6 Quotes From “The Cell’s Design” (and a cool infographic too)

The Cell's DesignThe Cell’s Design by Fazale Rana, a distinguished biochemist, is an amazing apologetic for an intelligent designer of our universe: A Creator. You can read my full book review by clicking here. Below are a few quotes I wanted to pass along, and a graphic I created based on Rana’s findings.

“This elegance, evident in virtually all aspects of the cell’s chemistry, carries profound philosophical and theological significance that prompts questions about the origin, purpose, and meaning of life. Though I once embraced the evolutionary paradigm, its inadequate explanations for the origin of life coupled with the sophistication and complexity of the cell’s chemical systems convinced me as a biochemistry graduate student that a Creator must exist.”

“Richard Dawkins, an outspoken atheist, acknowledges that ‘biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.’”

“An event, system, or object is intentionally produced by a designer, then it will (1) be contingent, (2) be complex, and (3) display an independently specified pattern. … Three questions are used to determine if an event, system, or object stems from the activity of an intelligent agent. Can it be explained as a consequence of the laws of nature (necessity)? If yes, then it is not designed. If no, then can it be explained as a consequence of chance (contingent)? If yes, then it is not designed. If no, then does it display a specified pattern (specification)? If no, then it is not designed. If yes, then it must be the product of an intelligent designer.”

Intelligent design flowchart

(Click image for a larger view, or click here to download a PDF version → Intelligent design flowchart)

“These advances indicate that life’s bare essentials extend far beyond the number of proteins that must simultaneously occur for life to exist. Life’s minimum complexity also requires organization of these gene products within the cell.”

“It is superastro-nomically improbable for the essential gene set to emerge simultaneously through natural means alone. If left up to an evolutionary process, not enough resources or time exist throughout the universe’s history to generate life in its simplest form.”

“Instead of resembling a preschooler’s messy fingerpainting, the interior of the simplest cell is best described as a carefully planned and marvelously executed work of art—one that masterfully carries out life’s most basic processes in living color. Disrupting this arrangement is often lethal.”

Thursdays With Oswald—Heavenly Minded & Earthly Good

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Oswald Chambers

Heavenly Minded & Earthly Good 

     Entire sanctification puts a man’s breast and back as either should be, places his feet on earth and his head in Heaven, and gives him the royal insignia of the saints. 

From Christian Disciplines

Have you ever heard it said of someone, “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good”? They are saying that man has ideas which sound spiritual but aren’t very practical.

Isn’t it also true that someone could be “so earthly minded that he’s no heavenly good”? Yes, sadly, many people fall into this category!

Oswald Chambers is saying that those people who allow the Holy Spirit’s total sanctification process in their lives are both heavenly minded and earthly good. Or, as Chambers says in If Ye Will Ask, “Jesus Christ does not make monks and nuns, He makes men and women fit for the world as it is (see John 17:15).”

Christians should be the most practical people on earth, because their feet remain on earth while their mind and hearts remain in Heaven, hearing and applying God’s timeless and practical truths. True Christians should sound and live differently.