Introduction

This website proposes that God made and signed DNA. It does this by identifying a correspondence between amino acids (coded for by DNA) and Hebrew letters - something we believe has never been done before in this way. It presupposes that its readers believe God exists or are open to the possibility that he does.

This puts us rather at odds with Morley in his quote, My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed (Morley 1920). But it leaves us comfortably in accord with the title of a book about DNA, The Language of God, co-authored by the head of the Genome Project - the international research effort to determine the DNA sequence of the entire human genome (Collins and Davis 2006).

A Hebrew language lecturer of last century always started his courses with these words, “Gentlemen; this is the language which God spoke”. Presumably an all-powerful God speaks all languages, and to all people at the same time, but the words attributed to God which have had most influence on the human race are the ones based in Hebrew, which has found its way into the Christian Bible, arguably the world's most translated and published book. In the Hebrew Law we read: God spoke all these words (Exodus 20:1). When God said “Let there be light” he said it, and presumably used words. So Jewish scholars have argued that God’s first creation was the letters (and numbers), and that they carried spiritual power. Does Hebrew? Is it the same as what God spoke? That’s not so clear. Perhaps God used a kind of language which even transcends Hebrew. However the Hebrews have grown so intrigued by their alphabet, many have ascribed mystic properties to it. Some mystics actually claim to have met the Hebrew characters themselves in spiritual spheres, and say they have distinct but mysterious personalities. Other cultures have sometimes attributed mystical or magical power to their alphabets but have not produced the body of research and writing around them that enthusiasts of Hebrew have.

Christian scholars would argue that a Word with personal character was eternally existent, and that even if letters have some personality, they came later and are only a means of expressing the Word.

To us, signing your name to something is to guarantee and stand behind your purchase, order, cheque, or manuscript. If the human DNA is signed by God, is that a guarantee of his commitment to the human race - in spite of ourselves?

Would God actually act like humans and sign something? Perhaps he did – the preface to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 reads, “I am YHWH your God ...” and it was common in those days to sign a letter at the start! (This has advantages; if you don’t like the author you don’t have to read any further!)

Why not a signature in the DNA?

As we have learned more about the tremendous complexity of our molecular biology and the DNA, we naturally ask whether God might have left his fingerprint there also. Kluger asks: "Why wouldn't our list of parts include a genetic chip that would enable us to contemplate our maker?” (Kluger 2004). Augustine said, “God is that kind of artist whose greatness is seen just as much in his minor works as in the great masterpiece” (Augustine of Hippo - 354-430 AD).

So it would be reasonable to think the greatness of God might also be found in the very small, including the DNA of our cells.

There have been several attempts to work out what God might be saying through the DNA (see Reflections). But I think caution is best: we are an image of God, but not necessarily much of a message from God.