“The probability of life originating by accident is comparable to the probability of an unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop”, says biologist Edwin Conklin. As far as five centuries ago, the laborious quest to know the origin of life was a common phenomenon among researchers, biologists, evolutionists, archeologists as well as theologians.
Till date, the main problem still revolves around the question, “How did life begin?” This is the question that has made many biologists restless for centuries, because, a simple answer with an evidence to it will ‘mould’ the missing foundation for biology. The study of life regardless of the origin of life is comparable to building a skyscraper two hundred meters above the ground level, hanging freely in the air, waiting for gravity to pull it down! The two dichotomous approaches that tend to provide an answer to the question “How did life begin?” are Creation and Evolution. For decades, these two areas have offered some logical arguments, each trying to establish a reasonable conclusion about the origin of life from its own point of view. However, it still occurs that something fundamental is missing to explain the origin of life convincingly.
From the Book of Genesis in the Bible, one could take a look at the account given by Moses about creation. According to him, God (an unknown and unseen entity) originated life by creating all living creatures according to their kinds (Genesis 1: 11-25). This account completely depicts God as a supreme and omnipotent being having no beginning. However, we must note something here, Does God who created all living things also have life? Of course He does. According to Genesis 1:26 “And God said, let us make man in our own image…” Also from Genesis 2:7, “…and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…” Therefore, if God has life just like the man He made, we need to trace the origin of life back to how God Himself originated! Present-day evolutionary theory generally eliminates any mention of a creator, instead, it is based on the theory of spontaneous generation of life (living things forming out of inorganic matters). Could life really have originated by spontaneous generation? Richard Dawkins, in his book ‘The selfish gene’ speculates that life could be generated from inorganic materials ONLY if we have the ‘primitive atmosphere.’
According to him, in the beginning, Earth had a reducing atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia and water. Through energy supplied by sunlight and perhaps by lightning and exploding volcanoes, these simple compounds were broken apart and then reformed into amino acids. A variety of these gradually accumulated in the ocean and combined into protein-like compounds, ultimately, the ocean became an ‘organic soup’ but still lifeless. Then, according to Dawkins, “A particularly remarkable molecule was formed by ACCIDENT”- a molecule that had the ability to reproduce itself! Similar molecules clustered together and then, again, by an exceedingly improbable ACCIDENT, they wrapped a protective barrier of other protein molecules around themselves as a membrane, thus, generating the first living cell. The two accounts occur to have some basic similarities. Dawkins’ primitive atmosphere is reducing, composed of carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia and water. According to Genesis 1:2, Moses also stated that in the beginning, the earth was without form, void and filled with darkness. Now, in Genesis 1:3, “…God said let there be light, and there was light.” Perhaps God knew that there must be sunlight to supply the energy needed to decompose those simple compounds and then to reform them into amino acids.
The explanation given by Dawkins, though, dear to the heart of an evolutionist, is faced with lots of criticism. “With oxygen in the primitive atmosphere, the first amino acid would never have got started, without oxygen, it would have been wiped out by cosmic rays”(Hitching). Also, the same energy that would split the simple compounds would even more quickly decompose any complex amino acid that formed.However, if it is assumed that amino acids were not decomposed and somehow reached the oceans, beneath the surface of the water, there would not be enough energy to activate further chemical reactions. And since water itself favours depolymerization, it inhibits the growth of more complex molecules. Far from being realistic, the idea that an amino acid which has the ability to reproduce itself was formed by accident is comparable to regenerating a burnt encyclopedia from its ashes with no word missing and letters not misplaced. Some ideas that work in fictions do not necessarily work in real life. Mathematician J.W.N admits, “The hypothesis that life has developed from inorganic matter is, at present, still an article of faith.”
- Omolola writes in via omoyeniomolola93@gmail.com
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