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Some believe that given the vastness of the universe, random chance and millions of years, not only must extra-terrestrial life exist, but time and chance must also explain the origin of life on earth.  These ideas dovetail with the theory of spontaneous generation (or the more recent abiogenesis) and the theory of evolution.  These two theories are generally accepted as reasonable explanations for life as we know it, but are they truly reasonable?

Consider this:  If time and chance were forces (they are not) and if those forces had the power to create, a blind monkey pounding randomly at a piano keyboard should, if it could pound long enough, eventually produce a piano concerto.  As silly as that sounds, it includes the two elements said to be sufficient for creation by chance:  unlimited time and random activity.  Common sense tells us that a piano-playing monkey would never produce anything but noise, even if it could play continuously for all eternity.  We can be confident of this, despite the fact that a monkey, unlike chance, does have power and some degree of intelligence.  This simple thought experiment illustrates the impossibility of unintelligent design and the absurdity of creation by time and chance.  Just as time and chance are incapable of making a composer out of a monkey, they are also incapable of bringing forth life from inorganic matter.

These affirmations address the first of two serious challenges to the first five words in the Bible.  These two challenges are the concept of creation by chance and the theory of evolution.

 

  1. Modern scientific theory holds that given enough time, random combinations of molecules and circumstances (brought together by chance) eventually make inorganic matter come to life.  Scientists used to call this spontaneous generation, but now call it abiogenesis.
  2. Scientists already know the chemical composition of living things, but they cannot create life by bringing those chemicals together under any circumstances.
  3. Most modern scientists who subscribe to the theory of spontaneous generation believe it takes millions and millions of years for it to bring forth life.
  4. Spontaneous generation theory (chance creation) credits chance with a power, the power to create life.
  5. Chance is a term that describes probabilities.
  6. Chance predicts that a tossed coin will land on a particular side 50% of the time.
  7. Chance does not cause a tossed coin to land on a particular side 50% of the time.
  8. Chance plays no role in bringing events about.
  9. Chance is a mathematical concept with no power to influence outcomes.
  10. Chance is nothing more than a mathematical concept.
  11. Chance is incapable of doing any physical thing.
  12. Chance is not a thing.  Chance is nothing.
  13. Chance cannot do anything.  Chance has no power or force of any kind and cannot bring anything about, especially something as complex as life.
  14. Chance has no force and no power because it has no being. 
  15. To ascribe any kind of power or force to chance is a misuse of the term.
  16. Using the term chance to describe something with the power to do things is a logical fallacy known as equivocation.
  17. Equivocation is a logical fallacy that occurs where a term takes on an altered meaning or a new meaning during an argument.
  18. Life was not created by accident (the random collision of molecules over millions of years).
  19. God created all life during the six days (24 hour periods) of Creation. 
  20. Chance creation, which implies accidental creation, is irrational.
  21. Chance creation asserts that something of unimaginable complexity (life) was created without intelligence and without design.
  22. Chance creation or spontaneous generation is an attempt to explain life without intelligent design and to do away with the creator God.
  23. Chance creation is impossible, irrational and utter nonsense.