A MUST-SEE lecture based on Dr. Stephen C. Meyer’s book “Signature in the Cell“. One of my favorite 6 arguments for a Creator and Designer is the origin of the simplest replicating living system. When you look into the cell, what you’ll find is carefully sequenced components that for complex structures, like proteins. In this lecture, you’ll learn all about this “biological information”.

I highly recommend watching the lecture, and looking at the slides. The quality of the video and the content is first class. There is some Q&A (9 minutes) at the end of the lecture.

Topics:

• intelligent design is concerned with measuring the information-creating capabilities of natural forces like mutation and selection
• Darwinists think that random mutations and natural selection can explain the origin and diversification of living systems
• Darwinian mechanisms are capable of explaining small-scale adaptive changes within types of organisms
• but there is skepticism, even among naturalists, that Darwinian mechanisms can explain the origin of animal designs
• even if you concede that Darwinism can account for all of the basic animal body plans, there is still the problem of life’s origin
• can Darwinian mechanisms explain the origin of the first life? Is there a good naturalistic hypothesis to explain it?
• there are at least two places in the history of life where new information is needed: origin of life, and Cambrian explosion
• overview of the structure of DNA and protein synthesis (he has helpful pictures and he uses the snap lock blocks, too)
• the DNA molecule is composed of a sequence of bases that code for proteins, and the sequence is carefully selected to have biological function
• meaningful sequences of things like computer code, English sentences, etc. require an adequate cause
• it is very hard to arrive at a meaningful sequence of a non-trivial length by randomly picking symbols/letters
• although any random sequence of letters is improbable, the vast majority of sequences are gibberish/non-compiling code
• similarly, most random sequences of amino acids are lab-proven (Doug Axe’s work) to be non-functional gibberish
• the research showing this was conducted at Cambridge University and published in the Journal of Molecular Biology
• so, random mutation cannot explain the origin of the first living cell
• however, even natural selection coupled with random mutation cannot explain the first living cell
• there must already be replication in order for mutation and selection to work, so they can’t explain the first replicator
• but the origin of life is the origin of the first replicator – there is no replication prior to the first replicator
• the information in the first replicator cannot be explained by law, such as by chemical bonding affinities
• the amino acids are attached like magnetic letters on a refrigerator
• the magnetic force sticks the letters ON the fridge, but they don’t determine the specific sequence of the letters
• if laws did determine the sequence of letters, then the sequences would be repetitive
• the three materialist explanations – chance alone, chance and law, law alone – are not adequate to explain the effect
• the best explanation is that an intelligent cause is responsible for the biological explanation in the first replicator
• we know that intelligent causes can produce functional sequences of information, e.g. – English, Java code
• the structure and design of DNA matches up nicely with the design patterns used by software engineers (like WK!)

There are some very good tips in this lecture so that you will be able to explain intelligent design to others in simple ways, using everyday household items and children’s toys to symbolize the amino acids, proteins, sugar phosphate backbones, etc.

Proteins are constructed from a sequence of amino acids:

Proteins sticking onto the double helix structure of DNA:

I highly, highly recommend this lecture. You will be delighted and you will learn something.

Here is an article that gives a general overview of how intelligent design challenges. If you want to read something more detailed about the material that he is covering in the lecture above related to the origin of life, there is a pretty good article here.

There is a good breakdown of some of the slides with helpful flow charts here on Uncommon Descent.

Positive arguments for Christian theism

• The kalam cosmological argument and the Big Bang theory
• The fine-tuning argument from cosmological constants and quantities
• The origin of life, part 1 of 2: the building blocks of life
• The origin of life, part 2 of 2: biological information
• The sudden origin of phyla in the Cambrian explosion
• Galactic habitable zones and circumstellar habitable zones
• Irreducible complexity in molecular machines
• The creative limits of natural selection and random mutation
• Angus Menuge’s ontological argument from reason
• Alvin Plantinga’s epistemological argument from reason
• William Lane Craig’s moral argument
• The unexpected applicability of mathematics to nature

The Iowa GOP primary vote is coming up very soon, and I just want to make sure that everyone has a chance to get to know the candidate with the best record of achievements. DeSantis’ appearance on CNN was praised by CNN and others as the strongest they have seen him speak. He’s improving his speaking ability, and so I thought I would post it along with an article.

Here’s the video:

And the article from the far-left Iowa Capital-Dispatch.

Birthright citizenship:

DeSantis said that if elected, he would sign an executive order eliminating the constitutional guarantee of citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants born in the U.S., also known as “birthright citizenship.” While president in 2018, Trump said he would sign an executive order to eliminate it, but never did so.

“The 14th Amendment obviously applies to U.S. citizens,” DeSantis told CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins. “It was never the intent to say, ‘you come illegally across the border, have a kid and all of a sudden, the kid is an American citizen.’ That creates an anchor in the society so that you then can’t deport the illegal aliens who came in. It’s an incentive to come in illegally. That was not the intention of that.”

[…]The governor then followed up by bashing Trump for saying that he would do the same thing, but never did so. “What is he now telling people in Iowa this time around? He says he’s going to do the same thing that he didn’t do the first four years. I mean sometimes you can say ‘Congress stymied you’ and all this other stuff.  All he had to do was put his John Hancock on a piece of paper, and he did not do it. When I tell you I’m going to do something, you can take it to the bank. I’m going to do it.”

