Each of our body’s cells contains approximately 2 metres of DNA. Yet it is wrapped so tightly it can fit in the cell’s 10 micrometre nucleus. Each cell’s DNA weighs a microscopic 6.4 picograms (that is 6.4 billionths of a milligram). Yet, it contains the amazing genetic code from which the entire body is built. DNA is the recipe for every protein, enzyme, cell, organ and body system.
In no other avenue of life do we come across codes or instructions and presume they have appeared by themselves. Software coding is clearly the work of a computer programmer and a recipe book will have been written by an expert chef or baker. Codes and instructions are evidence of the author’s intelligence. Surely we must question the idea that DNA has evolved over millions of years by mindless chance.
Just as it is important for a baker to follow a recipe in the correct order, so it is vital that DNA is decoded in the correct order. Even very small changes to parts of the code can cause serious genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntingdon’s disease. More major alterations are fatal.
DNA does not exist in isolation. It is central to an amazing process that engineers all kinds of protein structures. Specific sections of DNA are decoded by special enzymes, then transported to other micromachines inside the cell, where they are used to build cell structures and other products. Such mind-boggling complexity could not have evolved all at once. If there was DNA but no way of building proteins from it, nothing would happen. So, too, if the decoding enzymes were present but there was no DNA, there would be no growth or reproduction. No life. To have been of any use, the first DNA must have been created along with the equipment necessary for decoding it.
The intricacy of this entire process raises a serious problem for the theory of evolution. Of course, when Charles Darwin suggested his theory in 1859, he knew nothing about DNA. It was only discovered in 1953. Had DNA been discovered earlier, I am doubtful that the theory of evolution would have gained such widespread acceptance.
The Bible teaches us that in the beginning we were created by God (Genesis 1:27). Each of us bears our Creator’s “fingerprints” in our DNA. He is the Almighty Engineer of the code from which we are built, as well as all the equipment needed for decoding it. The Bible teaches that He loves us and has a purpose for our lives, yet we have turned our backs on Him in pride and unbelief. He is calling us to turn back to Him in repentance and to trust His Son Jesus Christ for salvation before it is too late.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him;
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).
