DNA Archives - Tony Funderburk

Posted on July 13, 2024 by TonyJuly 13, 2024

Elgielene and I buy frozen blueberries. And we don’t thaw them out. Just thought I’d share that with you. Ha! No, I brought it up for a reason. And not because she says the frozen blueberries are like tiny, round popsicles. I mentioned them because they remind me of a frozen embryo story I wrote about.

You know a frozen embryo is a human being. Right?

Well, if it’s a frozen human embryo, it is. And the story I wanna share (again) is about the human kind. And I wanna share this story again because it’s so awesome for multiple reasons. Here you go:

Imagine you’re a 5 year old girl and a doctor tells your parents you have sickle-cell anemia. By the ripe ol’ age of 11 you get so sick your parents move to another country. Because they want to make sure you can get a bone transplant from your brother. Then, at 13, doctors decide you’ll need chemotherapy. They say kids endure this treatment much better than adults. But they also know you show signs of puberty. And they know chemo has a high risk of damaging your ovaries.

Are you with me so far? Great.

Now, imagine doctors and/or parents who have so much foresight they remove part of your right ovary and freeze it. Because they hope someone will be able to graft it back in when you mature.

Wow. That’s really thinking ahead. And it’s very optimistic (which I admire).

Anyway…

Let’s say about 10 years later doctors DO graft four parts of that frozen ovarian tissue back into your remaining ovary. Do you think that ovary could grow eggs? Even if it did, could that lead to pregnancy? Would you believe me if I told you it happened?

Yep, this is a true story.

It’s not some tale fresh out of my fruitful imagination. And the young woman, in her middle twenties, became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. A healthy baby boy who weighed in at almost 7 pounds. I’ve read a couple of articles about this event. And everyone is happy about how it turned out.

But I’ve yet to read if anyone else thinks it’s an incredible display of God’s design. Because the human gene pool is so diluted and broken now that it almost seems impossible to reuse a frozen ovary, much less a frozen embryo.

So, it’s like this. It’s one thing to remove and freeze a part of a 13 year old girl’s ovary. But it’s even more amazing to graft that part back in about 10 years later. And it’s even more amazing for the young woman to produce eggs. And, to top it off, the young woman gets pregnant?! Now, that’s design!

And not just any design. That’s infinitely complex and wonderful design only a loving God could or would do. He placed key information into each cell of your body. And from His Spirit, He poured life into that information. We humans have come a long way in our ability to understand that information. So far, in fact, that we can now freeze embryos and body parts and put them back into use years later.

We still can’t create Life.

We can only procreate.

So, it’s important to be grateful to the one true, living, loving God who designed you that way. Because He encoded your cells with information that determined the color of your eyes and hair. And whether you’d be a male or female (the only two choices) with human body parts.

And that information determined your heart would beat on its own, your brain would interpret sensory experiences, and your eyes would encode and decode images in nanoseconds.

God’s information is in your cells and your very soul. So, you have life. AND you can also be aware of your own existence. And He designed you to be fruitful and multiply. Even if you started out as a frozen embryo. So, pass on this information boldly. And with all the love you can muster.

Here’s a life-affirming rhyme to help you remember:

Intelligent design and DNA,
Scholars can’t explain it all away.
Get ready to be awed
By the handiwork of God.

Before you go, jump on the The TRUTH. And join the growing band of believers who enjoy my books, daily rhymes, songs, and videos about the Rhyme and Reason and power of God’s love.

Stay tuned,

Posted on May 23, 2024 by TonyMay 25, 2024

Guy walks up to the bar and orders, “Gimme a Helix, bartender. And make it a double.” I know you’ve heard of the Double Helix. It packs a powerful punch. But there’s no hangover the next morning. Maybe that’s because it’s filled with Deoxyribonucleic Acid.

“Yeah! Don’t be stingy with the Deoxyribonucleic Acid in my Double Helix, bartender!”

That’s such a tongue-twisting mouthful. Surely, there’s a quicker way to say it. Hmm. I kinda like DNA. What say we go with that? All in favor? Great! The eyes have it (yes, I meant to say “eyes”).

Alright, let’s get your mind out of the bar for a minute or two. And let’s talk about how DNA is scientific proof you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made by the one, true, living, loving God of creation. Not merely carbon copies of carbon lifeforms. Even the term “carbon lifeforms” contradicts itself. But, right now I’m gonna share some tidbits of information about information I shared several years ago. It bears repeating. Because it’s inside you right now.

In almost all of the 30,000,000,000,000 (that’s trillion, by the way) cells in your body there are duplicate copies of your DNA. Each human cell contains 46 segments. You got 23 segments from your mom and 23 from your dad. No one else on Earth has the same DNA as you. Cool, huh? Well, here’s something even cooler.