Abortion legislation:

On abortion, DeSantis defended his signing of a bill last year that would ban abortions in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions (the law has not gone into effect as the Florida Supreme Court is reviewing a legal challenge to the 15-week ban passed in 2022. If they do maintain that law, the six-week ban would go into effect short afterwards). And he said Trump was weak on the issue.

“This was a guy who was at the March for Life in January of 2020, and he said that all life was a gift from God. He said the unborn was made in the image of God. He said that there should be protections. That’s what he was saying when he was president at the March for Life. Now he’s saying it’s a terrible, terrible thing. So how do you reconcile those two views. Did he flipflop? Did he not believe it at the time?”

When Collins asked him if he thought that Trump wasn’t actually “pro-life,” DeSantis replied, “Of course not.”

“Some issues are pretty fundamental,” DeSantis added. “How do you flipflop on something like the sanctity of life?” as the audience cheered.

Trump supported pro-life during his first term as president, but recently he’s been critical of the repeal of Roe v. Wade decision, and also critical of states like Florida, that have restrictions on abortion.

All 99 counties:

DeSantis has gone all in on Iowa, the first state in the country where Republican voters will be able to decide on who their presidential nominee will be in November. He’s campaigned in all 99 counties in the state and received the endorsement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Gun rights:

[…]The town hall took place just hours after six people were shot at a high school in Perry, Iowa, approximately 40 miles northeast of Des Moines earlier in the day. DeSantis called the shooting a tragedy, and then pivoted to how he had worked to enact a comprehensive gun safety law that was passed by the Florida GOP-controlled Legislature in the immediate wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018 that killed 17 people.

Collins asked him about one provision in the law that GOP lawmakers now say that they want to repeal: a three-day waiting period to purchase a firearm in the state.

“I think the background checks should be instant,” he said, giving a boost to the proposed legislation. He added that if the background check reveals a criminal conviction or a mental health issue, the purchase would then be prevented. “But I think that you want instant background checks, and so that’s what I support.”

Ukraine funding:

DeSantis… said on Thursday that “we need to bring it to a conclusion.”

Did that mean ending U.S. support for Ukraine? Collins asked.

“It means end the conflict,” DeSantis responded, before blasting President Biden for not giving the American people a clear message on what the U.S. objective is in the conflict. Collins again pressed him what “ending the conflict” actually meant – did that mean no more American dollars or military aid to the Volodymyr Zelensky administration?

“What it means is bringing it to a situation where Russia is in a box and you’re not having wars break out to Europe,” he said, adding that he would never send U.S. troops to fight in the conflict – something that Joe Biden said when the war began nearly two years ago. He did say that he would be willing to help out Europe “to bring it to a conclusion.”

As he had done on the campaign trail, DeSantis spoke about his own military experience, saying that if elected he would be the first veteran to serve in the White House since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Just to help the author of the article out, DeSantis wants no more funding, and no more weapons. He thinks that Europe should supply Ukraine with funding and weapons, because the United States has to prioritize the threats from China and America’s Southern border.

Does it really make a difference whether a person thinks that God is objectively real, and has designed the universe in such a way that human beings have objective moral duties? Well, we just had a recent shooting featuring a transgender terrorist attacking a Christian school in Nashville. Now, we have another shooting featuring another transgender terrorist.

Here’s the latest from Mia Cathell, writing for Townhall:

The now-deceased suspected gunman who shot at least six victims—killing one, a sixth-grade middle schooler—at a small-town high school in Perry, Iowa, early Thursday morning has been identified by authorities as 17-year-old student Dylan “DJ” Butler.

[…]An emoji of the gay Pride flag was featured in the TikTok page’s bio and an image of an anime girl was selected as the profile’s avatar. In another TikTok video, the account used the hashtag “genderfluid.” Using an identical profile picture on Instagram, user @DylanSayWhat212 identified as trans non-binary with “he/they” pronouns. However, the account has also since been scrubbed.

Reddit comments:

According to a series of Reddit posts that Butler appears to have authored, he interacted with transgender and “femboy” forums.

In response to the question “For those who haven’t started transitioning yet. What’s holding you back?” posted to the r/Trans subreddit, the username u/Dylanpickle1996 replied, “I don’t want to look ugly.” Other replies were comments on pornographic ocntent. Over on the platform X, formerly Twitter, the since-suspended account @DylanSayWhat212, under the screenname “Dylan Jesse,” professed his love for My Little Pony and “f*cking furries” while replying to a Happy Pride Month post. Officials have yet to verify these social media posts—all of which were subsequently deleted in the aftermath of Thursday’s tragedy.

LibsOfTikTok has more:

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1743027883029987547

And more generally:

On the positive side, the response from law enforcement was pretty fast and extensive. But all they can do is respond. They can’t do anything to fix the source of the problem: public schools run by “don’t judge” secular leftists who manufacture students with mental illnesses.

The public schools administrators choose the easiest majors in college. They often have student loans for useless non-STEM degrees. They have little or no work experience in the competitive private sector. They make decisions with their feelings, instead of using reason and evidence. They can’t solve any real-world problems. And they are passing on their emotion-dominated behaviors to the children. This will not be the last time something like this happens, because the secular left keeps making more people with serious mental illnesses.

Homeschool your kids, and vote for politicians who have a record of supporting school choice.