Our Creator

The Myth of "Accidental Genesis"
by Bill Dietrich

Life began by accident.

Life began by accident.

Life began by accident.

Believers in the creation of life without a supernatural Creator have to keep chanting this to themselves. Otherwise they might examine the facts and start to doubt this doctrine which has been preached to them all their lives. They heard it in their Biology classes from elementary school through college and beyond, it is repeated by their friends and co-workers and reinforced in the media.

It is assumed to be true throughout a culture that often considers believers in our Creator God to be intellectually challenged, at best. Ours has become a culture that prefers to bow at the altar of science instead of the altar of God. Fellow Christians who don’t like being marginalized often decide to keep their beliefs to themselves, rather than arguing a point they think they can’t win. The fear of embarrassment not only discourages some from speaking out, it also creates vulnerability to believing the unbelievable.

So let’s see if we’ve got this straight. The belief that the phenomenon of life occurred solely through random physical processes, without intervention by any supernatural forces, is what I call "Accidental Genesis". And here are some of the steps you would have to believe in order for this to occur:

- Matter and energy in the universe either always existed or spontaneously came into being out of nothingness. Either way, it came about accidentally. No intelligent force caused it to happen;

- Massive chunks of matter became organized into complex solar systems with planets orbiting around flaming suns and moons orbiting around planets. The millions of solar systems arranged themselves into galaxies, all in perfect balance;

- The planet we call "Earth" accidentally developed all the right conditions for life to occur and sustain itself. It had oceans, land masses, lakes and rivers. It was spinning at a constant speed on an axis perfectly tilted to produce four seasons each annual orbit around the sun;

- It had a perfect mixture of gases hovering over its surface. Its position relative to the sun resulted in a mean temperature range which allowed surface water to cyclically evaporate into the atmosphere, then return to the surface as rain or frozen precipitation;

- Interactions between electrically charged particles in the atmosphere resulted in the phenomenon of lightning. The lightning discharges caused different elements to link together into new molecules. More lightning caused more molecules to link together into more and more complex molecules;

Accidentally, some of the complex molecules being formed were organic bases, which in turn accidentally linked up to form nucleic acids, namely RNA and DNA. The accidental arrangements of the components of these extremely complex DNA molecules formed an incredibly intricate code we now describe as "genes";

(We’re getting close to making that incredible leap of faith: Non-living chemicals miraculously become ALIVE!)

OK, we’re accidentally at the level of DNA, but is that LIFE? Not yet. We’ve got a long way to go. We have to get a basic cell, which has to be able to carry out all necessary biologic functions. Now we’re beyond the level of single, sequential accidents. Now we require a simultaneous combination of very specific and essential accidents in order to produce the first living cell.

Our accidental DNA has to be able to make itself a cell wall or membrane to contain all the complicated "stuff" inside a living cell. It also has to be able to manufacture all that "stuff". Then the cell needs to possess the following capabilities:

1. Replication. It has to be able to reproduce exact copies of itself. Those copies must also be able to replicate themselves, generation after generation;

2. Metabolism. It has to be able to take in nutrients or assemble its own, as in photosynthesis, then extract and store the energy from those nutrients in a way that can be used to power the ongoing life processes. Any student of Biochemistry will have to admit that even the basics of cell metabolism are extremely complex and sophisticated;

3. Respiration. A plant cell needs to take in CO2 and dispose of the O2 waste which is produced by its metabolic processes. An animal cell does the exact opposite. (By the way, there’s another fortunate accident. For life on earth to continue, some cells had to accidentally be animal cells, others had to be plant cells);

Is it just me, or does this all seem like total lunacy? I can’t even get to a plausible explanation of the origin of a single-celled organism. How on earth can we go from there to a multicellular level, complete with brain and nervous system, heart and circulatory system, digestive system, skeletal system, sexual differentiation and reproductive system, and on and on?

There is a simple explanation for someone believing something as ludicrous as accidental genesis. When a person wants desperately to disbelieve God, they will keep coming up with reasons, no matter how illogical those reasons may be. Then they finally get to the point that they are totally incapable of believing the truth of God.

Albert Einstein was a brilliant scientist. In an effort to maintain credibility, it is said he finally admitted that the evidence for an intelligent creator was inescapable. Sadly though, he believed there was no way we could know our creator.

How sad, indeed. God has revealed himself to us throughout scripture. And even for those who will not accept it as the Word of God, the truth of Psalm 19:1 cries out: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands and Psalm 14:1 …The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Copyright 1/21/2008 William C. Dietrich

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