The Development of Reproductive Cells

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In a factory that employs technological devices, many robotic machines are used in the various stages of production. All the programs, functional systems, technical support units for these machines, in short, every kind of information that may be required in the course of production is located at the control centre of that factory. It is like a data bank in which is deposited all the information needed for use in the stages of production, and in quality and damage control. The human body is the most advanced and complex structure in the world; if we compare it with such a factory we can say that, in order for this factory to continue operating, it must have all the information stored in the DNA molecule in the nucleus of the cell.

While a human being is still a newly fertilised egg cell in his mother's womb, God determines all the qualities that he will have in the future and imprints them in the DNA molecules. From his hair colour to his height, from the illness he is prone to throughout his life to every imaginable physical characteristic every human quality is preserved carefully, but in a size so small that it can be seen only by an electron microscope.

DNA is found in every one of the approximately 100 trillion cells of our body. The average diameter of a cell is 10 microns (one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter); if we think about this, we can more easily understand how much information is stored in such a small space.

If we think of DNA, which allows the life of living things to continue according to a planned program, as an encyclopedia, the volumes of this encyclopedia are its chromosomes.

It is very important that these chromosome volumes occur in pairs in the DNA molecule. In the process of his creation, every human being receives one of these two chromosome volumes from his mother and the other from his father. The 23 chromosomes that come from the mother and the 23 that come from the father are of are complementary to one another. That is, the 46 chromosomes in the nucleus of a human cell are actually 23 pairs of chromosomes. The 23rd chromosome has a special function: it is usually denoted by the letter X or Y. In males, one of the members of the pair is the X chromosome, the other is the Y chromosome; in females, the 23rd chromosome is composed of two X's.²

In light of this information a question comes to mind: if every human cell is composed of 46 chromosomes, how is it that as a result of the combination of a mother's and a father's cells, the newly born individual has 46 chromosomes? It would seem logical for the mother's 46 chromosomes and the father's 46 chromosomes to produce an abnormal baby with 92 chromosomes. But this is not the case. How is it then that everyone is born with 46 chromosomes?

The answer to this question shows the great wonder of creation.