DNA
Inside every living cell is something we call DNA. The letters D.N.A. stand for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA contains information that is the cause for all the different structures in all living cells in the world. Why do peach trees grow peaches? The DNA of a peach tree contains information that it uses to grow peaches. The DNA in apple tree cells is different than the DNA in peach trees, so apple trees grow apples. Why do some people have blond hair and others brown? Why are some people short and others tall? Why do some people have lighter skin and others have darker skin? People have a unique DNA code that is responsible for their physical traits.
Builders use a set of drawings called blueprints to build houses. The blueprints tell them where pipes, doors, windows, and outlets go. In fact, without a good set of instructions, it would be impossible to build complicated houses and buildings. Did you know that your body is more complicated than any house? And did you know that there is a set of blueprints in each of your cells that tells your body how to grow? Those blueprints are contained in your DNA.
Architects draw house blueprints. But who “drew” the blueprints for your body? For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. Hebrews 3:4 DNA has a double helix structure. That means it has two strands that link together. They look much like a spiral staircase. This structure is perfect for packing lots of information in a very small space. Every cell in your body contains a strand of DNA. Each strand is about six feet long. How does it fit inside each of your cells if it is that long? God designed it to be able to coil and fold into a tiny space. Imagine an electrical cord that is 100 feet long. Then think about looping it so that all 100 feet fit in a curled up roll about the size of a trash can lid. Then imagine several of those looped cords stacked on top of each other. That gives you an idea of how DNA coils. DNA is a molecule. The “backbone” is made up of sugar phosphate. The little things that look like stairs are called base pairs. The base pairs store information in a code. They are combinations of four compounds: adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine. Adenine always connects to thymine and cytosine always connects to guanine.
A strand of human DNA contains about three billion base pairs. That number looks like this: 3,000,000,000.
DNA can actually code information like the information in a language. In fact, researchers have learned how to store information (such as words in books) in strands of DNA. They are using DNA like a thumb drive that can collect words and pictures. Some scientists believe that all pictures, words, and data in the whole world can be stored in an amount of DNA that would fit in one tablespoon!
Brilliant researchers spend years trying to figure out how to make data storage devices smaller and smaller. It just makes sense that God’s data storage device is the best one of all! DNA can replicate itself, making an exact copy. That is how all the cells in your body got the same DNA inside of them. The human body contains more than 30 trillion cells. If you could take the DNA out of each cell, stretch it out, and connect it in a chain, it would stretch more than 10 billion miles. That means it could go to the Sun and back about 60 times.
The study of DNA is called genetics. A gene is a group of base pairs that contains instructions to make one basic trait. It can be compared to a word. The base pairs can be compared to letters that make up the word. A gene can be made of 1,000 base pairs all the way up to two million base pairs. Just like some words are small, such as ‟it” and others are long, such as “pachycephalosaurus.” DNA is complex. It is brilliantly designed. It is the best storage device in the world. There is no way it could have evolved over millions of years of accidents and random processes.
Imagine trying to get instructions for a working, walking, talking robot by taking billions of letters and throwing them all in a pile and randomly pulling them out. That is impossible. You would need a very smart person to carefully write out complicated instructions to get a robot. In the same way, the language of DNA could never come about naturally by random, natural processes. Only an all-knowing, intelligent God could design DNA.
King David said to God, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:14 DNA is one of the most marvelous works of God’s creation.
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