Are you interested in scientific research which asks where life originated?

Question

This is an interesting article of some recently formulated theories which appear to have the supporting rudiments of hard evidence.

We may all be a tiny bit closer to answering a very, very big question. I found the report of it right here on Yahoo this morning. See what you think of it.

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060609_life_origin.html

Your comments or reactions are certainly welcome.
.

To Jeffrey Hay:

You appear to have such a wonderfully analytic mind... I'm truly surprised to learn that you apparently remain a believer of supernatural 'things'. How?

To Jeffrey Hay: You really have me stymied... I've reread you answer and I am pleased to say that I am in close agreement with the bulk of what you've said. The exception, of course, is in your apparent position that there is reason to conclude something acted as a prime mover in order to begin the universe and start the existence of intelligent life. Do I understand you correctly on this? The question of 'The Origin of Mankind and the Universe' has been argued by some of the worlds most celebrated philosophers; few have been able to conclude that any sort of intelligent or supernatural being had any kind of hand in it. The most known of the ‘prime mover’ thinkers able to do so was, in fact, compelled to abandon his own logical path in order to 'illogically' draw his conclusion in favor of 'creation' by faith. Your response points out some support for infinite and multiple Big Bang' events - I subscribe to the same thinking... how then can you include God in this? Please e-mail

Answer 1

I find it interesting that this question is even being pursued. Is the goal to illustrate that life can be spontaneously created? If so, to what end?

What are the scenarios here?
1) God created life (whatever God is) or
2) Life spontaneously created itself.

Are those two possibilities absolutely mutually exclusive?

Lets say we discover that a sequence of events along with a set of environmental conditions led to the spontaneous creation of life. Even if this was the case, we would have to ask ourselves if the logic of spontaneous generation of life is built into the universe. Is there more than one type of life (i.e. RNA/DNA or simpler basis) or would the same type of life be generated automatically with each successive big bang (assuming there are more than one)? How did the system supporting the logic of spontaneous creation of life come to be? Was that created, did it just exist, or is there only 1 set of principles/laws of the universe that works?

Isn't it possible that answering this question would lead us to change the definition of life or acknowledge we did not actually know the definition of life. Scientists can't even definitively say what differentiates humans from animals.

None of these questions resolve/refute that God had a hand in the creation of the universe. Noone can even say definitively what God is.

Personally, all the proof i need of God (whatever form it takes) is the fact that we were left with billions of years worth of research to keep us busy. This possible body of knowledge is riddled with beautiful paradoxes. Each time we learn more, we are reminded how little we know and presented with more questions to learn the answer to than previously.

The universe is such a wonderfully complex and perfect set of systems and we are an infinitely curious bunch. Now THAT is a coincidence!


Additional Response to 'r u randy?':
Thanks for the nice compliment. Your counter question made me stop and think too. Yes, i believe in God, but I cannot say what God is. I have to admit that proving God's hand in the creation of the universe probably isn't possible (mind you the opposite is also true). I don't think it as simple as feeling spiritual in general or connected when i walk in a church.

After having thought about your question for a while, i realized that accepting the idea of God may be as simple as recognizing/realizing/admitting that you are part of something bigger than yourself. Its that sense you get when you look up at the stars, watch a child grow up, realize your own mortality, realize you were momentarily engrossed by something simple like a flower, or hear about a selfless good deed someone did without revealing themself.

It shouldn't stop you from looking for answers to the questions you have, but there is a certain freedom that comes with acknowledging that some questions are beyond you (or even all of humanity) answering. Maybe that freedom is a coping mechanism for our brains and some may say it’s a cop out and that I have given up trying to find the truth.

My current best guess on what God actually is, is not some man with a beard in a big chair on a cloud. Actually, I think it may be like the collective conciousness of the Borg. Each entity in the Borg is an entity on its own. The collective Borg conciousness is a separate entity and is harder to point to/identify without talking about electrical impulses (which begs the question ‘What is the difference between a computer circuit and God?’)

You talked about supernatural. You have likely heard of the idea of the Butterfly Effect, basically that the entire system of the universe/world is interconnected. I call that ‘super’natural. Even math is ‘super’natural when we talk about the Birthday Paradox or the idea of Six Degrees of Seperation. Is the feeling of love purely biological or is their a ‘super’natural component to it?

Answer 2

It was okay as far as interesting, I'm all for science and believe Revelation is the simple blue print of its explanations and theories. In My Holy Book it says all living things were created from water. After all, wasn't the Earth covered in water before land appeared? there are many variations and we will never get it completely right, but the base of my belief in that the creation of the Universe is that we were developed from single-cell organisms formed from water (of a kind) and dust. why would someone reject evolution seeing that human being have evolved from developing a wheel to developing artificial intelligence. We are evolving as we speak.

Answer 3

I don't have time to read the whole article at present but I will do so later, but from a quick browse through it it raises some interesting new ideas about the origins of life.

Answer 4

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Answer 5

Excellent link.
Real science trumps mythology every single time.
And that's why the fundies hate it so much...

LOL Carol! Thanks for proving my point for me! Is it any wonder that more and more people think that christians are mentally unbalanced? No, it's no wonder at all.

Answer 6

So it said life could have started from the small molecules that nature provided......

Life arising from primordial soup....................?

RNA may have been the first complex molecule on which life was based?

Well that explains it! There ya go! Oh please.