DNA
THE DATA SOURCE OF LIFE
The progress of science makes it clear that living beings have an extremely
complex structure and an order too perfect to have come into being by
coincidence. This is evidence to the fact that living beings are created
by an All-Powerful Creator with superior knowledge. Recently, for instance,
with the unravelling of the perfect structure in the human gene-which
became a prominent issue due to the Genome Project-the unique creation
of God has once more been revealed for all to see.
From the U.S.A. to China, scientists from all over the world have given
their best efforts over a decade to decode the 3 billion chemical letters
in DNA and to determine their sequence. As a result, 85% of the data included
in the DNA of human beings could be properly sequenced. Although this
is a very exciting and important development, as Dr. Francis Collins,
who leads the Human Genome Project states, so far, only the first step
has been taken in the decoding of the information in DNA.
In order to understand why the decoding of this information takes so
long, we have to understand the nature of the information stored in DNA.
The Secret Structure of DNA

There is enough information in one DNA molecule to fill 1000 books.
This is encoded in the DNA seen in the picture. All of a person's
features are encoded in an alphabet symbolised in the letters A,T,C
and G. |
In the manufacture of a technological product or the management of a
plant, the greatest tools employed are the experience and accumulation
of knowledge that man has acquired over many centuries. The necessary
knowledge and experience needed for the construction of the human body,
the most advanced and sophisticated "plant" on earth, are stored in DNA.
DNA is a rather large molecule that is carefully protected in the cell
nucleus, and functions as a kind of data bank for the human body. The
information hidden inside DNA controls the thousands of different events
that take place in the cells of the human body and in the functioning
of its systems, as well as all physical features, from the colour of a
person's hair and eyes to his height. For example, even whether someone's
blood pressure is high, low or normal depends on the information in DNA.
The important point that needs to be stressed here is that ever since
the very first human being, the trillions of examples of DNA in the billions
of human cells have been appearing in the same state of perfection and
complexity as at present. As you read the lines below, you will also come
to see how it is clearly unreasonable to claim, as evolutionists do, that
such a molecule, with all its mind-blowing structure and properties, originated
as a result of coincidences.
Volumes of Information in the Human Cell
The information stored in DNA must by no means be underestimated. So
much so that one human DNA molecule contains enough information to fill
a million-page encyclopaedia, or to fill about 1,000 books. Note this
fact well: one million encyclopaedia pages, or 1,000 books. This is to
say that the nucleus of each cell contains as much information as would
fill a one-million-page encyclopaedia, which is used to control the functions
of the human body. To draw an analogy, we can state that even the 23-volume-Encyclopaedia
Britannica, one of the greatest mines of information in the world, has
25,000 pages. Therefore, before us lies an incredible picture. In a molecule
found in a nucleus, which is far smaller than the microscopic cell wherein
it is located, there exists a data warehouse 40 times bigger than the
biggest encyclopaedia of the world that includes millions of items of
information. This means a huge 1000-volume encyclopaedia which is unique
and has no equal in the world. Were one piece of information present in
human genes to be read every second, non-stop, around the clock, it would
take 100 years to complete the process. If we imagine that the information
in DNA were put into book form, the volumes placed on top of each other
would reach 70 metres high. The latest calculations have revealed that
this huge encyclopaedia contains some 3 billion different "subjects."
If the information in DNA were to be written down on paper, that paper
would stretch from the North Pole to Ecuador.
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The DNA molecule in the nucleus
is wrapped up in special covers called chromosomes. The total length
of a DNA molecule wrapped up in the chromosomes is 1 meter. A chromosome
is one nanometer thick, in other words a billionth of a meter. How
is a 1 metre long DNA molecule contained in such a tiny space?
Chromosome packages are actually
made up of much smaller special container systems. The DNA molecule
is first wound around special proteins called histones, just like
a cotton reel. Thus they form structures called nucleosomes. These
nucleosomes are specially designed to protect the DNA and stop it
being damaged. When nucleosomes are strung on to one another, they
form chromatins. Closely wound coiled loops from with the chromatin.
In this way a superb creation squeezes the DNA molecule into a tiny
space only a billionth of its length.
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These examples are an indication of the imposing amount of information
contained in DNA. Yet how can we talk of a molecule containing information?
This is because what we talk about here is not a computer or a library,
but just a piece of flesh that is a hundred thousand times smaller than
a millimetre, simply made up of protein, fat and water molecules. It is
a miracle of astounding proportions that this infinitesimal piece of flesh
should contain and store even a single bit of information-let alone millions
of bits.
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Computers are currently the most advanced form of technology for storing
information. A body of information, which, 30 years ago, was routinely
stored in a computer the size of a room, can today be stored in small
"discs," yet even the latest technology invented by human intelligence,
after centuries of accumulated knowledge and years of hard work, is far
from reaching the information storage capacity of a single cell nucleus.
The following comparison made by the well-known professor of microbiology
Michael Denton, will probably suffice to highlight the contrast between
the tiny size of DNA and the great amount of information it contains:
The information necessary to specify the design of all
the species of organisms which have ever existed on the planet, a number
according to G.G. Simpson of approximately one thousand million, could
be held in a teaspoon and there would still be room left for all the information
in every book ever written.1
How can a chain invisible to the eye, made up of atoms arranged sideways,
with a diametre the size of a billionth of a millimetre, possess such
information capacity and memory? And to this question also add the following:
While each one of the 100 trillion cells in your body knows one million
pages of information by heart, how many encyclopaedia pages can you, as
an intelligent and conscious human being, memorize in your entire life?
Even more important, the cell uses this information quite flawlessly,
in an exceedingly planned and coordinated manner, in the appropriate places,
and never makes any errors. Even before a human being has come into existence,
his cells have already begun the process of building him.
Cells: Building Blocks of Humans
The fertilization of an egg by the sperm means the beginning of a new
human life. Millions of sperm compete to fertilize the egg, although only
one of them will manage to do so. Yet the race is not left to chance or
coincidence, since every phase of it has been created by God with a fixed
outcome. God reveals this truth in a holy verse:
We created you, so why do you not confirm the truth?
Have you thought about the sperm that you ejaculate? Is it you who create
it or are We the Creator? (Qur'an, 56:57-59)
When the father's sperm cell fertilizes the mother's egg cell, the parents'
genes come together to determine all the physical characteristics of the
baby that will eventually be born. Each of the thousands of different
genes has a particular function. It is the genes that determine hair and
eye colour, facial shape, and countless details in the skeleton, internal
organs, brain, nerves and muscles.
When the sperm unites with the egg, a cell forms-the basis of a new human
being-and along with that cell, the first copy of the DNA molecule also
forms, which will carry that person's genetic code inside each cell all
through his life.
In order for that first cell, the fertilized egg, to turn into a human
being, it needs to multiply, and in the knowledge of that, it begins to
divide, with a remarkable consciousness. That consciousness reveals itself
in the next phase. As the cells divide, they begin to grow different and
go to those parts of the body where they are needed. Instead of a mass
of flesh composed of exactly the same cells, some of them turn into eye
cells and go where they are needed, others form heart cells and go to
the chest, and still others become skin cells and cover the whole body.
