PANSPERMIA (Condensed from an article by Gary Bates in the Sept. 2003 Creation Magazine)

PANSPERMIA (Condensed from an article by Gary Bates in the Sept. 2003 Creation Magazine)

Francis Crick and James Watson, together with Maurice Wilkins, received the Noble Prize in 1962 for their discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. The discovery itself was made back in 1953. These outspoken atheists used the 50" anniversary of that discovery to attack the idea of a Creator. The antipathy to religion of these DNA pioneers is long standing and well known. In fact, Crick’s distaste for “religion” was one of the prime motives that led to this discovery. Consistent with his atheism, in 1961 he resigned as a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, when it proposed to build a chapel.

Creation Magazine also used the 50th anniversary of the double helix’s discovery to publish a detailed article on the wonders of DNA. Bates observes that the DNA molecule has often been described as the most efficient information storage system in the entire universe. The immensity of complex, coded and precisely sequenced information written on the DNA is absolutely staggering. The evidence speaks of intelligent, information-bearing design. Complex DNA coding would have been necessary for even the hypothetical first “so-called” simple cell. Even Crick himself has been quoted as admitting: “An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.”

Crick bragged: “People like myself get along perfectly well with no religious views”. Bates observes, however, that this is not true for atheism is itself a religion. The answers to where we come from and where we are going invariably involve belief systems. While Crick does not “believe in God”, he does “believe in atheism”. Further, in an effort to escape God he has come to “believe” that life began in outer space. In his mind, since he cannot explain how it began on earth, he concludes that it must have begun in the heavens.

We repeat, since Crick admits that the origin of life on earth is so complex that it requires “almost a miracle”, he solves the problem by “believing” that life must have occurred in the heavens. This is where the “theory” of “panspermia” comes in. It comes from the Greek words pan (all) and sperma (seed). The theory “assumes” that the seeds of life are all through the universe. Crick explained what he “believes” in his book Life Itself. “Incredibly” Crick “believes” that some form of primordial life was shipped to the earth billions of years ago in spaceships—by supposedly “more evolved” and therefore “more advanced alien beings”. Panspermia, of course, doesn’t solve the problem of how life began, it merely transfers it to outer space where it cannot be tested. It is remarkable that a “scientist” who has trouble “believing” in God apparently has no trouble “believing” that life spontaneously started in outer space and was brought to earth by aliens in space ships. Please note that there is a difference between a statement made by a scientist and a scientific statement. Panspermia is not science! Apparently the major evidence for this “belief” in “panspermia” involves the assumption that there is no God. Is this proof? To his credit Crick later acknowledged the mounting problems and futility of his ideas when he reportedly said: “Every time I write a paper on the origin of life, I swear I will never write another one, because there is too much speculation running after too few facts....” Even the non-Christian molecular biologist, Michael Denton, says, in his best- selling book Evolution a Theory in Crisis, “Nothing illustrates more clearly just how intractable a problem the origin of life has become than the fact that world authorities can seriously toy with the idea of panspermia. ”.

Bates concludes his excellent article by stating: “Everywhere we look, life possesses the hallmark of the design and purposes of its creator. Unfortunately for some, they are so blinded by their worldview that they are incapable, or unwilling, to consider the most obvious and sensible explanation.” Solomon said that the whole duty of man was to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13). What do you say?