DNA, that huge molecule contained in every chromosome of every cell in our body, is a treasure store of coded information which contains intricately detailed instructions. Every known code is the product of a mind. Codes do not originate by themselves. Written languages, for example, are codes -- products of intelligent minds. Our DNA and the DNA of all living things contains nearly unimaginable quantities of ordered, coded information.
The DNA molecule, an elegant example of design, not only for its own design features, but also for the functionality it imparts to body systems, is a damaging refutation of those who scoff at the very concept of intelligent design anywhere in our universe. With the exception of identical twins, every person on earth has DNA unique to him or her. It is composed of chemically linked groups of atoms called nucleotides stacked in pairs like rungs on a ladder. The ladder is twisted into a double helix, or spiral. The nucleotides arrange themselves in groups of two, called base pairs. There are three billion base pairs in the DNA of one human cell. Think of these as letters of an alphabet. There are only four "letters," but their instructional sequence is crucial. The sequence tells other molecules what to do.
Information in the DNA molecule preserves every single detail of genetic inheritance, and contains a mechanism for passing on that information to one's children. In that tiny micro-speck of material is a catalog of instructions for building a complete human being distinct from six billion others. He is also distinct from any of the five million other species present on earth today. The wonder of life is that each of these five million species uses the same DNA template. Obviously, the base pair letters are in a different order! What mind devised the system plan? and what mind thought up the order of the base pairs?
Let's quote Eugene Peterson's The Message translation of Psalm 139:13-17. "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God -- you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration -- what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. Your thoughts -- how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!"
