Part 2
Would a DNA molecule that arose by chance possess
any information, codes,
programs, or instructions? |
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE - The Software
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and
the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon
the earth: and it was so" Genesis 1:11 (KJV)
When George Wald and Francis Crick stated that the
spontaneous origin of
life was "impossible," they were speaking primarily about the origin of the
cellular "hardware." Indeed, when we consider the effect of equilibrium, the
reversibility of biochemical reactions in water and the fact that the
building blocks of life are not safe in the air or on the land,
1 spontaneous
biogenesis stands shoulder to shoulder with raising the dead and walking on
water - events which also defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the
Law
of Chemical Equilibrium - something which cannot be explained by natural law.
However, for the purpose of this chapter we will allow that sometime on the
earth the oceans became filled with spontaneously derived DNA.
The question we must now answer is this: Would a DNA molecule that arose by
chance possess any information, codes, programs, or instructions? To put it
another way - can information, codes, or programs arise by chance? In the
last half of the twentieth century, evidence has accumulated which has
decisively answered this question. The answer profoundly impacts the debate
on the existence of God.
Encyclopedia on a Pinhead: Chance or Design
At the moment of conception, a fertilized human egg is about the size of a
pin head. 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
DNA
chemical "letters" in the human body were printed in books, it is estimated
they would fill the Grand Canyon fifty times! The source of this information
(the "software") is at the very core of the debate on the origin of life.
When Carl Sagan said, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will
be," he was expressing the materialists' position that the universe is a
closed system.
2 That is, they believe that no information or matter can be
inserted into our universe from outside our space-time domain. Consequently,
with no intelligent source, materialists are forced to conclude that the sum
total of the information on the DNA molecule arose by chance.
On the other hand, creationists believe that a transcendent Creator pierced
the veil of our universe and infused information and order onto the chains
of the DNA molecule. Again we see that the debate boils down to chance or
design. To settle this debate we must look at the nature of information as
defined in the field of information science.
The Nature of Information Systems
The modern field of information science has revolutionized our daily lives
in the last four decades. Computers, fax machines, cellular phones and many
other daily conveniences would not have been possible without the rapid
advances in the field of information theory.
In recent years information engineers have examined the nature of the
genetic code and concluded that it is an error correcting digital coding
system. While digital coding systems can be very complex, error correcting
digital codes are much less common and much more complex. Furthermore, the
DNA molecule has built-in redundancy. That is, the same packet of
information (called a gene) is often located in more than one place in the
organism's DNA. Consequently, if one gene becomes corrupted with
informational errors, the backup gene will take over the function of that
gene! This level of complexity is found in only the most sophisticated
computer system.
The DNA coding system can be compared to that of a compact disc. The music
on a compact disc is stored in a digital fashion and can only be appreciated
if you have a knowledge of the language convention used to create the
information on the disc. Appropriate machinery, which functions to translate
that code into music, is also required for the music to be played. In a
compact disc player this decoding process involved dozens of electronic and
moving parts.
It isn't much different in the living cell. The information carried by the
DNA molecule contains the instructions for all the structures and functions
of the human body. Within each cell resides all the necessary hardware to
decode and utilize that information.
When we look at a compact disc, we see no evidence of the musical
information stored on the disc's surface. We see only the rainbow effect on
the surface of the disc. Without the knowledge of the language convention
used to create the disc and the machinery to translate it, we must simply be
content with the colorful surface. This is exactly the same dilemma we face
with spontaneously derived DNA or any information storage system.
3
If we examine the sequence of nucleotides on the DNA molecule, they simply
have the appearance of a long chain of chemicals and not the appearance of a
message system or a code. It is only when one possesses a knowledge of the
language convention (the genetic code) and the appropriate machinery to
translate the coded information on the DNA molecule, that the
nucleotide
sequence becomes understandable. Without such knowledge and machinery, the
sequences on a spontaneously derived DNA molecule are meaningless.
Consequently, the enormous challenge facing the scientific materialist is to
explain how a language convention (the genetic code) and the necessary
cellular machinery to translate the information stored on the DNA molecule
arose independently without intelligent guidance.
