The sequence hypothesis was first proposed by Francis Crick in 1958. He later went on to win the Nobel prize shortly after, for his discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.

To understand the Sequence Hypothesis let us take a step back and look at the basic building blocks of life – specifically proteins and nucleic acids. I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible so even somebody without a background in the sciences can follow.

Proteins
Proteins are responsible for many functions in living organisms, including metabolism, DNA replication, responding to stimuli etc .. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, a protein is simply a giant molecule (macromolecule) consisting of one or more long chains of amino acids. Don’t be fooled by the familiarity of the term, its one of the most complex and difficult structures we have ever come across.

Nucleic Acids
Nucleic Acids which include DNA and RNA, and are absolutely essential for all forms of life. The are responsible for encoding, transmitting and expressing genetic information. These again are giant molecules (macromolecules) made of simpler nucleotides. They are considered by many to be the single most important factor for life as we know it today to exist.

The Sequence Hypothesis
In its simplest form it means that the amino acid sequence of a protein is determined by a particular sequence of nucleotides (the cistron) in the DNA of the organism producing the protein.

What this means in layman terms is that proteins can only be synthesized with the information contained in the DNA of the organism making the protein.

The chicken or an egg ?

Which Came First ? DNA or Proteins? It takes proteins to construct DNA. It takes DNA to make proteins. Even a simple study can show you both proteins and DNA are just too complex and specific to happen by chance. Life without these building blocks ( proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates etc .. ) is simply not possible.

For life to exist not only do you need these “building blocks” but you need them arranged in a very very specific way in a 3D structure. This arrangement or sequence is the genetic information they carry, even a small change here can completely break or distort the life form.

This clearly shows they both had to be created at the same time, for a consistent system architecture. This also points to a first cause who was outside the system to have designed it. This designer must have vastly superior intelligence and design skills to have done so with the kind of detail and intricacies we observe. We may be able to study processes, cobble together hypothesis, define laws around how things work etc. What the sciences will never be able to do is explain away the creator, in any rational or logical way.

Further Reading

Darwin’s Doubt

Meyer, S. C. (2013). Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. HarperOne. WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder.

Creation vs. Evolution

Muncaster, R. O. (2000). Creation vs. evolution. Harvest House. [WorldCat, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

It is well known today that our existence in this universe depends on numerous cosmological constants, physical laws and parameters whose numerical values must fall within a very narrow range of values.

If we were to construct a mathematical model of what we believe we know about the universe, there are hundreds of delicate ratios that, if altered the slightest, would render life impossible. Even a single variable were off slightly, we would not exist.

The extreme improbability that so many variables would align so auspiciously in our favor merely by chance has led many scientists and evolutionists to agree, that it was God who engineered the universe to suit our specific needs.

This is the Anthropic Principle, the universe appears to have been fine-tuned for our existence.

Anthropic factors in Atomic Physics

• Velocity of light
• Strong and Weak nuclear forces coupling constants
• The Electromagnetic coupling constant
• Ratio of electron to proton mass
• Stability of the proton
• Fine structure constants

Anthropic factors in Geology

• Surface gravity of Earth
• Thickness of Earth’s crust
• Rotation period ( length of a day)
• Magnetic fields
• Earth’s Axial tilt
• Oxygen to nitrogen ratio
• Carbon dioxide and water vapor levels
• Ozone level s

Anthropic factors in Cosmology

• Gravitational constant
• The age of the universe
• Expansion rate of the universe
• Entropy level of the universe
• Mass of the universe
• Distance between stars
• Rate of luminosity increase

I’ve only listed a tiny fraction in these lists, studies today show there are hundreds of such factors. Its may be reasonable to say these are co-incidences if they are only a handful. The sheer number of these factors coupled with the rate at which new ones come out make it impossible for any other explanation to survive except that we have an extremely intelligent creator who perfectly engineered this universe for our existence.

Further Reading

Cosmic Codes: Hidden Messages

Missler, C. (1999). Cosmic Codes: Hidden Messages. Koinonia House. [WorldCat, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

Knowing the Truth about Creation

Geisler, N. L. (2003). Knowing the Truth about Creation: How It Happened and What It Means for Us. Wipf & Stock Publishers. [WorldCat, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

Stanley Miller was an American chemist who was famous for landmark experiments relating to the origin of life. The historic Miller–Urey experiment showed that some complex organic molecules could be synthesized from simpler inorganic ones. The experiment was widely publicized and many claimed it provided support for the idea of a chemical evolution of the early Earth.

