Must Life Be Carbon-Based?

Question of the week: Why must life be carbon-based?

My answer: Not all life is carbon-based. Angels are alive but they are not necessarily carbon-based. Likewise, since God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are spirit, they are not physical beings like us and, therefore, they have no need for carbon. It is only life-forms that are constrained by the physics and dimensions of the universe that must be carbon-based.

Decades ago, biochemists considered the theoretical possibility of physical life-forms being based on the elements silicon, boron, or arsenic as substitutes for carbon. They discovered that carbon is the only element in the periodic table possessing the chemical bonding stability and the chemical bonding complexity that even the simplest conceivable physical life-form would require. Therefore, all life that is constrained by the physics and dimensions of the universe must be carbon-based. When we at Reasons to Believe determine the fine-tuned designs that are necessary to make physical life possible, the only assumption we make about that life is that it must be carbon-based.