The chicken-egg dilemma has confounded scientists for decades. Chemist John
Walton noted the dilemma in 1977 when he stated:
"The origin of the genetic code presents formidable unsolved problems. The
coded information in he nucleotide sequence is meaningless without the
translation machinery, but the specification for his machinery is itself
coded in the DNA. Thus without the machinery the information is meaningless,
but without the coded information, the machinery cannot be produced. This
presents a paradox of the 'chicken and egg' variety, and attempts to solve
it have so far been sterile."
4
By allowing the spontaneous generation of long chains of
DNA, what would you
have? Do those chains of nucleotides possess a code or a program? Of course
not. What you have is an admittedly complex chemical which has the potential
of carrying a code or information. However, there is no inherent information
on such spontaneously generated DNA unless a system of interpreting those
sequences exists first. A couple of simple examples will help us to
understand the nature of this dilemma.
"Save Our Souls!"
If I were to show you a sign which had painted on it the sequence, dot, dot,
dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot, and if you were knowledgeable in Morse
Code, you would know that this means S-O-S, and that I am in trouble.
However, if I take that same sign to an isolated tribe of South American
Indians, they will see the unlikely arrangement of dots and dashes, but
there will be no information content transmitted to them without the
knowledge of the language convention we call Morse Code.
The English Language
Similarly, if I take a book written in English and hand it to an Australian
Bushman, it will make absolutely no sense without a prior knowledge of the
English language convention. Just like the dots and dashes, the 26 letters
of the English language have no inherent information in them.
Their shapes
have the appearance of order (reduced entropy) but by themselves they are
meaningless. It is when you "sheperd" or gather the letters into specific
sequences, as determined by the rules of the previously existent language
convention, that their arrangement begins to have meaning. Unless the
language convention and the hardware (the human brain) to interpret it
exists first, the arrangement of the letters can transmit no meaning.
Primordial Disk Soup
The magnetic disks used to store and retrieve information in computers
provides another fascinating analogy to the DNA molecule. When I purchase a
blank computer disk, have I purchased a code or a program? No. I have only
purchased a chemical medium which has the potential to carry a code or a
program. However, to possess real information the blank disk must be
formatted and programmed by a computer which was in turn built for this
purpose.
While the disk is being formatted a "program" is placed on it from an
intelligent source (the computer) that exists outside and separate from the
disk. This is accomplished by arranging the iron atoms on the disk in a
predetermined fashion according to the rules of the computer's language
convention. Once the disk is formatted and imputed with information, it
weighs no more than it did before this procedure was done. This is because
information has no mass or weight.
As in the case of the 26 letters of the English alphabet, the structure or
shape of the iron atoms on the disk does not convey or possess any
information in and of itself. Rather, information ( a code or program) is
conveyed by the orderly arrangement of the iron atoms. This arrangement of
atoms is then interpreted by the computer's hardware according to the
predetermined rules of the its language convention. Without the hardware and
the pre-existent language convention, the arrangement of the iron atoms is
meaningless.
Does the computer create its own language convention? Obviously not. Just as
the hardware requires intelligent design, so does the computer's language
convention require an intelligent source - a computer programmer.
By allowing an ocean of spontaneously derived DNA, I have given you the
equivalent of an ocean full of blank floppy disks! In order for the DNA
molecule to carry information, its molecules need to be arranged in a
specific sequence as predetermined by the chemical code or language
convention. But the language convention must exist first. According to the
principles of modern information theory, language conventions come only from
an intelligent source - a mind!
Miller and Urey were able to produce the unlikely, ordered building blocks
of proteins. In the future someone may even produce nucleotides by chance
chemical processes. However, without a pre-existent language convention,
these chemical letters will be no more effective in transmitting information
than a random sequence of beads on a string, iron atoms in a disc, or
letters on a page.
Codes by Chance?
In the twentieth century, theories on the origin of the chemical hardware in
living systems have come and gone with each generation.
