By: Anthony Williams | December 10, 2023
Genesis speaks of the creation of Adam, saying, “Then God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (Gen. 2:7, ESV) Following the fall of Adam and Eve not too much later, when they break the one rule they were given. God pronounces judgment, saying, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19) The image of returning to dust is a good illustration for a discussion on genetic entropy.
DNA
You are likely somewhat familiar with the idea that our DNA is a microscopic instruction manual for building every part of your physical body. This instruction manual is made up of four proteins that are variously arranged, like a four-letter alphabet, to make what can be compared to complex sentences, paragraphs, chapters, books, and libraries of information. This information guides the creation and preservation of every cell in your physical body. We inherit these genetic instructions from our parents.
Not too many years ago, scientists believed that our genetic instruction manuals, also called genomes, included as much as 97% “junk DNA.” It was thought this junk DNA was a remnant of evolution that once had a function but has since been deactivated as we evolved into our present state. However, the ENCODE Project and other research have shown the instruction manual to be 80% or more functional, with new discoveries likely to continue pushing that figure higher.
Our genetic instruction manual is an awe-inspiring creative achievement. I confidently use the word creative because it is also very comparable to a computer program. In order to have a program, you need a programmer. Someone had to order the code. Words and sentences and books do not form themselves. Authors do.
The Problem of Genetic Entropy
Despite the beauty of the seemingly never-ending sophistication of the human genome, there is a problem. The problem is genetic entropy. In his very well-written work, Genetic Entropy, Cornell University geneticist Dr. John C. Stanford explains the undeniable and underreported reality of genetic entropy[1]. If you have not read up on genetic entropy, I would encourage you to invest your time in his book, which is the source of much of my understanding of the topic.
When our DNA is inherited from our parents, we also inherit mutations. These mutations can be compared to misspellings of words when protein “letters” are out of order or missing. These mutations, often assumed to be the driving force of evolution, have only ever been observed to be copy errors in the programming of life. While many of the mistakes might be seemingly neutral, as more spelling errors accumulate, the misspellings become more and more problematic. Eventually, the words and sentences become so misspelled that the instructions become unreadable.
It is now widely acknowledged that human beings pass on about 100 new genetic mutations to their offspring with each generation. Rather than increasing our genetic prowess and aptitude for survival in a process that evolves us into a better human being, as time goes on, each generation has an instruction book that is a growing collection of errors. These errors have deadly outcomes, not the least of which are cancer and other genetic maladies. In fact, even the process of aging is believed to be largely a result of genetic mutations over a lifetime. Even the few examples of so-called beneficial mutations, such as chemical-resistant bacteria and drought-resistant corn, represent a loss in genetic information. The instruction manual is not more complete but is rather less complete than originally written.
Genetic Entropy is Not the End
This reality should be seen by the Christian as yet more evidence that the Bible contains the real history of humanity. This history includes a real creation and a real fall that brought about death. The picture of man returning to dust as a result of the fall is a fitting vision of what is happening to our genome with each passing generation. We are getting farther away from that first Adam, who received a perfect instruction manual from the Designer. As time marches on, the human genome will eventually become too corrupt to continue.
However, the real story of humanity in the Bible does not end that way. While sin and death came to all the world through Adam, reconciliation, and rebirth also come from one man. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” This is possible because, as John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John identifies the Word as Jesus Christ.
The picture of our instruction manual and our bodies turning to dust may be accurate, but it is not eternal. The very Designer of our genetic instruction manual died on a cross to redeem his creation to Himself. He is the Author of life and, therefore, has the power and authority to rewrite our broken genetic code, as well as our future here and in eternity in His presence if we ask Him to. If you have not yet, I encourage you to meet the Author of all life and invite Him into your life to see how He still has the power to make men and women from the dust.
[1] Sanford, J. C., & Baumgardner, J. R. Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome. (Fms Publications) 2008.
About the Author
Tony Williams is currently serving in his 20th year as a police officer in a city in Southern Illinois. He has been studying apologetics in his spare time for two decades, since a crisis of faith led him to the discovery of vast and ever-increasing evidence for his faith. Tony received a bachelor’s degree in University Studies from Southern Illinois University in 2019. His career in law enforcement has provided valuable insight into the concepts of truth, evidence, confession, testimony, cultural competency, morality, and most of all, the compelling need for Christ in the lives of the lost. Tony plans to pursue postgraduate studies in apologetics in the near future to sharpen his understanding of the various facets of Christian apologetics.
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This is a fine way to apply a whole lot of confirmation bias in order to appease cognitive dissonance. Just a little knowledge of evolutionary theory and one would know that Dr. Sanford is a one off in this area and essentially NO OTHER expert in this field agrees with him and there are plenty of articles where they detail exactly what he’s wrong about and why he’s wrong.
