The Source of Information in Nature — The Information in Living Structures and The End of Materialism

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When we apply this result revealed by science, we are confronted by a most important conclusion. Because, as in the case of DNA, nature is full of glorious information-and since this information cannot be reduced to matter-it must have a non-material source.

This Book is More Than Just Paper and Ink

Like other books, this book you are reading is made up of paper and ink, which carry the information. Paper and ink are both material substances. Paper is made from cellulose, and ink from various chemicals. However, the information in this book is not physical and does not have any material origin. The source of the information in this book, as in all others, is the mind of its author.

In addition, that mind also determines how the paper and ink are to be used. A book first takes shape in its author's mind. The writer established a logic and constructs sentences that are then given a material form, by using a typewriter or a computer keyboard. These letters then enter the printing press and are turned into a book consisting of paper and ink.

Based on this analogy, Prof. Phillip Johnson says this about the origin of DNA:

It would be absurd to try to explain the literary quality or meaning of a book as an emergent property of the physical qualities of its ink and paper. The message comes from an author; ink and paper are merely the media. Similarly, the information written in DNA is not the product of DNA. Who or what is the author?1

If a material substance contains information, then that matter has been arranged by an intellect possessing that information. In this case, that intellect belongs to our Almighty Lord, Who created the entire universe out of nothing.

1- Phillip E. Johnson, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, InterVarsity Press, Illionis, 1997, p. 73.

George C. Williams accepts this fact that most materialists and evolutionists are unwilling to see. For many years, Williams supported materialism in a most dogmatic fashion. But in an article written in 1995, he expressed the error of the materialist (reductionist) approach that assumes that everything consists of matter:

Evolutionary biologists have failed to realize that they work with two more or less incommensurable domains: that of information and that of matter. . . . These two domains will never be brought together in any kind of the sense usually implied by the term "reductionism." . . . This dearth of shared descriptors makes matter and information two separate domains of existence, which have to be discussed separately, in their own terms. The gene is a package of information, not an object. . . . In biology, when you're talking about things like genes and genotypes and gene pools, you're talking about information, not physical objective reality.¹⁴⁴

Twentieth-century science revealed that the information in DNA cannot be reduced to matter, as materialists maintain. Therefore-and contrary to what materialists imagine-the origin of the information in nature cannot be matter itself. The source of information is not matter, but a supra-material Intelligence that existed before matter. Matter came into being, took shape and was arranged through it. That Intelligence belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. While demolishing materialist philosophy, this extraordinary information in the origin of life also provides countless proofs of the manifest existence of Allah.

The Complex Structure in DNA Led Antony Flew To Faith

"As people have certainly been influenced by me, I want to try and correct the enormous damage I may have done." (Anthony Flew)

In the face of the complex structure in DNA, the famous atheist Anthony Flew admitted that the atheism he had espoused for 66 years was a theory in collapse. The 81-year-old British philosopher adopted atheism at the age of 15, and first made his mark on the academic world with a paper published in 1950. Over the next 54 years, he defended atheism in debates at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading where he taught, at a large number of Canadian and American universities he visited, and in books, classes and articles.

Recently, however, Flew abandoned his error and admitted that the universe had been created. In The Sunday Times, he was quoted as saying this about the theory of evolution:

I have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinarily complicated creature.1

What influenced this radical about-face was the definitive proofs of creation revealed by modern science. In the face of the information-based complexity of life, Flew concluded that life had been consciously created, and set out the scientific causes underlying this change of belief:

Biologists' investigation of DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved.2

The DNA research that Flew indicated was the main reason for his change of view. This research has indeed revealed striking truths about the fact of creation. The helix structure of the DNA molecule, its possession of the genetic code, the critical nucleotide sequences that refute evolution, the storage of an encyclopedic quantity of data and many more striking discoveries all revealed that the structure and functions of this molecule had been specially arranged to maintain life.

The acceptance of conscious creation by this long-term advocate of atheism, reflects the process of collapse in which atheism finds itself. Modern science has revealed the existence of a Creator and thus left atheism entirely out of the question.

Prof. Gerald Schroeder, one of the scientists who influenced Flew, refers to the intellect and knowledge manifested in the entire universe in his book Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth:

A single consciousness, a universal wisdom, pervades the universe. The discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of subatomic matter, have moved us to the brink of a startling realization: all existence is the expression of this wisdom. In the laboratories we experience it as information that first physically articulated as energy and then condensed into the form of matter. Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to represent a level of information, of wisdom.3

Scientific research into both the functioning of the cell and the subatomic particles of matter have revealed this in undeniable form: life and the universe were brought into being by an Almighty and Omniscient entity. No doubt, this knowledge and intellect that pervade the universe at every level are those of Almighty Allah.

Allah reveals this fact in the Qur'an:

Both East and West belong to Allah, so wherever you turn, the Face of Allah is there. Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara, 115)

1- Stuart Wavell, Will Iredale, "Sorry, says atheist-in-chief, I do believe in God after all," The Sunday Times, 12 December 2004; http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1400368,00.html

2- Richard N. Ostling, “Lifelong atheist changes mind about divine creator”, The Washington Times, http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041209-113212-2782r.htm

3- Gerald Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God, Touchstone, New York, 2001, s. Xi.

References

George C. Williams, The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1995. p. 43. ↩