Expert: Eric Christy - 4/17/2008

Question
In the webpage "An Evolutionary Manifesto", at UVM, the University of Vermont, that can be Googled, they show pictures of the G-Band patterns for four primates; Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Orangutan, and Human.

They show very similar chromosome G-Band patterns and chronosome counts, with just a few architectual transpositions, and a couple chromasome count difference, but, otherwise, show large tracts of architectural similarity, compared to plants or other animals with grossy different chromosome counts and architectural patterns (suggesting evolutionary distance).

***And, contrarily, no lifeform like a bacteria or plant or fungus for examples, has ever been scientifically shown with such similar chomosome counts and architecture as Humans and Apes, to show that gross lifeform differences have similar G-Banding patterns.  Which would be a scientific breakthrough, and destroy Darwin too.

Now the Bible says that God made us a special creation from the clay of the earth, and not derived from primates, accordingly in Genesis 2:7.

***Why did God not spend the time and at least rewrite our genetics, so for example, we had 100 chromosomes and with the G-Band architectures grossly rearranged.  It wouldn't have proven that there is a God, but it would have killed Darwin's great idea in its tracks.  In fact, scientists might think we were aliens from another planet, if anything, because our genes would have been so different from any lifeform on earth.

God can do anything ... but He cut-and-pasted primate code to make human code.  Was God being lazy, or trying to be the author of direct confusion?

Thank you for your answer, ahead of time."


Answer
Hi Shawn,

I get this question quite often. As a student of science and of God, I like answering these questions.

The building blocks God had to work with in building lifeforms were chemical compounds. Just as any intelligent designer does, He used the building blocks (amino acids linked into polymers to create proteins--the building blocks of all life) to create His living structures. Notice the similarity between the genetic information between chimpanzees and humans for instance. Yet, notice the huge differences too. God created chimpanzees before He created the first human (Adam). God used the same genetics to create the same functionality found in chimpanzees that are found in the first human. In other words, God is a smart engineer. He used the same genetics to accomplish the same function in one lifeform to another lifeform. God is not wasteful. Not wasteful of materials or of design concept. What works in one lifeform, if the same functionality is needed in another lifeform, He applies to that other lifeform.

Notice that while the genetic code is very similar between apes and humans, their characteristics are very different. Consider that a human being is greater than the sum of his or her genetic parts. We have infused within us, a soul, captive in our body. That should not be ignored. It is the single most significant aspect of what makes us...human.

If you would like a more scientific discussion on why creation, not evolution, best accounts for life, let me know. I would be happy to discuss this, sending you an article I wrote on the subject.

Eric