No
Chance of Life by Chance
By Bruce Malone
In the
1700’s many scientists believed that life spontaneously
generated from non-living matter (such as raw meat or
sewage). In the 1800’s, using careful experimentation,
Louis Pasteur proved this concept wrong and verified
that life only comes from previously existing life.
Ironically, many scientists have once again returned to
the belief that life came from non-life… in spite of the
fact that there is no experimental evidence to show how
that could have happened. The reason this unsupported
belief has returned is that science has been defined to
eliminate the consideration of the only other
alternative – the creation of life by an intelligent
designer.
Even
the simplest living cell is an incredibly complex
machine. It must be capable of detecting malfunctions,
repairing itself, and making copies of itself. Man has
never succeeded in building a machine capable of these
same functions. Yet most scientists accept the belief
that life arose from non-life (in spite of the evidence
clearly indicating that it did not and could not
happen). This incredible belief is as absurd as the
finding a complex chemical manufacturing facility on
Mars and assuming that it built itself.
One
classic experiment that is used to support the belief
that life “built itself”, is an experiment by Stanley
Miller in 1953. In this experiment sparks were
discharged into an apparatus, which was circulating
common gases. These gases reacted to form various
organic products, which were collected and analyzed. The
experiment succeeded in producing only a few of the 20
amino acids required by living cells. Yet the results
have repeatedly been heralded as evidence that life
could have arisen by itself. Furthermore, the dozens of
major problems with this experiment as an explanation
for the formation of life are seldom reported.1
For
instance, our early atmosphere was assumed to have no
oxygen because this would stop amino acid formation.
However, with no oxygen, there would be no ozone shield.
With no ozone shield, life would also be impossible.
Furthermore, oxidized rocks throughout the geologic
record indicate that oxygen has always been present. In
addition to this, the same gases that can react to form
amino acids undergo known reactions in the presence of
sunlight, which removes them from the atmosphere. The
required gases would not have been around long enough
for life to have developed! In addition, a cold trap was
used to keep the reaction products from being destroyed
as fast as they formed.
The
biggest problem is that the amino acids formed in this
experiment are always a 50/50 mixture of stereotypes (L
and D forms). Stereotypes are like a drawer full of
right-hand and left-hand gloves, identical in every way
except a mirror image of each other. Life contains only
L stereotypes of these randomly produced amino acids.
Yet equal proportions of both types are always produced.
How could the first cell have selected only L
stereotypes from a random, equally reactive mixture? No
answer to this has ever been found.
These
are just a few of the problems with the fanciful idea
that life generated itself. The linking of these
randomly produced amino acids into the required proteins
is an even more overwhelming impossibility. No
experiment has ever shown that matter has the ability to
come alive. The best explanation for life is still that
“life only comes from pre-existing life”. As you search
for the truth, perhaps you should consider the
possibility that the source of all life... Is God.
1.
Thaxton, C.B., Bradley, W.L., Olsen,R.L., The Mystery of
Life’s Origin, Chapter 4, Philosophical Library, 1984.
www.SearchForTheTruth.org
