Scientific Theories on the Origin of Life

Introduction

Charles Darwin hypothesized that life arose from "some warm little pond" in which inorganic chemicals combined to form the first organism. However, what Darwin didn't know about the biochemistry of life could easily fill his entire house from floor to ceiling. The first major problem is getting the proper organic precursors for living systems. Two major systems (metabolism-and replication) must have spontaneously arisen nearly simultaneously, but both suffer from major problems with chemistry. Abiogenesis, the naturalistic theory for the origin of life has been dependent upon the presence of a reducing atmosphere in order for prebiotic chemistry to form the building blocks of life. However, a recent study proves that the earth's atmosphere was oxidizing at least 500 million years before the origin of life. Other problems include the origin of homochirality and the origin of biological membranes.

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Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face OffOrigins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off Probably the single most potent scientific argument against atheism is the problem with a naturalistic origin of life. This very problem led me to become a deist as a biology major at USC in the early 1970's. The problems for atheists have gotten no better since that time. In fact, the last 30+ years of research have turned up even more problems than those that existed when I first studied the theories. Fuz Rana (a biochemist) and Hugh Ross (an astrophysicist) have teamed up to write the definitive up-to-date analysis of the origin of life. The book examines the origins of life from the perspectives of chemistry, biochemistry, astronomy, and the Bible. A biblical creation model is presented along side the naturalistic models to help the reader decide which one fits the data better. This is an excellent book to give to your unbelieving friends, since it presents a testable creation model that is clearly superior to any naturalistic model.

The Cell's Design: How Chemistry Reveals the Creator's ArtistryThe Cell's Design: How Chemistry Reveals the Creator's Artistry Fazale Rana (Ph.D. in chemistry), vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons To Believe, has written a new book, The Cell's Design, that attempts to show that cellular biochemistry points to the existence of the Creator who designed it. Whereas most intelligent design books attempt to show the existence of design by demonstrating the existence of irreducible complexity, Dr. Rana examines the cell's biochemistry with broad strokes of how everything works together with such marvelous fidelity. So, even if a single piece or line of evidence might be dismissed as a statistical outlier, the weight of evidence makes a powerful case for design by a Creator. Each chapter begins with an analogy from the art world that relates to the topic at hand. Apparently, Dr. Rana is quite an art enthusiast. More...
 

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Last Modified December 5, 2011

 

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