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Basic
Worldview:
102
Atheism vs. Theism
Proof of Life
Prelude:
"Atheism/Theism" vs. "Science, the Bible, & Creation"
Atheism:
Introduction and Charges
Charge
1, Deduction and Induction
Charge
2, Question 1
Charge
2, Questions 2 and 3
Charge
2, Summary and Question 4
Charges
3 and 4, Definitions
Empirical
Evidence
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 1
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 2
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 3
Occam's
Razor and Conclusions
Footnote
1
Footnote
2 and 3
Proof
of Life
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 1
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 2
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 3
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 4
Scientists:
Life on Earth Imported from Outer Space
Atheisms
Circle of Reasons
Is
God a White Crow?
In our proof, we asserted that modern scientists, Atheists,
and Agnostics often point toward ongoing experiments as proof
that life can arise from unintelligent forces. Then, having
demonstrated that these experiments actually attest to the
necessity of intelligent intervention in order to produce
life, we asserted that these experiments, therefore, must
instead constitute empirical evidence for Theism. That is,
that an intelligent agent is necessary in order to produce
life.
Below are excerpts from several articles describing such experiments,
which are often appealed to as proof of life from unintelligent
forces. These quotations will, in fact, demonstrate that Atheists
and Agnostics do claim these experiments as proof despite
their relative measure of success or failure and, therefore,
it is valid for us to now accept these same experiments as
proof of life from intelligent intervention.
1) A significant step toward understanding the origin of
life may have been made by a group of MIT researchers.
Led by Professor Julius Rebek, Jr. of the Department of Chemistry,
they have created an extraordinary self- replicating molecular
system that they say might be regarded as a "primitive
sign of life." -- MIT article
NOTE: The results of these MIT experiments are being
heralded as "a significant step" "regarded as a primitive
sign of life." Thus, the experiment is being viewed as evidence
that life can come from unintelligent causes.
2) The researchers say in their paper, "At best, this
can be regarded as a primitive sign of life; at the very least,
the system offers a bridge between the information of
nucleic acids and the synthesis of amide bonds. It should
be possible to design systems capable of peptide [protein]
synthesis on a nucleic acid backbone and thereby provide models
for events that occurred some time ago." - MIT
article
NOTE: Once again, this MIT experiment is being regarded
as "a primitive sign of life" or as "a bridge" to the origination
of life.
3) The synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wšhler in 1828 is
usually hailed as the first proof that a special "vital
force" is not needed for organic syntheses. - American
Scientist article
NOTE: Here is a reference to a historic experiment
demonstrating the track record that scientists have of viewing
these experiments as proof of life coming from unintelligent
causes, or as this article states, "a special vital force
is not needed for organic synthesis."
4) The first hints that this might be so came from
the laboratory, before evidence for it was found in space,
through the historic experiments of Stanley Miller, now recalled
in science textbooks. In the early 1950s, Miller was a graduate
student in the University of Chicago laboratory of Harold
Urey, the discoverer of heavy hydrogen and an authority on
planet formation. He undertook experiments designed to find
out how lightning--reproduced by repeated electric discharges--might
have affected the primitive earth atmosphere, which Urey
believed to be a mixture of hydrogen, methane, ammonia
and water vapor. The result exceeded Miller's wildest hopes
and propelled him instantly into the firmament of celebrities.
In just a few days, more than 15 percent of the methane carbon
subjected to electrical discharges in the laboratory had been
converted to a variety of amino acids, the building blocks
of proteins, and other potential biological constituents.
Although the primitive atmosphere is no longer believed to
be as rich in hydrogen as once thought by Urey, the discovery
that the Murchison meteorite contains the same amino
acids obtained by Miller, and even in the same relative proportions,
suggests strongly that his results are relevant.
- American Scientist article
NOTE: Despite the admitted inaccuracy of the assumed
experimental conditions, the Stanley Miller experiment is
still widely regarded by many in the scientific community
as evidence that basic unintelligent phenomenon can produce
life.
