FCP-02-WHAT IS LIFE?
WHAT IS LIFE? And now, as we examine the evidence of His Hand in these things, it is my prayer that all who see it will turn to Him and find Him as their God and Father and, finding Him, will trust His Word, see His Plan of Redemption, and come to know His Son as their sin bearer, Savior, and Lord. It turns our attention to the question WHAT IS LIFE? and the following words from Genesis are surely sufficient. ’And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’ Genesis 2:7. That beautiful, simple, moving, deeply mysterious and wonderful text has satisfied millions who have found God but there are many other millions who simply must have facts about ’life’ before they will admit there is Someone who gave that life.
One would think that when we begin to think about the marvelous way our body is made and understand how so efficiently it can do the most difficult things without any obvious thought and how it can take control of new discoveries and use them to its advantage even though they are not fully understood it surely is evidence, if we stop and consider it, that we were created by an intelligence so great and so far beyond our ability to understand it that it could only be made possible by a Supreme Being who alone holds the key of life itself in His Hands and who is the only One able to create such an efficient, living, thinking. creature. Not one of the body functions we are about to examine could have developed from a more primitive stage. All must have been functioning as they are now to exist at all. The investigation of the structure and the complexity of this body can only bring one logical conclusion, that is, the great Giver of Life, our God, is a Master Craftsman beyond compare, beyond ordinary understanding, and One to be searched for with our whole heart ... ’But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ Hebrews 11:6. For a moment let us examine the Cell for it is the essential element in the ’make-up’ of all life and the cell we are about to look at is the body cell or the SOMATIC CELL. This cell is invisible to the naked eye and yet this minute speck has proved to be, biologically, a living, working, compartmented, organized, and extremely complex chemical factory and this has all been revealed to us today under the tremendous magnification of the electron microscope.
Chemically it has in its composition carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, potassium. iron, fluorine, and iodine and within the cell are organisms called enzymes, one of the most complicated, mysterious, and marvelous things known to man which, in conjunction with the numerous, exceedingly involved and do it quickly, efficiently, and continuously and there are many compartments in this living factory involving millions of active sub-cells, all working to a pre-determined code and then, within the nucleus of the cell, are the chromosomes. The cell of every living thing has its fixed number of chromosomes and they form a combination lock which locks up the species and compels them to obey the command of God we read in Genesis 1 six times that all life was to ’bring forth after its kind’ or identical with itself.
However, and this is important, vitally important, within the chromosomes are the infinitely minute and wonderful genes, several millions of them, which, like the notes on a piano, provide for an almost endless variety WITHIN the species and, may I repeat, within the species.
One of the most marvelous facts about the cell is that it cannot grow, or develop, gradually. Only a living cell can produce a cell because, to live. it must be a complete working unit.
How then does the cell multiply? This is one of the most wonderful and mysterious things ever witnessed. In a process called, mitosis, the cell divides and, amid intense activity, both visible and invisible, the cell becomes two living factories and each again do the same to become 4 ... 8 ... 16 ... 32 ... 64, and so on! However each body demands different forms of cells and, amid wonders multiplied, the implanted plan in the cell knows exactly what combinations of chemicals from its storehouse to call upon and which departments to call into service to provide, and produce, the particular cells required for the part of the body being built, whether it be man or plant! The spirals of the chromosomes must contain an enormous amount of information and, it is clear, that wonderful and ingenious mechanisms must be enshrined there. Remember, we are dealing with a microscopic world whose working units vary from ultra-microscopic to barely discernible, misty movements, and on into invisible powers, beyond the reach of even the most powerful electron microscopes, wherein are hidden the marvelous mysteries of life. When I ponder these wonderful things myself as I write these words, there comes to my mind the insistence with which some evolutionists expound that the beginnings of life were simple and then moved towards the complex as time unfolded. Yet. Here we have, in the apparently simple cell, this highly complex system completely beyond our comprehension. A fact, sufficiently demonstrable, one would think, to turn all away from unprofitable speculation about evolution and cause our hearts and minds to rather seek for the infinitely wise and loving Creator who designed such wonders. And this DESIGN is to be found IN all GOD’S CREATIVE WORK therefore let us further examine the evidence of a Creator because this evidence is all around us and to be seen in abundance by all who will but stop and think. In chemistry no two substances can unite without observing definite mathematical laws. In music all whole tones are multiples of eleven. Who can fail to be struck with awe at the accurate timetable of the Universe, the stupendous speeds of the planets, all travelling on their appointed course like a huge railway system, yet none colliding and so accurate is their timetable that their relative positions can be set down for any future date. Does the earth revolve by mere chance? The surface speed is approximately 1,100 miles an hour. If it dropped to, say, 110, we would be roasted in a 240 hour day, and any life which survived would be frozen in a similarly long night. The earth is tilted at 23 degrees and if it were not we would have no seasons.
