Chapter 01. The Tiniest Living Entity

Figure 1.1 Cross section of a cell. The nucleus (in the center) and the organelles.

At every location in our bodies, a tiny yet complex living process takes place.

Whenever we examine with a microscope the details of any human organ, we see millions of tiny living entities that have massed together to form that organ and which at every instant are in constant activity. Not just human beings, but all living organisms are formed from aggregates of these tiny microscopic entities called cells.

Cells are divided into two types: those without a nucleus (prokaryotes) and those that do possess a nucleus (eukaryotes). Bacteria are single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus. Every human, animal and plant cell does contain a nucleus, but they have a different structure. Using the energy from the Sun, with the aid of the chloroplasts found in their cells, plants produce nutrients and oxygen for humans and animals. This book focuses mainly on the human cell, but will touch on plant cells from time to time.

Your body contains more than 100 trillion cells, some so small that one million of them brought together would fit on the tip of a needle. Despite this tiny size, however, the cell is considered by the scientific community as the most complex structure man has ever come across. Though many of its secrets have still not been unraveled, it forms the greatest impasse for evolutionary theory. The Russian evolutionist Alexander I. Oparin expresses this truth, which cannot be overlooked:

Unfortunately, however, the problem of the origin of the cell is perhaps the most obscure point in the whole study of the evolution of organisms.1

Another admission on this topic belongs to Professor Klaus Dose, the Director of the Institute for Biochemistry at Johannes Gutenburg University. In regard to the formation of the living cell, Dose has this to say:

In spite of many attempts, there have been no breakthroughs during the past 30 years to help to explain the origin of chilarity in living cells.2

1. NUCLEUS All of the information pertaining to the human body is encoded here, in this DNA molecule. 2. ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM It isolates and transports proteins and other molecules. 3. MITOCHONDRIA The cell's primary source of energy. The molecule ATP, vital for all body functions, is synthesized here. 4. CELL MEMBRANE Semi-permeable, it controls the entry and exit of molecules. 5. CELL MEMBRANE GATES They allow glucose and oxygen in, and transport synthesized protein and enzymes outside the cell.

Figure 1.2 Protein-producing ribosomes; energy-producing mitochondria; DNA, the central information bank; the endoplasmic reticulum that facilitates transport, the Golgi body that acts as a depot, the membrane which controls entry into and exit from the cell; all of the enzymes that have a duty in all reactions in the cell-with all of this planned, endless activity the cell operates like a perfectly run factory. Remember that the cell, harboring all of these processes, is a trillion times smaller than any factory.

With these words Dose admits that evolution cannot explain the origins of living things.

From these admissions, it is quite clear that evolutionary theory stumbles right from its first step and has no possibility of going any further. Because, as is known, the living organism's basic unit is the cell. Consequently a theory that cannot explain how the cell came into being-or, even how the proteins that make up the cell, or how the amino acids that make up the protein came into being-is in no way able to explain how all living beings on Earth were formed.

On the contrary, the cell is one of the most dazzling proofs that the human being was, in fact, created.

For the cell to continue its existence, all of the components that carry out the vital processes need to be assembled together in one place. Anyone who claims that the cell came about as a result of so-called evolutionary changes is actually asserting that the millions of different components making up the cell formed at the same time and in the same place-by coincidence. Moreover, all of these parts needed to have come together in a particular order and plan. It's undoubtedly impossible that such an event could have come about by chance. Therefore, a structure like the cell is a clear proof of creation.

We can illustrate this with an analogy: The possibility that the cell arose through a series of coincidences, as the theory of evolution proposes, is less likely than if a bomb were to explode in a printing house and an encyclopedia was published as a result. In other words, a living organism coming into being by coincidence is beyond the limits of possibility.

1. Centrioles 2. Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum 3. Plasma Membrane 4. Mitochondrion 5. Nuclear Pore 6. Lysosome	7. Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum 8. Nuclear Membrane 9. Nucleus 10. Nucleolus 11. Ribosomes 12. Golgi Body
Figure 1.3 Generalized diagram of an animal cell

Despite this, evolutionists are still claiming that living things came about by coincidence under the primitive earth conditions, which was then the most uncontrolled of environments. But under no circumstances can this claim ever conform to scientific fact. Even the most basic calculations have proven mathematically that, not only the cell, but even just one of the millions of proteins that compose it, cannot have come into existence as a result of coincidence. This shows that evolutionary theory is based not on intelligent logic, but rather on a collection of imaginary and fantastic scenarios.

Equally amazing as the formation of a single cell is the perfect harmony and cooperation amongst cells. All of the myriad cells in the human body came about as a result of the division-and subsequent multiplication-of just one cell. And right from the start, all of the knowledge to shape the structure of our bodies as they are now, their design and all of their features were present in the chromosomes located in the nucleus of that very first cell.

All cells resemble one another in their general features. However, each organ possesses cells that are different from any other organ's. Cells have been bestowed with specialized shapes and abilities, depending on the structure and duty of the organ they compose.

One single cell possesses a complexity akin to a large city's in terms of its systems and communication, its transport and management. Just a few of the complex structures found in the cell include powerhouses that produce energy for the cell's use; factories that manufacture enzymes and hormones vital to the cell's existence; a knowledge bank containing all the information needed to manufacture all the products that the cell will produce; a complex transport system and roadways that transfer raw materials and products from one site to another; a laboratory and refinery that can distinguish and separate raw materials coming in from outside; specialized membrane proteins that control the entry and exit of the materials.

Any human's continued existence occurs as a result of the harmonious cooperation within and amongst the cells that make up the body. The cell works in great harmony with others, while maintaining its own existence within a sensitive balance. By itself, it determines and then produces the materials and energy it needs to maintain this inner balance. Whenever it cannot meet some of its requirements itself, it meticulously selects the necessary materials from outside. It is so selective that without its "permission," no substance, even one found in abundance outside the cell, can accidentally enter through its membrane. There is never to be found an unnecessary molecule or one that doesn't have a purpose in the cell. All substances leaving the cell are under the same tight controls and strict regulations.

In addition to all this, the cell possesses a defense system to protect it from external threats and attacks. Yet despite the number of structures and systems contained within it, and the endless activity that takes place, the average size of a cell is measured not in square kilometers like a modern city, but in only hundredths of a millimeter.

All these amazing processes, which we have mentioned briefly and which we will analyze separately in the rest of the book, take place in such a tiny living thing. That is a miracle in itself.

The World's Most Advanced Factory

The cell's production system can be likened to a factory, the likes of which have not yet been built, and which works with the most advanced technology (Figure 1.2). This imaginary factory is a huge facility, made up of numerous highly developed units each producing different high-tech products. It uses some of these products within its inner structure, and some of them it assembles to produce new production machinery. It exports many of its products as raw materials or machinery. Using up the least amount of energy to produce the highest yield, it is more environmentally friendly than any present factory anywhere on the face of the Earth. It destroys its own waste and thus almost never pollutes its environment.

The factory's production and operating systems have been perfectly designed. The directors, engineers, workers-in short, the entire staff-are made up of robots and computers able to perform their duties faultlessly, and are so advanced that we would encounter them only in science fiction films.

Production in the cell takes place just as this imaginary factory. Specialized and complex protein molecules, called enzymes, take the place of the factory's robots and machines. The cell's knowledge of how to manage itself is stored in a large, helical molecule called DNA, highly specialized for this process and formed from the assembly of numerous atoms.

Now, let's look at the structure of this bewilderingly miraculous molecule and the processes it manages to carry out.