"Say We believe in God and what is revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and I`saac and Jacob and the Tribes, and what was entrusted to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them and to Him we have surrendered."
(Quran 3: 84)
Look at the world around you as an honest scientist.
An October 1998
Associated Press article by Paul Recer gives the "recipe for life" to
his readers: "Take some chemicals, stir in a source of energy and mix with
mild temperatures for a few hundred million years." He was probably
referring to well publicized experiments done by Dr. Stanley Miller and Dr.
Sidney Fox. Their laboratory experiments aimed at trying to prove that life
could arise spontaneously. They designed a pyrex apparatus containing methane,
ammonia, and water vapor, but no oxygen. Through this mixture they passed
electric sparks to simulate lightning strikes.
What was the result? No life was produced, of course, but the
electricity did combine some atoms to form amino acids. (Amino acids are
compounds that are the simplest units out of which proteins can be assembled.)
Did the Miller/Fox experiment prove that life could eventually have arisen in
some ancient sea struck by lightning? No, their results actually weakened the
case. The mixture of amino acids and other simple chemicals produced is not
correct for producing life. All known life uses amino acids which are
exclusively of the "left-handed" form. (Left-handed molecules is a
term used to refer to the "stereo chemistry" of a molecule's
construction; An amino acid can be chemically "left-hand" or
"right-handed" in
its orientation. These two forms are identical in their atoms, but opposite in
their 3-dimensional arrangement. They are mirror images of each other.)
No known life can use any combination of both "right-handed" and
"left-handed" amino acids. Adding even one "right-handed"
amino acid to a chain of
"left-handed" amino acids can destroy the entire chain! Yet when amino
acids are synthesized in the laboratory, there is always a 50% mixture of the
two forms. Only through highly advanced, intelligently controlled processes can
these two forms be separated.
Even if this overwhelming obstacle did not exist, far greater problems
remain for the production of life. There are numerous reasons why the amino
acids would disintegrate or never form in the first place. Furthermore, life
requires much more than amino acids. One necessity is proteins; another is a DNA
code.
(Notes taken from "Origins Answer Book" by Paul S. Taylor, Eden
Publications)
Because of the impossibility of life being spontaneously produced on earth
without an outside influence, more scientists are advocating various theories of
influence from other sources in space. But research astronomer Guillermo
Gonzalez of the University of Washington is a rational and sobering voice to the
many speculations of extraterrestial life advocates when he says:
"To determine the probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in
the Milky Way, we must consider the necessary conditions for both the origin
of life and the maintenance of life. Examples of the first category: a source
of heavy elements, required to build terrestrial planets and organisms (this
rules out most old stars, which formed from hydrogen and helium); a source of
radioactive elements to keep the core of the planet hot (this rules out
recently formed stars); and a source of liquid water (which may come from
comets). These requirements limit the possible locations in the Milky Way
where life might originate ... The conditions needed to sustain life are
different from -- and in some cases seem to contradict -- those needed to form
it ... Recent discoveries in astronomy greatly weaken the case for
extraterrestrial life by demonstrating how dangerous the universe is.
Gamma-ray bursts turn out to give off much more radiation than had previously
been believed" (Wall Street Journal, 1997).
Everything we know about life clearly points to organization and creative
design, the very antithesis of random chance and natural processes of
evolution. Even atheists, such as Francis Crick (Nobel prize winner)
acknowledged that, "An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available
to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at
the moment to be almost a miracle" (Life Itself, 1981).
Which theory fits the evidence in the best way?
Complex order does not happen in the world today without an outside influence of
power and intelligence. To assume a complex atom, a molecule, a cell, an
organism, a world, a solar system, a galaxy, or a universe happened in any other
way is to go beyond the evidence of science and into the realm of faith
without evidence.
Observe highly complex order at every level
In the universe
In every living cell
In every molecule and atom
Extreme variety at every level only adds to the complexity
One example of complexity is the DNA found in every cell of your body.
Amazingly, all the information for every cell in your body (growth, function,
etc.) is found in each strand of DNA in each cell of your body! This amount of
information on the DNA in each and every cell of your body is equivalent
to a large city library! How did such a large quantity of very complex
information come into existence?
Some people would say it could happen by systems of random chance, if given
enough time. But think for a minute and evaluate how random chance works to
produce complex order. What are the chances of clothes all being folded when a
dryer stops? All people would say it is impossible. What if you tried 10 billion
times? How do you know it would never happen? Because we know that if one fold
was made, it would be undone later, as the drier continues to turn. If changes
keep happening randomly, they do not remain the same, because they would need an
intelligent program to decide which changes should stay, and then also the
ability to hold those changes until the next correct one happened. Organized
structure always requires higher intelligence. And this example is much more
simple than a complex strand of DNA in every cell of your body!
Ordered complexity does not happen in the world today without an outside
influence of power and intelligence. So to assume this happened in the past is
to go beyond the evidence of science today.
For since the creation of the world God's
invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.