Building Blocks and Questions

This morning as I look forward to the week, my mind keeps turning toward things about which I wish I knew more.  One area that intrigues me is molecular biology.  Ultimately, what makes each of us unique is encoded in or DNA.  Not only does it make us unique as individuals, but it makes us unique as a species.

I recall many years ago an individual who worked for me discussing evolution and how there was only 1% difference in the genetic makeup between man, chimpanzees and gorillas.  He used that as an argument that it is "obvious" that we (humans) evolved from apes.  From a certain point of view his reasoning makes sense, but it certainly isn't conclusive.

If you think about it, we have many basic body features in common with apes such as the way our arms move (brachiation) and the relationship between our upper and lower bodies.  It would make sense that the genes which build such structures would be essentially the same between the species.  Structurally, we are much alike.

That 1% difference could also be explained by creationism.  If I build something that works in a certain way, it would only make sense that I reproduce those features which function as I desire into the next project that may be different.  In other words, I may use the same frame in 2 different models of cars, but the body I put on that frame may be very different.

The concept of time is also brought into play when discussing evolution.  The various rock strata on earth are frequently used to establish a timeline for the evolution of different species.  The layer of rock which holds fossil remains provides a type of measure to determine "when" something occurred.

Time is a slippery concept -- especially if you place a Creator outside of our perceived time which you must inevitably do since a Creator is not part of the created.  Therefore, time as we perceive it is irrelevant to that Creator.  What to him might be a day, could equate to millions of years to us.

Changes in species over what we might perceive as millions of years may in fact have happened minutes apart when perceived from outside our present timeline.  What instigated those changes?  The common explanation is genetic mutation caused by transcription errors.  It could as easily be explained by deliberate altering, much as man has learned to do through what to us is new technology to manipulate genes such as CRISPR.

I suppose my whole point in this brief commentary is that I wish I better understood all of the processes and links at the molecular level.  The whole thing starts with base pairs of molecules called purines and pyrimidines.  These, in groups of 3 base pairs, form codons which in turn determine the structure of amino acids which are strung together into proteins.  In other words, the order of the base pairs determines which proteins are produced. 

What I have described is an extreme simplification.  What intrigues me is that we now have the technology to "clip out" sections of the DNA strand and "splice" in a replacement.  Just suppose the Creator has been doing that as well....