Conclusion to the cell chapter

Conclusion

When evolution is taught, students are given the ideas the scientists think might have worked. They are not presented with the grave problems as described in this book. If evolution is true, then life must have had a beginning. The beginning of life is the cell; the simplest cell is the bacterium.

From a natural origins perspective, how did the simplest cell organize itself into life? Scientists can easily provide more than enough of the parts of life and throw them together, but they cannot come close to creating life--as the Miller experiment and others like it shows. Louis Pasteur, an 1800’s pioneer in microbiology, demonstrated that life only comes from life--it does not come from chemicals. Only God can create a living creature or a human being.

How did usable energy in the cell develop? How could both photosynthesis and glycolysis happen in one cell without a previous program from other cells? One of the most insurmountable parts of the issue of origins is the fact that prior to the first reproducing cell there was no reproduction. Therefore, one cell could not build on the advances and mistakes of previous cells. In addition, there was no natural selection or mutations to help the cell develop usable energy. Natural selection and mutations require copies, which require reproduction, which requires fully functioning living cells!

How could DNA, RNA and proteins develop? Each has immense complexity and organization. As was discussed in Chapter 2, DNA is information so dense that modern computers are toys in comparison.

DNA, RNA and Proteins

"DNA cannot do its work, including forming more DNA, without the help of catalytic proteins, or enzymes. In short, proteins cannot form without DNA, but neither can DNA form without proteins . . . How did RNA arise initially? RNA and its components are difficult to synthesize in a laboratory under the best of conditions, much less under plausible pre-biotic ones."15

George Caylor of the Lynchburg Ledger, while at a bed and breakfast inn, casually interviewed a molecular biologist named Jeff. Jeff was describing his work as an editor trying to find a spelling mistake in the DNA. When the topic of information came up, here is what was said:

"Caylor: ‘How did all that genetic information get there?’
Jeff: ‘Do you mean, did it just happen? Did it evolve?’

Caylor: ‘Bingo. Do you believe that the information evolved?’

Jeff: ‘George, nobody I know in my profession believes it evolved. It was engineered by ‘genius beyond genius,’ and such information could not have been written any other way. The paper and ink did not write the book! Knowing what we know, it is ridiculous to think otherwise.’ "16

Furthermore, how did the cell learn to divide? It needs over 50 macromolecular components and it, too, cannot benefit from earlier partial progress or mistakes from the pre-biotic soup. It would have to have developed the ability to divide in one step, which is scientifically and logically improbable. To demonstrate that scientists are thinking about the reproduction problem as well as the need for the cell to have several simultaneous parts, Stanley Angrist and Loren G. Hepler wrote:

"Directions for the reproduction of plans, for extraction of energy and chemicals from the environment, for the growth sequence and the mechanism for translating instructions into growth all had to be simultaneously present at that moment. This combination of events has seemed an incredibly unlikely happenstance and often divine intervention is prescribed as the only way it could have come about."17

Boeing 747

The 747 has 4.5 million non-flying parts. The parts were specially designed, crafted, organized and carefully assembled. The result is an airplane capable of flying further (8,300 miles) while carrying more passengers (420) than any other commercial airplane. Living cells are infinitely more complex than the 747.

The first living cell must have had many complex structures from the beginning. Understanding the concept of life is like understanding an airplane. The Boeing 747 has 4.5 million non-flying parts. When the parts are properly put together, the plane can fly. Not all the parts are essential, but many of them are. Having an engine (also made up of thousands of non-flying parts) is essential to the 747, but by itself it is useless for flying. RNA, DNA and proteins are interdependent, just as an airplane must have an aerodynamic body, wings, propulsion, communications and more for it to fly. Even if by chance RNA appeared in the pre-biotic soup, it would be useless without a host of other structures. For what benefit is the RNA or DNA without usable energy, a plasma membrane, proteins, reproduction and much more to sustain and propagate the cell?

One can only think that some outside intelligent source could bring together all these wonderfully complicated systems into a living cell. In reality, evolution provides no source of intelligence but only chance, natural processes, luck and time. When evolutionists’ only hope is extreme faith in the improbable, the origin of the first cell is an irrefutable argument.

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