5 However, theories
on the origin of codes and programs are few and far between. The claim by
creationists that codes, programs and languages conventions, such as the
genetic code, arise only from intelligent sources is often protested by
scientific materialists (although most information engineers have no problem
with this statement). Yet no one has come up with a rational theory on how
true information, which is the antithesis of chance, can arise by random
chance processes. As we will see, however, this problem has led to some
irrational solutions.
One of the most celebrated theories on the origin of information by chance
comes from materialist Manfried Eigen. In his book Das Spiel,
Eigen attempts
to show how a code or program might develop by chance. Eigen argues that if
the letters of the genetic code can arise by chance, then why not the words,
the sentences, the paragraphs and entire book.
Eigen envisions a machine that possesses the remarkable ability to generate,
by chance, the letters of the English language and then randomly shuffle and
combine those letters for millions of years. After examining the volumes of
randomly generated letters we find some rather amazing combinations. The
machine has generated "AND," "MAN," "DOG," "CAT," "The Lord is my sheperd, I
shall not want..." We stand back and see that indeed, this machine has
generated meaningful sentences. Eigen argues that this is proof of the
random chance production of information. Is this true?
In his book, The Natural Sciences Know Nothing of Evolution, A.E.
Wilder-Smith demonstrated the fallacy of Eigen's argument. Wilder-Smith
invites a non-English speaking friend from Switzerland to examine the output
of the machine. Again the machine puts out the random sequences such "HAT,"
"FISH," "BOY," etc. His Swiss friend stares at the machine with a blank
look, quite unlike the smile an Englishman might carry. While the Englishman
stands amazed at the randomly generated information, our Swiss friend points
out that the sequences have no meaning to him at all because he has no
knowledge of the English language convention.
Eigen's argument that "true information" has been generated by chance, is
erroneous because he interprets his sequences by the rules of a previously
existing language convention we call the English language. But where did the
rules of English come from?
Wilder-Smith points out that the sequence of letters has meaning only when
we "hang" the rules and the conventions of the English language on the
sequences themselves. Just as dots and dashes are meaningless without a
knowledge of the Morse Code, so too are the random arrangements of any
letters, chemicals, beads, or magnetic medium meaningless without rules and
conventions by which we interpret the sequences. But the rules of any
language system are themselves arbitrary (i.e. man-made), abstract
agreements between at least two intelligences which declare that a specific
sequence of letters has a certain meaning.
6 Put another way, the rules of
any language system are neither a part of nor conveyed by any natural laws
of nature. Therefore, a language convention, with its rules and regulations,
must be devised first.
Information engineers know that language conventions will not, cannot, and
do not arise by chance. Every information engineer or computer programmer
knows that chance must be eliminated if one is to successfully write a code
or program. In fact, chance is the very antithesis of information.
If Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation commissioned you to write a new
software program and you simply began to type randomly on your computer with
the hope that a new language or program might result, you would likely be
assisted to a psychiatric facility for an extended medical leave of absence.
We know intuitively that this method will never result in the generation of
new information.
Yet, according to evolutionary dogma, the random shuffling of
nucleotides
for millions of years supposedly produced not only the DNA molecule but the
code which governs the storage and retrieval of the information it carries
as well. If we make such a claim, are we not, in effect, asserting that
formatted computer floppy disks, which are filled with millions of bits of
information, can arise by the random combining of iron oxide and plastic
rather than being the product of an intelligent source which is outside and
separate from the floppy disk?
The Monkey and the Typewriter
For centuries scientists have suspected that living systems contain a
mechanism for the storage and retrieval of information used for cellular
metabolism and reproduction. With the elucidation of the structure of DNA in
1953 and the subsequent deciphering of the genetic code in the 1960's this
was finally confirmed. However, the debate on the origin of this cellular
information predates the actual discovery of the DNA molecule by at least
100 years.
As in the case of the cellular "hardware," evolutionists have also appealed
to the magic ingredient of time to explain the origin of the information,
the "software," stored by living systems. Since the 1700's scientific
materialists have argued that, given enough time, anything was possible,
even the origin of the complex programs necessary for the production of
life. Creationists, on the other hand, have argued that where there is
design there must be a designer and where there are codes or language
conventions there must be an architect for such information.
