The Grand Designer
The Design of Life: Evolution’s Worst Enemy
For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited — he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other,” Isaiah 45:18.In Isaiah 45:18, it is apparent that Jesus Christ, the Creator of the cosmos, made the earth with the purpose of it being inhabited by every lifeform including human beings. Every living creature gives testimony of an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God, as King David so eloquently said, “How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them,” Psalm 139:17. It is here on planet Earth, fashioned and so intricately designed by God in such exquisite detail, that we are in awe with regard to its ability to sustain such a wide variety of life. The incalculable conditions that are in place to maintain life make this planet a very special place not only in this galaxy, but also in the entire universe. There are those that call the earth a privileged planet, and this Scripture certainly affirms that truth. God uses Isaiah to proclaim our planet is His special creation; He alone fashioned and founded it to be inhabited.
There are a number of scientists who have put this uniqueness to the test. This is known as the Anthropic Principle and scientists have taken just 20 examples out of a long list that are needed to protect and sustain the fragility of life. These conditions are characterized as being “fine tuned” for life, and they can be easily demonstrated by a variety of factors including the sun’s relative distance to earth, the right kind and ratio of atmospheric gases, the perfect thickness of the earth’s crest, the relative position of the planets in our solar system, the earth’s moon being the correct size and distance from the earth, the sun being the right size and type of star, the plentiful supply of water occupying 70% on the earth’s surface and list goes on.
After carefully examining the data, these scientists came to the conclusion that it would be statistically impossible to reproduce the conditions necessary to sustain life here or anywhere else in our vast, 2 billion star, home Milky Way Galaxy. When examining the statistical probabilities at face value, physicist and a senior engineer of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Bijan Nemati states, “this can’t happen or it is very unlikely to happen in this galaxy and this is where the evidence is pushing us.” Of course, this is limited to a conservative list of 20 factors when there are hundreds more to be considered.
When the list is expanded to other factors, including the universe’s vital physical constants that all have to be perfectly fine-tuned to support life, the conclusion is that the evolution of life is a mathematical impossibility. Sustaining life must also include other fine-tuned universal forces like gravity. Without gravity operating at a specified value here on earth, life could not exist with everything floating aimlessly in a vacuum. And let us not forget that this same gravitational constant keeps the planets in their exact orbits as well as countless heavenly bodies moving at incredible speeds. We can observe gravitational forces in the specific shapes of identifiable galaxies throughout the universe. Light has to have the correct wavelengths for plants to utilize the essential life sustaining process of photosynthesis. There are so many more of these universal forces that have to be finely tuned that one would be forced to conclude that this planet is perfectly designed for life.
As it states in Revelation 4:11, every living organism has its own uniqueness, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
The fine-tuned factors that sustain life have to be so refined that they can only come from a divine Planner, a benevolent Creator, who thought it and then spoke instantaneously into existence. Additionally, it is clear that our planet was created to be a very special place in the universe, a cornucopia of life offering a powerful witness to our great God and Creator, Jesus Christ.
The study of living things with all their integral parts working together to accomplish a common goal is a marvel in its own right.
The small microscopic bacteria that are found in pond water and the lion on east Africa’s Serengeti plains, both share the unique complex systems that operate to almost maximum efficiency. They are all designed to accomplish the necessary tasks to sustain life and enable reproduction so that life can continue. Today, life can only be understood in terms of millions upon millions of well-defined and mostly invisible molecular parts interacting on many different levels with almost 100% efficiency. Lastly, these organisms can repair themselves in the most orderly manner making earth’s organic based lifeforms incomparable to anything in the known cosmos.
Because of the mounting evidence against inorganic materials suddenly coming to life, many evolutionists have abandoned their theories of life spontaneously forming here on earth. Instead of giving consideration to the possibility of an Intelligent Designer or Creator God, the proponents of evolution have moved from the realm of science into the area of science fiction. Due to their own arrogance and stubbornness, many of them have resorted to some Sci-Fi extraterrestrial model where life was carried here to earth by a meteorite. Some have gone so far as to hypothesize that space aliens might be real source of life in the universe. Ignorance concerning the origin of life has been well documented by none other than avid evolutionist and outspoken atheist, Richard Dawkins. In his typically egotistic manner, Dawkins attempts to dismiss this challenge by candidly admitting in his 2009 bestselling book, The Greatest Show on Earth, that the origin of life may never be known.
And so it’s not necessarily possible to simulate again the chemical conditions of the origin of life. There are various theories for how it might have happened. None of them is yet convincing. It may be that none of them ever will be, because it may be that we shall never know fully what the conditions were.
Dawkins admits the lack of scientific evidence, with regard to how complex life came into existence, is a big mystery of evolution. He goes so far as to state that it may never be known. This exemplifies the dilemma that evolutionists have when it comes down to the origin of biological systems. There is no answer forthcoming, only a blind faith that evolution can happen, even when the laws of probability say that it cannot. The old expression, “The emperor has no clothes,” can rightly be applied to these evolutionary zealots.
The Language of Life: Inscribed by God
In addition to the fact that evolution cannot explain the origin of life or the factors that sustain life as it is observed on earth, the origin of complex biological systems continues to plague those who embrace Darwinian evolution. Another serious problem for proponents of evolution is the existence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This molecule is a self-contained, superbly planned, information system. This remarkable molecular machine with its amazing design utterly destroys any vestiges of scientific validity concerning a purely naturalistic evolutionary scenario. When faced with the grandeur of the DNA molecule, and its immense information system, those that follow the irrational belief system that molecules, under the right circumstances, can morph themselves into men are silenced by their own ignorance.
