Origin of Life - Spontaneous Generation

For millennia, the Origin of Life was thought to be the result of Abiogenesis (also known as "Spontaneous Generation"). The doctrine of
Spontaneous Generation holds that organic life could and does arise from inorganic matter. As late as the 17th century, there were recipes to
"create" life. Take sweaty rags, wrap them around wheat, and set them in an open jar. In 21 days, you'll "create" mice. For rats, just throw garbage
in the street. In a few days, rats will take the place of the garbage. All over the world, in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, mankind was
formulating recipes for "creating" bees, lice, scorpions, maggots, worms, frogs, etc. In 1668, Francesco Redi publicly opposed the idea of
Spontaneous Generation. While it was generally accepted that rotting meat generated maggots, Redi disagreed. He maintained that maggots
hatched from eggs laid by flies. To test his hypothesis, Redi performed one of the first known experiments to utilize a "control group." Thus began
both the death of Spontaneous Generation and the birth of the modern era of scientific development. Redi placed meat in three flasks -- one open,
one sealed and one covered with gauze. Maggots appeared in the open flask, as the flies were able to reach the meat. Maggots did not appear in
the sealed flask or the flask covered by gauze. At the time, this experiment was not thought to disprove Spontaneous Generation. It merely proved
that maggots did not come from meat.

Origin of Life - Louis Pasteur

Spontaneous Generation was thought to be the Origin of Life until the late 1850's. It wasn't until Frenchman Louis Pasteur that this fallacy was
finally disproved. In 1859, the French Academy of Science sponsored a Science Fair, the goal being to prove or disprove Spontaneous Generation.
Young Pasteur's award winning experiment was a clever variation of earlier experiments performed by John Needham (1713-1781) and Lazzaro
Spallanzani (1729-1799). Pasteur filled a long necked flask with meat broth. He then heated the glass neck and bent it into an "S" shape. Air could
reach the broth, but gravity acted to trap airborne microorganisms in the curve of the neck. He then boiled the broth. After a time, no
microorganisms had formed in the broth. When the flask was tipped so that the broth reached the microorganisms trapped in the neck, the broth
quickly became cloudy with microscopic life. Thus, Pasteur disproved Spontaneous Generation. Furthermore, Pasteur proved that some
microorganisms are airborne.

Origin of Life - Origin of Species and Modern Day Science Class

Spontaneous Generation was disproved as the Origin of Life in 1859. Ironically, it was this same year that Charles Darwin's Origin of Specieswas
published. From this work arose the modern evolutionary movement, which is now thought to have occurred in six phases: (1) Cosmic
Evolution (the origin of space, time, matter and energy from nothing); (2)Chemical Evolution (the development of the higher elements from
hydrogen); (3) Stellar and Planetary Evolution (the origin of stars and planets); (4) Organic Evolution (the origin of organic life from a rock);
(5)Macro Evolution (the origin of major kinds); and (6) Micro Evolution(the variation within the kinds). Only the sixth phase has been observed and
documented. The first five are merely assumed. Interestingly, the fourth assumption is the old doctrine of Spontaneous Generation - organic life
developing from inorganic matter (a rock). The sadly comical result is that some modern day textbooks devote a chapter to the work of Francesco
Redi and Louis Pasteur, and their success in disproving Spontaneous Generation. Then, a few chapters later, school kids are taught that
Spontaneous Generation is the Origin of Life.

