Weekend Comments and Ubiquitin

II Corinthians 1
20 For no matter how many promises G-d has made,
they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the
"Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of G-d.

21 Now it is G-d who makes both us and you stand
firm in Christ. He anointed us,

22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his
Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.

23 I call G-d as my witness that it was in order
to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we
work with you for your joy, because it is by
faith you stand firm.

Again, it is by faith. We walk by faith and not
by sight, it says in another passage. And that
faith, has to be based on the truth of scripture
as it is revealed to the prophets and apostles.
We don't yet have the full picture.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then
shall I know even as also I am known.

www.biblegateway.com

Some things can't be proven, because we don't have
all the data. Some things can't be proven, because
they are just not true. This week, because I've
been looking at ReMine's book, I went off on a
rant about evolution for a couple days. For me,
the irritation comes from the fact that there is
an effort on the part of the evolutionistas to
promote a doctrine that has little support from
science, and then try to pass it off as science.
In fact, it's really a no-win situation, because
it's really not about science, it's about dogma.
And the two, creation and evolution, are at
extreme odds. It has been disappointing to me
that so many in the scientific community are
willing to look the other way without dissent.
Not that it should surprise anyone. Why get into
an argument over religion, just the same as you
would prefer to avoid pointless arguments about
politics. It's easier to just look the other way.
Then, continue on with minding your own business.


I tend to see the problem as a basic lack of common
knowledge about both science and christian theology.
That's why the misdirection that ReMine mentions,
works so well, for the same reason that stage
magic works so well -- nobody knows what's going on.
Those that do know, don't spoil the fun. It's not
my aim to spoil the fun. My beef is, that there
is, in the evolutionista position, a direct attack
on the authority of scripture. That kinda' bugs
me. A secondary problem is that it just isn't
real science. That bothers me a lot less, because
scientific dogma is as scientific dogma does. It's
always subject to revision.


So, let's look at another quote from ReMine.

"Diverse life forms display strikingly similar
characters. For example, there is nearly universal
use of: DNA as the carrier of inheritance; the
expression of that information as proteins via an
RNA intermediate; the genetic code; the use of left-
handed amino acids in proteins; and the bi-layered
phosphatide constrution of cell membranes. The
biochemical similarities extend to proteins and to
the cellular metabolism of the most diverse living
beings. Adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP), biotin,
riboflavin, hemes, pyroxidine, vitamins B12 and K,
and folic acid are used in metabolic processes
everywhere. Furthermore, amino acid sequences of
common proteins are similar among different
organisms. For example, the protein cytochrome-c
contains 104 amino acids, yet 64 of these are
identical between yeast and horses. Even more
impressive is a protein, appropriately called
*ubiquitin*, present in all organisms, tissues, and
cells so far studied -- and it has an absolutely
identical amino acid sequence in each case." p19

My attention is drawn to ubiquitin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitin

Here's another example of a protein that would fit
the analogy of the steering wheel in a car. It's
one part of a system of factors involved in the
regulation of proteins. When it goes haywire,
it results in a health disorder. In other words,
recombination and mutation won't provide any
potential benefit here either. To use the analogy
a steering wheel could be any number of useful
shapes and sizes, but as soon as it is disconnected
from the steering shaft, the system won't work.


What is not obvious is the thermodynamic
requirements to sustain life. As I see it, that's
the real barrier to the recombination and mutation
model. In order to sustain life, there has to be
a net positive energy output. ATP is part of the
fuel system of the body. Using a car analogy,
there has to be gas in the gas tank in order for
the body to keep working. This is provided by
the metabolic process. If there is any change in
the metabolic process that results in a significant
shift in energy production or utilization, then
the system will come to a halt, just as a car
running out of gas. So it's not only the geometry
(amino acid sequence) of how proteins are able to
interact with each other. There has to be an
efficiency in the amount of energy that each
interaction uses or produces. If that energy
barrier is not in the correct range at 98.6F,
then you have a problem. That's why a sustained
body temperature of only about 105F is fatal.
The temperature range for life is fairly narrow.
It implies that the metabolic process is a
carefully balanced system, and even small
recombinations and mutations will cause it to go
haywire as soon as they upset the thermodynamic
equilibrium, rather than add anything to complexity.


And there is one correction to the ReMine quote.
He says ubiquitin has '...an absolutely identical
amino acid sequence...'. But apparently, that's
no longer the case, according to the wikipedia
article. Apparently, there is some variation in
the ubiquitin sequence. That's not so suprising.
But it does beg the question as to what reasons
there are for the difference, besides the obvious
difference that yeast are not people. And I notice
from the wiki article that ubiquitin is unusual in
the way that it is a little bit more temperature
stable than other proteins. That means that it
won't decompose as quickly as many other proteins
will, at increased temperature. Hmmm.