Part Six: WHY EVOLUTION CAN’T EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF INFORMATION CONTAINED IN DNA

Observationally as well as scientifically, nature virtually screams out for created order and design. From the simplest one-celled organism to the human brain (the most complex matter in the known universe), intelligence and purpose are clearly at work.

Another powerful and compelling evidence for this is the incredible amount of information programed into DNA. “A single cell in the human body contains as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica—all thirty volumes—three or four times over.” (How Now Shall We Live, 75) Today’s blog will explore where this vast amount of information housed in DNA originated—something Darwinists can’t do.

Living things possess a nonmaterial property called information. This information is a language or “molecular message” programed into DNA. (DNA provides instructions to the cells for constructing proteins.) However, because the information contained in DNA is nonmaterial—it isn’t physical matter—it can’t be identified as, or reduced to, the actual chemical composition of the DNA. Therefore, it is not subject to evolutionary processes. As philosopher of science, Stephen Meyers, put it, “Neither chance, nor chance combined with natural selection, nor self-organizational processes have the causal power to produce information.” (The case for a Creator, 237.)

So, where did the information in DNA originate? Creationists argue that the vast amount of information housed in DNA—how it’s encoded and transmitted—requires an intelligent source. It had to have been programmed into DNA because the information content in DNA is information—not matter. Just like the information in my new book (see the cover photo and short synopsis on my homepage) is more than paper and ink existing independent of my thoughts, so information in DNA cannot be reduced to merely physical properties. In other words, the information housed in DNA must be programmed into DNA, just as my thoughts are printed as specific words in the book. The information in our DNA requires and intelligence source—a Programmer—not accidental processes as natural selection would require.

As an analogy, think of the difference between our immaterial minds and our physical brains. If you look at brain cells through a microscope, you would only see brain tissue—not thoughts. Our thoughts are a property of our minds, which is the essential faculty of our souls. (This is why our minds remain intact within our souls when our souls leave our bodies at physical death.)  Likewise, the information and instructions within DNA can’t be explained as merely physical properties that arose out of random evolutionary processes. Information can’t evolve and randomness produces disorder, not order; it does not organize data. An intelligent Creator (God) had to have programmed the vast amount of information into DNA. ©

This brings us to another assumption of naturalistic evolution: the fossil record confirms Darwinism. In next week’s blog we’ll see why the fossil record does no such thing.

Note:  This series –  and many of my blog series during the past six-plus years – are fully developed in Defending Your Faith. It can be ordered by clicking on “order books” above.