Origin of Life - Evolutionary Theory

Why are children taught Spontaneous Generation as the Origin of Life, despite the apparent contradiction to empirical science? The fallacy
continues in the textbooks mainly due to the efforts of a few zealous and influential evolutionists. They have been quite successful in blatantly
ignoring this issue. Besides Spontaneous Generation, evolutionists continue to avoid several other problems with their theory. Here are just two
significant examples: (1) Cosmic Evolution (the first assumption listed above), also known as the "Big Bang," is not an acceptable theory of
Origins. The Big Bang Theory does not explain the uneven distribution of original matter that results in "voids" and "clumps", nor can it explain the
reality of retrograde motion without violating the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum. Furthermore, the Big Bang does not address the
major question, "where did everything come from?" Did nothing explode? How did this explosion cause order, while every explosion observed in
actual history causes only disorder and disarray? Consequently, the Big Bang also violates two out of three Laws of Thermodynamics. (2) Macro
Evolution (the fifth assumption listed above) has been refuted by the lack of transitional fossils in the fossil record, and the harmful trend of genetic
mutation (a beneficial mutation is yet to be observed). Actually, none of the five assumed evolutionary phases amount to anything more than "fairy
tales," and imagination has no part in science. The result is that many modern day science classes don't educate our children, they indoctrinate
them.

Theory of Special Creation

According to this theory, all the different forms of life that occur today on planet earth, have been created by God, the almighty. This idea is found
in the ancient scriptures of almost every religion. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Brahma, the God of Creation, created the living world in
accordance to his wish. According to the Christian belief, God created this universe, plants, animals and human beings in about six natural days. The
Sikh mythology says that all forms of life including human beings came into being with a single word of God. Special creation theory believes that
the things have not undergone any significant change since their creation.
The theory of Special Creation was purely a religious concept, acceptable only on the basis of faith. It has no scientific basis.

Theory of Catastrophism
It is simply a modification of the theory of Special Creation. It states that there have been several creations of life by God, each preceded by a
catastrophe resulting from some kind of geological disturbance. According to this theory, since each catastrophe completely destroyed the existing
life, each new creation consisted of life form different from that of previous ones. A French scientist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) and Orbigney
(1802 to 1837) were the main supporters of this theory.
Cosmozoic Theory (Theory of Panspermia)
According to this theory, life has reached this planet Earth from other heavenly bodies such as meteorites, in the form of highly resistance spores of
some organisms. This idea was proposed by Richter in 1865 and supported by Arrhenius (1908) and other contemporary scientists. The theory did
not gain any support. This theory lacks evidence, hence it was discarded.

Theory of Chemical Evolution

This theory is also known as Materialistic Theory or Physico-chemical Theory. According this theory, Origin of life on earth is the result of a slow and
gradual process of chemical evolution that probably occurred about 3.8 billion years ago. This theory was proposed independently by two scientists
- A.I.Oparin, a Russian scientist in 1923 and J.B.S Haldane, an English scientist, in 1928.

Chemical evolution refers to the phenomenon defining the chemical changes on primitive earth followed by the first form of life. Research suggests
that the first form of life in the primitive earth was prokaryotes resembles with the present form of bacteria. It has been estimated that the first
form of prokaryotes evolved approximately 3.5-4.0 billion years ago. 

It has been theorized that chemical evolution occurred in four successive stages –

• First stage – the molecules of the primitive world had turned into organicsubstances such as amino acid.

• Second stage – the simple form of organic substances (for example amino acid) accumulated to form more complex structure such as proteins. It
then formedpolymers by the method of dehydration synthesis.

• Third stage – this stage featured the interaction and aggregation of polymers to form large complex structure known as protobionts. 

• Fourth stage – this stage was characterised by the development of thereproduction ability of protobionts in order to pass genetic information
through generation.

Chemical evolution describes chemical changes on the primitive Earth that gave rise to the first forms of life. The first living things on Earth were
prokaryotes with a type of cell similar to present-day bacteria. Prokaryote fossils have been found in 3.4-million-year-old rock in the southern part
of Africa, and in even older rocks in Australia, including some that appear to be photosynthetic. All forms of life are theorized to have evolved from
the original prokaryotes, probably 3.5-4.0 billion years ago.