Many evolutionary biologists and atheists argue that the whole system ( universe, galaxies, stars, planets et al ), given enough time can randomly arrange itself in a way to make life possible through a process of chemical evolution.

An example of whats wrong

Picture this, lets take a honey bee and observe its flight path over a lifetime and map it in two dimensions. What are the chances of this path at some point resembling an alphabet ? I’d say quite high. Lets take this a bit further, what are the chances of say, getting a full word in sequence ? Now imagine the chance of a sentence. Im willing to bet its ridiculously low.

If I told you its possible, that the alphabets formed by tracing the path of this bee in flight is exactly the same as the text found in a book, say Moby Dick, how absurd does that sound ? Taking it a step further, if I say its possible for the bee to completely by random chance write Moby Dick in a span of one hour, would you not doubt my sanity ?

Yet this is precisely how many evolutionary biologists claim, the source of all information needed for intelligent life put itself together, via chemical evolution.

Why is this scientifically absurd ?

1) Contrary to Miller’s assumption of a strongly reducing condition, the primitive atmosphere was quite neutral, and contained gases in very different proportions.

2) Random chance may get you a brick (amino acid or a protein) but to extend that and say a perfectly architected building also can happen by random chance is not very logical.

3) There is simply not enough time for this to happen, studies in modern physics on the nature of time show that time is not infinite. There are only 10¹⁸ seconds in the entire history of the universe.

4) There are only approximately 10⁶⁶ atoms in our entire galaxy. Statistically this is not enough for all the permutations and combinations required, for the information needed for life, to create itself.

5) Mathematically, there is a greater chance of a big ball of fire to exploding and creating a computer, which then typed the article you are reading, all by itself, than say for a single human DNA molecule to create itself.

There are several other studies and papers like the one on the Anthropic principle ( discussed in another post ), hyper-dimensionality, studies on the speed of light among others that completely destroy any possibility of the universe and life putting itself together by chance or by means of chemical evolution.

Further Reading

In the Beginning

Gitt, W. (2000). In the Beginning Was Information. Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung. [WorldCat, Read Online, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

The Evolution Deceit

Yahya, H. (1999). The Evolution Deceit. Ta-Ha Publishers. [WorldCat, Read Online, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist and geologist, he is well known for his theory of evolution. While right on many counts, his work does have a few glaring blunders that cannot be ignored. In all fairness these errors were because of the limited scientific knowledge during his time.

Historical Context

Long distance travel was fast becoming feasible and safe during Darwin’s time, many scientists were curious and intrigued with the variations they observed between members of the same species in different habitats. Darwin himself undertook voyages and studied geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected during these voyages. This was a cutting edge field of research during his time.

The scientists during the time were actively looking for ways to explain these variations. A simple example would be a dog in the north pole has a lot more fur compared to one in the equatorial regions. It was this observation that led to his historic work – The Origin of Species.

Where was he right ?

Darwin explained adaptation correctly, which is the process whereby an organism becomes better able to live in its habitat. It is the process whereby a series of variants already within a species get narrowed down to a few specific ones, that are best suited to the environment or habitat the species lives in.

For example grizzly bears moving north in search of food need to adapt to the snow. The bears with more fat, who are more aggressive and can camouflage in the snow do better than other bears. Over time these variations in bears help them thrive and multiply and soon you have the polar bear.

This is not adding any new genetic material of the species but simply weeding out what is not working and keeping variations that help the species thrive in its environment. This theory of Natural Selection and Adaptation was satisfactorily explained by Darwin’s work.

Where was he wrong ?

Darwin was wrong when he extended this theory backwards to say that ALL species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and ultimately from a single cell. This was primarily due to the lack of scientific insights during his time on the constitution of cells and DNA (genetic information).

For example its one thing to say a Polar Bear was a variant of its ancestor the Grizzly Bear but quite another to say that a Polar Bear and a Coconut tree came from the same ancestors. This is simply untrue.