This is an extraordinarily long molecule. If stretched out, a human DNA molecule would measure about 6 feet with a thickness of 2.5 nanometers. The width of one human hair measures approximately 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers. A typical adult’s DNA stretched out end-to-end would be 744 million miles long. That is the equivalent of 4 round trips between the earth and the sun! Where is all of this DNA stored?
The answer is found in DNA’s unique ability to wrap itself together in a bundle so that it is tightly packed into 23 pairs of chromosomes within each cell that contains DNA. The key to DNA’s ability to become so well compacted is due to structures called histones. These are spool-shaped proteins upon which long strands of DNA are supercoiled. All the DNA in a cell can now be compressed using these histones and neatly stored away.
When new proteins are needed, the chromosome has to open quickly so that right type of DNA can be accessed. Histones unravel at incredible speeds enabling the information expressed in the DNA code to be exposed. This is a truly an amazing mechanical feat with the DNA molecule unraveling in a split second so life may continue to be fruitful and multiply. The DNA molecule is a “one of a kind” super information storage system that is so exquisitely designed that it could only come from the mind of God. Each DNA molecule looks like a suspended spiral ladder called a double helix with 3.2 billion stairs containing all the information for every form of life. Each stair is an information bit consisting of a combination of only four components identified as nucleotides. These nucleotides are composed of the bases guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine abbreviated with letters respectively, G, A, T and C. The stairs of this gigantic molecule are composed of these bases that bond together using only a designated combination of A binding with T (or vice versa) or G binding with C (or vice versa). When the structure of DNA was discovered, with only two types of base pair connections, the scientific community was amazed. How could all life forms be derived from only these two types of base pair connections?
The human haploid genome (23 chromosomes) is estimated to be 3.2 billion base pairs long. This is the code from which the language of life was built, and from that biochemical molecule, every living thing secures its existence.
When it was time for a cell to divide, the chromosomes have to unravel the closely stacked DNA molecules from the histones exposing DNA’s double helix. As soon as this happens, the double helix structure of the DNA molecule becomes unzippered exposing the bases to be copied. This copying process transfers information analogous to the digital systems in our present computer language. However, this biological system transfers information faster and more efficiently than any computerized information system known to man. It is difficult for us to make comparisons to such incredibly complex processes, but information scientist, Dr. Werner Gitt, writes in the December 1997 issue of the Creation Magazine, “It is by far the densest information storage mechanism known in the universe.” He goes on to illustrate the immense storage capacity in this tinniest of spaces saying, “Let’s look at the amount of information that could be contained in a pinhead volume of DNA. If all this information were written into paperback books, it would make a pile of such books 500 times higher than from here to the moon! The design of such an incredible system of information storage indicates a vastly intelligent Designer.”
Conclusion
Where did this exquisite molecular structure, with its double helix design and its imbedded information system written within come from? How did this amazing molecular machine originate? Such questions have no evolutionary answers. Yet evolutionists have censored out any and all mention of an Intelligent Designer or a Creator God, even though living systems demonstrate indisputably complex design. These consistent examples should logically lead us to reject evolutionary naturalism. What controls most of the information in the media and educational systems is an underlying agenda that denies the Creator and absolute Lawgiver, thereby exalting prideful man onto God’s throne. Man remains in charge of his own destiny and because of man’s depraved nature, this leads to cultural death and civil chaos. The result of this godless agenda, coupled with the deathly silence in our public media and educational systems concerning the Creator, is the continued indoctrination of the lie of evolution. By embracing a false teaching that is rooted in rebellion against God and rejecting His Word, it is an undeniable fact that new generations are being deceived.
When all of the evidence is examined, the only logical conclusion is that there is a benevolent Creator who deserves all honor and glory.
As we witness the awesome works of God manifested in the irreducible complexity of life, we see His majestic handiwork. The prophet Nehemiah 9:6 eloquently describes God’s glory as the Creator of the heavens and the earth:
You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
As we see God’s glory in the life He has created, we also reflect that He is the giver of life and the light of the world. In the Gospel of John 1:4, we read, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Every living thing is a reminder of the life that is in Christ. These extraordinarily designed living systems should reflect His light in this world of darkness that is filled with human arrogance towards God.
Flight: The Genius of Birds
Christ used the birds of the air to teach His disciples that we should always trust our Creator to meet all of our needs. He instructed us how our heavenly Father provides for the birds of the air stating in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Birds are unbelievable creatures with most of them having the ability to fly. Flight requires a special anatomy. They must be designed to have a relatively light physical structure, hollow bones, highly specialized feathers; a small concise digestive system and reproductive system that requires them to lay eggs that can be incubated outside of their bodies are all examples of purposefully designed features that enable birds to fly. In addition to these anatomical features, many birds also have the ability to fly together in organized patterns to conserve energy for long distances. Some species of birds have preprogrammed migratory patterns as well as their own extremely accurate navigational systems. These creatures are to be truly admired as they display the glory of God. Is no wonder that the Messiah, who came to earth as our sacrificial lamb in order to bring us forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life, would point to these remarkable flying creatures as examples of his promise of divine provision.
