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Did Life Originate on Earth or in the Cosmos? Part 2

Blog by Hugh Ross ( June 20, 2022 )

In last week’s post, “Did Life Originate on Earth or in the Cosmos? Part 1,” I described how an international, interdisciplinary team of 33 scientists exposed the shortcomings of an Earth-based naturalistic model for the origin and 3.8-billion-year history of life on Earth. In this week’s sequel, I will describe the strengths and shortcomings of what the team proposes to be the only naturalistic alternative to an Earth-based origin and history of life.

Cometary (Cosmic) BiologyMuch of the team’s 21-page paper is an update on the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H-W) panspermia …

Origin of Life & Astrobiology

Did Life Originate on Earth or in the Cosmos? Part 1

Blog by Hugh Ross ( June 13, 2022 )

During the last several months, I have written three articles on new discoveries that reveal that the Cambrian explosion of life is more extensive and explosive than previously thought.1 I also showed how these new discoveries make naturalistic explanations for the Cambrian explosion more intractable. Alternate Models for Earth’s First LifeAs that case becomes more untenable, some scientists have posited that life was transported to Earth. Even before the latest discoveries, a team of 33 researchers from multiple scientific disciplines acknowledged the difficulty of attempting to explain the Cambrian explosion from a naturalistic terrestrial source. Therefore, they published …

Origin of Life & Astrobiology

Where Did the Cambrian Oxygen Come From?

Blog by Hugh Ross ( January 24, 2022 )

The Cambrian explosion, as I discussed in last week’s article (“Cambrian Explosion Becomes More Explosive”), is the sudden, simultaneous appearance of the greatest number of phyla to occur during the 3.8-billion-year history of Earth’s life. Many of these phyla were complex animals with skeletons, digestive tracts, circulatory systems, and specialized internal and external organs. As such, they needed a lot of oxygen.

These animals were predominantly living in Earth’s oceans, especially on the bottom sediment surfaces of continental shelves. For them to have the dissolved oxygen they required, they would need a pulse of …

Design

Does Psalm 104 Affirm Progressive Creation?

Blog by Guest Writer ( November 11, 2021 )

How are God’s acts of creation (bârâ’) in Genesis 1 best understood? Were they a series of discrete events in each of six “days” (yôm)? Or did they represent a process of ongoing creativity within those “days”? Psalm 104 may provide insight into these questions.

Hebrew Context for Interrelated Texts

According to Genesis 1, the Spirit of God (rûach) was present during six “days” of creative activity (bârâ’). It seems significant that Psalm 104 includes these same Hebrew words:

When you take away their [creatures: châyâh] breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit …

Bible

Gene-Tree Conflicts Make a Case for Creation

Blog by Hugh Ross ( June 14, 2021 )

Earth’s life history shows the rapid introduction of complex life-forms, followed by mass extinctions, followed again by novel life-forms. Which model for life’s history better explains such events: evolution or creation?

In scientific research, conflicts between different data sets and sets of measurements, or between observations and theoretical explanations for the observations typically are strong indications that the scientific model undergirding the measurements, observations, and theoretical explanations is either incorrect or in need of major revision. Nearly two years ago, I wrote an article, New Speciation Model Challenges Evolution, Supports Creation, in which I showed that …

Evolution

Cambrian Creatures’ Diverse, Complex Eyes Reinforce Creation Narrative">

Cambrian Creatures’ Diverse, Complex Eyes Reinforce Creation Narrative

Blog by Hugh Ross ( January 25, 2021 )

… of the Cambrian geological period 543 million years ago. Now, thanks to a new fossil discovery by paleontologists John Paterson, Gregory Edgecombe, and Diego García-Bellido,1 it is evident that the Cambrian explosion is more complex and explosive than previously thought.
One of the phyla that appeared in the Cambrian explosion is Arthropoda, which persists to this day in the form of insects, arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, etc.), myriapods (centipedes and millipedes), and crustaceans. An order within Arthropoda, Radiodonta, existed only during the Cambrian period and included the earliest known large predators. They possessed claws, jaws with rows of …

Design

Have You Thanked God for Your Oxygen Today?

Blog by Hugh Ross ( January 19, 2017 )

Probably nothing is taken more for granted than the air we breathe. At sea level our atmosphere has an air pressure of 15 pounds per square inch. It contains 21% oxygen by volume. This air pressure and this amount of oxygen is optimal for humans and for human civilization.
If Earth’s air pressure were three times greater or three times lesser, our lungs would cease to function and we would die. While other respiration systems exist in nature and still more conceivably could exist, none, at least for large animals, yield the respiratory efficiency of lungs. The air pressure …

Biology

Science News Flash: Reinterpretation of Sea Worm Fossil Challenges Evolution

Blog by Fazale “Fuz” Rana ( July 8, 2016 )

… Cambrian explosion creates problems for the evolutionary paradigm. (To learn why I hold this view see my article “Cambrian Flash.”) At the same time, this find adds to the evidence for the scientific credibility of the Genesis 1 creation account. (For details see my article “The ‘Great Unconformity’ and the Cambrian Explosion Conform to the Genesis 1 Creation Account.”)
For more on the Cambrian explosion, check out the following resources.

“Cambrian Flash” (article)
“The ‘Great Unconformity’ and the Cambrian Explosion Conform to the Genesis 1 Creation Account” (article)
Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery (photos)

Endnotes

Karma Nanglu et al., “Cambrian Suspension …

Fossil Record & Paleontology

What Dinosaur Soft Tissue Says about the Earth’s Age

Publication by Fazale “Fuz” Rana ( May 1, 2016 )

Adapted from Dinosaur Blood and the Age of the Earth
Perhaps one of the more amazing discoveries made in recent years has been the recovery of original soft tissue remnants within the fossilized remains of dinosaurs that lived nearly 80 million years ago. Paleontologists have unearthed multiple dinosaur specimens containing soft tissue parts.
What an unbelievable boon to paleontologists! Common wisdom has long held that soft tissues should readily degrade in a few thousand years. Yet, in some cases, these biomaterials have persisted for as long as a few hundred million years. Such unexpected discoveries excite the research community because …

Design

Q&A: Did God Create New Species Out of Thin Air?

Blog by Fazale “Fuz” Rana ( March 27, 2024 )

… explosion implies that new creatures formed out of thin air. Or in other words didn’t have mommies and daddies, which I find very unlikely. I guess if you believe in a creator god anything goes, but I find it highly doubtful that this would be the answer to the Cambrian explosion . . . I guess it’s a god of the gaps explanation which he probably wants to avoid as a “scientist.” Any thoughts?

So, what are my thoughts?

Modes of Divine ActionAs I noted, a strong scientific case exists for a Creator who played a role in the origin of …

Origin of Life & Astrobiology