All the cells multiply as much as is needed for the particular tissue
they will construct, and start joining together to give the tissues the
structure they need, thus beginning to create different organs.
The coordination of this differentiation and structuring is made possible
by the DNA molecule. We must not lose sight of the fact that DNA is neither
a biochemist working in laboratories full of the very latest equipment,
nor a super-computer able to perform trillions of calculations a second.
DNA is a molecule made up of atoms such as carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen,
hydrogen and oxygen.
Let us now consider the following facts: The trillions of cells in the
human body multiply by dividing. Yet different genes in different cells
are activated at different times, and that allows cells to differentiate.
To put it another way, every cell that divides and multiplies after the
first cell contains a complete set of genetic information. In other words,
every single cell possesses the ability to produce heart muscle, skin,
red blood cells or any other tissue in the body. Even though each cell
contains a complete genetic description of the whole body, only some genes
are active at different times in different organs. For instance, every
cell contains the codes for the development and functioning of the kidneys,
yet only the relevant genes are active in that organ, at certain times
in the development phase. Similarly, certain enzymes, glucose-6-phospate
for instance, are found mainly in the liver. Although all the cells of
all other organs also possess the description of this protein, they never
produce it. Eye cells never do; for example, they just make what is necessary
for the eye: nerve cells will carry messages to and from the brain and
the organs, liver cells will purify toxins, and fat cells store food for
times when food is hard to find. None of them ever commit the error of
producing stomach enzymes. So who carries out this flawless division of
labor? Who orders the cells to specialise in different areas after they
have divided and multiplied? Moreover, how do all the cells come by the
consciousness to obey, and whom do they listen to while working with such
flawless discipline and organization? It is quite clear that none of these
are coincidental systems, formed as the result of yet other coincidences.
This flawlessness does not end with the fact that cells appear in the
right place and at the right time, and bring the right genes into play.
Cells also have to be present at the appropriate stage of life, and in
the right quantities. Our "upkeep" genes work the whole time in almost
all our cells. Other genes only function in some cells at a critical period
in life, working for just a few hours before going into dormant mode.
For instance, milk production is accelerated by genes during breastfeeding.
Existing information is activated at the right time, in the right amount,
at the right place. Evolutionists' use of "coincidence" to explain this
conscious, planned, determined, calculated and intelligent direction and
use of the billions of pieces of information concealed in DNA is really
no explanation at all. No system in the world, not even the simplest,
can come about by coincidence, so it is utterly illogical to see the extraordinarily
planned and organised events that go on at the level of microscopic space
as coincidences. In fact, evolutionists admit that they are far from offering
an explanation for this differentiation and division of labour in cells.
The evolutionist microbiologist Professor Ali Demirsoy makes this confession:
In essence, no satisfactory explanation for the development
of groups of cells with very different structures and functions has yet
been provided.2
All these extraordinary events can clearly not be accounted for in terms
of coincidences or being the work of the cells themselves. So, who directs
these developments that occur in the cell, creates them for a particular
purpose, and possesses the intelligence and power to introduce billions
of pieces of information into a tiny space invisible to the naked eye?
The Wisdom in the Cell
In this case, you must admit that any cell in your stomach or ear is
much more learned than you, and since it makes use of this information
in the most correct and perfect way, it is much wiser than you.
But what is the source of this wisdom? How is it that every single one
of the 100 trillion cells in the human body possesses such unbelievable
intelligence, information and ability? These are, after all, piles of
atoms, and they are unconscious. Take the atoms of all the elements, combine
them in different forms and numbers, obtain different molecules, still
you can never obtain wisdom. Whether these molecules are big or small,
simple or complex does not matter. You can never obtain a mind that will
consciously organise any process and accomplish it.
If one day you see the words "Nothing
comes about by chance" written on a piece of paper, you will not
imagine they formed when ink was spilled on it. Every person of
intelligence will think they were written by someone. Evolutionists'
claims regarding the formation of the information inside DNA are
just as totally illogical as saying that the letters on the piece
of paper came about by chance. |
Then how can it be that DNA, which is composed of the arrangement of
a certain number of unwise and unconscious atoms in certain sequences,
and enzymes, working in a harmonious way, is able to organise countless
complicated and diverse operations in the cell in a perfect and complete
manner? The answer to this is very simple; wisdom is not in these molecules
or in the cell that contains them, but in the self who has brought these
molecules into being, programming them to function as they do. Shortly
put, wisdom is present not in the work done, but in the creator of that
work.
Even the most developed computer is the product of a wisdom and intellect
that have written and installed the programs to operate it, and then used
it. Likewise, the cell, DNA and the RNAs in it, and the human being made
up of these cells are nothing but the works of the One who created them
as well as what they do. No matter how perfect, complete and striking
the work is, the wisdom always lies with the owner of the work.
If you saw one meaningful sentence in your notebook on the table, you
would be curious to know who wrote it. You would never think that the
notebook and the pen or the ink came together with the effect of the wind
and wrote this sentence. In DNA, we are talking about billions of pieces
of information each of which is crucial for a human being.
So, why don't we ask the same question about the cell? If the information
in the notebook or the computer was written by someone, then who "wrote"
DNA, which has a far superior and more advanced technology, is designed
in the most perfect manner, created, and placed in the tiny cell, which,
by itself, is another miracle? Besides, to date it has not lost any of
the properties which it has had for thousands of years. What can be more
important for you than to question by whom and why these cells, that function
non-stop so that you may read these lines, see, breathe, think, in brief,
exist and continue to exist, have been brought into being?
Is not the answer to this question that which, in life, you must wonder
about most? One sees great design, planning and order, from the sun in
the sky to the DNA in one's body. To think that any of these things could
be the work of chance is an unacceptable claim, one that is impossible
to take seriously.
No Design Can Happen by Chance
You must have seen the name of a building spelt out in flowers on the
ground in front of it. Looking down at them or from far away, you can
immediately make out the name of the building or company concerned. That
is a sign that the flowers are not there by chance, that they have been
set out by gardeners and landscape designers. You may not see the gardeners
actually doing it, but you can see that it has happened from the name
the flowers spell out.
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Nobody will have any doubt that the parts
of a watch in the picture were designed by somebody. The encoding
of the information in DNA is even more magnificent than the design
in a watch. That being the case, it is a great lie to claim that
that information came about by chance as the result of a decision
by unconscious atoms.
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Alternatively, let us imagine that you leave the tiles scattered about
at random on the table after a game of Scrabble. When you return, you
see that the tiles now spell out the words: "I have won," and you immediately
realize that someone has arranged them in a meaningful sequence. You would
never imagine that they had come together by chance and formed those words,
in just the same way that you would never imagine the name the flowers
spelt out had appeared by chance. In short, if there is a design directed
to a particular end somewhere, then you know that there must definitely
be a designer behind it. You may not have seen the designer, yet you can
be certain of his existence and intention from his work or the traces
he leaves behind him.
