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To: Liberal Classic
Scientists freely admit that no one knows exactly how life began and that it is highly unlikely physical evidence will ever be found...

From TalkOrigins: Probability of Abiogenesis FAQs

"biogenesis is the field of science dedicated to studying how life might have arisen for the first time on the primordial young Earth. Despite the enormous progress that has been made since the Miller-Urey experiment, abiogenesis is under constant attack from creationists, who continually claim that the origin of life by random natural processes is so unlikely as to be, for all practical purposes, impossible. Following are some articles that challenge this claim and demonstrate the fundamental misconception at the core of the creationists' arguments.

Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics, and Probability of Abiogenesis Calculations
How likely is it that even a single bacterium could form by chance in the primordial sea? Not very likely, that's for sure, and creationists have been only too happy to provide ludicrously huge numbers purporting to be the odds against such a thing. However, even if these calculations are correct, they are irrelevant, as modern theories of abiogenesis require nothing of the kind to happen. This article briefly illustrates what abiogenesis really is and shows why the creationists' probability calculations do not matter.

Borel's Law and the Origin of Many Creationist Probability Assertions
Creationists have asserted that a statistical principle called "Borel's Law" mathematically demonstrates that abiogenesis is impossible. This article explains what Borel's Law is and shows that Borel himself clearly understood that his law was not relevant to the probability of the origin of life.

Spontaneous Generation and the Origin of Life
Creationists often claim that Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation and hence any naturalistic origin of life. This article shows what Pasteur really demonstrated and gives a history of the subject from early ideas of spontaneous generation to modern ideas about the origin of life.

As I said, this comes up in nearly every thread. Please remember that evolutionary theory is only an attempt to explain the diversity of life, but not the origin of life.

"Darwin did not propose a theory of the origin of life in the beginning... Evolutionary theory was not proposed to account for the origins of living beings, only the process of change once life exists. However, many have thought that the theory of evolution logically requires a beginning of life, which is true. Of those, many have thought that a natural account of the origin of life is necessary, and some have proposed models which have borne up or not as research proceeds. " [emphasis mine] Spontaneous Generation and the Origin of Life

You can't have it both ways.

Cordially,

224 posted on 05/03/2005 12:34:43 PM PDT by Diamond (Qui liberatio scelestus trucido inculpatus.)
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To: Diamond
biogenesis is the field of science dedicated to studying how life might have arisen for the first time on the primordial young Earth...

Darwin did not propose a theory of the origin of life in the beginning... Evolutionary theory was not proposed to account for the origins of living beings, only the process of change once life exists.

The study of how life might have arisen is not the same as the study of how life changes over time, just as I and others have been saying all along.

However, many have thought that the theory of evolution logically requires a beginning of life, which is true. Of those, many have thought that a natural account of the origin of life is necessary, and some have proposed models which have borne up or not as research proceeds.

Sure, it's an interesting question and one that deserves study, but hypotheses and theories surrounding a naturalistic origin of life is not the same study of evolution. Evolution is the study of the rates of change in patterns of genes in populations of creatures that occur over time.

You can't have it both ways.

I welcome your most cordial accusation of hypocrisy. :\

294 posted on 05/03/2005 2:31:16 PM PDT by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy. Semper Fi.)
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