CONSIDER THE EVIDENCE

Can Complex Information Write Itself?

Safely stored in the nucleus of nearly every living cell in your body is an amazing code called deoxyribonucleic acid, abbreviated DNA. It is carried by a long, double-stranded molecule that looks like a twisted ladder. Your DNA is like a recipe, or program, that directs the formation, growth, maintenance, and reproduction of the trillions of cells that make up your body. The basic units that make up DNA are called nucleotides.  These units are called A, C,G, and T, depending on which chemical base they contain. Like letters of the alphabet, these four characters  can be combined in many ways to form "sentences"-instructions that direct replication and other processes within the cell.

The entire package of information stored in your DNA is called your genome. Some sequences of letters in your DNA are unique to you, for DNA contains your hereditary information-your eye color, skin color, the shape of your nose, and so on. Simply put, your genome can be compared to a vast library of recipes for every part of your bod, and the end product is you. 

How large is this "library"?  It is about three billion "letters,"  or nucleotides  (bases), long. If it were transcribed onto paper, the book would fill 200 volumes the size of a 1,000 page telephone book, according to the Human Genome Project. 

These facts call to mind an amazing prayer recorded some 3,000 years ago.  Found in the Bible at Psalm 139:16, it reads:  "Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, and in your book all its parts were down in writing."  Of course the writer did not have science in mind, but in simple language he conveyed an amazingly accurate concept  to illustrate God's awesome wisdom and power. How unlike other ancient  religious writings, which were filled with mythology and superstition!  

Next time: CONSIDER THE EVIDENCE - Who Assembled the "Library"? 

From the AWAKE! magazine, 2011