The main idea we would like to convey with these examples is this: If
there is even the slightest sign of something planned somewhere, there
certainly lie the traces of a possessor of wisdom. For example, if you
roll white stones down a mountain trillions of times, you will never see
that they come to spell out the name of a building. If there is a word
or a sentence somewhere, everyone will agree that that word or sentence
must have been written by someone. Words without writers, or designs without
designers are quite impossible.
The human body, on the other hand, possesses a structure trillions of
times more complex than the name of a building or the words "I have won,"
and it is again totally impossible to imagine that this complexity could
have come about of its own accord, or by chance. Moreover, the trillions
of DNA that billions of living things have possessed for millions of years
have been used in the most intelligent manner, written in the most perfect
manner with no flaws, and placed in a tiny area invisible to the naked
eye. That being the case, there is a Creator who planned and designed
the cell and the DNA inside it so perfectly. Claiming the opposite means
to go beyond the bounds of reason and attack the very foundations of truth,
reason and logic.
Nevertheless, many people, who would readily say that it is impossible
for letters to arrange themselves to form even three little words, can
listen without objection to the deceit that it was all as a result of
"coincidences" that billions of atoms came together one by one in a planned
sequence and formed a molecule such as DNA, which performs such a super-complex
task. This is just like a hypnotized person's submitting to the hypnotist
and accepting by suggestion that he is a door, a tree or a lizard…
Flawless design samples in DNA are not limited to the above-mentioned
examples. The coding of the data in DNA has been designed in a much more
fascinating and amazing way.
The DNA Alphabet
Think of a jigsaw like the one in the
picture. Every single piece needs to be in its right place for the
puzzle to be completed and a picture emerge. Just like a jigsaw,
all the nucleotides need to be in the correct order set out for
them in order for the DNA molecules to form a perfect living thing
and allow it to survive.
It is of course ridiculous to think that the scattered pieces of
a jigsaw puzzle came together by chance to make the picture below.
It is even more illogical to claim that DNA, which has an incomparably
more perfect design and complex coding system than a jigsaw puzzle,
formed by coincidence. |
The DNA in the cell nucleus has a spiral structure. When this is opened
out, DNA turns into a long, thin string a metre or so in length. The way
that a metre or so of DNA is squeezed into a minute cell nucleus is a
subject requiring further consideration.
The atoms making up DNA have a superior design allowing the maximum amount
of information to be carried in the smallest possible area. Three elements
are found at every step of the two spiral ladders that twist around each
other: sugar, phosphate and hydrogen-containing organic bases that make
up the DNA codes. Although the tools and functions are the same in every
human being, the particular codes that allow people to be different from
one another are made up of these hydrogen bases. The differences in the
way these four different bases are set out are the reason for all the
differences between people. These bases are called Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine,
and Thymine. They are linked to each other according to specific rules.
Like a foreign language that scientists are just beginning to learn to
read, these four types of hydrogen-based organic bases conceal the entire
code of our biological existence.
These bases that make up the DNA molecule are known by their initial
letters, A, T, G and C. The information in the data bank in the cell nucleus
is stored in this way in an alphabet consisting of these four letters.
Each gene, which comprises one portion of the DNA molecule, determines
a particular feature of the human body. Countless properties like height,
eye colour, the material and the shape of the nose, ear, and skull are
formed by the command of the related genes. We can compare every one of
these genes to the pages of a book. On the pages there are scripts made
up of the letters A - T - G - C.
There are approximately 200,000 genes in the DNA of a human cell. Every
gene is composed of a special sequence of nucleotides, the number of which
ranges between 1000 and 186,000 according to the type of the protein it
correlates. These genes hold the codes of nearly 200,000 proteins that
function in the human body and control the production of these proteins.
The Ordering of Genes
One of the most important discoveries of molecular biology was that some
genes are more influential than others. The reason for this is that genes
are set out in a very complicated order. In the fundamental genetic hierarchy
there are genes charged with carrying out functions that are repeated:
making haemoglobin, hair growth, or the production of digestive enzymes
for instance. There are "ordering" genes placed over these worker molecules.
These make the worker molecules work, and also stop them from doing so.
For example, they stop the haemoglobin gene from functioning during childhood.
There is a series of "main controls" over both the workers and "middle
management." Their decisions affect dozens, even hundreds of sub-units.
These genes are so vital that it can be fatal if they are damaged during
the embryo stage.
That is a fact that requires careful consideration. Genes are molecules
made up of atoms. So, how did these molecules set up such an ordered organization
amongst themselves? How is it that a molecule can take the decision to
halt someone's growth and relay that decision to other genes, so that
they may receive, obey and implement it? Who set up that discipline? Furthermore,
trillions of genes have been flawlessly carrying out the same functions
for millions of years, with the same discipline, obedience, intelligence
and consciousness.
To claim that such a system emerged by coincidence is utterly specious.
There is no doubt that it is God, the Lord, who programs the genes so
cleverly and perfectly.
DNA Challenges Coincidence
Today mathematics has proved that coincidence does not play a role in
the formation of the coded information within DNA. Let alone the DNA molecule
made up of millions of base pairs, the probability of the coincidental
formation of even a single gene out of the 200,000 genes making up DNA
is so low that even the word "impossible" hardly expresses it. Frank Salisbury,
an evolutionist biologist, makes the following statement about this "impossibility:"
A medium protein might include about 300 amino acids.
The DNA gene controlling this would have about 1,000 nucleotides in its
chain. Since there are four kinds of nucleotides in a DNA chain, one consisting
of 1,000 links could exist in 41000 forms. Using a little algebra (logarithms)
we can see that 41000=10600. Ten multiplied by itself 600 times gives
the figure 1 followed by 600 zeros! This number is completely beyond our
comprehension.3
That is to say that even if we assume that all the necessary nucleotides
are present in a medium, and that all the complex molecules and enzymes
to combine them were available, the possibility of these nucleotides being
arranged in the desired sequence is 1 in 41000, in other words, 1 in 10600.
Briefly, the probability of the coincidental formation of the code of
an average protein in the human body in DNA by itself is 1 over 1 followed
by 600 zeros. This number, which is beyond even being astronomical, means
in practice "zero" probability. This means that such a sequence has to
be effected under the control and with the knowledge of a wise and conscious
power. There is zero probability of it happening by "accident," "chance,"
or "coincidence."
Think of the book you are reading right now. How would you regard someone
who claimed that letters have come together by chance on their own to
form this writing? It is evident that it was written by an intelligent
and conscious person. This is no different from the status of DNA.
Francis Crick and James Watson won the
Nobel Prize for discovering the magnificent structure of DNA. |
Francis Crick, the biochemist who discovered the structure
of DNA, won a Nobel prize for the research he had carried out on the subject.