On June 30, 1860, at the Oxford Union in England, this was the very topic in
the "Great Debate" between the Anglican Archbishop of Oxford University,
Samuel Wilberforce and evolutionist and agnostic, Thomas Huxley.
Bishop Wilberforce, a Professor of Theology and Mathematics at Oxford
University, applied the logic of the teleological argument for God. He
argued, as did William Paley, that the design we see in nature required a
Designer. Therefore, the information (an evidence for design) found in
living systems could not arise by chance.
Huxley, on the other hand, declared that given enough time all the possible
combinations of matter, including those necessary to produce a man, will
eventually occur by chance molecular movement. To prove his point Huxley
asked Wilberforce to allow him the service of six monkeys that would live
forever, six typewriters that would never wear out and an unlimited supply
of paper and ink. He then argued that given an infinite amount of these
monkeys would eventually type all of the books in the British Library
including the Bible and the works of Shakespeare!
Applying the mathematical law of probability, Huxley showed that if time
(T) is infinite, then the probability (P) of an event happening is equal to one,
i.e., one hundred percent.
7 Consequently, he argued that with an infinite
amount of time any and all combinations of letters, including the necessary
chemical combinations to produce life, will eventually be typed out purely
by chance, without the necessity of a Creator.
Bishop Wilberforce, a skilled mathematician, was forced to concede the truth
of Huxley's point. To this very day the Monkey/Typewriter argument is
frequently applied by evolutionists when confronted with the question of the
origin of life.
Bishop Wilberforce lost the debate because he was unable to see the flaw in
Huxley's argument. At the time of this debate the nature of biochemical
reactions and the genetic code was not understood. Consequently, Huxley's
argument seemed reasonable. When time is infinite the probability formula
does indeed predict that all possible combinations of letters will occur.
However, with the revolutionary discoveries in molecular biology and
information science in the last four decades, Huxley's use of a typewriter
to simulate the chemical reactions in living systems has, in fact, been
shown to be erroneous.
In the last chapter we saw that the chemical reactions in living systems,
such as the combining of amino acids and nucleotides, are reversible. The
reversibility of these chemical reactions is quite unlike those simulated by
Huxley's typewriter.
A century after the "Great Debate," Professor A.E. Wilder-Smith,
who also
studied at Oxford University, demonstrated the fallacy of Huxley's argument.
Wilder-Smith points out that because the chemical reactions upon which our
bodies run are reversible, for Huxley's argument to be valid, his monkeys
would need to use typewriters which also type reversibly!
8 With each key
stroke such a typewriter places the ink on the paper, and when the key is
released the inks jumps back onto the hammer of the typewriter leaving the
paper reversibly without a trace!
This is, in fact, a more accurate demonstration of what happens in
biological reactions. The building blocks of life continually combine ("type
in") and come apart ("type out") as the solution approaches a state of
equilibrium. With a typewriter that types reversibly-typing in (bonding) and
typing out (uncombining), we will have typed as much in one minute as we
would have in 5 billion years!
9
Huxley's argument is invalidated by the fact that the building blocks in
biological reactions do not stay combined. The building blocks of DNA and
proteins are driven (by the Second Law and chemical equilibrium) to break
down (come apart) in the watery environment in which they supposedly arose.
On the other hand, the hypothetical books typed by Huxley's monkeys are
stable end products. They do not decompose (come apart) into their
individual letters as do the building blocks of life. Therefore, Huxley's
illustrations is an erroneous and inaccurate representation of biological
systems.
Finally, we saw that Stanley Miller's spark and soup experiment generated
50% right-handed and 50% left-handed amino acids. We saw that right-handed
amino acids are, in many cases, poisonous to enzymes and living cells.
Consequently, if the keys in Huxley's typewriter represent a true primordial
soup, every other key stroke would be potentially lethal! How far do you
think the monkeys would get toward typing the genetic code with such odds?
