The yeast cell is incredibly complex. It has a well-organized nucleus with DNA and microscopic machines that sort, transport, and modify molecules—all of which are vital for the life of the cell.
What Life Tells Us
Living things grow, move, and multiply all around us. They make our planet uniquely beautiful. And today mankind knows more about living things than ever before. What does life tell us about its origin? Consider the following.
Life appears to be designed. Cells are spoken of as the building blocks of life. Like tiny factories, they perform thousands of extremely complex tasks to sustain and reproduce life. Such intricate complexity can be found virtually everywhere. For example, consider baker’s yeast, which is a single-celled organism. Compared to the human cell, the yeast cell may seem simple. Yet, it is incredibly complex. Yeast cells have a well-organized nucleus with DNA. They are equipped with microscopic “machines” that sort, transport, and modify molecules—steps that are vital for these organisms to live. When a yeast cell runs out of food, it launches a sophisticated chemical process that slows down its activity. This allows baker’s yeast to remain dormant, but alive, in a kitchen pantry until it is activated by the baking process.
Scientists have been studying yeast cells for decades in order to understand human cells better. But they still have a long way to go. “There are just not enough biologists around to do all the experiments we want to do to understand how even yeast works,” laments Ross King, professor of machine intelligence at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.
What do you think? Does the mind-boggling complexity of the humble yeast cell give evidence of design? Could such design have come about without a designer?
Life can come only from life. DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each human cell has 3.2 billion nucleotides. These compounds are arranged in a precise pattern so that the cell can make enzymes and proteins.
The chance of even the simplest strand of nucleotides spontaneously forming the right pattern has been calculated to be 1 in 10150 (1 followed by 150 zeros). An event such as this would be a virtual impossibility.
The fact is that no scientific experiments have proved that life can arise spontaneously from nonliving matter.
Human life is unique. As humans, we possess characteristics that enable us to enjoy life to the full—and in ways that no other species can. We have advanced creative abilities, social skills, and feelings. We fully appreciate tastes, smells, sounds, colors, and sights. We plan for the future and search for meaning in life.
What do you think? Did those characteristics evolve in us because we needed them to survive and reproduce? Or could they indicate that life is a gift from a loving Creator?