Question One
Naturalistic science explanation of the origin of the universe, the origin of life and biological diversity and the time frames involved.
Naturalists believe that the planet earth has existed for about six billion years (Smith 2000). The earth together with all other planets came to existence when a cloud of gases containing particles of dust, rock, ice among other particles collapsed to form solid concentrated mass.This resulted in rising temperature leading to formation of the sun. Most of the collapsing matter in the collapsing mass fell into the sun and the rest formed discs in an orbit around the sun that are believed to have eventually formed the planets. As these discs moved in a disc around the sun they collided with other solid objects and eventually planets were formed then there was progressive cooling of the matter (Altschuler 2002). Earth which is the third planet from the sun became the most habitable planet as it was neither too far nor too close to the sun enabling formation of liquid water. Water bodies were hence able to form on the earth surface.
Naturalists also postulate that life probably began on earth some four billion years ago through a catalytic effect of high temperature, pressure and presence of electric charges that were created due to constant lightning that occurred in the primitive environment brought together elements that existed in the primitive atmosphere such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen to form simple elements such as water, ammonia and methane (Smith 2000 ).Further combinations of such compounds possibly resulted in formation of complex,self-replicating molecules that were similar in structure to present day ribonucleic acid that constitutes the genetic material of living things and other important chemicals found in living things such as amino acids. All these were contained in the oceans forming what scientists referred to as ‘prebiotic soup’Succesive replications of these molecules and their further development may have led to the formation of simple forms of the first living cells. These cells were rudimentary and it is thought that they could have resembled present day bacteria and viruses .From these primitive cells arose other living things due to continuous changes over long durations (Altschuler 2002).The early ribonucleic acid acted both as a catalyst and as a carrier of genetic information.
Once the simple cells had been formed naturalists believe that the diverse life forms that exist today arose due to evolution from the common descent .From the common ancestral cells cell diverse life forms arose due to a combination of many events that occurred by chance. First these cells underwent mutations that resulted in differences among the cells. There was also reproduction which led to the replication of the cells and during reproduction the variations that arose due to mutations were passed to successive generations. Natural selection took place and some of the variations that had traits that were advantageous made some organisms able to survive and others to become extinct as the environmental conditions changed and competition for resources set in and they could not cope with the changes (Smith 2000). From the same genetic stem arose many different organisms due to isolation. Isolation could occur due to a genetic change within organisms of a particular group making it impossible for them to interbreed with other similar members that had not undergone the stated genetic change, this is believed to have led to formation of the numerous species of living things found on earth today (Altschuler 2002 ).Simple cells are believed to have arose 3.6 billion years ago, simple animals 600 million years ago, land plants 475 million years ago, vertebrates between 360 to 200 million years ago and finally modern human 200,000 years ago.
Criticism to naturalistic theories of origin of universe, life and biodiversity
It is hard to believe that through random chance events chemicals that support life and later cells would come to exist. If these events occurred by chance then it becomes hard to explain how all these occurred in an organized sequence to produce a habitable world and living things that do not look like a mistake. Albrecht Moritzer, explanations of how the first cells came to exist through complex chemical reactions are hard to believe, firs he states that Miller’s experiments needed a reducing atmosphere made of ammonia and methane but geochemical evidence shows that the ancient atmosphere contained hydrogen, carbon dioxide and water which are chemically non reducing agents (Smith 2000 ).Experiments have shown that only limited amino acids could be formed under such a condition he also says that these pre-biotic chemicals have been produced in very small quantities in recent experiments in the laboratory and they degenerate very quickly after production that it is difficult to explain how they collected in amounts sufficient to form cells from which other living things arose. Sternly Miller also in his experiments avoided ozone gas yet geochemical evidences show that it was a great constituent of the early atmosphere. Ozone has been proved in modern experiments to prevent formation of these pre-biotic chemicals further Albrecht Moritzer goes ahead to prove that these pre-biotic chemicals degenerate fast at a high temperature and yet Miller bases his augment that existence of these high temperatures in the early atmosphere is the one that led to formation of the early chemicals of life. Albrecht Moritzer states that these theories do not satisfy the criteria of a scientific theory which they claim to be. First there were no humans to observe and record universe and the world as it evolved. It is also impossible to reenact the process that led to formation of the universe. Fossil records are also very scanty and do not give much evidence on how many diverse life forms came to arise from the origin single celled organisms (Altschuler 2002).
Question Two
Doctrines that explain the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the origin of biological diversity from an Adventist perspective and the time frames involved.
Adventists are creationists. They adhere to the story of creation as outlined in the book of Genesis in the holy bible. In the theory of creation the universe and all the diverse life forms that exist in it were created by a supreme being called God. All these were created through a command from God but it is stated that man being special to God he created him in his own image. All the life forms have remained the same since their creation by God (Urantia 2001).The creation process took a total of six days. God started with a formless and desolate world where total darkness engulfed the world and only the spirit of God was moving on earth. Through God’s command he created light on the first day of his creation, then he separated light from darkness and hence created day and night, he separated the sky from the water on the second day then formed the mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers on the third day by commanding the water to collect and separate from land he then created all plants found on earth. On the fourth day God created the sun, moon and the stars that form part four universe. On the fifth day God created the fish and the birds of the world, on the sixth day he created animals that walk on land such as elephants, lions and giraffes. He concluded his creation on the sixth day by creating a human being that doctrines document that God mounded from soil then breathed life into man. He later created a female human from the rib of the first man that he created. God rested on the seventh day and declared that day holy in a summary creationalist theory which all Christians including seventh day Adventists uphold postulates that God created the universe and all the diverse life forms that exist in it.
Criticism to the theory of creation
In the account of creation before God started creation all was dark and void and only the spirit of God moved in the atmosphere. It is hard to comprehend how out of a void the earth and all that lives in it were able to come about (Urantia 2001).We are not told what the raw materials for creation was. The theory also states that on the third day after God created land by command of his word all plants of this world came to be. Our general knowledge is that it takes years for plants to grow hence it is hard to visualize how all these came to pass within one day, James Montgomery states: “It is said that the sun, moon, and stars were created on the fourth day but God only made them visible on the fourth day “In my opinion creation of the sun after creation of the plants is hard to comprehend as from modern knowledge we know that plants depend on the sun to carry out the process of photosynthesis to manufacture food hence it’s hard to picture how they existed in the absence of the sun. The creation theory only states that on the sixth day God created all forms of animals that roam the lands. From modern studies we know that bacteria ,viruses and other micro-organisms do exist and the accounts of creation do not show us how they came to exist Yong, 2011 also puts forward a theory that the six days period made of twenty four hours each as we know time frames today may be doubtable, he postulates that the time periods referred in the bible may have been longer periods that we know time to exist today. An example he gives to support his arguments is the creation activities that took place on the sixth day, He states that within twenty four hours all animals were created, creation of Adam, placing him in the garden of Eden giving him instructions and knowledge to take care of all creation and finally creating Eve may have required a longer time period that one day period. The biggest drawback of the creation theory is that it is only based on faith; these are documentations of people who lived long after creation had been completed. A theory generally holds better when it can be put to test (Yong 2011).When God completed creation it is stated that he rested and this was the seventh day, unlike other creation days we are not told when the day started and when it ended further throwing doubts on the length of the days of creation as stated in the bible.
References
Altschuler, D. R. (2002). Children of the stars: Our origin, evolution and destiny. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, J. M. (2000). The theory of evolution. Cambridge Univ. Press.
The Urantia book. (2001). Chicago, Ill: Urantia Foundation.
Yong, A. (2011). The spirit of creation: Modern science and divine action in the Pentecostal-charismatic imagination. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
