As a forewarning, I have decided to indulge a little in some
nonscientific musings. It’s been too
long since I’ve written anything, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts of
recent weeks.
Increasingly, as I read fascinating scientific studies from a variety of
sources, I am convinced beyond little doubt that Life is too complex and efficient
to be the result of unguided, accidental evolution. It’s the suicide of intuition
to embrace Darwinism—in any of its godless flavors. My intuition shouts—no
screams!—that Life is designed, one way or the other. Single cells that appear to have eyes, mobility, and hunting skills[1];
the efficient, proton pumps in cells; small creatures with precision guidance
systems that detect the magnetic field of the earth; birds that seem to utilize
quantum entanglement in their eyes[2,3]; tiny fruit flies that can tell
the time and learn to count[4,5]; fireflies that can synchronize
their flashing; and geckos that can use the “van der Waals” force,[6]
all have only one intuitive answer to how they exist: a Higher Intelligence. For
me, I’m not ashamed or afraid to name this Higher Intelligence. It’s the
Omnipotent God of the Bible.
Resorting to “survival of the fittest” as a primary mechanism for efficient
designs in animals is pathetic. That’s like trying to explain how cars avoid
colliding by saying they have brakes and a steering wheel. The controls are
important, but the drivers are much more critical. Those who don’t believe in
God are simply blind. They have closed the eyes of their intuition to follow the
pipedreams of intellectual alternatives that don’t require God. The problem is
that God was necessary, and it’s
pretty obvious. Assuming that God did create the universe and Life, what
happens if you deny this Creator and try to dream up a way that it could have
happened without Him? You endlessly chase evolving theories that are always
inadequate. That’s what Neo-Darwinists do. They are like dogs chasing their
tails, hoping to catch up with themselves. Silly dogs.
Let’s talk general complexity a bit. Our understanding of Life is growing each
year, and the picture is getting overwhelmingly and stunningly complex. Not
only is there an efficient genetic code that all life uses, there’s an
efficient epigenetic environment that the code resides within that effects
which genes are active or inactive. Epigenetics allows organisms to quickly adapt
within a single generation. There’s also four-stranded DNA,[7] circular
RNA,[8] and who knows what else.
Even the simplest cells (prokaryotes) have at least 160,000 letters of genetic
code, which is perhaps equivalent to a 200-page book. They can replicate themselves
rapidly, take in “fuel,” and repair their DNA. They have polyhedral microcompartments.
Many have ways to move about and to modify their environment by secreting
chemicals. That’s just the simplest cells on earth. Going from that to
eukaryotic cells, of which all animals are made, is a quantum leap of
complexity.
Life lives in almost every place on earth. It’s found at the bottom of the
ocean, under super high pressures. It’s found two miles down in the ground,[9]
in the extreme cold climate of Antarctica, in temperatures over 160ยบF, and can even live in the vacuum
of space. Life thrives on earth and can seemingly adapt to any environment.
If you say that wonder and awe and amazement are all just meaningless emotions,
I must disagree. These emotions, to me, are intuitive guideposts. When something
is too good to be true, it usually is. The amazement over Life’s complexity not
only is pleasurable, it is a voice from my intuition that reminds me that Life
is extraordinary, beautiful, and well-crafted by a mind-blowingly intelligent
Designer.
References
[1] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150701133348.htm
[2] http://www.wired.com/2011/01/quantum-birds/
[3] http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-this-is-how-birds-use-quantum-mechanics-to-navigate
[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/05/28/fruit-flies-can-apparently-tell-time/
[5] http://www.wired.com/2012/07/flies-learn-math/
[6] http://news.sciencemag.org/2002/08/how-geckos-stick-der-waals
[7] http://www.livescience.com/26515-4-stranded-dna-human-cells.html
[8] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7441/full/nature11993.html
[9] http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S16/13/72E53/index.xml?section=newsreleases