5) Besides amino acids and other organic acids, experiments
in abiotic chemistry have yielded sugars, as well as purine
and pyrimidine bases, some of which are components of the
nucleic acids DNA and RNA, and other biologically significant
substances, although often under more contrived conditions
and in lower yields than one would expect for a prebiotic
process. - American Scientist article
NOTE: Despite the fact that the experimental conditions
were highly contrived (unnatural) and the results were too
low to fit hypothetical expectations, these past experiments
are still regarded as evidence that life can arise from unintelligent
forces.
6) That view changed when in the late 1970s, Sydney Altman
at Yale University and Thomas Cech at the University of Colorado
at Boulder independently discovered RNA molecules that in
fact could catalytically excise portions of themselves or
of other RNA molecules. The chicken-or-egg conundrum of the
origin of life seemed to fall away. - American Scientist
article
NOTE: These two independent experiments are hailed
as evidence that the chicken and egg dilemma has been solved,
thus explaining how life could have evolved from unintelligent
forces.
7) The development of RNA replication must have been
the second stage in the evolution of the RNA world. The
problem is not as simple as might appear at first glance.
Attempts at engineering--with considerably more foresight
and technical support than the prebiotic world could have
enjoyed--an RNA molecule capable of catalyzing RNA replication
have failed so far. With the advent of RNA replication,
Darwinian evolution was possible for the first time. -
American Scientist article
NOTE: Despite the fact that experimental attempts to
recreate RNA replication have failed, these failed experiments
are still heralded as evidence that Darwinian evolution is
possible "for the first time."
8) Under conditions something like those on the early Earth,
he can create something like a cell: an enzyme-carrying bubble
that draws in nutrients from its surroundings and crafts them
into genetic material. Call it a quasi cell-- and say that
Deamer has created quasi life. - Discover article
NOTE: Though the cell that the scientist created was
only a "quasi-cell," this experiment is still claimed as evidence
that life can come from unintelligent forces.
9) The researchers thus showed that primordial liposomes
forming in tide pools could have performed some essential
cellular tricks. - Discover article
NOTE: This experiment of membrane-like liposomes performing
"some essential cellular tricks" is implied to provide evidence
that life can come from unintelligent forces.
10) Joyce and Breaker, however, have the expertise necessary
to take the quasi cell another step toward life. Over the
past five years, they have perfected a method for making RNA
evolve. Simply stated, they put loose RNA strands in a beaker
and give them a job to do, such as cutting DNA; the ones that
do the best are rewarded with offspring. The researchers place
the selected RNA in a bath of loose nucleotides and enzymes
and allow it to produce millions of copies of itself. They
use this process to evolve the RNA by making the copying process
slightly imperfect. Some variants do the designated task better
than their ancestors, and they in turn are rewarded with progeny.
- Discover article
NOTE: This experiment involving the evolution of RNA
is also heralded as "another step toward life," again implying
that the experiment provides evidence that life can come from
unintelligent forces.
These 10 quotations clearly demonstrate that modern scientists,
Atheists, and Agnostics typically point to these ongoing experiments
as evidence supporting their hypothesis that life can come
from unintelligent forces despite their relative success or
failure and the inherent involvement of intelligent agents.
Since, as our previous series of articles demonstrate, these
experiments actually provide evidence for the necessity of
intelligent intervention to produce life, it is, therefore,
valid for Theists to now herald these experiments as empirical
evidence for Theism.
Sources
http://w3.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/1990/may09/23124.html
Self-Reproducing Molecules Reported by MIT Researchers
PRIMITIVE LIFE
Self-Reproducing Molecules
Reported by MIT Researchers
By Eugene F. Mallove
News Office
http://www.americanscientist.org/articles/95articles/cdeduve.html
September-October 1995
The Beginnings of Life on Earth
by Christian de Duve
http://www.discover.com/archive/index.html
First Cell
By Carl Zimmer
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