All that information in your DNA is a blueprint for how to build the one and only YOU. The blueprint contains the information on how you’ll look, much of how you’ll act, and how every cell in your body will function during your life.

And here’s some more interesting factoids.

The DNA from one of your cells, uncoiled, connected, and stretched out would be about 6 feet long.
It would be so thin you couldn’t see it. Not even with the most powerful microscope in existence today.
The coded information found inside that cell could fill a library with somewhere around 4,000 books.
And if you took all the DNA in your body and stretched it out end-to-end, you could go to the moon and back more than 165,000 times.

That’s mighty impressive. But, how about this?

The information found in your DNA could fill the Grand Canyon almost 30 times, if you put it in books. And yet…you could take one set of DNA from one cell of every person who ever lived, put them all in a spoon, and they’d weigh less than an aspirin.

So, how could anyone actually THINK about the complex information inside us and not believe in God?

I love knowing we’re created. And not just an accident that rose up out of nothing.

No matter what you believe about how life started, you’ve made a choice to believe it.

No one (at least virtually no one) is being forced to believe how we all got here.

My question is this.

Why would you want to believe you’re just the random result of trillions of mutations? Especially when there’s so much information inside you to the contrary. Because you’re an information-based life form. And that information, coded into your DNA, proves there must be a super coder.

The good news is…that coder is the Creator who loves you. He made you a human being. In His image and likeness. And He allows you to choose to love Him in return. Or not. So, have another Double Helix. And choose wisely.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is information locked inside your cells.
When you choose to discover why you’re here,
You’ll find out what the information tells.

And you’ll see you’re not just an accident
Fumbling through the hours, and days, and weeks, and years.
All the evidence is pointing out the way.
Trust your Maker. He’ll erase your doubts and fears.

(facts and figures from “In the Beginning” by Dr. Walt Brown)

Jump on the The TRUTH and be part of the growing band of believers who wanna show the world that life has Rhyme and Reason because God made us.

Stay tuned,

Posted on April 27, 2024 by TonyMay 2, 2024

Trillion trails of information in your personal constellation

Information inside your cells determined whether you’d have brown or blue or green eyes. And it determined whether you’d have black or brown or blonde hair. AND whether you’d be a boy or a girl (Those are the only choices, by the way). Take a trillion trails of that information, see where it goes, and I believe you’ll come to the same conclusion I did: “Whoa, dude. That sounds complex. My head just exploded.”

And that’s just ONE trillion trails.

You could take a lot more than that and still remain in the cells of one, single person. Yeah, you’re gonna need to stock up. Because that’s gonna be a long journey.

Think about the thoughts and memories you have floating around in your mind right now. Those thoughts and memories have no physical parts. In fact, you can’t feel, smell, taste, hear, or see them. And here’s the thing. They didn’t create themselves. Information can’t do that. It’s too complex.

I know I keep saying that, but I just can’t help myself. It’s tru. The information in the DNA of each of your cells is basically equal to a library with 4000 books. It’s like your body isn’t a single star. It’s a whole constellation.

So, to say that much data stored in the 37 trillion cells in your body happened by chance mutations is ludicrous (Not to be confused with “Ludacris” although he IS ludicrous).

Anyway…

Why would you (or anybody) prefer to believe in chance, circumstance, and some sort of mutations dance? And why wouldn’t you (or anybody) prefer to believe in the living, loving God who wants us to live forever? Chance, circumstance, and mutations don’t care whether you live or die. So they certainly don’t care if you live forever. In fact, they only contribute to your hopelessness. Until they eventually erase it altogether.

So. Whatcha gonna do with this information?

Toss it aside? Make fun of it? Sure, those options are at your disposal. But you could also check out scientific links I’ve shared. Don’t take my word for it. And see if your belief system is challenged. Who knows? Maybe your belief system will change. That happens a lot when people open their eyes to the truth.

If it hasn’t already happened for you, I hope it does REAL SOON.

Through the trillion trails of starlight
Caught up in the constellations
Grows a great, galactic garden,
Fiery flowers in formations.
Watered with the words of wisdom,
The Designer deemed to say,
With love we can look and listen
To the Milky Way Bouquet.

