DNA, the tiny code that is toppling evolution.
As scientists
explore a new universe—the universe inside the cell—they are making startling
discoveries of information systems more complex than anything ever devised by
humanity's best minds. How did they get there, and what does it mean for the
theory of evolution?
by Mario Sieglie
Two great achievements occurred in 1953, more than half a century ago. The first
was the successful ascent of Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Sir
Edmund Hillary and his guide, Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit that year, an
accomplishment that's still considered the ultimate feat for mountain climbers.
Since then, more than a thousand mountaineers have made it to the top, and each
year hundreds more attempt it. Yet the second great achievement of 1953 has had
a greater impact on the world. Each year, many thousands join the ranks of those
participating in this accomplishment, hoping to ascend to fame and fortune. It
was in 1953 that James Watson and Francis Crick achieved what appeared
impossible—discovering the genetic structure deep inside the nucleus of our
cells. We call this genetic material DNA, an abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic
acid. The discovery of the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule opened the
floodgates for scientists to examine the code embedded within it. Now, more than
half a century after the initial discovery, the DNA code has been
deciphered—although many of its elements are still not well understood. What has
been found has profound implications regarding Darwinian evolution, the theory
taught in schools all over the world that all living beings have evolved by
natural processes through mutation and natural selection.
Amazing revelations about DNA
As scientists began to decode the human DNA molecule, they found something
quite unexpected—an exquisite 'language' composed of some 3 billion genetic
letters. "One of the most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century,"
says Dr. Stephen Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the
Discovery Institute in Seattle, Wash., "was that DNA actually stores
information—the detailed instructions for assembling proteins—in the form of a
four-character digital code" (quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator,
2004, p. 224). It is hard to fathom, but the amount of information in human DNA
is roughly equivalent to 12 sets of The Encyclopaedia Britannica—an incredible
384 volumes" worth of detailed information that would fill 48 feet of library
shelves! Yet in their actual size—which is only two millionths of a millimeter
thick—a teaspoon of DNA, according to molecular biologist Michael Denton, could
contain all the information needed to build the proteins for all the species of
organisms that have ever lived on the earth, and "there would still be enough
room left for all the information in every book ever written" (Evolution: A
Theory in Crisis, 1996, p. 334).Who or what could miniaturize such information
and place this enormous number of 'letters' in their proper sequence as a
genetic instruction manual? Could evolution have gradually come up with a system
like this?
DNA contains a genetic language
Let's first consider some of the characteristics of this genetic 'language.'
For it to be rightly called a language, it must contain the following elements:
an alphabet or coding system, correct spelling, grammar (a proper arrangement of
the words), meaning (semantics) and an intended purpose. Scientists have found
the genetic code has all of these key elements. "The coding regions of DNA,"
explains Dr. Stephen Meyer, "have exactly the same relevant properties as a
computer code or language" (quoted by Strobel, p. 237, emphasis in original).
The only other codes found to be true languages are all of human origin.
Although we do find that dogs bark when they perceive danger, bees dance to
point other bees to a source and whales emit sounds, to name a few examples of
other species" communication, none of these have the composition of a language.
They are only considered low-level communication signals. The only types of
communication considered high-level are human languages, artificial languages
such as computer and Morse codes and the genetic code. No other communication
system has been found to contain the basic characteristics of a language.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, commented that "DNA is like a software
program, only much more complex than anything we've ever devised." Can you
imagine something more intricate than the most complex program running on a
supercomputer being devised by accident through evolution—no matter how much
time, how many mutations and how much natural selection are taken into account?
DNA language not the same as DNA molecule
Recent studies in information theory have come up with some astounding
conclusions—namely, that information cannot be considered in the same category
as matter and energy. It's true that matter or energy can carry information, but
they are not the same as information itself. For instance, a book such as
Homer's Iliad contains information, but is the physical book itself information?
No, the materials of the book—the paper, ink and glue contain the contents, but
they are only a means of transporting it. If the information in the book was
spoken aloud, written in chalk or electronically reproduced in a computer, the
information does not suffer qualitatively from the means of transporting it. "In
fact the content of the message," says professor Phillip Johnson, "is
independent of the physical makeup of the medium"
(Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, 1997, p. 71).The
same principle is found in the genetic code. The DNA molecule carries the
genetic language, but the language itself is independent of its carrier. The
same genetic information can be written in a book, stored in a compact disk or
sent over the Internet, and yet the quality or content of the message has not
changed by changing the means of conveying it. As George Williams puts it: "The
gene is a package of information, not an object. The pattern of base pairs in a
DNA molecule specifies the gene. But the DNA molecule is the medium, it's not
the message" (quoted by Johnson, p. 70).