Crick, who was an ardent evolutionist, stated the following scientific
opinion in a book he wrote after testifying to the miraculous structure
of DNA: "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 be almost a miracle."4 Even in Crick's
view, who was one of the biggest experts on DNA, life could never originate
on earth spontaneously.
When we consider the sensitive order and balances in the data inside
DNA, it becomes even clearer how it is impossible for them to have come
about by chance. The data in DNA, which is made up of 3 billion letters,
is composed of a special and meaningful sequence of the letters A-T-G-C.
However, not even a single letter should be misplaced in this sequence.
A misspelled word or a single letter error in an encyclopaedia may be
overlooked and ignored. It would not even be noticed. However, even a
single mistake in any base pair of DNA, such as a miscoded letter in the
1 billion 719 million 348 thousand 632nd base pair, would cause terrible
results for the cell, and therefore for the person himself. For instance,
haemophilia (leukaemia) is the outcome of such an erroneous coding. There
are several hereditary diseases that are caused by various disorders in
genetic make-up. The only reason for these potentially very threatening
diseases is that one or a few of the millions of letters in the genetic
code are in the wrong place. Mongolism, or Down's Syndrome, is quite widespread.
It is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in the 21st chromosome
pair in every cell. Another example is Huntington's Disease. The sufferer
is quite healthy up to 35, but then uncontrollable muscular spasms appear
in the arms, legs and face. Since this fatal and incurable disease also
affects the brain, the sufferer's memory and powers of thought grow progressively
weaker.
Human cells contain 46 chromosomes, in
23 pairs. Each pair is responsible for certain activities in the
body. Any defect in the chromosome pairs results in irreparable
damage. |
All these genetic diseases reveal one important fact: the genetic code
is so sensitive and balanced, and so minutely calculated, that the smallest
change can lead to very serious consequences. One letter too many or too
few can lead to fatal sicknesses, or lifelong crippling effects. For this
reason, it is definitely impossible to think that such a sensitive equilibrium
came about by chance and developed by means of mutations, as the theory
of evolution would have us believe. That being the case, how did the enormous
information within DNA come about and how was it encoded? Evolutionists,
who base the roots of life on coincidences, have actually no comment to
make on the subject of the roots of life. When you ask them about the
roots of DNA, in other words the genetic code, you get the same reply
from all of them. Leslie E. Orgel for instance, one of the foremost evolutionist
biochemists of our time, offers the following reply:

A Downs Syndrome child with
one extra chromosome in the 21st chromosome pair. |
We do not understand even the general features of the
origin of the genetic code . . . [It] is the most baffling aspect of the
problem of the origins of life and a major conceptual or experimental
breakthrough may be needed before we can make any substantial progress.5
Those who claim that millions of pages, billions of pieces of information
were written by chance are of course left quite speechless in this way.
In the same way that every book or piece of information has a writer or
owner, so does the information in DNA: and that Creator is our Lord God,
the possessor of superior and infinite knowledge and reason.
A Unique Creation: Self-Replication of DNA
As we know, cells multiply by dividing. While the human body is initially
composed of a single cell, this cell divides and reproduces itself many
times over in a ratio of 2-4-8-16-32...
What happens to DNA at the end of this dividing process? There is only
one DNA chain in the cell. However, it is evident that the newly formed
cell will also require a DNA. In order to fill this gap, DNA completes
an interesting series of operations, every phase of which is a different
miracle. Finally, soon before the cell divides, it makes a copy of itself
and transfers this to the new cell.
Observations of cell division show that the cell has to reach a specific
size before dividing. The moment it exceeds this particular size, the
division process automatically starts. While the shape of the cell begins
to get smoother so as to accommodate the division process, DNA starts
to replicate itself as mentioned earlier.
This means that the cell "decides" to divide as a whole and the different
parts of the cell start to act in accordance with this decision. It is
evident that the cell is devoid of the consciousness to accomplish such
a collective action. The division process starts with a secret order and
the entire cell, including DNA, acts on this order.

DNA synthesis begins
at a specific base sequence, known as the origin of replication.
Here, DNA strands are separated by an enzyme known as DNA helicase,
following which single stranded DNA binding proteins attach to
the unwound strands, preventing them from winding back together.
At the same time, an RNA molecule known as RNA primer is synthesised
between the strands as they detach themselves. This molecule helps
DNA polymerase read nucleotides and initiate replication. DNA
polymerase binds to one strand of the DNA, reads the sequence
of bases on the template strand and then synthesises the complementary
strand. Thus, it reforms a double helix. DNA synthesis proceeds
on both single strands in opposite directions. When the process
comes to an end, two new daughter molecules emerge, each containing
one newly synthesised strand.
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Thanks to the information within DNA,
the proteins that undertake countless tasks in our bodies are produced
with all the features they need. |
First, DNA divides into two to replicate itself. This event takes place
in a very interesting manner. The DNA molecule which resembles a spiral
ladder divides into two like a zip from the middle of the rungs of the
ladder. From now on, DNA divides into two portions. The missing halves
(replicates) of both of the two portions are completed with the materials
present in the milieu. In this way, two new DNA molecules are produced.
In every phase of the operation, expert proteins called "enzymes" that
function like advanced robots take part. Though it seems simple at first
sight, the intermediary processes taking place throughout this operation
are so many and so complicated that to describe the whole event in detail
would take pages.
One thing must not be forgotten here. The enzymes that form
as a result of atoms coming together examine one half of the DNA spiral,
identify those parts that are missing, take the missing parts from the
appropriate places and add them where needed. In this way, the copying
of DNA comes about. The way that tiny unconscious, unreasoning structures
can flawlessly carry out such complex processes, that require consciousness,
knowledge and reason is not to be glossed over by just reading about them.
There are important truths revealed here that need to be considered.
A special enzyme, called telomerase directs
the replication of telomeres. Telomere is the end of a chromosome,
which consists of repeated sequences of DNA that perform the function
of ensuring that each cycle of DNA replication has been completed.
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The new DNA molecules that emerge during replication are checked repeatedly
by inspector enzymes. If any mistake is made-which can be quite vital,
it is immediately identified and corrected. The erroneous code is removed
and replaced by the correct one. Although all these processes take place
at such a dazzling speed-3,000 base pairs are produced in a minute,-all
these pairs are checked repeatedly by the enzymes in charge and the necessary
amendments are made.
The following facts, which are particularly revealing will give a better
understanding of the great speed at which DNA multiplies. The division
of one cell lasts between 20 and 80 minutes, and the information on DNA
needs to be copied and multiplied within that time scale. In other words,
the 3 billion pieces of information in DNA can be copied in between 20
and 80 minutes with no faults or omissions. That is as miraculous as the
perfect reproduction in such a short space of time as all the information
in a library, or 1,000 books, or a million pages. And note carefully,
it is not technological equipment or advanced photocopiers that do this,
but enzymes formed by collections of atoms.