Milky Way Bouquet is an instrumental included on the popular collection of lullabies called “Lullabye Bye.” Get all the songs, in the unique songbook and coloring and drawing book for kids by the same title, from this link:

(https://www.amazon.com/Lullabye-Bye-Tony-Funderburk/dp/B08BWFWSLN)

Stay tuned,

Posted on December 27, 2020 by TonyJanuary 6, 2021

23 Chromosomes join some more and make their homes

Yeah, it only takes 23 chromosomes to create the person you know as “myself.” Well, to be more accurate, it takes 23 from your mother and 23 from your father. But who’s counting. I mean besides DNA specialists, biologists, and other people who dive into such microscopic things. But you know who’s not counting? God.

Why would God count to see if there are 23 chromosomes from each of your parents?

After all…He’s the one who developed the whole process. That’s right. It’s a created process.

Evolution ain’t the solution.

When you figure out how to evolve even one single eyeball, be sure and contact me. Because even if you lived a trillion years, you wouldn’t be able to do it. Not a working eyeball. And certainly not from scratch. I mean, c’mon, have you seen how incredibly complex it is? This ain’t no iPhone camera shutter we’re talkin’ about.

So, when you consider how much information is stored inside just 46 tiny little chromosomes, it boggles the mind. And I mean even the combined mind of every brilliant geneticist alive…or who ever lived.

And little by little more and more of those so-called “scientists,” who profess to know how life originated, are starting to figure out that time is not on their side. Because there has never been enough time…and certainly no chance…of evolving even just an eyeball.

So, thank God we didn’t have to wait for all that nonsense. Because he put all the information it would take to make you and me right there in those tiny strands of DNA.

And that’s why I say…

I got a little bit from my mom
I got a little bit from my dad
And I got my DNA from the great Yahweh
And it’s the only life I’ve had

Twenty-three plus twenty-three is one
Chromosomes were a mystery
But that mystery is gone.
Twenty-three plus twenty-three is one.
Until we learn to add it up…
The lesson isn’t quite done.

Stay tuned,

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Posted on December 22, 2020 by TonyJanuary 6, 2021

DNA extraction brings this writer satisfaction

DNA extraction. Sounds like something straight outta Jurassic Park, right? But it’s not science fiction anymore. And it’s another one of the millions of examples of how we’re not just carbon based lifeforms.

DNA extraction has been done in impossible places.

But before I share a few of those, I’d like to share some steps to the extraction process. Because it’s important to know this isn’t a simple process with just a hypodermic needle and a microscope. Despite what you might have seen in the movies.

First, cells have to be “broken” in order to release DNA. Then the DNA has to be separated from proteins and other “cellular debris.” And I read how, after that, the DNA is “precipitated” with some type of alcohol. According to the dictionary, “precipitated” just means “cause (a substance) to be deposited in solid form from a solution.”

Of course, when you pour alcohol on a substance (in this case, DNA) you gotta clean it up. And once that’s done, then it’s a matter of confirming the presence and quality of DNA.

But there’s a catch.

You can’t extract DNA from anything older than 10,000 years. And that’s because so-called “scientists” measured the DNA disintegration rates in well-preserved specimens (like Egyptian mummies) and came up with this limit.

But…wait a second…is that true?

Because DNA has been extracted from a 400,000-year-old hominin femur from Spain.

Not impressed?

OK, what if I told you DNA has also been found in magnolia leaves, salt crystals, and fish scales that are all claimed to be millions of years old? And what would you say if I told you DNA has been found in dinosaur bones? Lots of them.

They’ve even found DNA inside plants and insects that are inside amber (a hard, translucent, fossilized resin produced by extinct coniferous trees of the Tertiary period, typically yellowish in color). And the amber is supposed to be somewhere between 25 and 120 million years old.

So, what’s an evolutionist to do about that 10,000 years limit?

Well, come up with another silly claim to add to their almost never-ending list of mostly debunked claims, of course. So, they now say that DNA can be preserved longer under the right “conditions.” Like if the surroundings were colder and dryer. And if there was less oxygen and bacteria and radiation.

But according to a distinguished Ph.D. from M.I.T. (and former evolutionist) “measured disintegration rates of DNA, under these more ideal conditions, do not support this claim.”

You don’t have to believe this is true.
You can believe in the accidental you.
But I hope you really think it through
And do what your Creator wants you to do.

Stay tuned,

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My books are also on Amazon.com or Apple Books

Grab yourself an un-cool T-shirt

Or how about some music for kids

Posted on October 8, 2020 by TonyOctober 24, 2020

Old DNA is an issue. Someone hand me a soft tissue.

Since I’m more known for composing (music), it might seem a little weird for me to talk about decomposing. But here I am talking about it. And I’m guessing that you might already be aware of how your DNA starts decomposing the moment you die. Am I right? Well, it does. And apparently before 1990 almost no one believed DNA could be more than about 10,000 years old. But that was because they only tested things like Egyptian mummies. And then, they started finding really, really old DNA. I’m talking almost immortal DNA.