In his character style, Sir Fred Hoyle comments on the improbability that
Huxley's monkeys might type the genetic code:
"No matter how large the environment one considers, life cannot have had a
random beginning. Troops of monkeys thundering away at random on typewriters
could not produce the works of Shakespeare, for the practical reason that
the whole observable universe is not large enough to contain the necessary
monkey hordes, the necessary typewriters, and certainly the waste paper
baskets required for the deposition of wrong attempts. The same is true for
living material."
10
Time: Magic Bullet for Unlikely Villain
When confronted with the many evidences against the spontaneous origin of
life, the scientific materialist will inevitably and repeatedly appeal to
the magic ingredient of prolonged time periods to accomplish biochemical
possibilities. However, as in the case of the chemical "hardware," the
addition of prolonged time periods does not increase the likelihood of
spontaneously derived information.
In the
previous chapter on the origin of the
cellular "hardware," we saw
that the laws of thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium demand that all
systems tend toward disorder with the advance of time. In the field of
information science, these laws have enormous implications as well.
When applied to the field of information science, the Second Law demands
that the total amount of information in a closed system decreases as time
advances.
11 Put another way, as time advances the sum total of the
information stored on magnetic tape, the pages of a book, or the sequences
of a DNA molecule always degrades. This is, in fact, exactly what we observe
with these media. As time advances, DNA molecules collect informational
errors (mutations) and the organism eventually dies. Ancient scrolls lose
their ink. Old recordings become filled with informational noise. In each
case the result is always the same-loss of information.
The Theory of Evolution demands that just the opposite occurs. To change an
amoebae into a human being requires a million-fold increase in the
information stored in the DNA of each cell. According to evolutionary
theory, this increase in information must also occur without any intelligent
guidance. Such an occurrence would not only breach a foundational truth of
information theory-that true information comes only from a mind-it would
also defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics which demands that the
information stored on the DNA molecule must degrade and not increase.
12
In their book Evolution from Space, materialists Sir Fred Hoyle
and Chandra Wickramasinghe address the problem of the origin of the information carried
on the DNA molecule:
"From the beginning of this book we have emphasized the enormous information
content of even the simplest living systems. The information cannot in our
view be generated by what are often called 'natural' processes, as for
instance through meteorological and chemical processes occurring at the
surface of a lifeless planet. As well as a suitable physical and chemical
environment, a large initial store of information was also needed [for the
origin of life]. We have argued that the requisite information came from an
'intelligence,' the beckoning spectre."
13 (Emphasis added)
In this remarkable statement,
Hoyle and Wickramasinghe admit that living
systems require "enormous" amounts of information for their construction.
This information, they conclude, cannot be generated by "natural" or random
chemical processes. Consequently, they assert that the source of the
information is from an "intelligence."
The implications of this admission by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe are mind
boggling. Since, in their opinion, chance "chemical processes occurring at
the surface of a lifeless planet [earth]" cannot create new information,
then the source of information found in living systems must have been of extraterrestial origin!
ET: The Sower of Life?
By the end of the 1960's the evidence from thermodynamics, mathematical
probability and information theory were taking their toll on the
Oparin-Haldane-Miller paradigm. With each new discovery in molecular biology
the concept of spontaneous generation gradually took on the appearance of a
miracle, rather than an unlikely accident of chemistry.
In the 1970's speculation on the origin of life took an unexpected and
bizarre turn. Because the laws of chemistry, physics and mathematical
probability so mitigate against the possibility of spontaneous generation,
scientists began to look for an extraterrestrial source for the origin of
life!
Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, and one of the most respected molecular
biologists in the world, has conceded that the spontaneous origin of life on
earth is "almost a miracle." Consequently, since life could not have arisen
by chance, he proposed that the first life forms on earth were single-celled
"spores" delivered here from interstellar space!
14,
15 This theory, called
"Directed Panspermia," then asserts that these "interstellar spores"
subsequently evolved into all the life forms on earth. Similar conclusions
were drawn by Hoyle in his book Evolution From Space.
16
These men recognized that something beyond the bounds of planet earth was
required to generate the information and complexity found within living
systems.
