What is the Origin of Life?

Most of us have spent summer nights lying on the lawn, gazing into the sparkling mystery of deep heaven. As we stare in awe, we begin to feel small as we realize that our home planet is only a speck in a vast universe that extends in all directions without end. We find it impossible to imagine space with limits or without limits. The impossible but inevitable concept of infinite space is simply more than our minds can handle.

Thinking about time presents the same dilemma. We can’t conceive of a beginning or an ending of time because the only thing we can imagine beyond it is just more time. And we wonder if matter always existed, or did everything come into being from nothing at some point in the past? Either option is unfathomable to our finite minds. Even the well-known big bang theory assumes the existence of a small, incredibly dense mass of condensed matter before the bang. How did this ball of matter come to exist?

The most controversial question is how did life begin? Was it a blind accident or a deliberate act? Or has life always existed without a beginning? In the search for certainty, we must grapple with the issue of origins, especially the origin of life. Can we find bedrock for our belief in a creator? Or do the naturalists have just as much foundation for their view of origins? Let’s begin by taking a look at the issue of evolution.