Does common design point to evolution or to a Creator?
Application: God created humanity in His image, to operate in the same environment as the plants and animals in His creation.
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Supplemental Information
All of the creatures God made to exist in this world have several important common factors: they were built from the materials God placed in this world, and they were made to operate in this environment. These similarities account for the majority of the commonality in DNA that is observed today.
Homology
The similarities in organisms have been used by some scientists to support the theory of evolution. This is called homology. Homology is not a good basis for a belief in evolution. It implies that similarity of construction in organisms in the result of convergent evolution. which is defined as the separate evolution of similar structures because of similar environmental demands. This implies that evolutionary processes are goal oriented. And yet, a fully random, unguided process cannot progress towards any specific goal, only a designer can do that.
DNA similarities are often presented as a justification for evolution. However, the similarities are not as extensive, or conclusive as they are often portrayed. Evolutionists claim that 95-99% of human DNA is similar to chimpanzee DNA. This is used as justification for common ancestry.
Humans have 50% of our genes identical to those in yeast. We have a lot of the same genes as many other organisms because our cells and their cells function in much the same way and operate in the same environment. The machinery that allows a cell to grow, divide, store energy, and do the other basics of life work the same way in us as they do in yeast. We also use many of these other organisms, such as yeast, as food, so it is helpful that they are made with the same material, using the same proteins, as we are.
Since we're talking about differences, your genetic code is 99.9% identical to that of the next person you meet. A difference of one letter in the gene code is called a "Single Nucleotide Polymorphism", or SNP for short and your collection of SNPs help to make you an individual. But in the wrong place, SNP's can be disastrous. Diseases like sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis, tay-sachs disease, and many cancers are caused by the changing of a single nucleotide in 3 billion. This explains why the idea of beneficial mutations (required for evolution) is untrue.
So, even though we share common data points in our genetic information, and even if this level of similarity is true (and new research suggests that taking into account not just content, but the sequence of DNA, genome-wide, only 70% of the chimpanzee DNA was similar to human under the most optimal sequence-slice conditions), how is the 1-5% difference explained between humans and chimpanzees explained? We can observe significant dissimilarities between chimpanzees and humans, is this small difference in the genetic code enough of a difference?
Hox Genes
Hox genes provide part of the answer. In order for development to proceed in any organism, a whole cascade of coordinated genetic and biochemical events is necessary so that cells divide, change shape, migrate, and finally differentiate into many cell types, all in the right sequence at the right time and place. These cascades and the resulting cell divisions, shape changes, etc., are mutually interdependent. Interrupting one disrupts the others. Hox genes regulate the process and determine what cell differentiation will occur, and in what sequence. They are the master scheduler as God's plan to create each living organism is completed.
While the instructions within DNA for creating proteins and structures may be very similar (accounting for DNA similarity among many organisms) the specific process for using these proteins is critical in deciding what, or who, is being created. Since all of God's creatures must exist in very similar environments on earth, and must be built using the same materials God created on this earth, similarity is just good design. The plan is the important part. It is that plan that makes YOU.
The Real Common Ancestors
Genetic research has also shed light on who your ancestors really are. Mitochondria are organelles in the cells of every human that carry a small amount of DNA. Mitochondria are inherited only through the egg from the mother, allowing the identification of descendants from any female lineage. Variations in mitochondrial DNA between people have conclusively shown that all people have descended from one female, just like the Bible says.
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. The Y chromosome is one of the two sex chromosomes in humans (the other is the X chromosome). Y chromosomes are passed on to sons from their father, and just as mitochondrial DNA shows that all have descended from one female, Y chromosome analysis suggests that all men have descended from one common ancestor, Adam. Just as describe in Scripture.
Scripture References
"Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45
"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:14
"Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." Genesis 2:7
"He answered, 'Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female...'" Matthew 19:4
Related Videos
Dr. John Andelin is an independent researcher and author creating materials to combat the false narrative that evolution is science. In this video he addresses issues related to homology.