Information from an intelligent source
In addition, this type of high-level information has been found to originate
only from an intelligent source. As Lee Strobel explains: "The data at the core
of life is not disorganized, it's not simply orderly like salt crystals, but
it's complex and specific information that can accomplish a bewildering task—the
building of biological machines that far outstrip human technological
capabilities" (p. 244). For instance, the precision of this genetic language is
such that the average mistake that is not caught turns out to be one error per
10 billion letters. If a mistake occurs in one of the most significant parts of
the code, which is in the genes, it can cause a disease such as sickle-cell
anemia. Yet even the best and most intelligent typist in the world couldn't come
close to making only one mistake per 10 billion letters—far from it. So to
believe that the genetic code gradually evolved in Darwinian style would break
all the known rules of how matter, energy and the laws of nature work. In fact,
there has not been found in nature any example of one information system inside
the cell gradually evolving into another functional information program. Michael
Behe, a biochemist and professor at Pennsylvania's Lehigh University, explains
that genetic information is primarily an instruction manual and gives some
examples. He writes: "Consider a step-by-step list of [genetic] instructions. A
mutation is a change in one of the lines of instructions. So instead of saying,
"Take a 1/4-inch nut," a mutation might say, "Take a 3/8-inch nut." Or instead
of "Place the round peg in the round hole," we might get "Place the round peg in
the square hole" . . . What a mutation cannot do is change all the instructions
in one step—say, [providing instructions] to build a fax machine instead of a
radio" (Darwin's Black Box, 1996, p. 41).We therefore have in the genetic code
an immensely complex instruction manual that has been majestically designed by a
more intelligent source than human beings. Even one of the discoverers of the
genetic code, the agnostic and recently deceased Francis Crick, after decades of
work on deciphering it, admitted that "an honest man, armed with all the
knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin
of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions
which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going" (Life Itself, 1981,
p. 88, emphasis added).
Evolution fails to provide answers
It is good to remember that, in spite of all the efforts of all the
scientific laboratories around the world working over many decades, they have
not been able to produce so much as a single human hair. How much more difficult
is it to produce an entire body consisting of some 100 trillion cells! Up to
now, Darwinian evolutionists could try to counter their detractors with some
possible explanations for the complexity of life. But now they have to face the
information dilemma: How can meaningful, precise information be created by
accident—by mutation and natural selection? None of these contain the mechanism
of intelligence, a requirement for creating complex information such as that
found in the genetic code. Darwinian evolution is still taught in most schools
as though it were fact. But it is increasingly being found wanting by a growing
number of scientists. "As recently as twenty-five years ago," says former
atheist Patrick Glynn, "a reasonable person weighing the purely scientific
evidence on the issue would likely have come down on the side of skepticism
[regarding a Creator]. That is no longer the case." He adds: "Today the concrete
data point strongly in the direction of the God hypothesis. It is the simplest
and most obvious solution . . ." (God: The Evidence, 1997, pp. 54-55, 53).
Quality of genetic information the same
Evolution tells us that through chance mutations and natural selection,
living things evolve. Yet to evolve means to gradually change certain aspects of
some living thing until it becomes another type of creature, and this can only
be done by changing the genetic information. So what do we find about the
genetic code? The same basic quality of information exists in a humble bacteria
or a plant as in a person. A bacterium has a shorter genetic code, but
qualitatively it gives instructions as precisely and exquisitely as that of a
human being. We find the same prerequisites of a language—alphabet, grammar and
semantics—in simple bacteria and algae as in man. Each cell with genetic
information, from bacteria to man, according to molecular biologist Michael
Denton, consists of "artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory
banks for information storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating
the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and
proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving
the principle of prefabrication and modular construction . . . [and a] capacity
not equalled in any of our most advanced machines, for it would be capable of
replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours" (Denton, p.
329). So how could the genetic information of bacteria gradually evolve into
information for another type of being, when only one or a few minor mistakes in
the millions of letters in that bacterium's DNA can kill it? Again,
evolutionists are uncharacteristically silent on the subject. They don't even
have a working hypothesis about it. Lee Strobel writes: "The six feet of DNA
coiled inside every one of our body's one hundred trillion cells contains a
four-letter chemical alphabet that spells out precise assembly instructions for
all the proteins from which our bodies are made . . . No hypothesis has come
close to explaining how information got into biological matter by naturalistic
means" (Strobel, p. 282).Werner Gitt, professor of information systems, puts it
succinctly: "The basic flaw of all evolutionary views is the origin of the
information in living beings. It has never been shown that a coding system and
semantic information could originate by itself [through matter] . . . The
information theorems predict that this will never be possible. A purely material
origin of life is thus [ruled out]" (Gitt, p. 124).
