Is DNA Designed?

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Is DNA Designed?

This is a different question to whether or not evolution is true, because while changes can happen naturally, one could argue that the transformative mechanism of change is designed. In this case we are talking about DNA.

Please present your arguments for or against.
 
IWantGod said:
Is DNA Designed?

This is a different question to whether or not evolution is true, because while changes can happen naturally, one could argue that the transformative mechanism of change is designed. In this case we are talking about DNA.

Please present your arguments for or against.
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‘Naturally’ would appear to be the opposite of supernaturally in which case it would mean with zero (name removed by moderator)ut from God. Is that what you mean by the term?
 
Bradskii said:
‘Naturally’ would appear to be the opposite of supernaturally in which case it would mean with zero (name removed by moderator)ut from God. Is that what you mean by the term?
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I mean does the existence of DNA, including what it can do, require a designer, or is it just a natural phenomenon requiring no intelligent (name removed by moderator)ut.

Do you think the existence of DNA and it’s functionality can be reasonably explained or reduced to natural processes, or do you think it requires an intelligent being.

Whatever you think, try to explain your position. I just want to see what people think (And possibly a debate for entertainment reasons)
 
IWantGod said:
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Bradskii:
‘Naturally’ would appear to be the opposite of supernaturally in which case it would mean with zero (name removed by moderator)ut from God. Is that what you mean by the term?
Click to expand...
I mean does the existence of DNA, including what it can do, require a designer, or is it just a natural phenomenon requiring no intelligent (name removed by moderator)ut.

Do you think the existence of DNA and it’s functionality can be reasonably explained or reduced to natural processes, or do you think it requires an intelligent being.

Whatever you think, try to explain your position. I just want to see what people think (And possibly a debate for entertainment reasons)
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But I’m sure you are going to get an answer that says yes, it’s natural. But that nature was designed by God in any case. In which case it was designed much as a computer programme is designed to give a specific outcome.

If you are asking if God needed to do some sleight of hand at some point to direct the outcome then it suggests that He didn’t (or couldn’t) set it up from first principles to produce the desired outcome. That he couldn’t write the code to produce what He wanted. Which makes no sense.
 
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Bradskii said:
But I’m sure you are going to get an answer that says yes, it’s natural. But that nature was designed by God in any case. In which case it was designed much as a computer programme is designed to give a specific outcome.
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Okay, but do you think the existence of DNA implies a creator of nature. If not, why not?
Bradskii said:
If you are asking if God needed to do some sleight of hand at some point to direct the outcome then it suggests that He didn’t (or couldn’t) set it up from first principles to produce the desired outcome. That he couldn’t write the code to produce what He wanted. Which makes no sense.
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Agreed

Okay, i just picked a DNA proves design video, so lets see what you think. 😀

 
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IWantGod said:
Okay, i just picked a DNA proves design video, so lets see what you think.
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I’ve seen that video and in my opinion it is misguided, misleading, or both. Pseudo-science.

DNA is all natural, and I mean “all” as in all times and all places. The origin of DNA was natural too.

This is not inconsistent with faith in God.
 
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Not at all. When I was conceived in my mother’s womb, a very natural, scientific process occurred. Cells from my two parents joined together and formed me. God established nature and let’s nature take its course, as he intended and according to his design.
 
Nice sentiment. But it occurs to me that the Bible can be totally ignored now. Only science should be our guide. God is just a word that can be deleted at whim.
 
edwest211 said:
Nice sentiment. But it occurs to me that the Bible can be totally ignored now. Only science should be our guide. God is just a word that can be deleted at whim.
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Say ‘God can be ignored’ and you get fellow Christians telling you that is not so. So a quick pause and we’ll move the goalposts over…let’s see…aah yes. Over there. And it’s now ‘the bible can be ignored’.

Which again, is wrong. It’s a fundamentalist reading of the bible which can be ignored. Such as yours.

The Catholic church “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone” (Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 82 Dei Verbum 9).
 
IWantGod said:
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Bradskii:
But I’m sure you are going to get an answer that says yes, it’s natural. But that nature was designed by God in any case. In which case it was designed much as a computer programme is designed to give a specific outcome.
Click to expand...
Okay, but do you think the existence of DNA implies a creator of nature. If not, why not?
Bradskii said:
If you are asking if God needed to do some sleight of hand at some point to direct the outcome then it suggests that He didn’t (or couldn’t) set it up from first principles to produce the desired outcome. That he couldn’t write the code to produce what He wanted. Which makes no sense.
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Agreed

Okay, i just picked a DNA proves design video, so lets see what you think. 😀

DNA - God's amazing programming; evidence for his existence - YouTube
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Ye gods. I got as far as the appearance by Ken Ham and turned off. The man is a complete idiot. If brains were gunpowder he wouldn’t have enough to blow his hat off. Seriously, if that’s the best you can find then any proposal that dna is designed is dead in the water.

Dna is formed naturally. Just like everything else. The video is just an example of an argument from incredulity: ‘Gee, look how complex it is. It MUST have been designed!’. It’s Palley’s argument writ large.
 
I think the fact that species Evolved instead of DEvolved shows that there was a Designer.
 
edwest211 said:
Nice sentiment. But it occurs to me that the Bible can be totally ignored now. Only science should be our guide. God is just a word that can be deleted at whim. [THIS MESSAGE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN SECONDS]
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It’s a personal embarrassment of mine that Genesis was ever used as a scientific journal in the first place.
 
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@IWantGod

I think you’re familiar with what my position would be as a Thomist. The question smacks of deism to me, and I don’t think Paley’s Intelligent Design argument or variants can be proven by this.

The natural order exists because of God. It was made knowledgeably by him, and there’s a teleology present in many natural systems, including DNA.

But the original question seems to separate the natural mechanics of the world from God’s conserving action, as if once put in motion it could be without God, or that it could start or continue to exist without God as a conserving cause. I don’t think it serves as extra evidence of a supernatural hand in things, other than what can naturally be reasoned to from the natural order.

I guess the question is “is DNA a miracle,” where miracle is understood to be an addition to or suspension of the natural laws, though not as if God is involved in miracles but not the natural order; he is involved in both. To that, I’d say “DNA is not miraculous.”
 
Wesrock said:
I guess the question is “is DNA a miracle,” where miracle is understood to be an addition to or suspension of the natural laws, though not as if God is involved in miracles but not the natural order; he is involved in both. To that, I’d say “DNA is not miraculous.”
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Thumbs up…
 
Or to put it another way: DNA can arise naturally through the natural order. It isn’t any more or less evidence of design. However, it’s evident (insert arguments here, yadda yadda yadda) that the natural order itself is entirely dependent upon God to exist and that God [due to reasons: yadda yadda yadda] creates voluntarily and knowledgeably.
 
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