When Charles Darwin wrote his groundbreaking book on evolution, The Origin of Species, he knew little about the human cell. To Darwin, as well as the other scientists of his time, the human cell was a black box. Just what is a black box? According to Michael Behe: “Black box is a whimsical term for a device that does something, but whose inner workings are mysterious – sometimes because the workings can’t be seen, and sometimes because they just aren’t comprehensible.”1 Darwin, not understanding anything about human cells – which are the basic building blocks of life, sadly was in no position to devise a theory of how life evolved, since he knew nothing about cellular biology. Thus, his theory of evolution tried to explain things that he was totally handicapped to explain.
Today, however, we have learned a great deal about cellular biology and chemistry, which if Darwin knew back then, when he developed his theory of evolution, I believe he would have been left in awe and would have had to conclude that God had to be somehow involved with the creation of life; instead of his beliefs in random mutations and natural selection.
But just what is a human cell and why should it leave even the staunchest believer in evolution in awe? Simply put a human cell consists of a host of molecular machines that live in complete harmony performing thousands of specific functions in mere nano-seconds of time. Thanks to the advent of the electron microscope and countless experiments we now know quite a bit about how these tiny molecular machines, inside the human cell, work. I am not a scientist but I would briefly like to describe how I view the human cell in layman’s terms.
Scientists tell us that an average adult human has approximately 30 to 40 trillion cells in their body. It is hard to fathom but they are all coordinated and work in unison through the incredibly complex organ called the brain. Our human body consists of approximately 200 different types of cells, each unique and each playing a pivotal role in allowing us to function. I liken each cell to a tiny factory that is constantly performing thousands of functions by exchanging matter and energy in ways that we are just beginning to understand. Enzymes, chemicals, and electrical energy are being exchanged within and between cells through an amazing array of molecular machines so fast that we need to use the term nano-seconds to describe how fast these functions are performed.
Each cell is similar in composition yet the 200 different types of human cells perform unique functions that make us human. Some of the names of the parts of the cell include the nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondrion, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, centrioles, and cytoplasm. If some of these space-age names seem out of your league you are not alone. Yet they each are critical to the functioning of our tiny factories and we owe a great debt to our modern scientists who only recently are deciphering how they work. Just how do 30 trillion tiny factories live together, supporting and complementing each other is way above my pay-grade. But what I do know is that when many identical cells are organized together we call it tissue and when tissues are organized together for a common purpose they are called organs.
But what blows me away more than anything is that all 30 trillion cells that make up each one of us started as a single fertilized egg cell. And all the knowledge that would in nine short months produce you and me had to reside in that one original single cell. For that one cell knew how to produce ribosomes, mitochondrion, and endoplasmic reticulum. It knew how to produce 200 different types of cells. It also knew how to produce tissues and organs – such as the heart and brain. And it knew how to produce systems such as the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory. And what’s even more mind-blowing, that one cell knew how to accomplish much of these early acts of creation without a brain – since the brain isn’t formed until about the sixth or seventh week of life in the womb!
When the Bible says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made God knew exactly what He was talking about. I challenge you to meditate on this one closing thought – to abort any baby in the womb from conception till birth is to tamper with God’s masterpiece of creation!
1 Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. (New York: The Free Press, 1996), p. 6.