Divine Language of Life Within Us (The Origin of DNA)

“His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (Rom. 1:20). The human body is composed of trillions of cells. Inside every cell lives God’s instructions that write us into being. These instructions are written in the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule, better known as DNA. Now, under the microscope, in the twenty first century, His divine poetry can be seen inscribed in mankind.

In 1953, 94 years after Darwin’s “Origin of Species”, James Watson and Francis Crick elucidated the previously undiscovered DNA molecule. It is a double helix structure that most of us are familiar with. The interior of the helix is composed of nucleotides, which appear as rungs on a ladder. The backbone of the structure is composed of sugars and phosphate. The nucleotides are a four letter alphabet that has to be in specific order in the molecule to create specific life, just like specific numbers must be in specific order to call a specific place. The alphabet is A, T, G and C. This stands for adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. These nucleotides transmit heredity and are the required blueprint to build the proteins in our body, which perform the functions necessary for us to live. For instance, AGTTCAGCCTAAG would be a small section of one strand of DNA. If the sequence is not in exact order, the life form containing this DNA sequence would not be what it is. Nucleotides are not “like” an alphabet, they serve the same function as English language characters creating a story. All characters must be in proper sequence, or the story you read on a page doesn’t make much sense. The difference is nucleotide letters tell a story that has literally come to life!

This is the most accurate and concise explanation of protein synthesis I can put on paper: The DNA molecule is run through the RNA (ribonucleic acid) polymerase where the strand of DNA is unwound and copied to create mRNA (m for messenger). This process is called transcription. The mRNA then travels to the ribosome where the four letter nucleotide alphabet is translated into a twenty letter amino acid alphabet. This process is called translation. Once the specifically arranged nucleotides have been translated to a specifically arranged polypeptide chain of amino acids, the chain can then fold properly to become one protein. Once again, if not in proper sequence, the amino acid chain will not fold properly to become a protein. This truly is an amazing process and can be viewed as an animation at signatureinthecell.com. To put things in perspective, a simple bacterium requires 482 proteins written by 562,000 nucleotide letters in perfect sequence. If these nucleotides were not in proper sequence there would be no bacterium to begin with.

Bill Gates commented on nucleotide sequence specificity saying, “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created”. Another software engineer commented on DNA and the cell’s processing system saying, “It gives me an eerie feeling that someone else figured this out before we got here”. There are three possible explanations for this specificity that is, undeniably, necessary for our existence. The first is chance, the second is chemical attraction, causing certain nucleotides to bond, and the third is creation by an intelligent mind.

First we will look at chance hypothesis. Seeking to put an exact number on the chance of one protein being formed by chance, Douglas Axe, at Cambridge, took a short 150-amino-acid chain and ran the numbers to find the statistical probability of this occurring by chance. Keep in mind, the amino acid chain is already the product of a specific (and unlikely) nucleotide sequence translated into an amino acid sequence in the ribosome. What were his results? “The odds of getting even one functional protein of modest length (150 amino acids) by chance….is no better than 1 chance in 10 to the power of 164.” This is an unfathomable number, yet evolutionists will gamble on this number (though I bet never with their own money). For a detailed explanation of this research, see Douglas Axe. For more statistical chance analysis on this topic see Dr. William Dembski. The DNA enigma eludes statistical chance hypothesis. The above number is the chance of getting one short amino acid chain, not even a whole bacterium, or one human body!

Next, we have to consider chemical bonding probabilities, or chemical affinities. Is there a chemical reason that would favor certain nucleotide bases, causing them to attach to the DNA backbone in a specific sequence? Dr. Stephen Meyer along with organic chemist Tony Mega spent considerable time researching this exact question. They concluded that nucleotide sequences are not produced by any chemical bonding affinity but said, “Instead, the same type of chemical bond (an N-glycosidic bond) occurs between the base and backbone regardless of which base attaches. All four bases are acceptable: none is chemically favored”. This means something that is not chemically detectable is deciding the specific nucleotide sequence that spells out life.

What do we know of that can communicate specific information, which is highly improbable, for the purpose of serving a function? The answer to this is intelligence. If John walked into Montana and found a pile of rocks that spelled out, “Welcome to Montana, John”, would this be by complete chance, or maybe the rocks are chemically bonded somehow? Or, would it be pretty safe to say an intelligent mind knew John was coming and arranged the rocks to communicate specific information John would understand? From cave paintings to advanced computer software, the only thing that we know of that can communicate functionally specific information is intelligence. When speaking of functionally specific DNA information Dr. Meyer explains how natural causes A through X do not produce evidence E. However, intelligence Y can and does produce evidence E. Logical conclusion: Y is the best explanation for E.

So what is the evolutionary explanation for the origin of nucleotides and amino acids? Most evolutionists say it arose, with no guidance, from a “pre-biotic soup”. This is not much of an explanation and is contradicted by actual scientific evidence. The problem is if there ever was a “pre-biotic soup” filled with nucleotide and amino acids, it would have left large deposits of nitrogen rich minerals. There are none. Leading Geochemist, James Brooks, asserts, “We can be reasonably certain that: there never was any substantial amount of primitive soup on earth when pre-Cambrian sediments were formed”. The Cambrian period Brooks is referring to is the Cambrian Explosion when the multi-cellular life forms that we know today appeared suddenly in a very short period of time over 500 million years ago, not gradually over time. This is not opinion, it is in the fossil record, but that is a story for another day.

In the end, I have to admire the faith of the atheistic evolutionist. Based on the evidence given, it takes a monumental amount of faith to believe we came to be by pure chance, when all of the evidence testifies to the contrary. I have only scratched the surface of the biological evidence supporting intelligent design. God has also left His fingerprints in Astronomy, Physics, Geology, etc. It is important to understand that none of these scientists I have cited are religiously motivated. They use rigorous scientific methodology and draw conclusions based on empirical evidence, as true science always has. Many of them are leading experts in their field. When looking at the evidence objectively, it just so happens they all have come to the same conclusion about creation having a creator that the Church has been teaching for 2,000 years. What a “coincidence”. “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). We are all the physical product of divine language , roaming the earth as God’s walking stories.

Works cited: Meyer, Stephen. “Signature In The Cell”.

Harper One, 2009.