Debunking Tom Phillips, #1

**"Spontaneous generation," disproved long ago, has never been observed. Instead, we always observe that life comes from previous life - and, as Scripture teaches, ultimately from an ever-living God.**

Mr. Phillips is right when he says that "spontaneous generation" was disproved long ago. In a classic experiment done by Francesco Redi in 1668, it was showed that maggots do not spontaneously generate inside rotting meat left out in the open. Taking three containers, he put meat inside each one. Then, he sealed the first one, overlaid the second with cheezecloth, and left the third open. In the second and third containers, flies became attracted to the meat, and later, maggots appeared. The maggots were upon the meat in the third container, but on the second container, where flies couldn't get past the cheezecloth, the maggots only appeared on top of the cloth itself. In this way, it was shown that maggots came from the eggs of flies, and did not spontaneously generate from within dead meat.

So, is evolution a kind of belief in "spontaneous generation?" Is saying the DNA molecule came about through natural processes the same thing as believing that maggots spontaneously appear inside meat? The answer is no. Why? Because the dawn of life was hardly spontaneous! DNA came about after a long, arduous evolutionary process. It didn't happen overnight. Life cannot come from non-life, that's true. But life CAN come from proto-life! And proto-life can come from proto-proto-life! And proto-proto-life can come from non-living organic molecules!

Scientists have been able to observe the spontaneous formation of proto-life and proto-proto-life inside the laboratory for decades. That's how they know, with certainty, that it's not only possible, but highly probable. Oh, they haven't yet been able to make "life in a jar," that's true, but they're tantilizingly close. All, not some, of the nucleotides, amino acids, and basic molecular building blocks have been seen to be capable of forming in nature - and easily! We've seen them go from simple molecules, to complex ones; from complex molecules to nucleotides; from nucleotides to RNA, and from RNA to DNA. We've learned how cell-walls formed, and we've recently discovered how all the nucleotides became "left-handed" in their chirality. (A later post will deal with that.) All we need is the final puzzle piece that will teach us the exact history of how it all came about. In the meantime, we've amassed enough knowledge to prove that no divine hand was behind it.

Eric