Automakers are busily developing self-driving automobiles which are capable of sensing danger and instantly reacting to it. Imagine that you are in such a car and it senses that a large tree has fallen across the road, blocking your path forward. The response from such a vehicle would be to slam on the brakes and come to an immediate stop.

Now think about that response. Why did the car stop? Did the fallen tree in some way communicate with the car and cause it to stop? Not at all. The car had internal sensors to identify the barrier and internal programming to adapt to the changing circumstances. To believe that the tree caused the car to stop would be both naive and misguided. Yet, this is exactly how biologists are trained to think about life. Their literature is filled with examples that imply that the environment in which an organism lives causes it to adapt and change. The idea that the presence of drugs causes a bacteria to evolve or a sooty environment caused the peppered moths population to shift from light to dark coloration is the common perception among biologists. This is as misguided as believing that the fallen tree caused the car to stop.

Life adapts to changing environments because it has been designed with programming that allows it the flexibility to adapt. It is the organism, guided by prior programming, that adapts to changes, not the environment that causes the changes to happen. The primary reason biologists do not think in this manner is because it implies that a source of this programming is required, and they are trained to believe the environment made the organism. Thus, they miss the One who did the programming. God, the great programmer!

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

~ Proverbs 2:3-5

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett