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Where did genetic information come from?In my article “How Complex Information Systems Point to the Existence of God”, I pointed out that for information to have a useful meaning you need a code that is agreed upon and understood by both the writer and the reader of the code. The people from SETI believe that where you find a complex coded message, you can safely assume that an intelligent being sent it. But when it comes to genetic information Evolutionists claim that the information evolved. Scientists who are Creationists believe that the evidence points to God as the writer of the code in our DNA, not evolution. So could a bird evolve from a simple living cell?There is actually no such thing as a “simple” living cell. Even the simplest of cells are full of complex systems and the genetic information in a microbe’s DNA would fill about 1,000 pages. People and birds have many times that amount; people have about 500,000 pages of information in their DNA. A microbe’s DNA cannot make wings because it does not contain the DNA code for wings. It cannot make lungs, feathers, beaks or many other features that a bird has encoded in its DNA. A bird’s DNA has much more information than a microbe’s DNA. So could Evolutionists be right when they claim that the information was built up gradually through many millions of years of evolution. The idea behind evolution is that if you have something that makes a copy of itself, add in some slight changes each time it is copied, allow it to compete for limited resources so that the good copies survive and the bad copies die out, you will have a gradual build up of new genetic information. So there are two places where the information is supposed to come from. One is the competition to survive and that is called “natural selection” and the other place is the slight changes and those changes are called “genetic mutations”. Let’s have a look at these key points and see if we can get enough new information to explain where birds got the genetic information for lungs and feathers. Does information come from natural selection?Natural selection itself cannot make any new information. Selection can only choose which copies are going to survive. An example would be longhaired dogs in a cold climate. Longhair helps dogs to survive in cold conditions. When more dogs with long hair survive, they will be more likely to survive long enough to pass on their genes. Over time you get fewer and fewer genes for short hair. So eventually, all you are left with are longhaired dogs that only have the genes for long hair. Consequently the genetic information for short hair would have been lost so these dogs will no longer be able to produce the shorthaired variety of dog. That is not molecules to man type evolution, it is not an increase in information; it is a loss of information because the information for short hair has been lost. So far from adding information, in some situations natural selection actually removes information.Does information come from genetic mutations?What is a genetic mutation? A genetic mutation is like a spelling mistake. A mutation occurs when a mistake is made while the DNA is being copied. The copying process is actually quite efficient since there is less than one mistake for every one billion letters copied. That amazing accuracy is due to the ability of the complex molecule that does the copying. That molecule is actually able to check its own work and correct its own mistakes.So can mutations help to improve a species? Imagine someone changing the letters in a book one letter at a time and occasionally inserting a new letter until the book was a completely different book. The challenge would be to make such changes so that every change would actually improve the latest version of the book. The problem with using mutations to add information (like changing letters in a book) is that mutations actually destroy information. Most mutations that you hear about are harmful. Mutations reduce complexity and knock out function, they don’t add to it. There are only a few extremely debatable examples of mutations that are considered to actually add new information to the DNA. (Creationists would dispute whether they actually do add information). For evolution to work (even at a slow rate), there should be hundreds of known information adding mutations. Working against the possible build up of any good mutations is the gradual increase of harmful mutations (the genetic load). There are thousands of mutations in the human population alone that are known to be harmful. Any one person is likely to have about 300 hundred harmful mutations. Fortunately these mutations are not often expressed since we have two parents and we usually obtain at least one good gene from one of our parents. So there is no evidence that there are anywhere near enough good mutations being added to the population at a fast enough rate to explain how evolution could occur. If natural selection and mutations cannot give you enough new information then evolution cannot change a microbe into a bird. I believe that the best explanation is that God created us. This article is only meant to be a basic introduction to this subject. For more articles on creation and evolution (both technical and non-technical) as well as responses to more technical arguments that evolutionists use, visit www.creationontheweb.com and use their search or info section. How can we get to know our Creator?The Bible promises that anyone who seeks God in earnest will find him. If you would like God to be real in your life then ask him to reveal himself to you. There are no special words that you need to use; prayer is just talking to God,I have a number of articles on this website that I wrote to help people who want to find out more about Jesus. I’ve written an article with a link to a free online Bible with a modern English translation that is easier to understand. On my “Evidence page” I have links to websites that provide information on the evidence that Jesus came back to life after being dead. I also have an article that tells you how to become a Christian. |