| The
Day The Dinosaurs Died continued
Part
III.
Now
that we've looked into the semi-macro of God's creation,
let's look into the micro-elements of God's creation--DNA--found
in both dinosaurs and man, and the huge amounts of time
"evolutionary theory" requires for life to develop.
Ben
Bova in his book The Milky Way Galaxy says, "Man
has always been fascinated by the mystery of the universe's
creation. But how long is "always"?
Astonomers and geologists agree that the earth is at least
five billion years old [based on the half-life of uranium,
and the percentage of lead found in each and every sample
of uranium, which is identical the world over]. Paleontologists
estimate that life on this planet began two and a half billion
years ago. Anthropologists believe man appeared about a million
years ago.
Man's written history dates back scarcely six thousand years…"(The
Milky Way Galaxy, by Ben Bova, p. 1,).
So evolutionary theory gives the dinosaur life-forms 2.5 billion
years to develop. Then WHAM! The Great Dinosaur
Extinction 65 million years ago. Evolutionary
assumption is that it took 2.5 billion years for dinosaurs
along with their intricate DNA molecules with their even more
intricate codes for specific life-species to evolve. Then
all of a sudden the great extinction of 65 million years ago
takes place. As you've seen the evidence, nothing lived. How
could anything survive not just the asteroid hits, but a half
million years of big volcanic activity on top of all that?
Now what is the statistical probability that this highly intricate
life-coding system of cellular replication called DNA could
"re-evolve" in exactly the same atomic pattern, but this time
carrying the complex codes for man and all the flora and fauna
conducive to mankind--and this in the geologically tiny space
of time of a mere 65 million years? Dividing 65,000,000 by
2,500,000,000 equals 0.026. That means that this intricate
life-coding molecule, with all its differing codes for each
and every species, would have had to "re-evolve" in just 2.6
percent of the time it took to evolve in the first place.
You students of the laws of probability, is that within the
realm of possibility? I think the odds of hitting the power-ball
lottery are far more in your favor than those odds. And it
gets worse. Man and all the associated life-forms that accompany
man--even giving the evolutionary paleontologists the million
years they say man has been around--took not 65,000,000 years,
but only 1 million years. That's 1,000,000 divided by 2.5
billion, or 0.4 percent the amount of time it took dinosaur
life-forms and their complex DNA coding systems to evolve.
What are your odds for evolution now??? You say the DNA isn't
the same, so we wouldn't recognize it or be able to manipulate
it? When Michael Creighton started to write his famous book
"Jurassic Park" he first asked some expert geneticists if
this whole idea of cloning dinosaurs from their DNA was plausible,
possible. They said "Yes, it was." It has even been rumored
that Jack Horner, the famous dinosaur hunter and paleontologist
was attempting to "extract" some DNA from a T-Rex's thigh-bone.
[I sincerely hope he doesn't succeed!]
Could DNA evolve? How intricate is DNA? How much life-code
is written into each DNA strand? Let's see. After that we'll
take a short look at some other amazing micro life-forms.
"It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realize
that we have caught the first glimpse of our instruction book,
previously known only to God." Francis Collins, director
of the Human Genome Project.
What DNA Looks Like
"DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is found in nearly every single
one of more than 75 trillion cells that make up the
human body. DNA is embedded in our skin cells and our hair
roots and our saliva. It's in our blood, our sweat, and our
tears. To see what this DNA looks like, we need to take a
close look inside a typical human cell, which magnifies the
cell millions of times.
"Within this highly magnified cell, 46 chromosomesfloat
in a watery nucleus. These threadlike strands are made of
protein and DNA molecules. A close look
at one of these DNA molecules reveals what scientists call
the double helix. This large, double-stranded molecule resembles
a long, spiraling ladder. The two sides of this spiraling
DNA ladder are made of four building blocks called nucleotides.
Each nucleotide is made of a sugar joined to a phosphate
and a base. These bases come in four varieties. Scientists
have identified them by the letters A (adenine),
C (cytosine), G (guanine), and T (thymine),
the four letters that make up the DNA alphabet.
"These nucleotides are arranged in base pairs, with
each pair making up a rung on the DNA ladder. Nucleotides
pair up according to strict rules. Nucleotide A pairs only
with nucleotide T, and nucleotide G pairs only with nucleotide
C. The A-T and G-C base pairs, repeated in various sequences
again and again, make up the 3 billion "rungs" of the DNA
ladder. These base pairs are arranged in a very specific order
called the DNA sequence.
