Have you ever heard of the idea of abiogenesis? Simply put, this concept suggests that long ago, spontaneous chemical reactions caused the formation of very simple life forms. In regard to evolution, abiogenesis is pretty much accepted as a fact. But does it make sense? Does abiogenesis fit reality?
Everyone knows about proteins. Not only are they quite popular, but they are also essential to the existence of life. On the molecular level, proteins consist of amino acids (the basic “building blocks” of a protein) that are linked together. In order for a protein to function properly and perform its specific job, all the amino acids in the protein have to link up in exactly the right order. If they don’t, the protein can’t perform its job.
Allow me to introduce you to Ribonuclease. Ribonuclease is the simplest protein necessary for the existence of life. This “simple” protein consists of 124 amino acids. In order for the idea of abiogenesis to explain how simple life forms originated, it also has to account for how the chemical components (including proteins) necessary to these life forms’ existence could be formed by random processes. Since Ribonuclease is a protein that is essential for life, abiogenesis must explain how it could form by pure chance. Let’s check out some odds.
Okay, so Ribonuclease is made up of 124 amino acids. Seventeen different types of amino acids are present in those 124. There are actually 20 types of amino acids that are present in life-essential proteins, but we’ll just work with the 17 necessary for Ribonuclease. The odds of the first amino acid coming into the right place are 1 in 17. That’s not too bad. The odds of the second specific amino acid linking to the first are 1 in 289. Hmm…Things aren’t looking so good now. Even worse, the odds for the next amino acid linking to the second are 1 in 4,913. By the time we get all the way to the last amino acid, the odds are 1 in 10 to the 152nd power. That’s a 1 followed by 152 zeros. To illustrate how ridiculous these odds are, the likelihood of Ribonuclease forming by chance is equivalent to a poker player drawing a royal flush 19 times in a row without ever exchanging cards. Let’s just say those are some pretty lousy odds. And that’s considering the simplest protein necessary for life. Some of the proteins at work in our bodies contain more than 10,000 amino acids! Even so, abiogenesis has to accept on faith the odds of these and numerous other reactions occurring purely by chance.*
If you believe in Biblical Creation, there’s good news. You don’t have to worry about explaining how such a complex and intricate element necessary for life could form on accident. Genesis 1 tells us Who the author of life is. He knows all about how to put Ribonuclease together.
For more information on this topic, visit www.icr.org/creation-enzyme/. You can also follow this link for a more detailed essay presenting evidence for the necessity of a Creator in molecular design.
* – many of the statistics listed in this post were referenced from Dr. Jay L. Wile’s Exploring Creation With Biology, 2nd Edition.