In the newly produced DNA molecule, more mistakes can be made than normal
as a result of external factors. In this case, the ribosomes in the cell
start to produce DNA repair enzymes as per the order given by DNA. Thus,
as DNA protects itself, it also guarantees the preservation of the generation.
DNA repairs itself and permits no errors.
When the DNA synthesis is complete, an error occurs in one nucleotide
in a thousand. Yet such errors have been prepared for. There is
a special group of enzymes charged with repairing errors that occur
during the DNA synthesis. These enzymes identify the error in a
conscious manner and remove the defective nucleotide. They synthetise
a new nucleotide and insert it back during the process. |
The cells are born, they reproduce and die just like human beings. Yet
the life spans of cells are much shorter than the life of the human they
constitute. For instance, the majority of the cells that used to make
up your body six months ago do not exist today. However, you are now able
to survive because they have divided on time to leave their places to
the new ones. For this reason, highly complex operations like multiplication
of the cells and replication of DNA are vital processes which cannot tolerate
even a minor mistake when it comes to man's survival. However, the multiplication
process runs so smoothly that the rate of error is only one in 3 billion
base pairs. And this one error is eliminated by the higher control mechanisms
in the body without causing any problems.
The most interesting point is that these enzymes which help in the production
of DNA and control its composition are actually proteins produced according
to the information coded in DNA and under the command and control of DNA.
There is such an intertwined, perfect system at work that it is by no
means possible for such a system to have attained this state by gradual
coincidences. Just as DNA has to exist for the enzyme to exist, so the
enzyme has to exist for DNA to exist, and for both to exist, on the other
hand, the cell has to exist completely, down to its membrane and all the
other complex organelles it contains.
Many enzymes have to exist alongside
DNA during replication and protein synthesis. The red and yellow
areas in the picture show enzymes that work with DNA. |
The theory of evolution asserting that living beings evolved "step by
step" as a result of "beneficial coincidences" is explicitly refuted by
the above mentioned DNA-enzyme paradox. This is because both DNA and the
enzyme have to exist at the same time. And this shows the existence of
a conscious creation.
All through the day, quite without your being aware of it, numerous operations
and controls are carried out, and many measures are taken in your body
in an incredibly fastidious and responsible manner so that you may lead
your life without any problems. Every single thing carries out its duty
successfully and completely. God has placed at your service countless
atoms and molecules, from the biggest to the smallest, from the simplest
to the most complex, so that you may live a good and healthy life. Such
favour and blessing alone are enough to deserve our constant thanks.
It was God who made the night for you to rest in, and
the day to give you light. God pours out His favour on mankind, yet most
people do not give thanks. (Qur'an, 40:61)
Darwinism Cannot Explain How the Information in DNA Originated
and How It Differs in Every Species
Evolutionists can in no way offer any explanation on the subject of how
DNA originated, and there is yet another point where they reach an impasse.
How is it that fish, reptiles, insects, birds or human beings came to
have different DNA, different genetic information?
Evolutionists answer that question by saying that the body of information
in DNA developed and diversified over time by means of coincidences. The
coincidences they refer to are "mutations." Mutations are changes which
take place in DNA as a result of radiation or chemical action. Sometimes
radioactive radiation happens to fall on a DNA chain and destroys or displaces
several base pairs therein. According to evolutionists, living things
have reached their present perfect state as a result of the diversification
of a single DNA due to these mutations (i.e., accidents).
To show that this claim is unreasonable, let us again compare DNA to
a book. We have already mentioned that DNA is made up of letters lined
up sideways just as in a book. Mutations are like the letter errors that
occur during the type-setting of this book. If you like, we can do an
experiment on this subject. Let us ask for a thick book about the history
of the world to be type-set. During the type-setting, let us intervene
several times and tell the type-setter to press one of the keys blindfolded
and at random. Then let us give this text containing letter errors to
someone else and have him do the same thing over again. Using this method,
let us have the book type-set from the beginning to the end several times,
thus having a few more letter errors added to it at random each time...
Could this history book ever develop by this method? For instance, would
an additional chapter emerge, named, "The History of Ancient China," when
it had previously not been present?
To be sure, the letter errors we have added to the book would not develop
it, but rather ruin it and distort its meaning. The more we increase the
number of faulty copying processes, the more spoiled our book will be.
Yet the claim of the theory of evolution is that "letter errors help
develop a book." According to evolution, mutations (errors) occurring
in DNA have led to beneficial results by accumulating and thus furnishing
living beings with perfect organs such as eyes, ears, wings, hands and
consciousness-related qualities such as thinking, learning, and reasoning.
Unquestionably, this claim is even more unreasonable than the above example
of the addition of the chapter called "The History of Ancient China" to
a book on world history as a result of the accumulation of letter errors.
(Moreover there is no mechanism in nature that causes regular mutations
as in the example of the type-setter making regular mistakes. The mutations
in nature take place much more rarely than the letter errors that would
occur during the type-setting of a book.)
Every "explanation" put forward by the theory of evolution on the origin
of life is unreasonable and unscientific. One outspoken authority on this
issue is the famous French zoologist Pierre Grassé, the former president
of the French Academy of Sciences. Grassé is also an evolutionist, but
he states clearly that Darwinist theory is unable to explain life and
makes his point about the logic of "coincidence," which is the backbone
of Darwinism:
The opportune appearance of mutations permitting animals
and plants to meet their needs seems hard to believe. Yet the Darwinian
theory is even more demanding: A single plant, a single animal would require
thousands and thousands of lucky, appropriate events. Thus, miracles would
become the rule: events with an infinitesimal probability could not fail
to occur… There is no law against day-dreaming, but science must not indulge
in it.6
Indeed, the theory of evolution, which claims that lifeless matter came
together by itself and formed living beings with such glorious systems
as DNA, is a scenario totally contrary to science and reason. All this
leads us to an evident conclusion. Since life has a plan (DNA) and all
living beings are fashioned according to this plan, it is evident that
there is a superior Creator who devised this plan. This simply means that
all living beings are created by God, the All-Powerful, All-Wise. God
states this fact in the Qur'an in this way:
He is God - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form.
To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and
earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Qur'an, 59:24)
Today, what people have achieved by means of technology can at best be
described as "an approach to the understanding of a tiny fragment of God's
knowledge, as manifested in human DNA."
DNA CONFESSIONS FROM EVOLUTIONISTS
The question of how such an extraordinarily designed molecule as DNA
originated is one of the thousands of impasses evolutionists reach. Seeking
to explain life by means of "coincidence," the theory of evolution can
never explain the source of the extraordinary information so perfectly
and meticulously encoded in DNA.
Moreover, the question is not only that of how the DNA chain originated.
That is because, as we have already seen, although the DNA chain exists
with its extraordinary information capacity, it serves no purpose on its
own. In order to refer to life, it is essential that the enzymes that
read this DNA chain, copy them and produce proteins, should also exist.
Simply put, in order to talk of life, both the data bank we call DNA,
and the machines to carry out production by reading the data in the bank
have to co-exist.