What DNA Does
"Scientists have compared the DNA sequence to the letters
that make up the words in a book of instructions. The experts
have also compared it to the software that programs computers.
What is it about DNA that makes them think this way?
It turns out that the DNA molecules in a single cell--the
basic unit of living matter--carry within them all the vital
information and instructions needed for growth and operation
of a human being [or any other organism, of this age, or the
dinosaur age--no difference]. Because of DNA, our cells divide
to produce more cells. Because of DNA, our hearts beat, our
lungs breathe, our ears hear, and our eyes see. Because of
DNA, our bodies live, grow, and function. In this way, we
can say that everyone is programmed by DNA from the moment
of conception.
"The DNA sequence in each of our cells carries the hereditary
information transmitted to us from our parents. The chromosomes
in the nucleus, or control center, of each cell contain the
information. These 46 chromosomes come in two sets, each with
23 chromosomes. One set is inherited from our father, and
the other set is inherited from our mother. This information
determines what we will grow up to look like. Our DNA determines
the physical characteristics we all have in common, such as
two eyes, two arms, and two legs.
"The DNA sequence within each of our cells also carries the
operating manual that tells our bodies how to grow and function.
These instructions are packaged into units called genes.
Each gene consists of one small section of the DNA ladder.
(A typical gene takes up about 3,000 of the 3 billion "rungs"
of the DNA ladder.)
"Each gene has its own special task to perform. The gene's
DNA code, which is made up of sequences of A-T and G-C nucleotide
base pairs, "tells" the gene to produce one specific kind
of protein. Proteins are the body's building blocks. Together,
all the genes produce the thousands of different kinds of
proteins that make up the cells and tissuesof the
human body. All the genes in a cell--80,000 or so--make up
the human genome, the coded genetic blueprint that
is contained in virtually every one of the more than 75 trillion
cells in the human body…" ("DNA Fingerprinting, the Ultimate
Identity", by Ron Fridell, pp. 7,8,9,10,11).
"But your genome is not quite identical to anyone else's.
Small but significant differences in the DNA sequence appear
here and there along the DNA ladder. Here's how a geneticist,
a scientist who studies genes, explains these differences
to a lecture audience:
"Look at the neighbor to your left and to your right. You're
99.9 percent identical. But in a genome of 3 billion letters,
even one tenth of a percent difference translates into 3 million
separate spelling differences. I invite you again to look
to the left and right and notice how unique you are. There
is no one in this audience who has the same DNA sequence as
anyone else…"("DNA Fingerprinting, The Ultimate Identity",
p. 12)"
So that gives us a small glimpse of how complex not only the
DNA molecule is, but how complex the DNA code or program
is. The mere discovery of the complexity of DNA and this
code or program within it caused one of it's discoverers to
caution evolutionary biologists not to scrap the theory of
evolution. But saying that all this evolved is like saying
you can put all the pieces of an expensive Rolex Watch in
an empty paint can with the lid securely fastened and place
the can in a paint mixing vibrator, and after a million years--MAGIC--PRESTO!!!
OUT COMES A PERFECT ROLEX WATCH!--absurd, impossible.
And yet brilliant minds ask us to believe in the evolution
of all the species we see around us, including us, and of
all the species that went before us, 65 million years ago.
Let's look at some more DNA facts--to fully see the true complexity
of DNA and what we really are.
"The human body has 3 trillion cells. All except red blood
cells contain DNA--deoxyribonucleic acid, the chemical that
stores each person's genetic code. Even after being multiplied
millions of times, DNA is invisible to the naked eye. Test
duplicate and isolate 13 specific sites along a DNA strand,
a coiled helix that in just one cell stretches 5 feet. These
sites identify an individual…" ("Biotechnology" Edited
by Lynn Messina, p. 39).
"…Will it mean that our behaviors, thoughts and emotions
are merely the sum of our genes, and scientists can use a
genetic road map to calculate just what that sum is? Who are
we then, and what will happen to our cherished senses of individuality
and free will? Will knowing our genetic code mean we will
know our irrevocable fates?…(ibid. p. 21)
"The Primacy of Genes also assumes that genes act on their
own. How do they know when to turn on and off the synthesis
of particular proteins? If you view genes as autonomous, the
answer is that they just know. No one tells a gene what to
do; instead, the buck starts and stops there.
