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Unlocking the Darwin Debate

Unlocking the Darwin Debate

A statue of Charles Darwin stands in front of the Elizabethan building which was in Darwin's time Shrewsbury School, and the school he attended as a boarder, and which is now Shrewsbury's library. | (Photo: Shropshire Tourism)


What's the greatest discovery in the history of biology? If you said "seedless watermelons," you're close. Actually, it's probably the discovery of DNA.

It's hard to imagine in this age of genetic engineering, but scientists in Darwin's time saw life as quite simple. Cells were thought to be blobs of primitive chemicals called "protoplasm." But as technology advanced and scientists were able to peer inside the cell, they discovered something amazing: Every living thing actually contains intricate, microscopic machines, performing functions without which life would not be possible.

The real breakthrough, came in 1953 when Watson and Crick uncovered the structure and function of DNA — the molecule that programs and regulates cells. It revolutionized our understanding of life. And it stretched Darwin's theory to the breaking point.

DNA is essentially a form of incredibly efficient digital code, uniquely suited for storing the blueprints of living things. And for something microscopic, it's huge. The human genome contains over a gigabyte of data!

Of course, like digital code on a hard drive, DNA can be corrupted. The most recent iteration of Darwin's theory claims that these corruptions — called mutations — are the engines of evolution.

But here's the problem: We don't have a single example of a mutation resulting in a net gain of information. Not one.

Eric Metaxas is an Evangelical speaker and bestselling author.




One great place to start is a new video from the Discovery Institute that condenses the main argument for intelligent design to a snappy 20 minutes. It's called "The Information Enigma," and features noted ID authors Dr. Stephen Meyer and Dr. Douglas Axe.

Here are the basics: Using an analogy from Dr. Meyers' book, "Darwin's Doubt," the video compares DNA with a bicycle lock.

"The reason a bike lock works," explains Meyer, "is that there are vastly more ways of arranging those numeric characters that will keep the lock closed than there are that will open the lock."




It's a powerful argument, and one I'd love you to understand and use. Come to, click on this commentary, and I'll link you to Discovery Institute's excellent new video. Then share it with your friends, and start some intelligent conversations about intelligent design.

This article was originally posted here
