HOMOLOGY, ANIMAL LIMBS, INTELLEGENT DESIGNER, CREATOR, EVOLUTION, COMMON ANCESTOR, DR. GAVIN DE BEER, EMBRYOLOGIST, GENE PATTERNS, HOMOLOGOUS

HOMOLOGY

Good day everyone! How are you all this week? I am well and enjoying God’s beautiful world as it changes once again into the spectacular colors of autumn and wonderful bounties of the fall harvests. I had such a good time with my two daughters and two grandsons taking them to a pumpkin patch last Saturday. There were many different pumpkins of all sizes and even some white ones along with a variety of cool looking winter squashes. Such a treasured memory!

Speaking of  varieties of winter squash...I am sure all you astute readers out there have noticed that many of Gods creations have similarities. For example, all mammals have mammary glands, and animals as well as humans have eyes, ears (or hearing apparatuses), mouths and nostrils of some type or another. Animals either walk, swim, or fly. As a matter of fact all terrestrial (land dwelling) vertebrates share universally homologous (similar) body parts.

We are familiar with this in the theory of evolution. Evolutionists use this similarity as evidence of a common ancestor that all animals grew out of and diverged from. Even a single celled organism (which evolutionists call simple) has similarities in that they have a means of reproduction, locomotion and digestion, etc. This concept sounds intriguing and possible, thus so many have come to accept it as truth.

However, even more logical is the theory that an Intelligent

Designer or Creator used a common theme to meet similar biological requirements. We see this all the time in the objects that man has created. For example motorized vehicles except for hover crafts have some sort of wheel mechanism. They also have an engine or motor, seat(s), in most cases a window shield of some sort, a fan and fan belts, starter, battery, fuel injector and storage tank, etc., etc. Artists in general use an array of colors including black and white and shades of grey. They use a background of some sort such as a canvas, side of a building, paper, metal, wood, etc. How about a road? Even back in the Roman Empire times people did what we do today, that is clear a straight line and put down a hard substance such as cobblestone, pavement bricks, asphalt, cement, gravel etc.  Need I go on? If something works, use that theme and fine tune it to whatever you want. Like a Volkswagen, motorcycle, porch, pickup truck, tractor, boat or airplane. You can follow the common theme in all of these man made items.

The same is true with our Creator God. “For example, all vertebrates with true limbs (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) have the same basic limb structure at least during their embryological development. This standard vertebrate limb consists of an upper limb comprising one bone, a lower limb comprising two bones, and a hand or foot bearing five digits (fingers and toes). Thus, the appendages of all limbed vertebrates share fundamental similarities, with each being specialized to meet the needs of each species.

“Horses have five digits while developing as an embryo, but generally all but one (the third digit) is absorbed before birth. Vestiges of the second and third metacarpal (and metatarsal) bones are visible in the modern horse as the splint bones. Some fossil horses, however, had three toes, but both three-toed and one-toed

horses have been found together in the fossil record. In National Geographic magazine, for example, there is a picture of the feet of both a three-toed horse (Pliohippus) and a one-toed horse (Equus) that were found at the same volcanic site in Nebraska.”¹

But our amazing Creator goes one step beyond that. Once again He has left His fingerprints for us to see. You see, the fact is that it has been proved in many cases that homologous structures are not produced by homologous genes! For example the front limbs of reptiles, mammals, birds and humans are, as we discussed above, homologous. But surprisingly enough, the limbs of these various animals are not produced from similar (homologous) genes. 

“In the vertebrates the embryo is constructed of a large number of segments which can be numbered, starting at the head end. Surely particular segments develop under the control of particular genes. We would reasonably assume the same for any particular structure, such as the front leg. Yet we see in the diagram that in six different vertebrates which allegedly inherited their front legs from a common ancestor, the front legs as well as the rear legs develop from entirely different groups of segments from species to species.

From Answers in Genesis

“Thus if the front legs (or rear legs) of these different creatures have been inherited from a common ancestor through evolution, we have the incredible idea that the job of producing the legs is, by evolution, passed slowly back and forth from group to group of different genes, which are themselves gradually changing to accomplish this fantastic juggling act.

“In his 1971 monograph, Homology, An Unsolved Problem (reference Oxford Biology Reader), Sir Gavin de Beer, one of the truly great embryologist of this century, posed the question for evolutionary theory which still is unanswered:

“‘But if it is true that through the genetic code, genes code for enzymes that synthesize proteins which are responsible (in a manner still unknown in embryology) for the differentiation of the various parts in their normal manner, what mechanism can it be that results in the production of homologous organs, the same "patterns", in spite of their not being controlled by the same genes? I asked this question in 1938, and it has not been answered.’”²

The question, however, is easily answered by understanding that animals and humans were created and formed by a loving Creator and not randomly arising from non-life by chance.

Until next time, take care and God bless,

Willow Dressel

This week’s night skies, for the northern lats; Monday, October 20

The annual Orionid meteor shower should be active before dawn's first light this morning and for the next few mornings. The shower's radiant (apparent perspective point of origin) is in the top of Orion's Club, and this is highest before morning twilight begins. Also, Thursday, October 23 A partial eclipse of the Sun happens this afternoon for most of North America. Seen from the eastern half of the continent, the Sun sets while the partial eclipse is still in progress. Westerners get to see the whole thing. Eastern New England just misses out. See our article online: Partial Solar Eclipse, October 23, 2014. Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles plans a live webcast from 5:00 to 7:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Also: webcast from Columbus State University in Georgia, 5 p.m. EDT. Bonus: The huge sunspot AR2192 should be near the middle of the Sun's disk by today.”³

For the souther hemisphere; “The Orionids are a worthwhile shower that somewhat favours the Southern Hemisphere,best seen between 2-5 am, the radiant, the point where meteors appear to originate from, being just under Betelgueuse, the bright red star in Orion. The Orionids are the debris from Halley's comet, and this year the sky is nicely dark for the shower. The best viewing is the morning of the 22nd, when between 3-5 am under dark skies you should see about a meteor every 4-6 minutes. You can find out the predicted rates for your location using the  NASA meteor flux estimator (use 8 Orionids and make sure you set the dates to 21-22 October 2014).”⁴

References:

¹Ham, Ken. The Answers Book 3 Over 35 Questions On Creation/Evolution and the Bible. Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2013. Pp 233-234.

²https://answersingenesis.org/biology/a-serious-problem-for-homology/

³http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

⁴http://astroblogger.blogspot.com