The clincher
Besides all the evidence we have covered for the intelligent design of DNA
information, there is still one amazing fact remaining—the ideal number of
genetic letters in the DNA code for storage and translation.Moreover, the
copying mechanism of DNA, to meet maximum effectiveness, requires the number of
letters in each word to be an even number. Of all possible mathematical
combinations, the ideal number for storage and transcription has been calculated
to be four letters. This is exactly what has been found in the genes of every
living thing on earth—a four-letter digital code. As Werner Gitt states: "The
coding system used for living beings is optimal from an engineering standpoint.
This fact strengthens the argument that it was a case of purposeful design
rather that a [lucky] chance" (Gitt, p. 95).
More witnesses
Back in Darwin's day, when his book On the Origin of Species was published
in 1859, life appeared much simpler. Viewed through the primitive microscopes of
the day, the cell appeared to be but a simple blob of jelly or uncomplicated
protoplasm. Now, almost 150 years later, that view has changed dramatically as
science has discovered a virtual universe inside the cell."It was once
expected," writes Professor Behe, "that the basis of life would be exceedingly
simple. That expectation has been smashed. Vision, motion, and other biological
functions have proven to be no less sophisticated than television cameras and
automobiles. Science has made enormous progress in understanding how the
chemistry of life works, but the elegance and complexity of biological systems
at the molecular level have paralyzed science's attempt to explain their
origins" (Behe, p. x). Dr. Meyer considers the recent discoveries about DNA as
the Achilles" heel of evolutionary theory. He observes: "Evolutionists are still
trying to apply Darwin's nineteenth-century thinking to a twenty-first century
reality, and it's not working ... I think the information revolution taking
place in biology is sounding the death knell for Darwinism and chemical
evolutionary theories" (quoted by Strobel, p. 243). Dr. Meyer's conclusion? "I
believe that the testimony of science supports theism. While there will always
be points of tension or unresolved conflict, the major developments in science
in the past five decades have been running in a strongly theistic direction"
(ibid., p. 77).Dean Kenyon, a biology professor who repudiated his earlier book
on Darwinian evolution—mostly due to the discoveries of the information found in
DNA—states: "This new realm of molecular genetics (is) where we see the most
compelling evidence of design on the Earth" (ibid., p. 221).Just recently, one
of the world's most famous atheists, Professor Antony Flew, admitted he couldn't
explain how DNA was created and developed through evolution. He now accepts the
need for an intelligent source to have been involved in the making of the DNA
code. "What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must
have been involved in getting these extraordinary diverse elements together," he
said (quoted by Richard Ostling, "Leading Atheist Now Believes in God,"
Associated Press report, Dec. 9, 2004).
"Fearfully and wonderfully made"
Although written thousands of years ago, King David's words about our
marvelous human bodies still ring true. He wrote: "For You formed my inward
parts, You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made . . . My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in
secret, and skillfully wrought. . ." (Psalm 139:13-15, emphasis added). Where
does all this leave evolution? Michael Denton, an agnostic scientist, concludes:
"Ultimately the Darwinian theory of evolution is no more nor less than the great
cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century" (Denton, p. 358).All of this has
enormous implications for our society and culture. Professor Johnson makes this
clear when he states: "Every history of the twentieth century lists three
thinkers as preeminent in influence: Darwin, Marx and Freud. All three were
regarded as 'scientific' (and hence far more reliable than anything 'religious')
in their heyday. "Yet Marx and Freud have fallen, and even their dwindling bands
of followers no longer claim that their insights were based on any methodology
remotely comparable to that of experimental science. I am convinced that Darwin
is next on the block. His fall will be by far the mightiest of the three"
(Johnson, p. 113).Evolution has had its run for almost 150 years in the schools
and universities and in the press. But now, with the discovery of what the DNA
code is all about, the complexity of the cell, and the fact that information is
something vastly different from matter and energy, evolution can no longer dodge
the ultimate outcome. The evidence certainly points to a resounding checkmate
for evolution! GN
Colossians 1:16
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things
have been created through Him and for Him.