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Extra, Extra,
Read All About It!
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There’s been a
scientific achievement
that I want to share with
you, word for word, so
you know I’m not
making this up
…
Here’s what it says
:
“Scientists have created the
world’s first synthetic life form
in a landmark experiment that
paves the way for designer
organisms that are built
rather than evolved
.
The controversial
feat, which has occupied
twenty scientists for more than
ten years at an estimated cost
of $40 million, was described
by one researcher as “a
defining moment
in biology”
.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form
Well, that’s
probably the first
$40,000,000 cell
in history, huh?
It’s a defining moment in
biology because they arranged
the four basic building blocks of
DNA into a new genetic code,
and the result is a new
form of life that
didn’t exist
before
.
(They also inserted watermarks
into the code that will identify it
forever as a synthetic life form.
Not only that, they inserted
an email address into it, so
that anyone who cracks
the code can contact
the designers!)
Designer
Life Forms
?
Who knows what
genetic engineering
will lead to
?
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…
but
what I want
to focus on,
is the word
CREATED
.
The story declares;
“Scientists have CREATED
the first synthetic life form”
Have they
created
life
?
I won’t
keep you in
suspense, folks
….
NO
They haven’t
.
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When a composer
arranges musical notes
into patterns that are
pleasing to him,
he says he
created
music
.
But what he created
was a form of music that
didn’t exist before, even
though the musical
notes did
.
Music
is our perception
of sound waves. The
composer is making
a new arrangement
of sounds
.
A painter applying colors
on a canvas declares that he’s
created something, a painting.
But the colors already existed.
The painter manipulates the
colors into a pleasing
pattern, but he
didn’t create
them
.
A sculptor shapes stone,
but he didn’t create stone
.
We have been provided
with enough raw material for
an infinite variety of expression;
enough for all of us, until the
end of time. But we can’t
confuse expression
with creation
.
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Did you create
that peanut butter
and jelly sandwich
???
It might feel like a
tasty accomplishment
on your part, but think
about how much
effort went
into it
.
What part did the
peanut grower play?
and the berry pickers?
and the people working
the cane fields? and
grain harvesters?
the bakery?
truckers?
We all collaborated
on that sandwich, but
all of us put together
couldn’t create a
sandwich
.
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Getting back to the
scientists who created
the new life form
…
Here’s what they did;
they arranged the four
basic building blocks of
DNA into a new genome
of a bacterium, kind of
like assembling a
jigsaw puzzle
.
Then they inserted
the new code into a living cell,
so that when the cell reproduced,
the copies had the new pattern
instead of the old one
.
But the cell
was already alive
when they injected
the new code
.
So technically,
this team of scientists
intentionally designed a
new form of life, but
that doesn’t mean
they created life
.
Nope
.
That has
never happened,
and if it ever does you’ll
hear it being broadcast
around the world
!!!
It
won’t
happen
.
Manipulation is
different than
Creation
.
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You could give all the
smartest scientists in the
world all the financing in the
world, and all the equipment
in the world, all the resources
in the world, and everything
working together won’t be
able to create a single
living cell from
scratch
.
Forget about
trying to create it
with enough complexity
to feed itself, or repair itself,
or reproduce itself,
on its own
.
Never
.
So, just think about it
.
Think about every living
thing you have ever seen;
flowers and spiders, trees
and grass, bacon and
eggs and orange
juice, too
.
To the best
of our knowledge,
every single living cell on
this whole planet came
from ANOTHER
living cell
.
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So, if you read a headline
or hear an announcement
suggesting that scientists
have created new life,
don’t believe it
.
They haven’t created life
any more than you created
that peanut butter and
jelly sandwich
.
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