To our surprise, enzymes, which read DNA and carry out production accordingly,
are themselves produced according to the codes in DNA. This means that
there is a factory in the cell that both makes many different types of
products, and also manufactures the robots and machines that carry out
this production. The question of how this system, which would be of no
use with a minor defect in any of its mechanisms originated, is by itself
enough to demolish the theory of evolution.
Evolutionist Douglas R. Hofstadter of Indiana University, states his
despair in the face of this question:
"How did the Genetic Code, along with the mechanisms
for its translation (ribosomes and RNA molecules), originate?" For the
moment, we will have to content ourselves with a sense of wonder and awe,
rather than with an answer.7
Another evolutionist authority, world renowned molecular biologist Leslie
Orgel, is more outspoken on the subject:
It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic
acids, both of which are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in
the same place at the same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have
one without the other. And so, at first glance, ONE MIGHT HAVE TO CONCLUDE
THAT LIFE COULD NEVER, IN FACT, HAVE ORIGINATED BY CHEMICAL MEANS.8
Saying "life could never have originated by chemical means" is the equivalent
of saying that "life could never have originated by itself." Recognition
of the truth of this statement results in the realization that life is
created in a conscious way. For ideological reasons, evolutionists, however,
do not accept this fact, clear evidence of which is before their eyes.
To avoid accepting the existence of God, they believe in nonsensical scenarios,
despite their evident impossibility.
Another evolutionist, Caryl P. Haskins, states how the DNA code could
not have emerged by chance, and that this fact is strong evidence for
creation:
But the most sweeping evolutionary questions at the
level of biochemical genetics are still unanswered. How the genetic code
first appeared and then evolved and, earlier even than that, how life
itself originated on earth remain for the future to resolve.... Did the
code and the means of translating it appear simultaneously in evolution?
It seems almost incredible that any such coincidence could have occurred,
given the extraordinary complexities of both sides and the requirement
that they be coordinated accurately for survival. By a pre-Darwinian (or
a skeptic of evolution after Darwin) this puzzle would surely have been
interpreted as the most powerful sort of evidence for special creation.9
In his book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, writing of the invalidity
of the theory of evolution, renowned molecular biologist Prof. Michael
Denton explains the unreasonable conviction of Darwinists:
Michael Denton
|
To the skeptic, the proposition that the genetic programmes
of higher organisms, consisting of something close to a thousand million
bits of information, equivalent to the sequence of letters in a small
library of one thousand volumes, containing in encoded form countless
thousands of intricate algorithms controlling, specifying, and ordering
the growth and development of billions and billions of cells into the
form of a complex organism, were composed by a purely random process is
simply AN AFFRONT TO REASON. BUT TO THE DARWINIST, THE IDEA IS ACCEPTED
WITHOUT A RIPPLE OF DOUBT - THE PARADIGM TAKES PRECEDENCE!10
Indeed, Darwinism is nothing but a totally unreasonable, superstitious
belief. Anyone with any reason would see the evidence for that great fact
by looking at DNA, or any other part of the universe. Human beings and
all living things are created by God, the Almighty, who is the Lord of
all the worlds.
Another example of evolutionists' helplessness: The "RNA
World" Scenario
Ever since the start of the 20th century, evolutionists have developed
various theories to explain how the first living cell emerged. The Russian
biologist Alexander Oparin, who proposed the first evolutionary thesis
on the subject, suggested that in the primitive world of hundreds of millions
of years ago, a series of coincidental chemical reactions led to first
of all proteins, and that cells were then born when these came together.
Discoveries made in the 1970s showed that even the most fundamental assumptions
of this claim, which Oparin made in the 1930s, were mistaken. Oparin's
"primitive world atmosphere" scenario contained the gases methane and
ammonia to allow the formation of organic molecules. However, it was realized
that the hypothesis of an early methane-ammonia atmosphere is without
solid foundation and indeed is contradicted, and that the early atmopherecontained
a large amount of oxygen which destroys organic molecules as they form.
When the Urey-Miller experiment was invalidated,
evolutionists had to embark on a new search. |
This was a big blow to the theory of molecular evolution. Evolutionists
then had to face the fact that the "primitive atmosphere experiments"
by Stanley Miller, Sidney Fox and Cyril Ponnamperuma and others were invalid.
For this reason, in the 1980s evolutionists tried again. As a result,
"RNA World" hypothesis was advanced. This scenario proposed that, not
proteins, but rather the RNA molecules that contained the information
for proteins were formed first. According to this scenario advanced by
Harvard chemist Walter Gilbert in 1986, billions of years ago an RNA molecule
capable of replicating itself, formed somehow by accident. Then this RNA
molecule started to produce proteins, having been activated by external
influences. Thereafter, it became necessary to store this information
in a second molecule, and somehow the DNA molecule emerged to do that.
Made up of a chain of impossibilities in each and every stage, this scarcely
credible scenario, far from providing any explanation of the origin of
life, only magnified the problem and raised many unanswerable questions:
1. Since it is impossible to explain the coincidental formation of even
one of the nucleotides making up RNA, how can it be possible for these
imaginary nucleotides to form RNA by coming together in a particular sequence?
Evolutionist John Horgan admits the impossibility of the chance formation
of RNA:
As researchers continue to examine the RNA-world concept
closely, more problems emerge. How did RNA initially arise? RNA and its
components are difficult to synthesize in a laboratory under the best
of conditions, much less under really plausible ones.11
2. Even if we suppose that it formed by chance, how could this RNA consisting
of just a nucleotide chain have "decided" to self-replicate and with what
kind of a mechanism could it have carried out this self-replicating process?
Where did it find the nucleotides it used while self-replicating? Even
evolutionist microbiologists Gerald Joyce and Leslie Orgel express the
desperateness of the situation in their book titled In the RNA World:
This discussion... has, in a sense, focused on a straw
man: the myth of a self-replicating RNA molecule that arose de novo from
a soup of random polynucleotides. Not only is such a notion unrealistic
in light of our current understanding of prebiotic chemistry, but it would
strain the credulity of even an optimist's view of RNA's catalytic potential.12
3. Even if we suppose that there was self-replicating RNA in the primordial
world, that numerous amino acids of every type ready to be used by RNA
were available and that all of these impossibilities somehow took place,
the situation still does not lead to the formation of even one single
protein. For RNA only includes information concerning the structure of
proteins. Amino acids, on the other hand, are raw materials. Nevertheless,
there is no mechanism for the production of proteins. To consider the
existence of RNA sufficient for protein production is as nonsensical as
expecting a car to assemble itself by simply throwing the blueprint onto
a heap of parts piled on top of each other. A blueprint cannot produce
a car all by itself without a factory and workers to assemble the parts
according to the instructions contained in the blueprint;in the same way,
the blueprint contained in RNAcannot produce proteins by itself without
the cooperation of other cellular components which follow the instructions
in the RNA.