Scientists recognize that there are only two options for the origin of life:
-
intelligent design or
-
spontaneous biogenesis
Faced with the apparent
impossibility of spontaneous biogenesis on earth, one might have suspected
that these men would invoke a supernatural, extra-dimensional, intelligent
Creator for the origin of life. However, this was not the case. Crick, and
others, have concluded that since life could not have arisen by chance on
planet earth, the laws of chemistry and physics must, therefore, be more
favorable elsewhere in the cosmos and that life arose there first and was
later delivered to earth.
Michael Denton comments on this bizarre twist:
"Nothing illustrates more clearly just how intractable a problem the origin
of life has become than the fact that world authorities can seriously toy
with the idea of panspermia."
17
The dramatic shift from a theistic,
Judeo-Christian world view to a
secularized, neo-Darwinian "age of reason" was accomplished, in part, by
those who desired to explain away the biblical miracle of creation. It is
ironic, therefore, that as we approach the end of the twentieth century some
of the world's most prominent scientists are forced to conclude that life on
earth had an extraterrestial origin. This is, in theory, exactly what the
Bible has said all along. However, the "Extraterrestial" the Bible speaks of
is not just from beyond earth, but from beyond time and space as well!
The assertion that elsewhere in the universe the laws of physics and
chemistry are more favorable for the origin of life is not supported by even
a shred of scientific evidence. To invoke such an explanation is, in effect,
an appeal to something outside the bounds of natural laws, i.e., a
metaphysical, supernatural cause.
In 1981 Sir Fred Hoyle commented on this appeal to metaphysics:
"I don't know how long it is going to be before astronomers generally
recognize that the combinatorial arrangement of not even one among the many
thousands of biopolymers [DNA, RNA, proteins] on which life depends could
have been arrived at by natural processes here on the Earth. Astronomers
will have a little difficulty at understanding this because they will be
assured by biologists that this is not so, the biologists having been
assured in their turn by others that it is not so. The 'others' are a group
of persons who believe, quite openly, in mathematical miracles. They
advocate the belief that tucked away in nature, outside of normal physics,
there is a law which performs miracles (provided the miracles are in the aid
of biology). This curious situation sits oddly on a profession that for long
has been dedicated to coming up with logical explanations of biblical
miracles."
18 (Emphasis added)
If we are to assume that the laws of physics and chemistry are essentially
uniform throughout the physical universe, then we must logically conclude
that life could not have arisen by chance anywhere in the universe.
Even if the laws of physics were found to be more favorable in a distant
corner of the universe, there would still be no explanation for the coded
information (which does not arise by chance) that is carried by the DNA
molecule.
Consequently, the source of the cellular "hardware" as well as the
information carried by the DNA molecule must have been an intelligent,
extra-dimensional one - beyond the bounds of space and time.
"Of the Dust of the Ground"
The evidence presented thus far has brought us to a remarkable conclusion.
As we have seen, the order and complexity in the universe is well beyond the
reach of chance. We have seen that to "wind up" and order the physical
universe requires the introduction of energy and intelligent guidance from a
source outside the bounds of the space-time domain. Furthermore, the
enormous complexity of living systems and the nature of the information on
the DNA molecule cannot be explained by natural laws within the dimension of
our universe.
Surely, at the dawn of the twentieth century, few scientists would have
anticipated that their quest to explain the existence of the universe on
natural grounds would have brought us to the point where their own
discoveries now demand the existence of the very Creator they were trying to
explain away! Any yet, this is exactly what has occurred.
To create the universe and its life forms the Creator must, of necessity, be
transcendent. To create the universe in the first place He must have
preceded it. Secondly, to order and establish the matter within galaxies,
solar systems and living beings, He would need to "enter," in effect, the
arena of space-time that He created. This ability to simultaneously exist
inside and outside the dimensions of the universe demands a transcendent,
supernatural Creator.
To many, invoking a supernatural cause for the origin of the universe is
abhorrent. However, to invoke the god called "chance" is, according to many,
a belief in "mathematical miracles." So we must choose between mathematical
miracles, without a supernatural agent to perform them, or a transcendent
Creator - the "First Cause," who ordered and established the universe and its
life forms. The god called "chance" or intelligent design? You must choose.
