I am a believer in God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in His son, Jesus Christ. This is the first of a six part series about Why I Believe.
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Life on this planet is amazing. The earth is well-suited for supporting a planet wide system of ecosystems. The physical properties of the earth provide a stable environment for life to thrive, and the ecosystems help stabilize the physical environment. It is though they were designed for each other. Each ecosystem is an ongoing, complex interaction between living plants, animals, and microbes. Each living entity is birthed, thrives, reproduces, and is eventually recycled. It thrives by extracting readily available resources from its physical and biological environments, and when it is recycled, its components are broken down and made available as resources for other organisms.
Not only is each ecosystem is well suited to its environment, but is also adaptable, adjusting its mix of organisms to adapt to changes in its local environment. Hundreds, or even thousands of species happily coexist in the same area, many in helpful symbiotic relationship with other species. It appears to be a well-designed system.
The ecosystems contain myriads of multicellular organisms—plants, animals, and other creatures. These creatures have amazing diversity and complexity, and are adapted to a wide variety of environments, from the tundra to the tropics and everywhere in between. They can be found at the tops of mountains and at the tops of rain forests, and also at the bottom of ocean trenches around volcanic vents. They range in size from tiny mites who spend their entire lives on someone’s skin, to giant sperm whales that daily travel between the ocean surface to breathe and the bottom of the ocean to eat.
Each multicellular organism is exquisitely designed, but each is composed of basically the same thing—cells. Each cell is a complete organism in its own right—it is birthed (through mitosis), extracts resources from its environment, thrives, reproduces, and is eventually recycled. Each cell knows its function in the body, and assumes the form necessary to perform that function. The form can be a skin cell, a muscle cell, a nerve cell, a root cell, a leaf cell, or one of hundreds of other forms. Each cell, in a healthy body, lives in a harmonious and non-competitive relationship with the other cells in the body, putting the needs of the body above its own needs. Even though an animal’s body may be composed of trillions of individual cells, it behaves as a single individual. That’s utterly amazing.
So, how is it possible that each cell knows what form to take and perform its function in the body, so that the body as a whole can function as a single organism? And at the same time, how is it possible that each body knows how to function successfully within its own unique niche in its ecosystem? It is because each cell in the body (except for red blood cells) contains a digital processing system complete with software to make it all happen. The software and all the data needed for the construction and operation of each cell, as well as the entire body is stored as digital information in the DNA located in the nucleus of each cell. The cell also has a digital processor implemented in biochemistry that can pinpoint, read, and process the data that tells the cell what form it is to take and what function it is supposed to perform for the body. The digital processor is capable of finding the software and data that pertains to its particular purpose even though the digital information is scattered throughout potentially dozens of chromosomes in the nucleus, while at the same time ignoring data that is not currently relevant to the cell.
The DNA contains all different kinds of information including how the cell can manufacture a copy of itself, how the cell can make a baby animal, and how to grow a baby animal into an adult. The DNA contains schedules and parts lists for doing all this. On top of that, the DNA contains instinctive behavior for how the animal can move about and get resources from its environment, establish a home, recognize and interact with other members of its species, reproduce, and perform its role as a part of an ecosystem. Information for all these different levels—cell, body, and ecosystem—is stored in the DNA of each cell.
The simplest form of life is a single cell—complete with software and data stored in DNA and a digital processing system to process it. The simplest form of life is far from simple. I believe God designed and created all this.
On top of all this, there is consciousness. Consciousness is an enigma. We all talk about it, but it something that cannot be measured or even detected by science. I know I am conscious, because I think and am aware of myself. I assume other people are conscious beings like me, and not merely biochemical robots, but I can’t detect their consciousness, and they can’t detect mine. It is true that science can measure brainwaves and blood flow to determine the activity level of a brain, but it can’t detect consciousness itself.
When I look at an object, light reflected from the object enters my two eyes and is detected by the rods and cones in my retinas as individual pixels. Information about these pixels passes along my optic nerves and into my brain where different areas of my brain deduce different features from these pixels—hue, brightness, movement, boundaries, texture, shadows, size, and 3-D effects. The information from these areas is combined with information from other parts of my brain to try to match the current pixel patterns with previously viewed patterns to hypothesize what objects are present. All this is happening in the neurons of my brain, but I do not see pixels, but rather I am conscious of a beautiful vase of flowers, a child playing on the floor, a cascading waterfall, or a smiling face. Somehow, what my brain processes gets transferred to my consciousness. All the biochemical activities can be detected by science, but not my consciousness. That is a gift from God.
