FEARFULLY, WONDERFULLY

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (Ps. 139:13-16)

When a human being is conceived by fertilization, the "fearfully" and wonderfully" of Psalm 139 begin. What starts at that moment is a construction project of intricacy and precision that has no conscious direction by the mother or the baby. Things begin to take place involving DNA, chromosomes, amino acids, proteins, and cell division and what has begun, has begun with intent. New cells are reproducing in the womb, eventually, some will do so at the rate of 100,000 per second. That's fearful ( in the sense of awe-inspiring) and wonderful (in the sense of, well, wonderful).

EVEN MORE FEARFUL, MORE AMAZING

It gets more amazing: How do the new cells know where to go? In what order do they know where to go? How do some of the cells know to become heart cells? How do some know to become brain cells? The mother isn't consciously directing them to go to this place or that place and arrange themselves in a precise order. The mother isn't directing some cells to be kidneys and others to be lungs.

The organization and the order in which they are organized show intent, the intent to become a human being. It's like a complex choreographed dance with each cell intent on being in its proper place in its proper order with the intent of becoming a human being.

What is this? This is design; this is order; this is intent. This is fearful and wonderful! This is an example of Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

THE ATHEIST'S DEMAND

Many an atheist has said, "If God would write His name in the sky or the Ten Commandments on the moon, then I'd believe" (Carl Sagan). But, according to  Frank Turek, God has done infinitely more than that--He's written His name in our DNA in every cell of the human body. "The information in DNA guides and instructs the formation of proteins; without it, protein formation would be a haphazard, hit-or-miss proposal. The nucleic sequence in DNA is informational." (J. Warner Wallace) 

And what does the fact that DNA is "informational" mean? Let's first ask, "Where does information come from?" In the entire history of the universe, in the entire history of science, no one has ever found a single instance of information coming from any source other than from intelligence. If you were to find a set of encyclopedias on a deserted island, you'd say that some intelligence, some very smart person or persons wrote those tomes. Those who discovered and read the Rosetta Stone knew for certain that some intelligence produced it because it contained information.  

[Soldiers in Napoleon's army discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799, while digging the foundations of an addition to a fort near the town of Rosetta. The text written on the Rosetta Stone was in three scripts so that the priests, government officials, and rulers of Egypt could read what it said.]

From this, we see not only form, order, and precision, but we also see intent, whether it be intent in the womb or intent written on a stone (the inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests. It is one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation.) 

Cells in the womb, cells without a mind, yet they have programmed purpose--to fearfully and wonderfully form a human being. An intelligence must be behind this precision, order, and intent, that is, a Person must be directing it, and the Psalm 139 tells us Who. 

YET

Enter the atheist. What does he do about this form, order, precision, and intent? He recognizes it! As atheist Richard Dawkins says, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." He, one of the leading atheists in the world, admits it? Yes, but hang on, there's more.

Although we actually see this form, order, precision, and intent, Dawkins, like atheist Frances Crick writes, "Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see [form, order, precision, and intent] was not designed, but evolved." Really?

LYIN' EYES

Wait. What? They're saying, "It's obvious, but remind yourself that your eyes are lying to you."  Can blind chance explain DNA, form, order, precision, and intent? The statement, "We see design, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it's not there," reminds us of Romans 1:18-22:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools . . ."

It's evident; it's clearly seen that there is a Person who created the universe, but "No," they say, "constantly keep in mind that what you see is not designed. . ." Paul says that this is the path to foolishness. 

Foolishness? Yes. Since they can't and won't admit God is there, their explanation of form, order, precision, and intent is foolishness: space aliens. Yes, they propose that space aliens seeded the universe and they are the intelligence behind the human race. There's even a name for this absurdity: panspermia ("seed everywhere").

Listen to Richard Dawkins: "It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved, probably by some kind of Darwinian means, probably to a very high level of technology, and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet. Now that is a possibility, and an intriguing possibility. And I suppose it’s possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology, you might find a signature of some sort of designer."

"[Popularizer, gifted speaker, and American astrophysicist] Neil deGrasse Tyson is talking panspermia from Mars, Richard Dawkins mentions ancient aliens as a possible candidate for development of complex biological processes." ("The Telegraph") This foolishness is all over the place. Think of it: if the media discovers that a man running for president of the United States believes the truth of Ps. 139, he's pilloried as an idiot, but if he advocates panspermia, would he not be hailed as brilliant?

HARDENED HEARTS

"When we discover that each person has a unique name over three billion letter long written in cells so small that they are invisible to the naked eye (DNA), the atheist who demands that God write a few letters in the sky remains unmoved." (Frank Turek) The hardened heart had rather owe its existence to smart space aliens rather that bow before the omniscient, omnipotent God of Genesis 1-2.

Paul nails it in Romans 1: "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks." Yet The final, absolute, and ultimate word of the Psalmist  is, "I will give thanks to You . . . you wove me in my mother’s womb. .  .  I am fearfully and wonderfully made."