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Current mood:  confident Category: News and Politics
Genome Scientist Finds God from the June 20, 2006 eNews issue
It has been just over fifty years since the discovery of DNA - a discovery
which has radically transformed modern science and changed how many
look at the origin of life. The Human Genome Project has mapped our entire
genetic code, which consists of a sequence of over 3 billion chemical
nucleotide bases. DNA research has lead to the discovery of genetic cures
for diseases. It has also resulted in faster and more accurate diagnosis of
diseases, and assisted doctors in developing customized treatment plans for
patients.
Although scientists have learned a great deal about the human genome, the
overwhelming majority of DNA remains a complete mystery. For all the new
advances made in genetics, we are constantly discovering how complex the
DNA really is and how much more we have to learn. According to Dr. Jerry
Bergman, a professor of science at Northwest College, "At the moment of
conception, a fertilized human egg is about the size of a pinhead. Yet it
contains information equivalent to about six billion chemical letters. This is
enough information to fill 1000 books, 500 pages thick with print so small
you would need a microscope to read it! If all the chemical letters in the
human body were printed in books, it is estimated they would fill the Grand
Canyon fifty times!"
Scientists still do not know the exact number of genes, their exact locations,
or their functions. Nor do they know much about gene regulation, DNA
sequence regulation, Chromosomal structure and organization, or non-coding
DNA. The list of things we have yet to learn about DNA goes on and on.
What we do know about DNA is that it is a digital, error-correcting, and
self-replicating code. Furthermore, within its complicated and elegant
structure is held the blueprints of every living thing on the planet.
Francis S. Collins is has long been on the cutting edge of DNA research.
He is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and
oversaw the Human Genome Project - which some have called the most
significant scientific undertaking of our time. What most people don't
know about Francis Collins is that he used to be an atheist, but that his
experiences have lead him to believe in the existence of God.
When Collins was practicing medicine he saw the faith displayed by some
of his patients. Their strength in dire circumstances caused him to begin to
ask questions. It was then, that a Methodist minister gave him a copy
of the C.S. Lewis book titled Mere Christianity.
The book opened his
eyes to new possibilities, however the turning point in his life came while
hiking in the mountains. It was the beauty of God's creation that finally
broke his resistance. Today, Collins sees his research as a "glimpse at the
workings of God". Although his beliefs are not without controversy, his story
testifies to the fact that science and faith can co-exist.
According to Collins, "One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression
that has been created that science and religion have to be at war. I don't see
that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill
voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage
for the past 20 years." Collins plans to share his experiences in a book, due
out this summer, titled The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence
for Belief.
Random chance cannot account for the complex design of DNA. It is statistically
and mathematically impossible. In the last 30 years, a number of prominent
scientists have attempted to calculate the odds that a free-living, single-celled
organism, such as a bacterium, might result by the chance combining of
preexistent building blocks. Harold Morowitz calculated the odds as one chance
in 10100,000,000,000 (ten to the one hundred billionth power). Sir Fred Hoyle
calculated the odds that just the proteins of an amoebae arising by chance as
one chance in 1040,000 (ten to the forty thousandth power). The odds calculated
by Morowitz and Hoyle are staggering. Think of it this way, the chances of
winning the state lottery every week of your life from the age of 18 to 99 are
better than the odds of a single-celled organism being formed by random chance.
The probability of spontaneous generation is about the same as the probability
that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard could assemble a 747 from the
contents therein. It is impossible. The evidence all points to the unavoidable
conclusion that we not the product of chance or evolution, but the result of
intelligent design.
THE DESTRUCTION OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
6:51 AM
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