This article makes it look like you cherry picked the articles to support your belief system without regard to any reality that might not agree with you…
This is one reason christians are leaving, it’s because they’ve become smart enough to know when someone is selling them something that doesn’t comport with fairly easily verified reality.
Well..this podcast was a waste of time. You have an answer and you’re just looking for excuses to support your position. You should have had someone that actually something about the science on your podcast. But then…that wouldn’t be very good for your actual end goal now would it?
Steve, thank you for your comments. What podcast are your referencing? This was an article. We did not have a podcast on this topic. Also, you accused our author of “cherry-picking.” Can you offer some examples?
I apologize. After I posted the comment, I realized it was an article and not a podcast. At first I thought it was a summary of a podcast that I just couldn’t find a link to It seems like your website is a mix of various media? Apologies for the confusion.That confusion was not the fault of this website, it was my fault.
I believe the author “cherry picked” the scientist to use to highlight for this article. He found a scientist that supported some sincerely held belief that he had while ignoring the fact the it’s not even close to being the consensus among expert in the actual field. Never mind the fact that even if the claims of the scientist and the author of this article were correct…that’s not a proof of any biblical claims.
While I am NOT an expert in this field, I have a fair amount of knowledge in this subject. I did not spend very long searching to find out what the actual conesus is concerning this topic and along the way the scientist referenced in the article showed up numerous times as not really having any idea what he was talking about on this topic. There are also plenty of other scientist that have explained where this particular reference went off the rails, so to speak.
There are certainly extremely intelligent scientist in many fields that completely disagree with their peers, usually they’re wrong, but once in a great wall, they’re right and everyone else is wrong. Thus far, scientific consensus and peer review seem to be the best method for weeding out who’s right and who’s wrong.
The time to use a scientist that isn’t anywhere nearly aligned with his peers is when he has actual inarguable evidence and has shifted the consensus of his peers, not before (EVEN IF THEY TURN OUT TO BE CORRECT).
I’ve looked at what the consensus is on genetic entropy and Sanford isn’t even close to that and his peers have offered counter arguments ad-nauseum.
Thanks!
P.S. Why did you respond to me and not the actual author?
No worries. I wasn’t sure if you were addressing a particular podcast or not. You’re right in that we have a mixture of podcasts and articles on the site.
Blessings,
Brian
Hi, Steve!
First, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my article. I apologize for my delay in responding. As to your points, I wholeheartedly agree that confirmation bias can be a problem. I may point out that Dr. Sanford himself was a committed believer in evolution and an atheist before the work he did that led him to his conclusions. This was a process for him, as it was for me, to be convinced by the evidence that he saw and convert from a Darwinian understanding of history to a Biblical one. You can see an interview with Dr. Sanford and Dr. James Tour that speaks to this here;
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If I understood your point correctly, you intimate that it is a “fairly easily verified reality” that this theory has been falsified. My admittedly limited reading of popular literature about this particular topic outside Dr. Sanford’s writing doesn’t seem to conclude the matter. Many critics seem to say evolution can hypothetically defeat genetic entropy, and maybe even drive it, but how entropy is defeated is strictly theoretical. If you have not read Dr. Sanford’s book, I would encourage you to do so. He spends a lot of time answering some of the objections in the most recent version. If you would like to read a concise article that summarizes critiques and also has responses from Dr. Sanford see this link: https://creation.com/genetic-entropy-defense
As far as scientific consensus goes, I think you would agree that consensus does not cause things to be true. I love science and think we should pay attention to what those who study the universe say, but the “consensus” on the age of the universe doubled from somewhere around 13 billion years to about 27 billion years in the last couple of years. This was based on new observations and a new understanding of how to interpret that data. We must allow for new evidence to create new understanding if we truly want to find the truth, no matter where it leads.
In terms of proving a Biblical claim, I would say that if genetic entropy is true it would lead one to conclude that humankind has a blueprint that is winding down into confusion rather than advancing as time goes on. This would certainly be more in line with a Creator who set humankind in motion in a highly ordered state, only for humans to revolt and suffer a physical fall, both externally and internally.
Ultimately, I am not a PhD scientist and have not spent years studying the data that Dr. Sanford and others reference so I will have to refer you to his defense of criticisms of this idea. Like you, I have done my share of reading on the topic of evolution and genetics in general and reached conclusions based on people who have done the research. I welcome any specific criticism of what I wrote or my summary of Dr. Sanford’s work and will certainly do my best to correct any errors detected by intelligent readers like yourself. At this time, the evidence that I have seen continues to lead me to the conclusion that genetic entropy is real, and is a powerful argument for the Biblical account of creation.
Thank you again for the time you took to read the article, even if we may not agree on the conclusions. May God bless you and your search for truth!
Sincerely,
Tony Williams