The Origin of LIFE - Part I
Plain Truth Magazine
July 1956
Volume: Vol XXI, No.7
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The Origin of LIFE - Part I

Have scientists found evidence that life evolved from dead matter? Are the first fossils simple and primitive as the theory of evolution demands?

   You and I are supposedly end products of an evolutionary process. This concept is taught as truth in almost all of our educational institutions today. But where is the proof?
   A single simple one-celled animal, it is said, happened into existence millions of years ago. Then, slowly, gradually evolution produced our present-day life.
   Spontaneous generation plus evolution supposedly produced the myriad of complex living forms of today's world. Dead matter became living matter; then living matter evolved.
   Proof is supposed to be found in geology. A study of the fossil strata, they say, reveals that in the "earliest" fossil deposits simple, primitive life is found. "Later" strata contain increasingly complex life till we come to the uppermost layers in which are deposited man and present day forms of life.
   The proof of this theory is rather elusive as we shall see. We ought to examine the evidence before drawing any conclusion.
   Just how did life originate?

A Course Entitled "The Origin of Life"

   One of the outstanding large universities of the Los Angeles area made the error of labeling a geology course, "The Origin of Life." I say error, for when the topic came up in class, the professor expressed openly the wish that the course had been given a different name.
   Speaking frankly, this professor, a qualified scientist, said there was LITTLE OR NOTHING KNOWN ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.
   This fact is important. The educators who labeled the course believed their professors capable of teaching a course on how life came into being. Yet the professor assigned to the course indicated that little or nothing could be said concerning the origin of life.
   Will the conclusions of scientists concerning the origin of life disagree with the scripture?

Three Alternatives

   Life does exist. No one questions this fact. No one, that is, except a few philosophers who for the sake of an argument will contend that the world might be an illusion, just a dream; and that there is really nothing that does exist. "How would one know?" they ask in idle speculation. Let's not awaken them!
   The real problem is this: Life exists. Just where, when and how did it come into being?
   Let us examine the problem from a standpoint of hard, cold logic and apart from Biblical revelation. Evolutionists do not accept the Scriptural explanation. To answer them properly, we must examine their own conclusions and the facts upon which they are based.
   Present day theories will be considered one by one in the light of fact and logic alone. Error will be discarded. Will the pure science remaining agree with God's revelation? We shall soon see.
   Concerning the ORIGIN AND EXISTENCE OF LIFE on this planet three alternatives present themselves:
   1) "LIFE HAS ALWAYS EXISTED." This idea, scientists admit, is the weakest of the three. It is untenable because the earth has not always existed! In their estimation it has not been fit for life but for a portion of its estimated 3 to 5 billion-year existence. Some have suggested, "Perhaps life came to the earth from outer space, from the explosion of another planet in the remote regions of space. Spores of this primitive life might have been pushed along by radiation pressure from starlight or sunlight. Arriving on the earth they found an ideal place to propagate and evolve."
   Thinking logically, it is very unlikely that life could have come from another planet or from outer space. The chance of such an occurrence and possibility of life surviving such an ordeal is extremely remote. This idea does not answer the question of the origin of life. It merely attempts to avoid facing the question by putting it beyond the reach of investigation. The real question of the origin of life remains unanswered. Since the material universe is admittedly not eternal, life had to come into being at some definite date in the past. Previously scientists had believed the earth to be young, the universe old. These last few decades have seen that idea discarded. The earth in their conclusion is now as old as the universe. Is it strange that that should agree with Genesis 1:1? "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
   2) "LIFE CAME INTO BEING BY SOME SLOW NATURAL PROCESS." This is the favorite belief of the "educated" man of today. Scientists comment that this idea "can be presented plausibly" and that the arguments are "very convincing." Yet the universal opinion of all scientists familiar with the field is that there is "no evidence that this has ever taken place or does at this time!'
   Plausible presentations and very convincing arguments do not constitute proof. The truth of a matter cannot be determined by the cleverness or eloquence of the orator. Facts and logic (and, if they would accept it, revealed knowledge) alone constitute the basis of all material science.
   3) "LIFE WAS SUDDENLY CREATED." This of course implies a Creator. Since neither life nor the material creation has eternally existed, this Great First Cause would of necessity have existed from eternity. This theory thus postulates the creation of life forms by an eternally existing God who had life inherent in Himself.
   Could men of science consider this as a possibility in their search for the origin of life? They have, and here are a few of their comments: "The idea is as good as any." "Whether you care to accept the idea depends upon personal taste." "It disposes of the very great difficulty of creating living matter out of inorganic {dead) matter." "Much of our culture is based upon such a belief."
   Yes, our scientists do consider the possibility of life having been created

Re-Examine These Alternatives

   Consider these three alternatives again. The first is untenable. The SECOND is COMPLETELY LACKING IN EVIDENCE. The THIRD is listed by science as a possibility.
   To accept the THIRD is to believe in a Creator. But atheists (men with a remarkable faith that there is no God) prefer the second. Not because of evidence of spontaneous generation of life but solely because they prefer the "no God' idea. To accept this SECOND ALTERNATIVE is to have blind faith that there is no Creator.
   The facts and logic are inescapable. An atheist is a man with false faith that his Creator does not exist. He has absolutely no evidence upon which to base his faith. The atheist "hopes" to find that evidence.
   So far we have considered only how the first bits of life may have come into being. Have evolutionists erred in assuming that the first life to exist was primitive, one-celled animal life?
   Here is evidence and logic apart from Biblical revelation using only accepted facts and sound reasoning to test the theories presented in books on science.
   We are going to search for evidence of these few, small, simple, primitive fossil specimens which supposedly are to be found in the first fossil strata. We are going to examine the foundation of the evolutionary theory. If the foundation is hypothetical the whole structure of historical geology based upon evolution will crumble.

