Evolutionism Myth #5: 

Purely natural forces account for the gulf between the organic and inorganic worlds as well as the gulfs between different levels of complexity within the organic world.

How was the elaborate chemical factory within the cell generated?

Evolutionists explain the process of the generation of life as follows:

The primitive atmosphere covering the primitive earth consisted of methane (CH,), ammonia (NH,), steam (HZO), hydrogen (HZ), nitrogen (NZ), and so on. When ultraviolet rays from the sun, natural electric discharge (lightning), and other phenomena worked on the primitive atmosphere, amino acids, sugar, nucleic acid bases, organic acids, and so on, were generated. These materials dissolved in rainwater, and rainwater containing them fell on the primitive sea, and those materials were accumulated to form a "soup of organic materials." In this soup, amino acids combined to form protein; nucleic acids combined with sugar and phosphoric acids to form nucleotides; and nucleotides combined to nucleic acids-ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Eventually a primitive cell membrane was generated, and a primitive cell, consisting of nucleic acids, protein, and membrane, was formed. Then evolution took place from the prokaryotic cell to the eukaryotic cell; and finally, when the cell performed cell division, it evolved into a multicellular being.

Through experiments conducted by S. L. Miller (1930- ) in 1953, it has been confirmed that amino acid can be generated through a discharge of electricity into a gas mixture of steam, hydrogen, ammonia, and methane; furthermore, we now know that other chemical compounds also can be synthesized the same way. Nevertheless, the process leading up to that stage is relatively simple, resulting in the formation of organic matter, which is the material of living beings. However, the formation of organic matter is not directly connected with the generation of life. In order for organic matter to be connected with the generation of life, nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) and protein (enzymes) need to be formed-and it is precisely the process leading up to that stage that is the problem (see Fig. 10).

There is an incredible leap in saying that nucleic acids and protein can be formed from the soup of organic matter. As is widely pointed out, can any particular protein and nucleic acids be accidentally generated ? No; they absolutely cannot. Concerning the probability of protein being obtained accidentally, D. T. Gish explains the following:

The amino acid sequence of a protein containing only 12 different kinds of amino acids, with a molecular weight of 34,000 (roughly about 340 amino acids, a relatively simple protein) could be arranged in 103'" different ways! In other words, there could have arisen on the primitive earth 103°° different protein molecules of molecular weight 34,000 composed of the same 12 amino acids. If we had only one each of these molecules, the total weight would be about lOzfl" grams, but the total weight of the earth is only lOz' grams! If the whole universe was solid with protein of this kind, one would be unable to find even one each of these molecules ! (Gish 1972, 24)

Fig. 10: Mysteries in the Process of the Spontaneous Generation of Life

In addition, there is the following problem. Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and protein can be synthesized in the cell ; however, this is an extremely complex process. Furthermore, within a cell, there is such a relationship that, while protein can be formed under the direction of nucleic acids, it so happens that nucleic acids cannot be formed unless protein (enzymes) exists. Yet, in the primitive ocean, protein had to be formed without nucleic acids, and nucleic acids had to be formed without protein. Evolutionists assert that these things occurred by accident, but actually, it is totally impossible for that to happen (Hitching 1982, 47-49).

Boris Mikhaylovich Myednykov (1932- ), a Soviet biologist and evolutionist, definitely states that "within the cell, nucleic acids and protein are . . . synthesized through an extremely complex process. The probability of such products coming into being by chance is practically zero" (Myednykov 1982, 41). Nevertheless, in order to hold fast to his evolutionist position, he said, "Possibly life may have originated in this way by stages, with each stage enhancing the probability of the next stage. I would basically accept this position, because, after all, there is no other solution" (Myednykov 1982, 42). He reasoned that, no matter how impossible that may have been in terms of probability, once the process for forming a nucleic acid and protein had been attained, the probability of the next process would become higher. Thus, he concluded that probability may have been gradually enhanced. However, that was just a desperate attempt to escape from the plight in which he found himself.

Next, in order for a cell (or a living being), which contains protein and nucleic acids, to be made, there has to be an even greater leap. Inside the cell there is an elaborate chemical factory the likes of which can hardly be found in human society. How such a factory was made is a complete mystery. Consider, for example, the following problems

i) How did the system of synthesizing protein originate? (This systems consists of DNA, RNA, ribosome, and so on.)

ii) How did the mechanism of photosynthesis, which is the source of energy for living beings, and the mechanism of oxygen respiration originate?

iii) How did about 2,000 kinds of main enzymes, which are necessary for a living being, originate?

iv) How did the mechanism of cell division originate? v) How did sexual reproduction originate?

None of these can be considered to have been generated spontaneously. As to the question of how sexual reproduction originated in living beings, no valid explanation has been given in the theory of evolution. Seen merely from the viewpoint of multiplication, sexual reproduction is actually much less advantageous and efficient than asexual reproduction. The only advantage of sexual reproduction is that it enables better adaptation to a changing environment because, since the genes of different sexes are mixed, a wider variety can be produced than if reproduction were asexual. In summary, "among the most intriguing and difficult problems in evolutionary theory are those of the origin and maintenance of recombination and sexual reproduction" (Futuyma 1986, 279).

Excerpt from:

Under the Supervision of Dr. Sang Hun Lee