When the need is felt for a protein in
a cell, a signal is sent to the DNA molecule. The DNA molecule receiving
the signal understands which protein is needed. Then the DNA makes
an RNA copy carrying specific information for making a protein,
which is called messenger RNA. After receiving the information,
mRNA leaves the nucleus and heads straight for the ribosomes, the
protein production factory. At the same time, another RNA copied
from the DNA, called transfer RNA, carries the amino acids for the
proteins to the ribosomes. Each tRNA is an "adapter" molecule that
can link with a specific amino acid. The tRNA which carries the
amino acid sequence information of the protein to be formed settles
in the production site of the ribosome. The amino acids brought
by the tRNA take their places according to the sequence notified
by the messenger RNA. Then another RNA molecule copied from DNA,
called ribosomal RNA, enables the messenger and transfer RNAs to
join together. Amino acids brought in by the transfer RNAs develop
peptide bonds to form protein chains. The messenger RNAs leave the
ribosome having deposited their loads. The protein that is produced
then proceeds to where it will be used. |
Proteins are produced in the ribosome factory with the help of many enzymes,
and as a result of extremely complex processes within the cell. The ribosome
is a complex cell organelle made up of proteins. This leads, therefore,
to another unreasonable supposition-that ribosomes, too, should have come
into existence by chance at the same time. Even Nobel Prize winner Jacques
Monod, who was one of the most fanatical defenders of evolution, explained
that protein synthesis can by no means be considered to depend merely
on the information in the nucleic acids:
The code is meaningless unless translated. The modern
cell's translating machinery consists of at least 50 macromolecular components,
which are themselves coded in DNA: the code cannot be translated otherwise
than by products of translation themselves. It is the modern expression
of omne vivum ex ovo [all life from eggs, or idiomatically, what came
first, the chicken or the egg?]. When and how did this circle become closed?
It is exceedingly difficult to imagine.13

The above picture shows protein chains
produced in the ribosome. |
How could an RNA chain in the primordial world have taken such a decision,
and what methods could it have employed to make protein production happen
by doing the work of 50 macromolecular components on its own? Evolutionists
have no answer to these questions.
Dr. Leslie Orgel, one of the associates of Stanley Miller and Francis
Crick from the University of California at San Diego, uses the term "scenario"
for the possibility of "the origination of life through the RNA world."
Orgel described what kind of features this RNA would have had to have
and how impossible these would have been in his article, "The Origin of
Life," published in American Scientist in October 1994:
This scenario could have occurred, we noted, if prebiotic
RNA had two properties not evident today: A capacity to replicate without
the help of proteins and an ability to catalyze every step of protein
synthesis.14
As should by now be clear, to expect these two complex and extremely
essential processes from a molecule such as RNA is only possible from
the evolutionist's viewpoint and with the help of his power of imagination.
Concrete scientific facts, on the other hand, make it explicit that the
"RNA World" hypothesis, which is a new model proposed for the chance formation
of life, is an equally implausible fable.
Life Cannot Be Explained by the Coming Together of Lifeless
Molecules
Let us forget all the impossibilities for a moment and suppose that a
protein molecule was formed in the most inappropriate, most uncontrolled
environment such as the primordial earth conditions.
The formation of only one protein would not be sufficient; this protein
would have to wait patiently in this uncontrolled environment without
sustaining any damage, until another molecule was formed beside it by
chance under the same conditions. It would have to wait until millions
of correct and essential proteins were formed side by side in the same
setting all "by chance." Those that formed earlier had to be patient enough
to wait, without being destroyed despite ultraviolet rays and harsh mechanical
effects, for the others to be formed right next to them. Then these proteins
in adequate number, which all originated at the very same spot, would
have to come together by making meaningful combinations and form the organelles
of the cell. No extraneous material, harmful molecule, or useless protein
chain would have to interfere with them. Then, even if these organelles
were to come together in an extremely harmonious and co-operative way
with a plan and order, they should have to bring all the necessary enzymes
close to themselves and become covered with a membrane, the inside of
which would have to be filled with a special liquid to prepare the ideal
environment for them. Now even if all these "highly unlikely" events actually
occurred by chance, would this molecular heap come to life?
 |
Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe
|
The answer is "No," because research has revealed that the mere combination
of all the materials essential for life is not enough for life to get
started. Even if all the essential proteins for life were collected and
put in a test tube, these efforts would not result in producing a living
cell. All the experiments conducted on this subject have proved to be
unsuccessful. All observations and experiments indicate that life can
originate only from life. The assertion that life evolved from non-living
things, in other words, "abiogenesis," is a tale existing only in the
dreams of the evolutionists and completely at variance with the results
of every experiment and observation.
In this respect, the first life on earth must also have originated from
other life. This is a reflection of God's epithet of "Hayy" (The Alive,
The Ever-Living). Life can only start, continue, and end by His will.
As for evolution, not only is it unable to explain how life began, it
is also unable to explain how the materials essential for life have formed
and come together.
Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University describes the reality he
faced as a scientist who had been told throughout his life that life had
emerged as a result of chance coincidences:
From my earliest training as a scientist, I was very
strongly brainwashed to believe that science cannot be consistent with
any kind of deliberate creation. That notion has had to be painfully shed.
At the moment, I can't find any rational argument to knock down the view
which argues for conversion to God. We used to have an open mind; now
we realize that the only logical answer to life is creation-and not accidental
random shuffling.15
|
THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
The second law of thermo- dynamics, which is accepted
as one of the basic laws of physics, holds that under normal conditions
all systems left on their own will tend to become disordered, dispersed,
and corrupted in direct relation to the amount of time that passes.
Everything, whether living or not, wears out, deteriorates, decays,
disintegrates, and is destroyed. This is the absolute end that all
beings will face one way or another, and according to the law, the
process cannot be avoided.
This is something that all of us have observed. For
example if you take a car to a desert and leave it there, you would
hardly expect to find it in a better condition when you came back
years later. On the contrary, you would see that its tyres had gone
flat, its windows had been broken, its chassis had rusted, and its
engine had stopped working. The same inevitable process holds true
for living things.
The second law of thermodynamics is the means by which
this natural process is defined, with physical equations and calculations.

If you leave a bus unattended in
the desert it will gradually fall apart and lose all its features.
The next time you look, you see the tyres have burst, the windows
have broken, the bodywork is rusted and the engine has failed.
This inevitable process happens even faster in living things.
In the same manner, all systems in the universe fall apart without
conscious intervention. |
This famous law of physics is also known as "the law
of entropy." In physics, entropy is the measure of the disorder
of a system. A system's entropy increases as it moves towards from
an ordered, organised, and planned state towards a more disordered,
dispersed, and unplanned one. The more disorder there is in a system,
the higher its entropy is. The law of entropy holds that the entire
universe is unavoidably proceeding towards a more disordered, unplanned,
and disorganised state.
The truth of the second law of thermodynamics,
or the entropy law, has been experimentally and theoretically established.
