BEHE'S RESEARCH CONCLUSION WITH EVIDENCE FROM OTHER SCIENTISTS WORKING IN THE FIELD (last updated: 25th September 2024)
Michael Behe has been called the 'Father of Intelligent Design'
and for good reason.
Behe shows
that new scientific discoveries made possible only in the past few decades
point to a stunning fact: Darwin's mechanism works by a process of devolution, not evolution. The
mechanism works by breaking down genes, which means that evolution can help
make something look and act different,
at least on the surface, but it doesn't have the ability to build or create anything at the genetic level.
For those with a scientific bent we strongly recommend the book Darwin Devolves by Michael J Behe. It is aimed at anyone with an interest in the debate about life's origin and is written with the layman in mind:
Behe introduces new molecular-level facts that sink the Darwinian view of life once and for all - the conclusion is clear: Life is the product of a mind. Comment by Matti Leisola, DSc, professor emeritus of bioprocess engineering at Aalto University, Finland
Michael J. Behe is professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in
Pennsylvania and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Centre for Science and Culture.
Neo-Darwinian Evolution is based on the notion that all life on Earth came into existence over long ages (billions of years) via a process called natural selection, or survival of the fittest, acting on random MUTATIONS which are errors that routinely occur in all living organisms during cell replication. DNA MUTATIONS cannot be repaired by the cells defence mechanism that utilises DNA polymerase enzymes in the way that DNA DAMAGE (DNA alteration that has an abnormal structure) can because the MUTATED DNA doesn't appear to be abnormal.
An example of a DNA MUTATION is where one of the base letters in a particular gene accidentally changes during cell replication from A to T (GAG defining amino acid glutamate becomes GTG defining amino acid valine) and this gives rise to Sickle cell anemia (caused by a MUTATION in the hemoglobin-Beta gene found on chromosome 11).
DNA DAMAGE is known to be a factor in aging and death of the organism and DNA replication (copying) errors of this type occur at a frequent rate and are continuosly repaired within the cells with 99% efficiency. Most but not all of the remaining errors are removed after replication.
DNA MUTATIONS occur at a lower rate. Both letters in a pair of letters or base pair (e.g. A-T, T-A, C-G or G-C) must be replaced at the same time to an alternative valid, but erroneous, base pair e.g. A-T to C-G for example.
It has been reported that the average person has around 400 MUTATION defects in his or her genes.
Over time random MUTATIONS that are passed on within a population through reproduction will tend to die out unless they improve survivability in which case they might become an enduring feature within the DNA of future generations.
Even then the change represents a loss of original genetic information which is generally harmful to the continuation of the species.
When a MUTATION occurs if it is within a protein defining section of DNA the chemical formula of the protein will change in accordance with it. The good news is that some changes in protein formulation do not adversely effect their performance, so not all MUTATIONS are harmful. It is basically luck of the draw what the outcome will be.
All cancer, for example, is the result of gene MUTATIONS therefore the bodies defense mechanism is unable to remove them. MUTATIONS and DAMAGE may be caused by aging, exposure to chemicals, radiation, hormones or other factors in the body and the environment. There is not a lot that is good about either of them, but DNA MUTATIONS are the more dangerous because they go undetected by the cell defence mechanisms. MUTATIONS are the main reason we die becuse our degraded cells can no longer function efficiently as they did when we were younger.
Every cell division typically yields 3 MUTATIONS so they steadily accumulate as time passes. There are 3 billion DNA letters in pairs (base pairs) in each cell, so 3 mistakes in copying 3 billion letters is impressive considering that it is happening automatically every minute of every day of our life without us even being aware of it.
Some of the bad MUTATIONS may be passed on to our offspring hence the human genome is slowly but surely degenerating. This constitutes a limiting factor on the continuation of the human race, and of course all life forms suffer in the same way. One could conclude that only Adam and Eve were physiologically perfect, and the Bible report that people lived a lot longer in those days fits in with this notion because their genome would arguably have taken longer to deteriorate from aging MUTATIONS to the point where life could no longer be sustained.
Further strong evidence for a more robust, or less damaged, genome in the early days of human existence lies in the fact that Adam and Eve's family were, according to the Bible, able to safely breed amongst themselves.
Today, parents that are closely related have a higher chance of sharing the same recessive genes (a gene whose effects are masked in the presence of a dominant gene. Recessive genes are caused by a MUTATION that decreases protein function, and are therefore abnormal), and if you inherit two recessive genes, one from each parent, there is a risk of passing on possibly harmful traits to your offspring. Most lethal genes are recessive. Examples of diseases caused by recessive lethal alleles (An allele is one of two or more versions of DNA sequence) are cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle-cell anemia, and brachydactyly.
Genesis 9:28,29 :- 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.
