In attempting to understand how life originated, scientists have long theorized that the first step was the development of proteins. In 1953 there was a famous experiment of a simulated "primordial soup" by Stanley Miller. In providing high energy sparks to hydrogen-rich gases thought to exist on primal Earth, his experiment resulted in the production of some amino acids, which was impressive at the time. It was thought that if amino acids could be spontaneously formed in nature, so might proteins and the organelles needed for life.

Amino Acid Homochilarity There are 20 different amino acids that exist in living cells. When strung together, various numbers of these 20 amino acids form proteins. In nature amino acids appear in both right- and left-handed varieties. Proteins require the left-handed variety only. A small protein needs about 200 amino acids arranged in a specific order. Not only would the assembly of these be impossible by chance (amino acids don’t link together naturally), every one of the perfectly arranged amino acids would have to be of the left-handed variety or the protein would be rendered inoperable.

The Stanley Miller experiment had a profound impact on the concept of evolution and is still presented in most biology textbooks. Though this experiment has been heralded as a victory for evolution, it actually does more to show that natural origins are impossible.

The Miller experiment resulted in a few "right-handed" and "left-handed" amino acids, but it was not life or anything close to it. The amino acids needed for life’s proteins must all be "left handed". As a prominent biochemist, Leslie E. Orgel, wrote,

"Two very different questions must be answered. First, why do all amino acids in proteins or all nucleotides in nucleic acids have the same handedness? Secondly, why are the animo acids all left-handed (L-) and the nucleotides all right-handed (D-)?"12

The fact is that scientists know (from experiments like Miller’s) that amino acids formed in nature are a mixture of both right- and left-handed varieties. Yet even one right-handed amino acid has the potential to render a protein inoperable. It is like poison to the developing protein molecule. Furthermore, some evolutionists freely admit other serious problems with Miller’s work:

"The difficulties start to become clear when we look to see what building blocks were actually formed in the course of the simulation experiments of Miller and others. Robert Shapiro, professor of chemistry at New York University, pointed out in his 1988 book, Origins, that, contrary to what is sometimes stated, there was no synthesis of nucleotides and, indeed, only two of the component bases (adenine and guanine) were produced to any significant extent. Also, only two of the required 20 amino acids were formed in appreciable amounts, which was reduced to one when the experiment was repeated later with a less-reducing atmosphere, reflecting changing views about the primeval Earth."14

 

"Nucleotides" in the above quote refers to the basic component of DNA and RNA--Miller’s experiment didn’t produce them. Furthermore, only two of the four types of organic bases contained in nucleotides were produced. Where did the other two come from? Even if they somehow appeared, experimentation has so far shown that nucleotides cannot be made, and therefore DNA cannot be made. It could be said that the spontaneous formation of life from non-life elements is "dead in the water".

Consider also the beginning of the first protein. One of the smallest proteins is a string of about 200 amino

acids. By chance the 200 amino acids would have to be linked by peptide bonds, but that is not all. They must all consist of left-handed amino acids from a pool of both right and left. Without intelligence, discrimination is not possible. Also, there is no way of knowing what to do with that protein if it did appear. Water would rapidly decompose it. It could be anywhere on Earth while a second protein was somewhere else on Earth. How could the two come together? There is no reason they would amount to anything if they did encounter each other. There is no organizing mind or intelligence to guide them. The idea of abiogenesis (life from non-life elements on early Earth) is a smokescreen for avoiding the obvious--God is the Creator of life.

Cyanobacteria Brian Speer writes for the Museum of Paleolotolgy in Berkeley, California. Noting the significance of cyanobacteria (formally called blue-green algae), and the evolutionist date given to its origin, Speer writes, "Cyanobacteria are aquatic and photosynthetic, that is, they live in the water, and can manufacture their own food. Because they are bacteria, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to see. They have the distinction of being the oldest known fossils, more than 3.5 billion years old, in fact! It may surprise you then to know that the cyanobacteria are still around; they are one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria on earth."13 It is very interesting that bacteria so common today is the same bacteria from, supposedly, 3.5 billion years ago! All that time and no changes from evolution!

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