For thousands of years the Bible has revealed a transcendent Creator who
acted prior to the origin of our space-time domain.
19 To create the universe
and life on earth, He transcended time and space, then inserted information
or know-how onto matter. The result was the birth of an ordered, energized
universe filled with information and every appearance of contrivance and
design.
Back to
Contents
Footnotes:
1.
Due to the destructive effects of oxygen and UV radiation
2. Carl Sagan,
Cosmos. (Random House, New York, 1980). pg. 4.
3. During the time of recorded history there have been dozens of information
storage and retrieval systems developed by man. The use of clay tablets, ink
on paper, beads on a string and modern computers have all been used to store
and retrieve information. No matter what medium mankind has used, all of
these systems share two vital elements. Each of the systems uses a material
medium (air molecules to carry voice, clay tablets, beads, etc...) to carry
the information. Secondly, each of the systems employs the use of specific
rules and regulations which determine the meaning of the arrangement of the
letters on a page, beads on a string or impressions on a tablet.
Consequently, the information in the Encyclopedia Britannica can just as
surely be stored by beads on a rope as it can with a compact disc.
4. John Walton, "Organization and the Origin of Life" Origins, Vol. 4, No.
1, 1977, pp. 30-31.
5. In the last decade a number of scientists have proposed that RNA and not
DNA was the first self duplicating molecule upon which life arose. The
function of information storage was later transferred to DNA which evolved
later. However, RNA is even more unstable in water. Its chemical bonds are
even more sensitive to the destructive effects of equilibrium in a watery
environment. All of the processes that are destructive to DNA are even more
destructive to RNA. Furthermore, spontaneously derived RNA would also
contain NO information. Others have claimed that the first life forms were
clay based self reproducing systems (See Shapiro). However, no rational
system of converting silica or clay based life to carbon based life is
imaginable. Further, where did the information for reproduction, growth,
metabolism and repair come from in clay based systems?
6. This is one of the fascinating evidences that God exists in at least two
personages.
7. According to the probability formula Pt=l-(l-Pl)t , when time (t) is
infinity then the probability of any event happening Pt approaches 100%.
8. A.E. Wilder-Smith, The Natural Sciences Know Nothing of Evolution, The
Word for Today, Costa Mesa, Ca.
9. The problem is even worse for biological systems. Because of the Second
Law of Thermodynamics and Law of Mass Action, amino acids and nucleotides
"type out" far more readily than they "type in" in a watery environment.
10. Sire Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space: A
Theory of Cosmic Creationism (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981), pgs. 148.
11. In the field of information science, this is actually a corollary to the
Second Law. Applied to information storage and retrieval systems the Second
Law demands that the net amount of information in a closed system always
decreases as time advances. A closed system is an environment in which no
information, matter or energy can be added or removed from beyond its
boundaries. Applied to biology, the sum total of genetic information within
an interbreeding pool of genes will degrade with the advance of time. This
is the very cause of extinction in biological systems. In breeding
situations bringing in "new blood" (new alleles) into an isolated breeding
population has the effect of stabilizing the population and delaying the
inevitable extinction. In this situation new information is "injected" into
the a gene pool that was, in effect, previously a closed system.
12. The Second Law, applied to information theory, demands that in order for
the information in a system to increase it must be inserted from outside the
system from an intelligent source. Since the net amount of information in a
closed system decreases with the advance of time and since, according to
materialists, our universe is a closed system, then at the beginning of
time, the total amount of information in the universe was at a maximum.
Since information does not arise by chance, the challenge for the
materialist is to determine where it came from in the first place?
13. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe, op. cit., pg. 150.
14. Francis Crick, Life Itself, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1981.
15. Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel, "Directed Panspermia", Icarus,
19:341-46.
16. Fred Hoyle, Evolution from Space; 1981.
17. Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, pg. 271, Adler and Adler,
1986.
18. Hoyle, Sir Fred, "The Big Bang in Astronomy, New Scientist, 19 November
1981, p. 526.
19. II Timothy 1:9 "who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was
given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Also, Ephesians 1:4 "just as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love."
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