“Don’t make us guess, Tony. Where’d they find this old DNA?”

OK, you might not believe this. But they started finding it all over the place. Like in a 400,000-year-old bone, 17-million-year-old magnolia leaves, and salt crystals that are millions of years old. And that ain’t all. Little bits of DNA have been found in fish that certain scientists say are 200 million years old. And in dinosaur bones from 80 million years ago. And even in insects and plants caught inside amber they say is up to 120 million years old.

By any standard, that’s old.

But it gets even weirder.

Because living bacteria has been found in rocks that are supposedly up to 650 million years old. Man, talk about probiotics. But I can even beat that number. “Italian scientists have recovered 78 different types of dormant, but living, bacteria in two meteorites that are presumed to be 4.5-billion years old.” And soft tissue has been found in dinosaur bones and even in hadrosaur skin. What?!

C’mon now. If we can just figure out what’s keeping that bacteria alive, and that tissue soft, we might discover the key to immortality.

Or…

Maybe those millions and billions of years are just stupid numbers. And I mean numbers made up by people with a stupid, or at the very least, a misguided and mislead, agenda. I’m gonna go with the more scientific approach and say all those bones, fossils, and rocks are actually only a few thousand years old.

“Sure Tony. But you’ve got an agenda, too. Because you’re one of those Christians. Right?”

Right.

I DO have an agenda. And it’s to put the Truth back in the search for knowledge. Go where the evidence leads. And if it leads to a Creator God, so much the better. Especially if that Creator God is the living, loving one found in the Bible.

Because the one, true, living, loving God designed me
In His heart is where I know you’ll always find me.
My eternal DNA is in the Truth, the Life, the Way.
And the lies that rule this world will never blind me.

Stay tuned,

Get my Rhyme & Reason Podcast delivered (free) right to your player.

My books are also on Amazon.com or Apple Books

Grab yourself a cool tee

Or how about some music for kids

Posted on May 24, 2017 by TonyMay 19, 2026

You and I are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Here’s scientific proof.

You’ve heard of a double helix…right? It’s the best image scientists have come up with, so far, to represent Deoxyribonucleic Acid…also known as DNA. And DNA is scientific proof you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made. Not merely carbon copies of carbon lifeforms. Even the term “carbon lifeforms” contradicts itself. But anyway…let me share some tidbits of information about information that’s inside you right now.

In almost all of the 30,000,000,000,000 (that’s trillion, by the way) cells in your body there are duplicate copies of your DNA. Each human cell contains 46 segments. You got 23 segments from your mom and 23 from your dad. No one else on Earth has the same DNA as you. Cool, huh? And the information in the DNA is like a blueprint for how to build you. Only you! How you’ll look, much of how you’ll act, and how every cell in your body will function during your life.

And being fearfully and wonderfully made gets even more interesting.

If you took out all the DNA from one of your cells and uncoiled it…then you connected, and stretched out, it would be about 6 feet long. But It would be so thin you couldn’t see it. Not even with the most powerful microscope in existence today. The coded information found in just one cells could fill a library with somewhere around 4,000 books. And if you took all the DNA in your body and stretched it out end-to-end, you could go to the moon and back more than 165,000 times. Impressive, wouldn’t you say? Well, how about this…?

The information found in your DNA could fill the Grand Canyon almost 30 times, if you put it in books. And yet…you could take one set of DNA from one cell of every person who ever lived, put them all in a spoon, and they’d weigh less than an aspirin. When you ponder the power of the scientific discoveries we’ve made so far, you should begin to get a sense of how fearfully and wonderfully made you truly are.

Isn’t it more comforting to know you’re made instead of just an accident?

No matter what you believe about how life got here, you’re choosing to believe it. No one (at least virtually no one) is being forced to believe how we all got here. My question is this. Why would you want to believe you’re just the random result of trillions of mutations? Especially when there’s so much information inside you to the contrary. You’re an information-based life form. And the fact that so much information is coded into your DNA proves there must be a super coder. The good news is…that coder loves you. He made you a human being made in His image and likeness. And He allows you to choose to love Him back…or not. Choose wisely.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is information locked inside your cells.
When you choose to discover why you’re here,
You’ll find out what the information tells.

And you’ll see you’re not just an accident
Fumbling through the hours, and days, and weeks, and years.
All the evidence is pointing out the way.
Trust your Maker. He’ll erase your doubts and fears.

(facts and figures from “In the Beginning” by Dr. Walt Brown)

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Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk

Your Life Has Rhyme And Reason Because God Made You