On Tue, 04 Nov 1997 22:52:03 -0600 you wrote:
> I keep going back to the same mistake (a pseudogene)
>which is found at the same site on the same chromosome in gorilla, gibbon,
>chimp and man. These are a broken gene. It performs no function and indeed
>can not perform a function because it has no instruction (control) portion
>of the gene. Given that designers of automobiles do not design a broken
>transmission to lie next door to the working transmission, neither is it
>reasonable to believe that God created the same non-functional gene in 4
>entirely unrelated species. The most logical explanation of this is that
>we share an ancestry with the apes.
>We can pretend that this data doesn't exist. We can pretend that it doesnt'
>matter. But we can not make the evidence go away. If God designed these
>non-working pieces of DNA in to 4 different species to make the 4 appear
>related when they aren't, then God is deceiving us.
I believe the current pseudogene data is not convincing proof that man is a
genetic descendent from apes. I don't deny that the gene is there, nor
would I say that it doesn't matter; it may be very significant. I wouldn't
quickly call it a mistake. Perhaps it was once a part of the fetal to
adult transition, in many species including apes and man, and now is turned
off for some reason such as environmental changes. Maybe there will be
more insights soon. For the present, it's one of those things that's "on
the shelf" for me, awaiting more research.
Karen