J. Craig Venter

On Nov. 21, 2010 , 60 Minutes presented the scientific work of a microbiologist, J. Craig Venter. He is the man whose team mapped the human genome and created "synthetic life" The idea of creating new forms of life in the laboratory is here. This summer Venter and his scientists made a synthetic bacteria with a computer. This bacteria was made with man-made DNA. This work led to praise, skepticism and rancor.

When Venter judges himself scientifically, he says that the record is pretty clear: (1) the first genome in history, (2) the first draft of the human genome, (3) the first complete version of the human genome, and (4) having the first synthetic cells. He thinks unusually and has no visual memory. Thus, his work is conceptual and sees things in Nature differently.

He has scuba-dived with sharks to gather microbes in the Pacific, and spent much of the past summer sailing through the Greek isles on his 95-foot research vessel, plucking new genetic material from the sea. When removing a Petri dish from an incubator in his lab and holding it up to the light, he reveals small dark specks of bacteria saying that this is the first synthetic species. It took 15 years to develop at a cost of about $40 million. He runs a biotech company called Synthetic Genomics and a t research lab, the J. Craig Venter Institute. (click)

What did Venter really make? He did not make something out of nothing, as God does.. To help you answer this question, I suggest that you read the 15 comments to this CBS interview of Venter. (click) I suggest that you focus on the comment by krazy56, who wonders whether we lose our DNA but hold our soul after death. Any volunteer?

In my blogs and book. 'The First Scientific Proof of God,' you will find that I suggest what happens after death. I believe in, and develop, a panentheistic God. This God is active and made our universe. Thus, I believe in God's Intelligent Design but reject atheism, deism, materialism and evolution.

At John 14:12, Jesus say that we will do greater works. So Venter's work might be greater than today's knowledge of microbiologists. Since Venter's thoughts are primarily conceptual, he should turn his thoughts to God because I connected God and the Uuniverse with my new theological science. (click) He might become even more productive. However, if Venter never turns toward the work of Galileo on bodies and their infinite number of indivisibles, his research will come to an end quickly.