"However, that view is far from accurate too. Within the staggeringly
long sequences of DNA, it turns out that only a tiny percentage
of letters actually form the words that constitute genes and
serve as code for proteins. More than 95 percent of DNA, instead,
is "non-coding." Much of DNA simply constitutes on and off
switches for regulating the activity of genes. It's like you
have a 100-page book, and 95 of the pages are instructions
and advice for reading the other five pages. Thus, genes don't
independently determine when proteins are synthesized. They
follow instructions originating somewhere else.
"What regulates those switches? In some instances, chemical
messengers from other parts of the cell. In other cases, messengers
from other cells in the body (this is the way many hormones
work)….Or a mother rat licking and grooming her infant
will initiate a cascade of events that eventually turns on
genes related to growth in that child. Or the smell of a female
in heat will activate genes in certain male primates related
to reproduction. Or a miserably stressful day of final exams
will activate genes in a typical college student that will
suppress the immune system, often leading to a cold or worse.
"You can't dissociate genes from the environment that turns
genes on and off. And you can't dissociate the effects of
genes from the environment in which proteins exert their effects.
The study of genetics will never be so all encompassing as
to gobble up every subject from medicine to sociology. Instead,
the more science learns about genes, the more we will learn
about the importance of the environment. That goes for real
life, too: genes are essential but not the whole story." (Biotechnology,
pp. 22, 23.)
The Bible in Proverbs 17:22 shows the interaction of attitude
and health as well. And it has become a medical fact that
attitude can trigger health problems or degenerative diseases.
But God's Word got the medical scoop on this genetic-biologic
link long before man's study of genetics and DNA. How was
that possible? Proverbs 17:22, "A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Or as one translation
has it, "…rots the bones."
HOW MANY GENES ARE THERE, ANYWAY?
"According to Collins, director of the Human Genome Project
for the National Institutes of Health, the genome data collected
so far haven't solved a fundamental riddle: How many genes
exist, anyway? Estimates have ranged between 35,000 and 140,000
human genes. The figure is so imprecise because recent mapping
of chromosome 21 found far fewer genes than expected, only
225 instead of about 500.
"In contrast, the sequences at Celera recently suggested there
may be more genes than expected hidden on the chromosomes,
as many as 140,000. So in jest, Collins has been presiding
over a lottery that will pay off in 2003, when the genome
is done…
"…This lack of firm knowledge about how many genes actually
exist "is pretty striking," Waterston said. The puzzle exists
because "it's not a simple thing to find genes. Only about
3 percent of the genome is used in genes that actually specify
the construction of proteins. The rest includes a huge amount
of DNA of unknown function that sits between genes and within
genes. And there are many known genes that seem to control
the activity of others" (ibid. p. 12).
"The human Genome Project is generating an amount of data
unprecedented in biology. A simple list of the units of DNA,
called bases, that make up the human genome would
fill 200 telephone books--even without the annotations describing
what those DNA sequences do. A working draft
of 90 percent of the total human DNA sequence is expected
by 2003. But that will be merely a skeleton that will require
many layers of annotation to give it meaning…
"Proteins not only make up the structural bulk of the human
body but also include the enzymes that carry out the biochemical
reactions of life. They are composed of units called amino
acids linked together in a long string; each string folds
in a way that determines the function of a protein. The order
of the amino acids is set by the DNA base sequence of the
gene that encodes a given protein, through intermediaries
called RNA; genes that actively make RNA are said to be "expressed."
(ibid. p. 13)
"…The six billion bases of the human genome are thought
to encode approximately 100,000 proteins…"(ibid. p. 14)
"Being able to model a single cell will be impressive, but
to understand fully the life-forms we are most familiar with,
we will plainly have to consider additional levels of complexity.
We will have to examine how genes and their products behave
in place and time--that is, in different parts of the body
and in a body that changes over a life span.
"So far developmental biologists have striven to find signals
that are universally important in establishing an animal's
body plan, the arrangement of its limbs and organs. In time,
they will also describe the variations--in gene sequence and
perhaps in gene regulation--that generate the striking diversity
of forms among different species. By comparing species, we
will learn how genetic circuits have been modified to carry
out distinct programs so that almost equivalent networks of
genes fashion, for example, small furry legs in mice and arms
with opposable digits in humans. (ibid. p. 16)
DID WE ALL COME FROM ONE SET OF PARENTS--ADAM AND EVE??? DNA
POINTS IN THAT DIRECTION.
"Despite what may seem like great diversity in our species,
studies from the past decade show that the human species is
more homogeneous than many others; as a group, we display
less variation than chimps do. Among humans, the same genetic
variations tend to be found across all population groups,
and only a small fraction of the total variation (between
10 and 15 percent) can be related to differences between groups.
This has led some population biologists to the conclusion
that not so long ago the human species was composed
of a small group, perhaps 10,000 individuals, and that human
populations dispersed over the earth only recently…"
(ibid. p. 17)
DNA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR 3.5 BILLION YEARS BY SCIENTISTS OWN
ADMISSION--A HIGHLY COMPLEX MOLECULAR CODE BOOK. THE K/T BARRIER
SHOWS THAT ALL LIFE STOPPED 65 MILLION YEARS AGO. THEN--BAM!--AN
ENTIRELY NEW GROUP OF LIFE-FORMS APEAR, MANY HIGHER SPECIES
OBVIOUSLY CONTAINING THE 200+ PHONEBOOKS OF GENETIC CODE CONTAINED
IN DNA.
. If DNA were around for 3.5 billion years, then how long
did it take to "evolve" with all this incredibly large code-book
library for life found in each species in the Age of Dinosaurs?
And then the DNA code-books are destroyed 65 million years
ago, for all life on the planet--and then they re-appear fairly
recently, less than a million years ago, this time containing
a whole new library full of 200+ phonebook size code-books
of DNA for the life-forms around us today.
"To a large extent, DNA sequence data have already exposed
the record of 3.5 billion years of evolution…One aspect
of inheritance has complicated the hope of assigning all living
things to branches in a single tree of life. In many cases,
different genes suggest different family histories for the
same organisms…Genes sometimes hop across
large evolutionary gaps." (ibid. p. 19)
Say DNA took a billion years to evolve into the many complex
dinosaur life-forms that inhabited earth from 3.5 billion
years ago to 65 million years ago. And then lets go with the
date that paleontologists ascribe to man's appearance on earth,
100,000 years ago (we'll give them that, even though the Bible
says 6 thousand years ago). 100,000 divided by 1,000,000,000
(1 billion) (the time it took for dino-DNA to "evolve") equals
0.1 percent of the original time it took for Dinosaurian DNA
to develop. That is, all the life-forms we see around us,
their DNA took only 0.1 percent of the time to "re-evolve",
but this time coded to all the life-forms we see around us.
Now what are the statistical probabilities that something
as complex as DNA, or the 200+ phonebooks of DNA code, could
"re-evolve" in only 0.1 percent of the time? The re-appearance
of the same DNA code-books, but now programmed to the flora
and fauna of the Age of Man show the authorship and ownership
of an extremely intelligent design and program engineer--God
himself. "Genes sometimes hop across large evolutionary
gaps…" Yes, they hopped across the K/T Barrier. How in
the world did they do this? And how did they "re-evolve" in
the same identical complexity as they had been before, and
in only 0.1 percent of the time that they had "evolved" before.
And where is the evidence of DNA evolution?
"It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realize that we
have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book,
previously known only to God." Francis Collins, director of
the Human Genome Project.
Let's take a quick tour of recent cellular discoveries in
a quote from an article written by Mark Hartwig, Ph.D., in
the June 2002 number of "Focus On The Family" Magazine.
Specified Complexity
"Seeing
is believing--or not
For example, take the cell. In Darwin's time, scientists thought
cells were just blobs of protoplasm. Now we know better.
According to cell biologist Bruce Alberts, president of the
National Academy of Sciences, "The entire cell can be viewed
as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking
assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large
protein machines."
Alberts' description is no idle metaphor. Even the simplest
cells are bristling with high-tech machinery. On the outside,
their surfaces are studded with sensors, gates, pumps and
identification markers. Some bacteria even sport rotary outboard
motors.
Inside, cells are jam-packed with power plants, automated
workshops and recycling units. Miniature monorails whisk materials
from one location to another.
Such sophistication has led even hardened atheists to acknowledge
the apparent design in living organisms, not that it changes
their minds about evolution. Francis Crick, a Nobel laureate
and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA warns, "Biologists
must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed
but rather evolved."
Proponents of intelligent design contend that living organisms
appeardesigned because they are designed--they exhibit
a feature that natural processes cannot mimic.
That feature is specified complexity, a concept developed
by William Dembski to explain how people distinguish accidents
from things that happen "on purpose."
Although the term sounds like a mouthful, the basic idea is
quite simple: An object displays specified complexity when
it has lots of parts (is complex) and yet fits a recognizable
pattern (is specified).
