Is it really unlikely for life to arise by chance?

Question

I've heard that there are so many special things that had to occur for life to exist, such as distance from sun, chemical compositions, etc. and that these "miracles" prove the existence of god. But as science has increased our limited knowledge of things, we no know that we are not the center and in fact there is nothing special or notable about our location in the cosmos.

As far as the odds of rolling 1000 dice and getting all 6's and comparing those odds to the chance that random chemicals coming together in the correct quantity and configuration to produce life are statistically improbable aren't the odds exactly the same for the sequence which turns up each time you roll 1000 dice yet they always produce a "sequence" however statistically improbable it is.

Furthermore doesn't the causal problem still exist if you use god as the source since you would then have to explain his cause. If it is imposible for the universe to exist without god then isn't god just as imposible.

Answer 1

I don't believe in chance or gods. I believe we live in an infinite plentitudnal reality based on mathematics. I believe that reality is so vast that anything that can happen does happen somewhere.

Answer 2

If want to be scientific about it, refer to the scientific method, which requires human observation, first and foremost.

What do we actually see in nature? Do we see life arising from non-living material (spontaneous generation)? Absolutely not. We never see this, and there are no records in all of human civilization indicating that anyone has ever seen it occur. What we actually see in nature is life begetting life 100% of the time. Life comes from life, period. No one would seriously believe otherwise if it were not for the fact that Darwinian evolution demands that spontaneous generation must, at some point in the past, have occurred. Evolutionists formulate their theory and then, presupposing the truth of their theory, extrapolate that spontaneous generation must have occurred because their theory demands it.

Now as far as this relates to First Cause, Christians believe that God is an eternal, self-existant being; that is, He had no beginning. He has always existed. Some may be tempted to laugh at this and call it a cop-out, but, before they do so, I would remind them that many evolutionists (including Stephen Hawking) believe that the universe itself has always existed. What they cannot answer, however, is how this can be when we know that matter is not eternal. Matter breaks down over time. We call this the principle of entropy, and it is established fact. Thus the material universe cannot always have existed.

The material universe requires an uncaused, immaterial First Cause, and Darwinian evolution cannot satisfy it.

When thinking on this question of spontaneous generation, ask yourself *why* evolutionists believe it, in spite of what they themselves will admit are fantastically outrageous odds. They believe it because their theory demands it, and they assume that their theory is true. They accept it a priori, whereas nature shows us a universe that is winding down into disorder, not self-organizing, and a consistent record of life begetting life.

Answer 3

There is evidence that primitive life (single cell organisms) existed on Mars during an earlier time when all of the water on the planet wasn't locked up in the ice caps. That being said, we don't know how likely life is to arise on any particular planet when the conditions are adequate. However, if life on both Earth and Mars developed independently of each other, then that suggests that life is more likely than not to develop on any planet with the right conditions.

So far, we've only been able to detect the very very large planets that revolve around other stars, because our detection method is based on the shadows of those planets as they move in front of the star we're looking at.

In time, our detection methods will become more sophisticated, and when we are able to find planets with more Earth-like conditions (distance from the star, similar chemical compositions, liquid water), we will get a better idea as to how frequently life develops on those planets. Life may be unique to Earth, it may occur infrequently, or it may be inevitable.

Answer 4

Yes it is extremely unlikely. As is winning the lottery. They both happen though.

Answer 5

Its a big universe, weird things happen. For starters I found a cat in bedroom just yesterday. and it wasn't my cat.

Answer 6

(HEBREWS 3:4) Of course, every house is constructed by someone, but he that constructed all things is God.

Just try throwing the three separate parts of a three part item into the air and see how long it takes to come down ASSEMBLED...

We are much more complicated than that.

Answer 7

However unlikely, it is more likely that life arose by chance than that any bearded git in the sky "poofed" us into existence...

Answer 8

yes there is INtelligent design!