Which came first? Did the DNA that stores the information for numerous DNA repair proteins or the DNA restoration proteins that maintain DNA? It stands to reason that they must have been created simultaneously. They arose from our Lord Jesus, “For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9 KJV. There are many occurrences of this paradox, like what came first: ATP, the ATP synthase molecular machine, or DNA? Again, all must exist simultaneously because they cannot arise through a slow, mindless process of evolution. These systems require information and information systems that act and react synergistically. Mindless “evolution” cannot accomplish anything.
DNA Repair Pathways
Research has discovered clever solutions to specific DNA dilemmas. The nucleotide excision repair pathway is the least complex of the 12 DNA repair pathways research has shown. Nucleotide excision repair uses 30 proteins and five enzymes to snip out and replace sections with coding errors. Our cells would cease to function without nucleotide excision repair. But this is just the simplest way our body repairs DNA. The complexity of the other eleven repair pathways makes it impossible for anything as “mundane-noodled” as evolution to accomplish these repairs or create repair systems. It’s just not possible. The advent of molecular biology has proven this to be true.
Wonderfully Made, not a DNA and the Chicken or the Egg Paradox
DNA contains the instructions to build a new human from one fertilized egg. These instructions start creating a human at conception. Therefore, a fertilized human egg is a human, which is utterly undeniable unless you simply don’t know any better. This reality has been ignorantly dismissed by people who claim a fertilized egg is just a clump of cells. Well, full-grown humans are also just a clump of cells. The only difference is our location and the number of cells. So, that clump of cells nonsense is just that – nonsense! A person is a person from conception. Psalm 139 says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Our Chromosomes
Chromosomes consist of a double-strand of DNA that uses a precise pair of nucleotides in specific sequences to encode the information for life. Our Creator chose four nucleotides for this, a four-letter code, with each combination comprising a rung in the ladder-like DNA molecule. God originally created everything perfectly, but things stopped working correctly when sin entered this perfection. The DNA in each cell of any creature or plant suffers damage tens of thousands of times each day.[1] Without repair mechanism intervention, it wouldn’t take long for a deadly number of errors to accumulate. Yet our DNA survives such overwhelming damage! God upholds His creation even through the onslaught of the damage done by our environment. God designed all living cells from before the sinful fall of humankind with the necessary tools to keep DNA’s code sustained. Life requires DNA repair pathways. Every cell in every organism requires these constant repairs. Life could not exist without the sustaining power of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.
Research into the DNA and the Chicken or the Egg Paradox
Molecular and cell biologists have used ingenious techniques to investigate the complexity of cells, revealing multiple clever tactics that repair DNA. These DNA repair systems require detectors to review the integrity of chromosomes. Some detector proteins rap around DNA’s double helix and glide along the DNA length to ensure all the nucleotides code correctly. If it finds a nucleotide mismatch, the detector stops and sends a signal to recruit the right tools to repair the section of DNA.[2] Information, information systems, repair systems, and molecular tools are all necessary to keep us alive. Information cannot come from mindless chance or happenstance. Therefore, there must be a source of this information. That source must be God! No other explanation is adequate.
Devil’s Advocate on the Source of Information
Well, David, couldn’t the information come to us from an asteroid, comet, or extraterrestrial source? Couldn’t an advanced race of aliens have seeded our primordial world? No, certainly not! If an outside entity of any kind brought life to this planet, the question is still, “Where did that life come from?” The only answer is that our almighty God miraculously created all information, time, space, matter, and energy. Specifically, the triune, thrice blessed God of the Bible – our Lord and God, Jesus. After the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, “Then saith he [Jesus] to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” Even doubting Thomas had to believe when presented with objective evidence.
The DNA and the Chicken or the Egg Paradox Does Not Exist
The truth is we are made in God’s image, and when sin entered the world through mankind, God had a plan to preserve us. The DNA and the Chicken or the Egg Paradox Does Not Exist. From before the beginning, He designed us for every contingency. Then, He created us in His image with all the genetic information, information systems, and biological equipment to survive and thrive. We serve a glorious, wonderful, and loving God, and I consider it an honor to serve Him with all my heart, soul, and mind.
References
[1] Researchers estimate that a typical human cell manages 2,000–10,000 depurinations, 600 depyrimidinations, 10,000 oxidations, 55,000 single-strand breaks, and 10 double-strand breaks each day. Tan, C. L. and R. Stadler. 2020. The Stairway to Life: An Origin-of-Life Reality Check. Evorevo Books, 136.
[2] Thomas, PH.D., B. (2023, December 29). DNA repair: The built-in toolbox that sustains life. The Institute for Creation Research | The Institute for Creation Research. https://www.icr.org/article/dna-repair-built-toolbox-that-sustains/