Torah friend wrote:The DNA polymerase III "transcription process" is not a good analogy, for a variety of reasons, including the following.
I don't know anything about your Torah friend, but I am going to assume she doesn't have much of a biology background. This assumption is made off of the major misconceptions about how cell biology really works (as described by her below). This is very _basic_ cell biology; stuff kids take in high school or their freshman year of college (I know, I took it).
For the above reasons, might I suggest your friend leave biology to the biologists?
Torah friend wrote:(1) A replicated cell is not scrutinized for mistakes.
Wrong. A replicated cell is especially scrutinized for mistakes _immediately_ after each section of DNA is transcribed. That is what the whole DNA polymerase family is for.
Torah friend wrote:(2) Cellular mistakes are not corrected; unless the mutation causes that cell to die, it is retained within the gene pool.
Wrong again. If a mistake is found by the proofreading DNA polymerase, it is _immediately_ corrected. This is done with astonishing accuracy. Did you read the part I wrote about "1 mistake for every million million transcribed"? Again, human transcribers are no where close to this accurate, no matter how strict their "laws" about transcribing may be.
Torah friend wrote:(3) Every cell has equal opportunity to produce descendants.
Again, wrong. Every cell in an organism does _not_ have equal opportunity to do anything. Much like the organism itself, each cell is in a survival-of-the-fittest game.
Torah friend wrote:(4) Each and every cell replicates itself; creating cell lines that are replicas of replicas; this produces the "snowball effect" of mistakes accumulating generation after generation.
Wow! Really wrong. Let me start with the "siblings" part. This really shows your friend's lack of cell biology knowledge. So, you know how DNA in an organism's genome is double-stranded? Well, it provides an extremely convenient template (or "master scroll") system. One strand is used as a template for transcribing, while the other strand is used for parallel transcribing. This is sort of like have two, identical "master scrolls" . . . even more redundancy increases the accuracy. Add they are called "daughter cells", not "siblings".
I am not sure where your friend read about the "snowball effect", but this is really not how it works. I will be happy to explain all of this in detail, as I rather enjoy discussing it.
Torah friend wrote:(5) Cellular reproduction occurs at such an astonishing speed, that mutations can spin out of control, quickly killing the organism.
Oh! Wow! Sorry. Very wrong. The cell has an _amazing_ array of "machinery", called proteins, which stop exactly this from happening at each, and every, step, of the cell cycle.
Once again: One mistake every one million million (billion) transcribed. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is "spinning out of control".
If you want to debate something, it is generally a good idea to know something about it first. Sorry, I am not trying to be cute . . . your friend has just tread on my ground and she ain't wearing any gloves. ;-)
I don't claim to be an expert on the Torah, but I do know the Bible better than most Christians and would even suggest I know the Old Testament better than most Jews.
Torah friend wrote:This argument works against you, because the Torah constantly criticizes and slams the behavior of the Hebrews/Israelites. Indeed, Jew-haters in every generation have pointed straight at the Torah itself to support their hateful view of Jews as the "synagogue of Satan" that deserves to be replaced as the chosen people. It's quite a stretch to claim this is in the Jewish nation's best interest to be hated, persecuted, and massacred in every generation.
If this was an attempt at playing the race card, I suggest your friend reconsider. You are most certainly pulling it against the wrong person (and I would be happy to explain why that is). My point was entirely about religion. Now, I understand that the Judaism is almost inseparable from the Jewish ethnic group, but, again, my point was about religion and religion alone.
PS: Please let your friend know that this is all in good spirit. I enjoy a good debate and I hope she does likewise.