TASC

Once again it is the time of year that we remember and celebrate the first coming to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, came to save sinners and give us eternal life (John 3:16). Sinners are people who have a sin nature, naturally rebel against God, and break his commandments. Everyone who descended from Adam and Eve, which includes all of us, has a sin nature (1 Cor 15:20–22). The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Jesus came to live the sinless life we could not live (Heb 4:15), pay the just penalty for our sins by dying in our place (Heb 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 Pet 3:18), and then, being raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:1–11), give eternal life to those who would trust Him (John 10:10, Rom 5:17).

Routine conversations among individuals often include health issues such as weight loss, smoking, alcohol, and blood pressure to name a few. Seldom do we discuss the function or importance of the human pancreas. Most individuals are familiar with organs such as heart, lung, kidneys, brain, etc., but the pancreas is a mystery to many. Disorders of the pancreas can give rise to well-known conditions such as diabetes mellitus, malnutrition, severe inflammation of the abdomen, and life-threatening malignancies. For example, failure of the pancreas to secrete sufficient insulin into the blood stream causes diabetes mellitus.

The goal of this paper is to review some significant findings from the analysis of genetic sequence data over the last few decades. These results have surprised many biologists and are believed by many to challenge the key assumptions about how life came to exist on this planet. In particular, these recent findings indicate that the diversity of genetic information across the entire range of life forms is much greater than previously known and that this information in the form of protein-coding genes shows that all forms of life are much more distinct from each other at a very fundamental level than ever was previously understood. These results call into question specific key assumptions that make up the evolutionary explanation for life: