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.