Science tells us:-- If the crust of the earth was but a few feet thicker there would be no oxygen and hence no life could exist.
If the sun was closer we would roast or if it was further away we would freeze.
If the moon was any nearer the tides would sweep all but the mountains.
If the air had been much thinner many disasters would overwhelm us. Yet the fact is we find thousands of laws combining to make life on earth possible. On the earth itself we have millions of exacting combinations of conditions and phenomena which make absolutely impossible the idea of life by adaptation. The real truth is that God has poured out, so abundantly, all around us the evidence of Creation, showing His Wisdom and power, that we are apt to take everything for granted, not even stopping to think, or ask, the why or wherefore. The next time you are at the beach pick up a spiral shell and examine it and you will find it is a right-hand spiral. Now search the beach, all the beaches if you wish, and any and every spiral variety and you will have a rare treasure if you can find one built the opposite way. There are, it is true, a few which build the opposite way but this only confirms the inherent law.
Come with me now, right away from the sea, into the bushland and here we notice some tiny plants climbing with a definite spiral around a twig. Further on a large creeper with thousands of spirals and when you examine them you will find that every spiral is the same as you found in the shell at the beach.
What is the explanation?
We all know that when an electrician designs and builds an electric motor he must determine its direction of rotation by using certain laws. Likewise, God who, as the Author of all Laws as well as Creation, designed these lives we are now examining, placed within them inherent laws which are only upset by some abnormal condition. The evolution theory, which is in direct contradiction to the plain teaching of Genesis, means that all design, (which is marvelous beyond description and with which nature is filled), is mere chance and, no matter by what term one describes the evolutionary theory, (such as ’natural selection’ for instance), the fact remains that any such theory denies any controlling intelligence. In testing the theory that ... ’The sensitivity of the cortex to straight line is an immutable consequence of evolution’ ... the New Scientist. December 6. 1973 reported that the ’darkness test’ led to the conclusion that such a statement could not be upheld and that ... "Brain cells do not see what they like so much as they like what they see’. And in an examination on ’Living and Fossil Brachiopods’ the following statement is very expressive. ’Evolution is commonly described with the vertebrates chiefly in mind, as though it were an irresistibly ’upward’ or ’progressive process. The Brachiopoda, as a phylum, whose greatest abundance and diversity lie far back in the past, force us to reconsider this ’image’ of the evolutionary process. Why, after successive phases of diversification and periods of great abundance through the Paleozoic era did they suffer such a severe crisis?
Why did they fail to recover? In what sense, (except by a circular definition), can their few living survivors be termed more successful, or ’better adapted’ than the far more abundant and varied faunas of earlier periods?
What progress, if any, is discernible within the pattern of their evolution?
Before proceeding with the evidence for Creation, let me bring before you again that very serious statement from the Bible. A literal reading of Romans 1:19-20 ’That which may be known of God is manifest, (Greek phaneroo, apparent, and the evidence of the invisible Creator is clearly seen, (distinctly apprehended), being manifested by the things that are made, (Greek poiema, workmanship), revealing His eternal Power, so that man is without excuse.’