The First Fossil Remains

   Have evolutionists erred in assuming that the first life to exist was a primitive one-celled type? The THEORY OF EVOLUTION WOULD REQUIRE that in the earliest layer simple forms would be found, few in number, gradually developing step by step into present day forms. The evidence in this first fossil layer will have a great bearing on whether you may logically believe that God created bits of life and then spent millions of years watching them evolve into present day life. "Theistic" evolutionists have apparently never considered these facts.
   Here is the evidence from the first fossil layer, the Cambrian strata:
   1) Instead of few forms of life, 455 different species are found. There are 100 genera of trilobites alone. Of the 13 phyla (divisions) into which all animals are classified, various authorities state that 9, 12 or all 13 are represented.
   Thus instead of a few forms of life, evolutionists are forced to admit "a remarkable assemblage of animal remains." The Cambrian layer is "just teeming with all kinds of fossils," to use their own words.
   2) Instead of simple forms of life as the theory of evolution would require, this first fossil layer contains such complex life as the chambered mollusks and the highly developed trilobite which has one set of legs for walking on the Ocean bottom and another set for swimming.
   "It is very interesting to observe that a complex mechanism, the compound eye like that of crustaceans and insects of the present day, was already developed even in the earliest Primordial times." From Elements of Geology by Joseph Le Conte.
   3) Instead of small specimens these so called "early" forms were often giants compared to "later" forms. The "ancient" trilobite, for instance, attained a length of 27 inches. Close modern representatives in appearance are the pill or SOW bugs so common today where decaying vegetation is found. The trilobite, however, was an Ocean dwelling creature.
   4) Instead of 'primitive" types a considerable number of them have identical or almost identical living representatives today.
   Perhaps the most widely known example of this is the muscular-jointed fin fish called the crossopterygian found only in Devonian strata (3 "ages" later than the Cambrian) but also found alive today. Specimens have been caught in the waters off Africa much to the consternation of the proponents of evolution. Rather than admit that something is radically wrong with their faith, they cover up by publishing detailed studies on the structure of the fish, showing how it (supposedly) became the ancestor of land life by changing its fins to the jointed condition and then to legs. The missing link between the fish and land animals is thus supposedly found alive in the ocean today. These first fossils are certainly not primitive.
   5) Instead of natural deposition such as might occur along beaches or deltas today, the fossils of this Cambrian strata show evidence of having been buried alive by some sudden catastrophe. The "ages" required for a certain strata to form thus become a myth.
   It is obvious that these first fossils do not fit the "few, simple and primitive" pattern demanded by the evolutionary theory. But the proponents of evolution are not through yet. Hope springs eternal in the human heart and for the evolutionist there is always the "hope" that he may find his "proof."

Pre-Cambrian Rocks

   Suppose we follow the thinking of evolutionists one more step. They rationalize: Since evolution is true, the first life must be simple, and since Cambrian life is not simple, it cannot be the first life. The pre-Cambrian rocks, they contend, must hold the answer to the origin of life.
   A thorough search of the pre-Cambrian rocks reveals the following facts: IN ALL ROCKS TERMED PRE-CAMBRIAN, the sum total of fossils found amounts to a few worm barrows, one or two broken shells which may be brachiopods, some algae, fragments of sponge spicules and A LOT OF WISHFUL THINKING. The wishful thinking is that of evolutionists and the expression that of an evolutionist.
   How they wish they could find a fossil layer with a "few, simple, primitive" forms of life to establish their dogged faith in evolution. The Precambrian layer fails to give them evidence.
   The list of fossils for this layer is probably incorrect. Another source just as reliable, yet just as anxious to prove evolution, thought the term 'The Agnostizoic" (meaning "we don't know whether there was life during it") would be quite fitting for this pre-Cambrian layer. In his opinion, the sample of algae he passed around to his class may or may not have been algae and he spoke of the "NEARLY INSURMOUNTABLE PROBLEM of the sudden appearance of complex life IN THE CAMBRIAN ROCKS."
   The conclusion from these facts ought to be easy. In the Cambrian layer is complex life; in a supposedly earlier layer, a few fragments of the same thing or perhaps nothing. (Remember also that a layer is identified by the fossils in it and thus these fragments might be Cambrian.)
   YOUR CONCLUSION: If this Complex life of the Cambrian layer were deposited over a long period of time, then life must have been suddenly created near the beginning of the period. If deposited quickly, a creation of complex life is still implied and a destruction by a flood is a certainty. But men of science struggle on without the scriptures to guide them.

The Lost Interval

   Retreating from the facts, the evolutionist must now resort to theory to preserve his religion. We have come this far, we may as well continue in pursuit. All reason is dropped and rationalization takes over completely.
   The evolutionist comes up with an idea. Since no life is found in some layers, which they therefore term pre-Cambrian, and complex life is found in the simplest layer they have discovered, supposedly an enormous period of time between these two layers existed. Names like "The Lost Interval" and "The Lipalian Interval" are given to make the case seem more authentic. The DESTRUCTION OF THE SUPPOSED RECORD of these intervals is termed the Kilarneyen Revolution or the Penokeenan Revolution.
   A perfect crime has been committed. The supposed proof of evolution is conveniently misplaced and the evolutionist's religion is saved — saved for the moment.
   How does the evolutionist attempt to solve this enigma?
   How will he explain the sudden appearance of complex life forms? How will he account for the catastrophic events which buried these life forms? Read the answers to these questions in the next issue of the PLAIN TRUTH!

The Origin of LIFE - Part II

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Plain Truth MagazineJuly 1956Vol XXI, No.7