All foremost scientists agree that the law of entropy will remain
the principle paradigm for the foreseeable future. Albert Einstein,
the greatest scientist of our age, described it as the "premier
law of all science." Sir Arthur Eddington also referred to it as
the "supreme metaphysical law of the entire universe."1
Evolutionary theory ignores this fundamental law of
physics. The mechanism offered by evolution totally contradicts
the second law. The theory of evolution says that disordered, dispersed,
and lifeless atoms and molecules spontaneously came together over
time, in a particular order, to form extremely complex molecules
such as proteins, DNA, and RNA, whereupon millions of different
living species with even more complex structures gradually emerged.
According to the theory of evolution, this supposed process-which
yields a more planned, more ordered, more complex and more organised
structure at each stage-was formed all by itself under natural conditions.
The law of entropy makes it clear that this so-called natural process
utterly contradicts the laws of physics.
Evolutionist scientists are also aware of this fact.
J.H. Rush states:
In the complex course of its evolution,
life exhibits a remarkable contrast to the tendency expressed in
the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Where the Second Law expresses
an irreversible progression toward increased entropy and disorder,
life evolves continually higher levels of order.2
The evolutionist author Roger Lewin expresses the thermodynamic
impasse of evolution in an article in Science:
One problem biologists have faced
is the apparent contradiction by evolution of the second law of
thermodynamics. Systems should decay through time, giving less,
not more, order.3
Another defender of the theory of evolution, George
Stravropoulos, states the thermodynamic impossibility of the spontaneous
formation of life and the impossibility of explaining the existence
of complex living mechanisms by natural laws in the well-known evolutionist
journal American Scientist:
Yet, under ordinary conditions, no
complex organic molecule can ever form spontaneously, but will rather
disintegrate, in agreement with the second law. Indeed, the more
complex it is, the more unstable it will be, and the more assured,
sooner or later, its disintegration. Photosynthesis and all life
processes, and even life itself, cannot yet be understood in terms
of thermodynamics or any other exact science, despite the use of
confused or deliberately confusing language.4
As we have seen, the second law of thermodynamics constitutes
an insurmountable obstacle for the scenario of evolution, in terms
of both science and logic. Unable to offer any scientific and consistent
explanation to overcome this obstacle, evolutionists can only do
so in their imagination. For instance, the well-known evolutionist
Jeremy Rifkin notes his belief that evolution overwhelms this law
of physics with a "magical power:"
The Entropy Law says that evolution
dissipates the overall available energy for life on this planet.
Our concept of evolution is the exact opposite. We believe that
evolution somehow magically creates greater overall value and order
on earth.5
These words well indicate that evolution is a dogmatic
belief rather than a scientific thesis.
The Myth of the "Open System"
Confronted by all these truths, evolutionists have
had to take refuge in a mangling of the second law of thermodynamics,
saying that it holds true only for "closed systems," and that "open
systems" are beyond the scope of this law.
An "open system" is a thermodynamic system in which
energy and matter flow in and out. Evolutionists hold that the world
is an open system: that it is constantly exposed to an energy flow
from the sun, that the law of entropy does not apply to the world
as a whole, and that ordered, complex living beings can be generated
from disordered, simple, and inanimate structures.
However, there is an obvious distortion here. The fact
that a system has an energy inflow is not enough to make that system
ordered. Specific mechanisms are needed to make the energy functional.
For instance, a car needs an engine, a transmission system, and
related control mechanisms to convert the energy in petrol to work.
Without such an energy conversion system, the car will not be able
to use the energy in petrol.
The same thing applies in the case of life as well.
It is true that life derives its energy from the sun. However, solar
energy can only be converted into chemical energy by the incredibly
complex energy conversion systems in living things (such as photosynthesis
in plants and the digestive systems of humans and animals). No living
thing can live without such energy conversion systems. Without an
energy conversion system, the sun is nothing but a source of destructive
energy that burns, parches, or melts.
As can be seen, a thermodynamic system without an energy
conversion mechanism of some sort is not advantageous for evolution,
be it open or closed. No one asserts that such complex and conscious
mechanisms could have existed in nature under the conditions of
the primeval earth. Indeed, the real problem confronting evolutionists
is the question of how complex energy-converting mechanisms, such
as photosynthesis in plants, which cannot be duplicated even with
modern technology, could have come into being on their own.
The influx of solar energy into the world would be
unable to bring about order on its own. Moreover, no matter how
high the temperature may become, amino acids resist forming bonds
in ordered sequences. Energy by itself is incapable of making amino
acids form the much more complex molecules of proteins, or of making
proteins form the much more complex and organised structures of
cell organelles. The real and essential source of this organisation
at all levels is conscious design: in a word, creation.
The "Chaos Theory" Evasion
Quite aware that the second law of thermodynamics renders
evolution impossible, some evolutionist scientists have made speculative
attempts to square the circle between the two, in order to be able
to claim that evolution is possible. As usual, even those endeavours
show that the theory of evolution faces an inescapable impasse.
One person distinguished by his efforts to marry thermodynamics
and evolution is the Belgian scientist Ilya Prigogine.
Starting out from chaos theory, Prigogine proposed
a number of hypotheses in which order forms from chaos (disorder).
However, despite all his best efforts, he was unable to reconcile
thermodynamics and evolution. This is clearly seen in what he says:
There is another question, which
has plagued us for more than a century: What significance does the
evolution of a living being have in the world described by thermodynamics,
a world of ever-increasing disorder?6
Prigogine, who knows quite well that theories at the
molecular level are not applicable to living systems, such as a
living cell, stresses this problem:
The problem of biological order involves
the transition from the molecular activity to the super-molecular
order of the cell. This problem is far from being solved.7
This is the point most recently arrived at by the chaos
theory and related speculations. No concrete outcome has been attained
that would support or verify evolution, or eliminate the contradiction
between evolution, law of entropy, and other physical laws.
Despite all these evident facts, evolutionists try
to take refuge in simple subterfuges. Plain scientific truths show
that living things and the ordered, planned, and complex structures
of living things could in no way have come into being by coincidence
under normal circumstances. This situation makes it clear that the
existence of living beings can only be explained by the intervention
of a supernatural power. That supernatural power is the creation
of God, who created the entire universe from nothing. Science has
proven that evolution is still impossible as far as thermodynamics
is concerned and the existence of life has no explanation but Creation.
1 Jeremy
Rifkin, Entropy: A New World View, New York, Viking Press, 1980,
p.6
2 J.H.Rush, The Dawn of Life, New York, Signet, 1962, p.
35
3 Roger Lewin, "A Downward Slope to Greater Diversity,"
Science, vol. 217, 24.9.1982, p. 1239
4 George P. Stravropoulos, "The Frontiers and Limits of
Science," American Scientist, vol. 65, November-December 1977,
p.674
5 Jeremy Rifkin, Entropy: A New World View, p.55
6 Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, Order Out of Chaos,
New York, Bantam Books, 1984, p. 129
7Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, Order Out of Chaos,
p. 1758  |
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