Spontaneous generation of life

[Jim_Baur]

I want to learn and not fight.

When did the movement from inanimate to animate happen?

How often did it happen?

Did it stop happening?

If it did stop happening, why?

Any othere issues surrounding the topic, I will be happy to hear them discussed.

I do not want to argue over the issue.

I will watch, read and learn.

Thanks!

 

[ChadS]

The spontaneous generation of a new life is a scientific impossibility. All life has to come from another living being. That’s why the Church’s teaching on this subject is so strong in that life begins when a live sperm is united with a live egg. Something that is inanimate does not have that capability present.

Before the advent of microscopes some people observed larvae and eggs on dead things or inanimate objects and theorized that they spontaneously gave rise to life. What they didn’t see though is that these larvae orginated as eggs laid by flys and other insects. Once science advanced enough to begin to see that they developed better explanatory models to show how life begins.

ChadS

 

[rossum]

I want to learn and not fight.

I wish you luck. You will probably need it.

When did the movement from inanimate to animate happen?

About 4 billion years ago. Google “abiogenesis” for a great deal of information on the subject. Be aware that abiogenesis is still an area of very active research with many unanswered question being looked into. I don’t know how much science you know, but Google scholar has over 2000 references to the technical literature.

How often did it happen?

At least once on Earth. There was a period in Earth’s history called the “Late Heavy Bombardment” which involved some very large meteorite impacts. Big enough to boil the seas dry temporarily. If life started before the LHB then it would have all been killed, leaving a sterilised planet ready for a new abiogenesis. We cannot now tell how many false starts there were before or during the LHB.

There was at least one origin of life just after the LHB and there may have been others which have since gone extinct.

It is of course possible that life also started in other places in the universe.

Did it stop happening?

Yes, for two reasons. First there was already life around, and anything remotely close to life would have looked like food. Any new proto-life would have been eaten by some of the existing life. Second the evolution of photosynthesis caused a chemical change in the atmosphere by releasing free oxygen which is not good for the chemical processes involved in abiogenesis. Google “oxygen catastrophe” for more on this.

rossum

 

[Jim_Baur]

rossum & ChadS

Thank you!

I have a good background in science.

However, the nature of such an endeavor is so big that I feel stupid.

Again, thanks!

 

[James_Least]

Why do many pivotal scientific premeses start with “if”

“In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth…” Gen. 1:1.

Some of us seem to have difficulty with omnipotent-- omnicient too.

Where will we be in 100 years? Maybe back in a primordial ooze–on another planet in another galaxy.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Peace,

James Least

 

[rossum]

Why do many pivotal scientific premeses start with “if”

Because science is based on the world we see around us, and we do not know all there is to know about it yet. While there is still one unanswered question there will always be an “if …”.

“In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth…” Gen. 1:1.

“This book is not to be doubted.” - Qur’an 2:1.

Religions based on a book know everything because every word of their particular book is known. Science is not like that because science knows that it has not yet read right to the end of its book.

rossum

 

[James_Least]

What is the point of life on this planet, not knowing with certainty from whence we came and whence we are going?

Jesus either rose from the grave or He did not. He is either who He says He is or He is the greatest imposter foisted on the kind called man. Jesus is the pivotal point in the history of this planet. No one else can honestly make the claims Jesus made.

He is the only one who can save the soul. Where will we be in 100 years?

Peace,

James Least