Some of you do not, or feel that you cannot believe in Christianity. The purpose of the next several posts is to clarify exactly where Christians are coming from. Today we will consider creation. Are we created beings, or did we evolve? The facts go like this: For the naturalist, the creation of life first depends on something called “chemical evolution.” Chemical evolution is credited with having chanced upon the necessary building blocks of life. We then need “biological evolution” to get from the earliest form of life all the way to you and me. For brevity, we will limit today’s discussion to chemical evolution. This concept credits undirected and completely random chemical activity with bringing about abiogenesis (the creation of life from non-life). To be successful, chemical Evolution must have created the 20 building block amino acids and millions of complex proteins under uncontrolled conditions. In contrast, only the most basic examples of this biological chemistry have been assembled under laboratory conditions. In each case, scientists began with pure materials and did their work in a controlled atmosphere and under sterile working conditions. Nothing approaching a complete cell has yet been assembled in a laboratory. In view of these modest accomplishments, it is safe to conclude that chemical evolution would be far less likely to have occurred underneath a primordial rock, as naturalists would have us believe. For a moment however, let’s assume that somehow, undirected chemical processes could have produced the complete structure that we associate with a living cell. What exactly is this force we call “life” that is absolutely essential to making the cell operate? To this point, nobody knows. Let’s suppose that I could simply hand you this mysterious force? We would immediately encounter another problem. The data that regulates the operation, repair and specialized activities of the cell exists as a numeric code in the DNA. The coding of the DNA data is implemented in base chemicals and is interpreted in three bit bytes, called codons. The data contained in the DNA is absolutely essential for control of the machinery inside each living cell. Let’s sum this up. The chances of assembling twenty amino acid building blocks and millions of complex proteins under field conditions is, to quote experts, “Vanishingly small.” And, if I were to spot you a completed cell structure, the nature of the life force that makes it run is, as of now, totally unknown. Finally, the numerical language that runs the cell is just that, language. We know of no instances where language has self-assembled in the non-biological world; languages are always the product of an intelligent mind. Now, let’s apply this discussion to the Christian belief in a creator. Unlike science, which is bound to consider only natural causes, Christians also believe in a Supernatural cause. We believe that the evidence clearly supports the existence of an intelligent, Supernatural God, who created life, and who created mankind. Check out these references. They will help you further understand our position.
Recommended Reading:
Holy Bible, Holy Spirit inspired, Genesis 1 Verses 1-31 and Genesis 2 Verses 1-25
Darwin’s Black Box, by Michael J. Behe, Free Press, copyright 2006
In Six Days, a collection of essays edited by John F. Ashton PhD, Master Books, Copyright 2000
YouTube presentations:
James Tour speaks to the Dallas Conference on Science and Faith