Did Life Come from Space?

If even one step in the evolution from chemicals to a first cell was scientifically impossible, life could not have formed that way. Not one of the main ingredients of cells: proteins, cell membranes, DNA, RNA, or information will form. All must have been created. I have not found any valid evidence for abiogenesis. Do you know of any? Until real evidence is found, the illusion of abiogenesis should not be used to turn students from God to atheism.

The famous astronomer and mathematician Sir Fred Hoyle once did a mathematical analysis and concluded: "The likelihood of the spontaneous formation of life from inanimate matter is one to a number with 40,000 naughts after it…. It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution."¹ To provide an alternative to the Creator, Hoyle suggested that life came from some place far off in space.

The evidence that life could not have begun on earth by naturalistic means is so overwhelming that even many atheists agree. Life could not have evolved from chemicals on this earth.

Their influence has been a major voice in guiding the governments of the world to spend billions of dollars in search of a far off planet from which life might have come. Those who are still convinced that life evolved here can hardly deny that many of their fellow atheists think the evidence is against it.

"Far far away," is similar to "long long ago." It puts life's start up problems out of sight and out of mind. But the problems of life forming by itself from chemicals would have been about the same on another planet off in space as on earth. Added to the start up problems would have been the difficulties of the trip:

• The long time required to travel through space to earth.
• The lack of anything to breathe on the way.
• The destructive effects of cosmic rays.
• The extreme cold of space.
• The heat of friction upon entering the atmosphere, and the shock of striking earth.

Putting the spontaneous beginning of life somewhere off in space only adds difficulty to the already impossible.

What kind of planet?

A funny thing happened while atheists and agnostics were looking for a planet where chemicals could have formed life. They began to realize that it would have to have had a very rare set of characteristics: the right temperature, atmosphere, gravity - the list goes on. They analyzed the data to determine what kind of planet they should look for. What kind of a planet are they looking for? A planet just like earth!

Why do they teach that life started by itself if it isn't true?

Because the alternative is that there is a Creator, who loves you and wants you to receive His gift of eternal life. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). You can't come to God in any other way, but you can come. Your wonderful Creator is offering you everlasting life: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Years ago, I put my faith in Christ, and God changed my life completely. Millions of criminals and adulterers have become honest after trusting Christ to clean them up, and put them in contact with the Father. Try this experiment. Trust Christ to wash away your sins, then look for the evidence in your life that He really has put you in fellowship with the Father. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

Why not pray now? Confess your sins and tell God you trust that Christ paid for them. God's gift of eternal life is in Jesus Christ. When you accept Christ, you also receive eternal life. (1 John 5: 11-12).

Footnotes

¹Hoyle, Sir Fred, and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space, 1984, p. 148.

©2003 by Thomas F. Heinze Reproduced by permission

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