The Anthropic Principle is astounding enough all on its own. But the evidence for theism gets even stronger when we consider the origin of life. This is evidence that has only appeared in the last 60 years. That’s when we discovered that there is a digital code that defines life itself. There is the signature of an intelligent agent inside the nucleus of every cell, in every organism that has ever lived.

Making Distinctions

To understand this means we have to make distinctions between terms like complexity, specificity, order, and information. There are technical definitions of each of these terms. But, if you’re anything like me, specific examples make things clearer. Consider the following strings of symbols:

Specific: XYXYXYXYXYXYXY

▪ This string of letters is very ordered. It is repeatable and easy to identify. A simple on/off switch could generate it. It is very specific but benign.

Complex: M9Xr%8Bc1A$P_P4X

▪ This string does not repeat and has no recognizable order. The system is complex but could have come about by itself. It is meaningless.

Specified Complexity: CLEAN YOUR ROOM AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

▪ This string of symbols is both complex and specific. Simple repetition or chance could never generate such a thing.

The Uniqueness Of Information

You don’t have to be a trained scientist or gifted scholar to see that the third example is in a class of its own. Specified complexity has meaning because it contains information. The arrangement of the letters convey a message. They aren’t random. They are part of a language we can recognize. Someone linked them together for an obvious purpose. If you know the language, you understand the message.

This is what makes the case for intelligent design in nature so obvious. Even a child can recognize it.

A message presented in a language can only originate in the mind of an intelligent agent.

That is exactly what we find in the discovery of DNA. The DNA code is a four-letter alphabet that spells out the assembly instructions for each of the 20,000 proteins in your body. The letters in that code (C – cytosine, T – thymine, A – adenine, G – guanine) are linked together in strings. The order of the letters provides an information-packed message that controls the processes of life. Every cell in your body contains a strand of DNA would be six feet long if you uncoiled it. A single teaspoon of DNA could hold all the assembly instructions for every protein, in every species, of every animal that has ever existed. Yet, it would still have room left for all the information contained in every book ever written.

A single teaspoon.

A Computer Code Like No Other

DNA is the most efficient information storage system in the universe. It is so complex Bill Gates said, “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”

There are also controls that work outside the genetic information itself. Biologists call this “epigenetic information.” Epigenetics regulates when genes turn on and off. It also determines the timing and location of protein development. It even tells proteins how to fold in three-dimensional space. The specified complexity of this system is beyond comprehension.

Here’s the takeaway. Undirected natural processes can produce stunningly complex order. We see it in the formations of things like ice crystals or snow flakes. But no one has ever observed complex information arising from a natural process. We only observe minds producing information like that.

A Positive Inference of Design

This is not wishful thinking or an irrational conclusion. It is not that we are throwing up our hands and yelling, “God did it!” It is an inference to an explanation for something we see around us every day. We all know that books don’t write themselves. And messages don’t appear out of nowhere before our eyes.

Don’t miss the importance of this point. The inference to an intelligent Designer is not an admission of ignorance. It is a positive inference. We see complex, specified, digital information in the nucleus of every living cell. And it looks just like the complex information we observe in a man-made computer code.

When you consider this information in this context, it is compelling. The case for the existence of a God who interacts with our world is strong.