David Hume a contemporary of Darwin thought of cells as simple blobs of protoplasm. Today we know how wrong he is with advances in technology, microbiology and genetics. Darwin did not challenge assumptions the scientists of his time had on the complexity of life and on the information needed to create, even a single cell. The complexity and information contained in a single strand of DNA shows its impossible for it to “evolve”

So how is this important ?

Why this difference is important today is many people simply misunderstand his work and use it to refute Intelligent Design and creationism which was simply not Darwin had in mind in the first place. Its important to see what Darwin did and did not say, then analyze that with the scientific insights we have today.

Darwinians cannot explain the Origin of Life because they cannot explain the Origin of Information.

Further Reading

Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

Meyer, S. C. (2013). Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. HarperOne. [WorldCat, LibraryThing, Google Books, BookFinder]

The first hint of The Trinity appears in the very first verse of the Bible [0] . Here is an interesting piece of history, the original scribes did not know what exactly Aleph -Tau meant ( the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet ) so they just left it as is untranslated. Centuries later Jesus Christ declared he was the Alpha and the Omega ( the first and last letters of the greek alphabet ) and that he was the first and the last. It was then that it finally dawned that He was The Word of Genesis 1:1

The Creation

Genesis 1 : 1

Original Hebrew
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

Transliterated
Bereshit bara Elohim אֵת hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz.

Translated
In the beginning God Alpeh – Tau created the heavens and the earth.

So now lets look at Genesis 1: 1-2

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Its as clear as daylight, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the very first verses of the Bible. Here is another one

“And God [Elohim] said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…. (Genesis 1:26)

The verb “said” in the above verse is a masculine singular, but yet the verb “Elohim” is plural. This is one example, there are many other of this type of noun-verb number disagreement would include Genesis 3:22, Genesis 11:7, Joshua 24:19, etc.

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us….” (Isaiah 6:8)

Here, the Lord is specifically said to be speaking, and in mid-sentence He changes His self-reference from singular to plural. In this passage, the Lord appears to be seeking to emphasize His triune nature.

The Sh’ma

This is one of the most important and revered prayers in the Torah, in fact its one of only two prayers that are specifically commanded in Torah. It is the oldest fixed daily prayer in Judaism, recited morning and night since ancient times [1] .

Hebrew
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד

Transliterated
Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.

Translated
Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

The trinity of God is suggested, however, by the use of “echad” in the Sh’ma, which is a word for “one” which is indicative of compounded unity, rather than absolute, monolithic oneness[3].

I chose the creation and the Sh’ma because of their prominence in the Jewish life. Also Im sticking to only the OT texts, The Trinity can be proved beyond doubt using the New Testament and in the early church writings/beliefs.

There are hundreds of other such examples[4], I am listing a few below.

Psalm 2: 7-8

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.

Isaiah 48:12-17

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.”

Hosea 1:7

“But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.”

Amos 4:10-11

“‘I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the LORD. ‘I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah . . . ‘”

Psalm 45:6-8

Your throne, O God,[a] will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.

References

https://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php?PageID=635

[http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/706163/jewish/In-Hebrew.htm

http://www.studytoanswer.net/judaism/uniplurality.html

https://carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/yet-another-look-trinity-plurality-study

Further Reading

http://www.answering-islam.org/Trinity/

http://www.contra-mundum.org/schirrmacher/trinoldt.html

http://www.dtl.org/trinity/study/scriptural.htm

The Jews believe this day was set aside by God for suffering as per this site. Here are a list of events that happened on that day. Quite shocking actually

1. The spies come back with the Nephilim report and the Jews panic, they cry out to God to go back to Egypt
2. Both the first and the second temples were destroyed on the same day !
3. The Bar Kochba revolt was brutally crushed and many Jews were butchered
4. The Temple Mount was plowed over
5. They were expelled from England in 1290 AD
6. The Golden age of Spain came to an end and Jews were expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella on this date when the Edict of Expulsion came to force
7. Germany declared war on Russia and that started the World War on the 9th of Av

Combine this with the fact that to a Jewish mind, prophesy is pattern and co incidence is not a kosher word and you have a grim picture for the month of Av.