follow the evidence to where it leads. A good example of resistance to the overwhelming evidence for intelligence comes from Francis Crick. Crick was a co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA. He reminded biologists of the need “to constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved,”[7] lest they come to accept design-based arguments. In typical Korihorian fashion, those who follow his advice continue to deny the existence of an Intelligent Creator although the evidence stares them in the face.
Fortunately some scholars have conceded that DNA information comes from an intelligent source.[8] In 1969, Dean Kenyon co-authored a book on how natural forces of attraction influence amino acids. His book was popular with evolutionists because it proposed an undirected mechanism for forming chains of amino acids. However a few years later, after acquiring more information on the characteristics of amino acids and proteins, Kenyon realized that amino acids chains could not self-assemble into proteins; rather they got their assembly instructions from DNA. Due to the massive amounts of complex and specific information provided, he concluded that the information came from an intelligent being.[9]
In the next post we'll consider evidence of design in Trilobite Fossils.
Citations
[1] Thomas H. Huxley, “On the Physical Basis of Life,” Fortnight Review, 5 (1869), accessed October 30, 2014, http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE1/PhysB.html.
[2] Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), Chapter 1.
[3] Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold, and Peter Rinearson, The Road Ahead: Completely Revised and Up-to-Date (New York: Penguin Group, 1996), 228.
[4] Svante Paabo et al., “ Genetic Analyses from Ancient DNA,” Annual Review of Genetics 38 (2004): 645-679, accessed October 30, 2014, DOI: 10.1146/annurev.genet.37.110801.143214.
[5] George M. Church, Yuan Gao, and Sriram Kosuri, “Next Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA,” Science 28 (2012): 1628, accessed October 30, 2014, DOI: 10.1126/science.1226355.
[6] Meyer, Signature in the Cell.
[7] Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 138.
[8] Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olsen, The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories (New York: Philosophical Library, 1984), Epilogue.
[9] Meyer, Signature in the Cell, 237, 397–398.
When Alma and Korihor debated the existence of God, Korihor demanded evidence of God’s existence. Alma responded “Thou hast had signs enough” (Alma 30:44) and went on to describe natural phenomena as evidence for Deity. He told Korihor that “the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). According to Alma, order in the natural world manifests an Intelligent Creator.
Arguments for the existence of deity based on order in nature are just as valid today as they were two thousand years ago. In fact the evidence is more abundant today than what was in Alma’s time. Today some of the most convincing natural evidence for intelligent creation is found in the living cell.
During the late 1800s scientists knew that the inside of the cell contained the foundations of life. They called the contents of the cell "protoplasm" -- a term still in use today. They thought that protoplasm was a homogenous jelly-like substance. The jelly-like protoplasm was believed to have formed from chemical reactions between common elements like hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.[1] This explanation for the creation of protoplasm suited 1800s Darwinists because it involved simple, natural processes that fell within the limits of what evolution could produce.[2]
Thanks to technological advancements enabling us to see the contents of cells, we’ve learned that protoplasm is much more than a simple jelly-like substance. Protoplasm contains, among other things, sophisticated machines called proteins. Proteins carry out numerous processes, from regulating organs and their functions to receiving messages and catalyzing chemical reactions. Also there isn’t a one size fits all protein. Specific proteins carry out specific functions.
Proteins are formed from chains of amino acids. There are about 20 different kinds of amino acids that can be ordered in various ways. The high number of available amino acid sequences is what allows our bodies to produce thousands of different proteins needed for survival. Amino acids must be ordered a certain way for each and every protein. If they are not properly sequenced, a protein designed to carry out a specific function will not form.
How do chains of amino acids form into functional proteins? Does it happen by chance? No. An incredible amount of specific information is needed to properly sequence amino acids. Once functional proteins are created, even more information is needed to instruct them on what functions to perform. Where does this information come from?
The information for creating proteins comes from our cells' Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is a double-strand structure that looks like a twisted ladder. The two sides of the ladder are sugar-phosphate strands. The rungs of the ladder are made up of pairs of nucleotide bases called Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine. The information needed to form proteins and direct their function comes from these nucleotide bases. Specifically information is contained in the sequencing (ordering) of the nucleotide bases.
It may be helpful to think of sequencing in nucleotide bases in much the same way we think of sequencing in binary computer code. The sequencing of nucelotides contains information in much the same way that sequencing of ones and zeros in binary code contains information, except that the sequencing of nucleotide bases is much more sophisticated. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates commented that “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”[3] DNA can last thousands of years.[4] Also, according to recent estimates, one gram of DNA can store up to 455 exabytes of data[5] which is roughly the equivalent of 455 million terabytes or 455 billion gigabytes. The storage capacity of one gram of DNA kicks butt on your 500 gigabyte or 1 terabyte X-Box.
Where did all this information come from? Who arranged all the nucleotides so that they contain specific information needed for survival? Could this information have evolved? There are no satisfactory explanations for how this information evolved through unguided processes.[6] DNA and the massive amounts of information it contains can no more evolve than the information stored in your X-Box can evolve. Unguided processes are incapable of creating lengthy sequences of detailed information. This sort of information is created by intelligent beings just as the information stored in your X-Box was created by intelligent beings.
Although information-rich DNA points to the existence of an Intelligent Creator, evolutionists won't concede the point. They won't follow the evidence to where it leads. A good example of resistance to the overwhelming evidence for intelligence comes from Francis Crick. Crick was a co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA. He reminded biologists of the need “to constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved,”[7] lest they come to accept design-based arguments. In typical Korihorian fashion, those who follow his advice continue to deny the existence of an Intelligent Creator although the evidence stares them in the face.
Fortunately some scholars have conceded that DNA information comes from an intelligent source.[8] In 1969, Dean Kenyon co-authored a book on how natural forces of attraction influence amino acids. His book was popular with evolutionists because it proposed an undirected mechanism for forming chains of amino acids. However a few years later, after acquiring more information on the characteristics of amino acids and proteins, Kenyon realized that amino acids chains could not self-assemble into proteins; rather they got their assembly instructions from DNA. Due to the massive amounts of complex and specific information provided, he concluded that the information came from an intelligent being.[9]
In the next post we'll consider evidence of design in Trilobite Fossils.
Citations
[1] Thomas H. Huxley, “On the Physical Basis of Life,” Fortnight Review, 5 (1869), accessed October 30, 2014, http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE1/PhysB.html.
[2] Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), Chapter 1.
[3] Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold, and Peter Rinearson, The Road Ahead: Completely Revised and Up-to-Date (New York: Penguin Group, 1996), 228.
[4] Svante Paabo et al., “ Genetic Analyses from Ancient DNA,” Annual Review of Genetics 38 (2004): 645-679, accessed October 30, 2014, DOI: 10.1146/annurev.genet.37.110801.143214.
[5] George M. Church, Yuan Gao, and Sriram Kosuri, “Next Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA,” Science 28 (2012): 1628, accessed October 30, 2014, DOI: 10.1126/science.1226355.
[6] Meyer, Signature in the Cell.
[7] Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 138.
[8] Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olsen, The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories (New York: Philosophical Library, 1984), Epilogue.
[9] Meyer, Signature in the Cell, 237, 397–398.
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