Malankara World

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Are Science and Christianity Compatible?

Chapter 5: DNA: The Language of Life

Although the Bible tells us that Jesus created all life, it says nothing about how He did it. However, some of the mysteries of creation are now being discovered.

For example, in the past half century, scientists have learned that a tiny molecule called DNA is the "brains" behind each cell in our bodies and every other living thing. Yet the more they discover about DNA, the more amazed they are at the brilliance behind it.

Although evolutionists believe that DNA evolved through natural selection, they have no idea how such an intricately complex molecule could ever have begun by mere chance. DNA's intricate complexity caused its co-discoverer, Francis Crick, to believe that it could never have originated on earth naturally. Crick, an evolutionist who believed life is so complex it must have come from outer space, wrote:

"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 almost be a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going." 10

The coding behind DNA reveals such intelligence that it staggers the imagination. A mere pinhead of it contains information equivalent to a stack of paperback books that would encircle the earth 5,000 times. And DNA operates like a language with its own extremely complex software code. Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that the software of DNA is "far, far more complex than any software we have ever developed." 11

Materialists believe that all this complexity originated through natural selection. Yet, as Crick remarked, natural selection could never have produced the first molecule. Since no scientific process, including natural selection, can explain DNA's origin, many scientists believe that it must have been designed.

It is understandable for Christians to see DNA as evidence for a Creator. But for a renowned atheist to change positions after 50 years of lecturing and debating against God would be an event of seismic implications, especially to materialists.

Yet, that is exactly what happened with Professor of Philosophy, Antony Flew. After proclaiming atheism in university classrooms, books, and lectures for fifty years, Flew's atheism came to an abrupt end when he learned of the intelligence behind DNA. Flew explains why he is no longer an atheist:

"What I think the DNA material has done is to show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together. The enormous complexity by which the results were achieved look to me like the work of intelligence4.It now seems to me that the finding of more than fifty years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design." 12

Although Flew is not a Christian, he now admits that the "software" behind DNA is too complex to have originated without a "designer." And Flew is certainly not alone. The discovery of the incredible intelligence behind DNA has convinced many former agnostics and atheists that life in our universe is not an accident.

Next: Chapter 6: Fingerprints of a Designer | Previous: Chapter 4 | Table of Contents | References

© 2007 B&L Publications. This article is a supplement to Y-Jesus magazine by Bright Media Foundation & B&L Publications: Larry Chapman, Chief Editor.

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