The chemical and physical conditions of the primitive Earth are invoked to explain the origin of life, which was preceded by chemical evolution of
organic chemicals. Astronomers believe that 20-30 billion years ago, all matter was concentrated in a single mass, and that it blew apart with a "big
bang." In time, a disk-shaped cloud of dust condensed and formed the Sun, and the peripheral matter formed its planets. Heat produced by
compaction, radiation, and impacting meteorites melted Earth. Then, as the planet cooled, Earth's layers formed. The first atmosphere was made
up of hot hydrogen gas, too light to be held by Earth's gravity. Water vapor, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and methane replaced
the hydrogen atmosphere. As Earth cooled, water vapor condensed and torrential rains filled up its basins, thereby forming the seas. Also present
were lightning, volcanic activity, and ultraviolet radiation. It was in this setting that life began.

According to one theory, chemical evolution occurred in four stages.

In the first stage of chemical evolution, molecules in the primitive environment formed simple organic substances, such as amino acids. This
concept was first proposed in 1936 in a book entitled, "The Origin of Life on Earth," written by the Russian scientist, Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin. He
considered hydrogen, ammonia, water vapor, and methane to be components in the early atmosphere. Oxygen was lacking in this chemically-
reducing environment. He stated that ultraviolet radiation from the Sun provided the energy for the transformation of these substances into
organic molecules. Scientists today state that such spontaneous synthesis occurred only in the primitive environment. Abiogenesis became
impossible when photosynthetic cells added oxygen to the atmosphere. The oxygen in the atmosphere gave rise to the ozone layer which then
shielded Earth from ultraviolet radiation. Newer versions of this hypothesis contend that the primitive atmosphere also
contained carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen. Present-day volcanoes emit these substances.

In 1957, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey provided laboratory evidence that chemical evolution as described by Oparin could have occurred. Miller
and Urey created an apparatus that simulated the primitive environment. They used a warmed flask of water for the ocean, and an atmosphere of
water, hydrogen, ammonia and methane. Sparks discharged into the artificial atmosphere represented lightning. A condenser cooled the
atmosphere, causing rain that returned water and dissolved compounds back to the simulated sea. When Miller and Urey analyzed the
components of the solution after a week, they found various organic compounds had formed. These included some of the amino acids that
compose the proteins of living things. Their results gave credence to the idea that simple substances in the warm primordial seas gave rise to the
chemical building blocks of organisms.
In the second stage of chemical evolution, the simple organic molecules (such as amino acids) that formed and accumulated joined together into
larger structures (such as proteins). The units linked to each other by the process of dehydration synthesis to form polymers. The problem is that
the abiotic synthesis of polymers had to occur without the assistance of enzymes. In addition, these reactions give off water and would, therefore,
not occur spontaneously in a watery environment. Sydney Fox of the University of Miami suggested that waves or rain in the primitive environment
splashed organic monomers on fresh lava or hot rocks, which would have allowed polymers to form abiotically. When he tried to do this in his
laboratory, Fox produced proteinoids—abiotically synthesized polypeptides.

The next step in chemical evolution suggests that polymers interacted with each other and organized into aggregates, known as protobionts.
Protobionts are not capable of reproducing, but had other properties of living things. Scientists have successfully produced protobionts from
organic molecules in the laboratory. In one study, proteinoids mixed with cool water assembled into droplets or microspheres that developed
membranes on their surfaces. These are protobionts, with semipermeable and excitable membranes, similar to those found in cells.

In the final step of chemical evolution, protobionts developed the ability to reproduce and pass genetic information from one generation to the
next. Some scientists theorize RNA to be the original hereditary molecule. Short polymers of RNA have been synthesized abiotically in the
laboratory. In the 1980s, Thomas Cech and his associates at the University of Colorado at Boulder discovered that RNA molecules can function as
enzymes in cells. This implies that RNA molecules could have replicated in prebiotic cells without the use of protein enzymes. Variations of RNA
molecules could have been produced by mutations and by errors during replication. Natural selection, operating on the different RNAs would have
brought about subsequent evolutionary development. This would have fostered the survival of RNA sequences best suited to environmental
parameters, such as temperature and salt concentration. As the protobionts grew and split, their RNA was passed on to offspring. In time, a
diversity of prokaryote cells came into existence. Under the influence of natural selection, the prokaryotes could have given rise to the vast variety
of life on Earth.