Article #305
by Bill Nugent
Let’s consider the following quote:
“Now Imagine 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 blind persons each with a scrambled Rubik cube, and try to conceive of the chance of them all simultaneously arriving at the solved form. You then have the chance at arriving by random shuffling of just one of the many biopolymers [proteins] on which life depends. The notion that not only the biopolymers but the operating programme of a living cell could be arrived at by chance in a primordial organic soup here on the Earth is evidently nonsense of a high order.”
The above quote passionately argues that the first living cell could not have happened by chance. Who do you suppose wrote those words? Could it have been Billy Graham or some other evangelist? Could it have been the Pope or other high Catholic cleric? Could it have been Israel’s chief rabbi or perhaps a leading Muslim imam? No, the man who wrote those words was the famous British astronomer and cosmologist, Sir Fred Hoyle FRS, a self proclaimed atheist. Hoyle, along with many other leading scientists, over the years, did the math on the complexity of the proteins (biopolymers) of the cell. They see that there is a vanishingly small possibility of even one protein forming by random collisions of atoms.
I have a book filled with hundreds of quotes by secular evolutionist scientists that refute evolution. It’s titled: “That Their Words May Be Used Against Them: Quotes from Evolutionists Useful for Creationists” by Henry Morris, Master Books, 1997. These quotes are from evolutionists, who frankly admit the dubiousness of the scientific underpinnings of the Darwinian theory they publicly claim to believe. These are believers in Darwinism who have, nevertheless, expressed serious doubts. Their quotes are devastating to Darwinism and abiogenesis.
Abiogenesis, also called chemical evolution or “life from nonlife” is the claim that the first living cell came into being through the churning of nonliving chemicals in the primordial soup. Abiogenesis is one of many Achilles’ heels of evolution. A study of the current state of abiogenesis reveals that there are many competing hypotheses of how the first living cell could have formed by unguided unintelligent processes in the early earth.
Theories of abiogenesis currently being studied, promoted and debated include: Deep Sea Vent Theory, Eigen’s hypothesis, Wachtershauser’s hypothesis, Radioactive beach hypothesis, “Genes first” models, “Metabolism first” models, Gold’s “Deep-hot biosphere” model and several others. Notice that several of them are called “hypothesis.” In fact, all of them can be called hypotheses. The term, “hypothesis” essentially means they are below the status of a theory. “Hypo” means “below,” hence “below theory.”
A hypothesis is below a theory because a hypothesis is merely a suggested explanation of phenomena without much evidence. A real theory, such as Einstein’s theory of relativity, is based on much evidence. Relativity has been repeatedly tested and proven by experimental science. The hypotheses of abiogenesis make claims of events that allegedly occurred in the distant past. The life from nonlife hypotheses are essentially stories about what may have happened on the early earth. It is art, not science. It is the art of the storyteller. It is educated men making educated guesses.
In fact, Darwinism itself, though often called “the theory of evolution,” is also really just a hypothesis because it has to do with claims of nonrepeatable events alleged to have occurred in the distant past. Micro-evolution is minor changes in the gene pool of livestock caused by cross breeding. Macro-evolution is the radical change of one life form into another such as fish to amphibian. Macro-evolution has never been observed in real time.
The very fact that there are many abiogenesis hypotheses is evidence that scientists are divided and confused. Scientists are befuddled by the mind-bogglingly small probability of random collisions of atoms forming a living cell. Also, origin-of-life scientists have not been able to manufacture a living cell in the laboratory. If random formation of life from nonlife were possible by accident in nature, one would certainly expect scientists would be able to build a simple life form in the lab on purpose. They cannot.
The definition of a living organism is that it must be able to eat, excrete and reproduce. A virus is not a living thing because viruses don’t eat or excrete and they depend on a host cell’s DNA to reproduce. The smallest living things are mycoplasmas which are bacteria that don’t have cell walls. Mycoplasmas have cell membranes but no cell wall. This makes many of them immune to antibiotics. Scientists have not been able to build a mycoplasma or any other “simple” bacteria in the lab. The J. Craig Venter Institute recently synthesized DNA and inserted it into a mycoplasma. They did not build artificial life. They did not build a complete mycoplasma nor did they claim to do so.
The DNA of a mycoplasma can contain over three quarters of a million nucleotide base pairs, all precisely sequenced. Microbiologists now know that the simplest cells are constructed using more than 200 proteins. Even an ordinary protein is immensely complex. An average protein is composed of over 400 amino acids arranged in precise sequence. These 200 plus proteins (along with DNA and RNA) then have to be assembled into a living cell.
Such a “simple” cell, with all of its cellular machinery to build proteins, and its ability to reproduce by cell division is more complex than the computer you’re using to read this. To say it could form by chance is a secular leap of faith. Darwinism is a strained hypothesis. Darwinism is faith, not science. The scientific confusion and frustration over abiogenesis is one more reason for the collapse of evolution. Secular evolutionists want us to bet our souls that there is no God. They do it on the basis of weak hypotheses and wishful thinking. I bet my soul that there is a God! “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
Darwinism is the taproot of secularism. When Darwinism goes down, the whole secular edifice falls with it. The wreckage of humanistic denial of God’s law is evident. The rejection of Christian traditional marriage has resulted in broken families, neglected and abandoned children and the mass murder of the preborn. Millions of women are raising their children alone and in poverty.
God created human beings with a purpose and that purpose is to know God and to enjoy Him forever (Westminster Catechism). God has provided for forgiveness of sins by sending Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah of Israel. Jesus came in fulfillment of over 300 prophecies which were written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. The prophets foretold that He would suffer and die and take the penalty of our sins upon Himself. They foretold that Christ would rise from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who repent and call upon Him. Turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
Prayer to receive salvation:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!