* "The theory of large-scale evolution uses the fossil record as a history book that documents the story of the evolution of increasingly more complex organisms through deep time (many millions of years). This history book begins with marine invertebrates, which are preserved in Cambrian rocks. From that beginning, the passage of time is recorded in the rock layers stacked on top of the Cambrian layer, each successive layer containing fossils of new, more complex life forms. Fish are found quite early in the record, then amphibians, and later, reptiles, which are followed by birds and mammals, with humans being one of the last types to appear as fossils.
There is a problem, however, in the fossil record that Darwin agonized over because he realized it could compromise his theory. In most cases each group of organisms appears as fossils without a series of intermediate forms showing how they evolved from their supposed ancestors.
* There is no law that specifies the order in which the letters are placed on the paper. The order of the letters is determined by ideas, by information; and ideas and information are the province of an intelligent mind. Information originates only in intelligence.
Like books, life is comprised of two components: physical molecules and the information contained in the sequences of those molecules. Simple biological molecules, like amino acids, will form by the unaided action of chemical laws. But amino acids by themselves don’t make anything alive. These simple molecules, and many others, must be arranged in the proper sequence to function properly. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is controlled by the sequence of another kind of simple molecules—nucleotides—also found in DNA. These amino acids and nucleotides are like bricks. Bricks alone won’t make a palace; there must also be an engineer and a blueprint.
Life exists because every life form contains a massive amount of information recorded in an incredibly complex and wonderful instruction book inside its cells—DNA. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that there is no adequate explanation for such information other than that an intelligent “inventor”—in this case, God—put it there.
* In fact, the environment that we grow up in even makes what are
called epigenetic changes in how the DNA is interpreted. These
epigenetic changes don’t alter the DNA, but they do influence how
that DNA blueprint is interpreted, changing the offspring of those
organisms. Those changes may be passed down several
generations. And if the environment returns to what it was
originally, the organisms can go back to interpreting the
information in the DNA in the original way.
In other words, because of epigenetics, the conditions in which a baby is born and raised can affect it and its offspring negatively or positively for several generations. This makes one think of the biblical statement, “The Lord . . . punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation’” (Num. 14:18, NIV). It seems that He who inspired the Bible writers knew something about epigenetics.
* More than a decade ago, at an annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, a
prominent evolutionary scientist said that the neo-Darwinian synthesis needs to be redone, and “this time we aren’t going to blow it.” Only now is his meaning finally becoming evident. Over the past several decades, molecular biology research has revealed increasing levels of sophistication in the operation of every cell in the human body. King David marveled that we are so “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14, NKJV).
Leonard R. Brand, Ph.D., is Professor of Biology and Paleontology and Chair of the Department of Earth and Biological Sciences at Loma Linda University
There is a problem, however, in the fossil record that Darwin agonized over because he realized it could compromise his theory. In most cases each group of organisms appears as fossils without a series of intermediate forms showing how they evolved from their supposed ancestors.
* There is no law that specifies the order in which the letters are placed on the paper. The order of the letters is determined by ideas, by information; and ideas and information are the province of an intelligent mind. Information originates only in intelligence.
Like books, life is comprised of two components: physical molecules and the information contained in the sequences of those molecules. Simple biological molecules, like amino acids, will form by the unaided action of chemical laws. But amino acids by themselves don’t make anything alive. These simple molecules, and many others, must be arranged in the proper sequence to function properly. The sequence of amino acids in a protein is controlled by the sequence of another kind of simple molecules—nucleotides—also found in DNA. These amino acids and nucleotides are like bricks. Bricks alone won’t make a palace; there must also be an engineer and a blueprint.
Life exists because every life form contains a massive amount of information recorded in an incredibly complex and wonderful instruction book inside its cells—DNA. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that there is no adequate explanation for such information other than that an intelligent “inventor”—in this case, God—put it there.
* In fact, the environment that we grow up in even makes what are
called epigenetic changes in how the DNA is interpreted. These
epigenetic changes don’t alter the DNA, but they do influence how
that DNA blueprint is interpreted, changing the offspring of those
organisms. Those changes may be passed down several
generations. And if the environment returns to what it was
originally, the organisms can go back to interpreting the
information in the DNA in the original way.
In other words, because of epigenetics, the conditions in which a baby is born and raised can affect it and its offspring negatively or positively for several generations. This makes one think of the biblical statement, “The Lord . . . punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation’” (Num. 14:18, NIV). It seems that He who inspired the Bible writers knew something about epigenetics.
* More than a decade ago, at an annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, a
Leonard R. Brand, Ph.D., is Professor of Biology and Paleontology and Chair of the Department of Earth and Biological Sciences at Loma Linda University