A recent discovery from the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tubingen in Germany and University of California Davis in the US on plant development has revealed
that contrary to the evolutionary paradigm not all mutations are random, that some are strategically placed to benefit the plant or to protect regions of the genome
most sensitive to harmful effects, and that a plant can control their positioning and frequency to a degree. This must be a God given characteristic not evidence
of evolution in action as some will argue.
One therefore suspects that mammalian life forms exhibit similar characteristics although this has yet to be proven.
Given that mutations are generally damaging to health this discovery might lead us to find ways to reduce disease in the human population, improve plant
productivity, etc. It has certainly come as a surprise to evolution advocates and is another nail in the coffin of the evolutionary mindset:
Courtesy of God, researchers have found that DNA mutations are not random. This changes our understanding of evolution and
could one day help researchers breed better crops or even help humans fight cancer.
If the reader would like to learn more about this we suggest Jonathan Sarfati's book, 'The Greatest Hoax on Earth'. In his chapter on natural selection he discusses the rate at which mutations occur which is much higher than originally thought, the inadequacy of natural selection to eliminate harmful ones, at the same time pointing out that most are harmful to the future survival of the human genome.
A mathematical formula that also fitted in with the lifespans of Noah's decendents recorded in the Bible has been used by geneticist Dr John Sanford working on supercomputer mutation plus selection modelling to analyse the rate of human genome decay. This clearly demonstrated that the human genome would be fatally compromised if it had been around for many generations as required by evolutionary theories. The conclusion is that the human race cannot be very old otherwise it would have suffered genetic meltdown and extinction by now.
For further evidence of the greater life expectancy of individuals in the early days of mankind see Genesis chapter 5.
Fortunately we are able to stave off what appears to be the inevitable by the use of ever ingenius discoveries in medicine, but there may well be a limit to what we can achieve.
It is a fact that at the turn of the last century, the average life expectancy was 47, and it is thanks mainly to modern medicine, especially the development of antibiotics, that we now enjoy a life expectancy of 79.4 years for males and 83.1 years for females in the UK. The figure today without the intervention of modern medicine would likely be in the mid forties.
How long the human species will survive on Earth into the future is a matter of conjecture.
Thus evolution is running backwards, unable to prevent the slow degradation of the information necessary for life.
Not only that but
Dollo's law of irreversibility states that, "an organism never returns exactly to a former state, even if it finds itself placed in conditions of existence identical to those in which it has previously lived". So there is no going back to a former state under any conditions.
Clearly it (Neo-Darwinian Evolution) can no longer be regarded as the ruling paradigm that explains life's origins that it once was.
Join biochemist Michael Behe as he explores the building blocks of life in Secrets of the Cell, a 5-part YouTube series focusing on complexity in nature
Jim Cantelon speaks with Dr. Jonathan Sarfati about his book, The Greatest Hoax On Earth, which meets Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, head-on. He answers Dawkins challenge. He shows that to believe the Bible's account of Creation/Fall/Redemption does not commit intellectual suicide, but it is the intellectually superior position
A group of scientists and philosophers got together at a remote location in 1993 to discuss the problems that were beginning to emerge with the Darwinian Theory of Evolution. Their meeting was the starting point for the Intelligent Design Movement that has gathered momentum ever since
To try to avoid criticism that we have a blinkered view on the subject of origins we have included Professor Tours critical and honest appraisal of the arguments currently circulating that attempt to explain the complexity found within living cells. He speaks with great authority as a renouned chemist and nanotechnologist. If you want to know what scientists can and cannot do in the disciplines involved with the origin of life this is an eye opener extraordinary:
In 2020 Professor Tour became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and in the same year was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Centenary Prize for innovations in materials chemistry with applications in medicine and nanotechnology. A frank discussion of the issues surrounding the subject of origins. At the end of his very long article: Based upon my faith in the biblical text, I do believe (yes, faith and belief go beyond scientific evidence for this scientist) that God created the heavens and the earth and all that dwell therein, including a man named Adam and a woman named Eve
From our repeat and uniform experience, Meyer says, we know of only one cause having such power to produce this type of information: an intelligent agent, a mind.
You will by now have gathered, based on our arguments above and statements on other pages, that we have come to fully accept the position set by the ID movement that there is intelligent design in nature, and the good news is that it reinforces the traditional understanding that life came about as an act of creation by an Almighty God.
The ID community of scientists do not generally dispute this obvious conclusion but rightly insist that their discoveries are not informed, or influenced in any way, by the Genesis account in the Bible.
I recently had the opportunity to speak to an audience about how best to teach the evidence for design in nature to young people. Here, I will summarize my talk by describing the approaches I have found most effective for communicating the evidence to nontechnical audiences.
But cells are not just complex beyond any sensible measure and beyond any other conceivable material form. They appear in so many ways supremely fit to fulfill their role as the basic unit of biological life.
