The Cross of Freedom

While elements heavier than helium were being formed, the nuclear synthesis produced carbon.  Within the temperature range in which water is a liquid, carbon is a solid.  There is more carbon in the universe than any other element that shares this property.  As a matter of fact, there are only three other elements of any kind more plentiful in the universe and those are all gases.  Two of those are hydrogen and oxygen, which are what water is made of.  This is very fortunate for us, since life is based on carbon and water.  Carbon is required for life - it is the only element capable of forming the long and complex chains necessary for life processes.

Our earth is so perfectly suited for life as to leave no doubt that it was planned that way.  Not only that, but science now believes, and the fossil record shows, that life appeared here as soon as the earth was able to support it.  This statement by science brings it closer to the Bible than almost any other - Genesis also sets the appearance of life immediately after the appearance of water.  What makes this even more remarkable is the large gap between the most complex inorganic molecule and the simplest form of life.  There is no known physics that can bridge this gap.

Scientists are acknowledging this more and more.  As a result, some are proposing that life was seeded here from somewhere else.  But from where?  Remember that scientists say that there has not been enough time in the life of the universe for life to have evolved on its own - even single-celled life, much less the complexity of life that we see now, and even farther from life forms that have developed inter-galactic space travel.  If life couldn't have evolved in our universe on its own, then it had to have come from outside our universe. Most would have to admit that this supports the case for a supreme being.

Darwin's theory, still taught in schools, is that life evolved gradually from the simple to the complex. As stated earlier, the evidence now indicates, and scientists now believe, that there was no gradualism in evolution across species.  There is gradual evolution WITHIN species.  For example, geese made it across the Pacific to Hawaii and gradually lost much of the webbing in their feet because they didn't need it there for walking across volcanic soil - but they are still geese.

The Bible says that water and life appeared on earth during the same period (day 3), and that both were brought forth from the earth.  God provided earth with the required properties to do this.  Then, on day 5, the waters "swarmed abundantly with moving creatures that have life".  Science teaches something called the 'Cambrian explosion' and now agrees with the order and timing of these events.  Science now says that single-celled life appeared immediately after liquid water, followed by a gap in time.  After this gap, then the waters swarmed with all forms of life.  This is precisely what the Bible has been telling us all along.

Science tells us that wings appeared suddenly and fully developed, not gradually over time.  The Bible tells us that the birds were created on day 5 as well.

On day 6, God commanded the earth to bring forth all the creatures of the land (Gen 1:24), then man (Gen 1:26).  God then plants a garden and places man there (Gen 2:8), and brings the animals and birds to Adam so he could name each one (Gen 2:18).  God then decides that none of these make a suitable companion for Adam and He forms Eve of Adam's rib - Adam calls her woman (Gen 2:21-23).

There is much discussion these days regarding the difference between humans and animals.  A paragraph in Dr. Schroeder's second book, "The Science of God", provides some clarification:

Hebrew has two words for soul, nefesh and neshama.  They are represented by two divine creations mentioned in Genesis 1... All animals, humans included, share this first creation related to life.  It signifies the infusion of the nefesh, the soul of animal life...  A few verses later when the text tells of humans, there is a further creation, one in which lower animals did not share.  That creation marks the soul of humankind, the neshama.  This dual nature of humankind appears with the first mention of mankind... Man has within him the animal as well as the godly.

It is not surprising that there are similarities between human DNA and that of other animals.  Animals were brought forth from the earth and so was mankind:

"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 being." (Genesis 2:7)

As with the other sciences, there is way more biological data than can be covered in this venue - and I'm not qualified to discuss even what is here.  If you are interested, there is more material available out there than any average human is capable of absorbing.

The bottom line for this current discussion is that life appeared immediately after the earth was capable of supporting life, it is impossible for this to have happened through random chemical reactions, and science has come to agree with Scripture on the timing of these events.

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