Everything in the universe is made of identical atoms, why are only somethings alive?

Question

When it gets right down to it the atoms that make up your coffee or your car are identical to those you are made of. How can anyone believe that anything can be alive if not for the grace of God?

Chris and Neha: You are talking about molecules. It takes billions of atoms to form a single molecule.

Answer 1

I remember learning in Chemistry that atoms are different by how many electrons and neutrons they have and what they do or don't bond with - just that they are different.

But, I do agree that God is still the creator of all these different atoms, including the ones that make live cells.

Answer 2

This is acutally a good question, one that was answered by scientists in the early 1900s. They were realizing that all things seemed to reduce to physics, such as heat, light, etc. However, it seemed life could not be reduce to physics. So they came up with something called "entelliches", which were "life" particles. However, they eventually realized that even life reduced to physics. Life is a function of how the atoms are organized, as beauty is to a statue. Beauty exisits, but it is completley a function of the way the atoms are arranged in the statue. If life were caused by "entelliches," they would be studying that in medical school, but they only study matter. In modern philosophy they say that life "supervenes" on the physical. See the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy entry on physicalism for more on this.

Answer 3

Identical atoms????

Every element has different atoms there Scooter. There are even variations in the same element, that is how we can radiologically carbon date things.

I think in about 20 more years we will have computers that are powerful enough that they are going to be considered conscious. You might even be able to back up your consciousness on them. Consciousness isn't as special as you would have everyone believe. There is NO evidence that it is anything other than complex chemical and electrical interactions.

Answer 4

Every atom is not the same. Carbon atoms are different from hydrogen atoms and different from the hundred odd naturally occuring elements. Go back to school and learn something about basic chemistry.

Answer 5

The truth is, once you get down to sub-atomic particles, everything is alive! Everything is energy in one form or another. With this in mind, marvel at the whole rather than specific parts.

Answer 6

Because only some atoms have come together to form cells

Answer 7

the organic elements Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and many others are what living organisms are made of

why are you asking the question when you really don't want to believe the answer and instead just continue to believe what you do? religious people out there who want to justify god refuse to believe the answers that are there, just because you refuse doesn't mean it can't be true, religious people just want the answer of god, at least be more open to science, science is not out there as an enemy of religion, it's goal is not to abolish religion, science simply is because of human curiosity and intelligence, don't degrade it

Answer 8

Because atom's aren't alive. Certain arrangements of them are.

Are all the atoms in the universe in arrangements capable of the requirements of life (basically -- metabolism and reproduction)?

Answer 9

the atoms are not identical, there are more then 103 different kinds of atoms, and when atoms connect with other atoms sometimes that gives them new properties.
it's true that we can't explain everything in the universe, but just because we can't explain it doesn't mean that God did it.

Answer 10

That's INCREDIBLY stupid.

Maybe its because of how those atoms are put together?

The grace of god indeed. I won't try a long rational argument, you don't strike me as intelligent enough to understand it, given your question.