Thought for the Month - January 2011

"Monkeys don't pray" By Barry Adair

(It's not all in the genes)

I need to tell you something. You are special.

There is no one else alive today or who has ever been alive today who is exactly the same as you. If you are reading this today and just don't feel that you matter all that much, please read on…

I was looking into genes (genes, not jeans) this month. It was Dr Robert Beckett's excellent talk in Grove recently on "Evolution explains life, or does it?" that put the subject into my head.

So on to genes then.

Genes contain the blueprint for life. Well, after Dr Beckett's talk and my intensive 3 week research(!) what I can tell you is that the whole subject is mind blowing. It is both incredibly complicated and yet behind it all there is a relatively simple 'code'. The discovery of this 'code', called DNA, only occurred a little over 50 years ago. This DNA code is made up of only 4 protein building blocks and is found in every one of the millions of cells in our bodies.

In my day job I write 'code', we call it Software. This code is used to Control and Monitor aircraft engines. A current example would be the Trent 1000 engine on the new Boeing 787 aircraft. Just like this code is written to control many aspects of an aircraft engine, so I believe the DNA code in our genes was written to control many aspects of all the cells in our bodies. And to write something intelligent requires someone who is intelligent. Some of the rubbish code I have written on an off day has shown me this only too well!

It's not all in the genes though…

I think I mentioned along the way I was a Christian. It probably wouldn't surprise you if I told you that I prayed! So why pray? Christians pray because they KNOW that Someone is listening! What I always find intriguing is the stories I read and news footage I see where people, who have no time for God, will openly tell you that they prayed at times of great fear or danger. So why the sudden need to pray? I honestly don't think that it is an 'insurance policy', in that, they are praying just in case someone 'out there' can help them. No, it is something deeper than that. There is a knowledge of God in everyone. I mean where did our conscience come from? Did it evolve? Hardly an evolutionary "survival of the fittest", "strongest wins", "kill before you're killed" kind of trait, is it? We all have an in-built knowledge of right and wrong. Atheists have a big problem with why religion hasn't died out over the years. So why then is religion still so necessary to so many people in the world today? From an Evolutionary point of view, it just doesn't make any sense. And it doesn't make any sense unless you can see that as children of God, we all still have some traits (however well hidden) from our Creator!

And, of course, monkeys don't pray!

Going back to my 'gene study', I was also reading about the "Genome Project" which ran from 1990 to 2003. In a nutshell, this project was all about trying to de-code the information contained within human DNA. I also read that the Director of the Genome Project was an American called Francis Collins. Here was an interesting man, author of "The Language of God". An 'out and out' Atheist for much of his time at University, Francis Collins became a Christian during his early working life from what he saw in the natural world and through his interest in genes. The intelligence, complexity, order, beauty, structure and yet inherent 'simplicity of life' pointed him to the Author of that life.

For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He (Jesus) is before all things, and by Him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17)

If you can come to see the truth about life, you will conclude that an intelligent Designer was behind it all. This still requires a leap of faith as we do not have proof; not being there when life came into existence, of course!

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone… (Job 38:4-6)

In fact, if you still don't believe that God was needed to start life, then the amount of faith required to believe that this intelligent design occurred from nothing but a random fluke would be astronomical.

He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. (Job 26:7)

The chances of life occurring at random in our universe is so improbable that even some of the best non-Christian minds have had to leave room for a Supernatural Being.

He (God) has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

I firmly believe that although Darwin was honestly trying to piece together how life began, he came to the wrong conclusion that there was no need for a Creator. Of course, I have no problem believing in natural selection between animal 'types'. It is the final conclusion that life did not require a Creator that I cannot believe in. Even the so-called "simple" lifeforms have now been shown to be at lot more complex than first imagined. Perhaps if Darwin knew what we know today he may have come up with a different conclusion.

I will leave you this month with the perfect summary on how everything really did come into existence, and all contained within the first three verses of the gospel of John. Till next month then (DV)…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1-3)

(All quotations are from the NASB)

Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!