For example, the article you're now reading has thousands
of characters, which could have been arranged in zillions
of ways. Yet it fits a recognizable pattern: It's not just
a jumble of letters, but a magazine article written in English.
Any rational person would conclude that it was designed.
The effectiveness of such thinking is confirmed by experience,
Dembski says. "In every instance where we find specified complexity,
and where [its] history is known, it turns out that design
actually is present."
Now here's a really good example of the super-complexity of
a single common bacteria. If it's spotted in a town's water
system, you have to boil the water.
"For example, consider the little outboard motor that bacteria
such as E. coli use to navigate their environment. This water-cooled
contraption, called a flagellum,comes equipped with
a reversible engine, drive shaft, U-joint and long whip-like
propeller. It hums along at 17,000 rpm.
Its complexity is enormous. According to microbiologist Scott
Minnich of the University of Idaho, you need about 50 genes
to create a working flagellum. Each of those genes is as complex
as a sentence with hundreds of letters. What's more, the requirements
for a working flagellum are extremely tight.
"Mutations in any single gene knock out function or in lesser
cases diminish function, " Minnich says. "So, to swim you
have to have the full compliment of genes. There are no intermediate
steps." June 2002 Focus On The Family, pp. 2, 3.)
And wherever we look in the micro-world of DNA and genes,
we find the same thing. Such systems really do defy Darwinist
explanations. Finally, let's see what Stephen Hawkings has
to say about the second law of thermodynamics.
The
Second Law of Thermodynamics
The
second law of Thermodynamics points in the opposite direction
of evolutionary theory as well. The second law of thermodynamics
states that the decay of matter and decay of systems from
a complex state of high order to a state of low or lower order
is always taking place. Man and life as we know it, and the
Dinosaurian life-forms as well are and were systems of high
quality and high order. Evolution demands what we don't see
in nature, a reversal of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Evolutionary theory demands that we believe that the complex
life-forms we see around us came, "evolved", from a much lower
level of sophistication, from a state of non-life, actually.
I will leave you with this final quote from Stephen Hawking:
"It is a common experience that disorder will tend to increase
if things are left to themselves. (One has only to stop making
repairs around the house to see that!) One can create order
out of disorder (for example, one can paint the house), but
that requires expenditure of effort or energy and so decreases
the amount of ordered energy available. A precise statement
of this idea is known as the second law of thermodynamics.
It states that the entropy of an isolated system always increases,
and that when two systems are jointed together, the entropy
of the combined system is greater than the sum of the entropies
of the individual systems ("A Brief History of Time", by Stephen
Hawking, p. 130). Mr. Hawking defines "entropy" as a measure
of the degree of disorder of a system. "In any closed system
disorder, or entropy, always increases with time. In other
words, it is a form of Murphy's law: things always tend to
go wrong!…" (ibid. p. 184.) If evolutionary theory were
true, a different situation would be seen by all of us in
the natural world. Let Mr. Hawking explain. "Suppose, however,
that God decided that the universe should finish up in a state
of high order but that it didn't matter what state it started
in. At early times the universe would probably be in a disordered
state. This would mean that disorder would decrease
with time. You would see broken cups gathering themselves
together and jumping back onto the table. However, any human
beings observing the cups would be living in a universe in
which disorder decreased with time." (ibid. pp. 187,188) But
we don't live in such a universe. In order to see order come
from a state of disorder, it takes intelligent design of a
design engineer, work, effort and applied energy, or what
is called an application of the law of "Specified Complexity".
The
Next Important Question
So
now we come to the next really important question. If
we are the product of intelligent design, who was the Designer?
Skeptics, atheist's and scoffers alike say the Bible
was the writings of early nomadic Jews, and is basically uninspired.
Even religious scholars in some of the famous universities
like Harvard teach courses that tend to be critical of a literal
interpretation of the Bible, and show it was basically humanly
inspired and can't be taken literally. But is this really
true? Is the Word of God, the Holy Bible, just a product of
the imaginations of some early nomadic Hebrew wanderers in
the deserts of Mesopotamia and Palestine? Or is the Bible
really the Word of God? Is there any way you, as an individual,
can prove that the Bible is the infallible Word of God? To
learn just how inspired and accurate the Bible really is and
to about Jesus, who he was and who he is, log onto http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/prophecies/1stcoming.htm.
This whole article takes the view of multiple specific creations having taken place during the various epochs, taking the view of what theologians call "The Gap Theory." (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Genesis%201-%201-31.html for more about this)
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