Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off

by Fazale Rana, Hugh Ross

Two researchers reveal a testable creation model for life's earliest beginning that makes sense of the scientific evidence.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Christian, Evolution, Religion, Christianity, Theology

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Biochemist Fazale “Fuz” Rana is president, CEO, and senior scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB).

He earned a BS in chemistry with highest honors from West Virginia State College (now University) and a PhD in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from Ohio University. He pursued postdoctoral studies on cell membranes at the Universities of Virginia and Georgia and worked as a senior scientist in research and development at Procter & Gamble. Additionally, Rana has been published in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals and delivered numerous presentations at international scientific meetings.

He was also featured in Museum of the Bible’s Scripture and Science exhibit in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Dawn Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. I finally got through this book on my second attempt. It's a fairly ambitious attempt to draw together many areas of biochemical research, as well as geology, astrophysics, and astrochemistry, to create a complete picture of when and where life appeared in the timeline of the universe. If you have the patience and interest to wade through the highly technical content, you'll be rewarded with a broad look at the problems facing origin-of-life researchers. This book is written to defend a Christian, creationist point of view (old earth/universe), so scientifically-minded Christians will find it to be encouraging. However, I would think that non-Christian science enthusiasts would also find it rewarding and challenging, as it highlights many of the frontiers of science where answers are still needed, regardless of the philosophical implications.

[Patrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Examining an array of challenging issues surrounding the origin-of-life Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross present the scientific model for the origin-of-life of the non-profit organization 'Reasons to Believe' (RTB). Throughout the book they present the scientific data and corresponding challenges that surround the origin-of-life and compare and contrast the RTB model for the origin-of-life with the evolutionary model that is grounded in naturalism.

In great detail and drawing from the same scientific data as other origin-of-life models, they present the RTB model and discuss challenges such as the early appearance of life in relation to the habitability of the Earth, the non-existence of the famous primordial soup, the chemical pathways needed for the emergence of life from non-living matter to living matter, the requirement for single-handed (all right or all left handed) amino acids for life in a universe comprised of an equal number of both left and right handed amino acids (i.e. what scenario would lead to an all right or all left handed set of amino acids when it doesn't exist in nature), the rise of DNA/RNA and the coded information contained therein, the emergence of protein chains in nature, the development of cellular walls and the minimal complexity required for life, to name a few. With each of these challenges they compare how the RTB model fares in relation to the evolutionary models and discuss why origin-of-life science now petitions to ideas such as directed panspermia to work around the plethora of problems that exist in this particular field of study.

I think this book is a great read for anyone interested in origin-of-life studies and are open to the possibility of a supernatural origin to life. I know that most theories that petition to a Creator are usually all lumped together and tossed aside as un-scientific but I don't think you can say that this is the case with the RTB model. It is a model developed by scientists, draws from the same scientific data and meets the standards for a scientific model such as that it makes predictions and is falsifiable.

An excellent book!

[Rebecca Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very helpful and clear summary of the data and interpretations of origin of life research presented for the purpose of testing a unique hypothesis. The authors believe that just as other invisible powers can be tested, so too can the exisrence of a supernatural creator. They believe in and argue for the God of the Holy Bible.

I really enjoyed the detail of this book and that everything was clearly presented and explained so that I found it captivating even with a high school level knowledge of science. My only nagging question as a Christian is how the problem of death before sin can be reconciled with the Biblical account? But perhaps this is addressed by authors elsewhere, I haven't yet looked.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised me -- a falsifiable, testable set of hypotheses for supernaturalistic origins!

[Luke Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Highly recommended. Check out my chapter-by-chapter review on Faithful Thinkers: http://lukenixblog.blogspot.com/2015/...

[Ricardo Moreno Mauro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro que presenta evidencia científica del origen de la vida en la tierra, y lo intenta comparar con la biblia.

Estuvo bien, pero creo que demasiado sesgado a que no hay evidencia científica del origen de la vida. Trat de persuadir que la ciencia no lo puede lograr. Eso no me gustó. Lo demás estuvo bien

[Kristine Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the read but it is a bit of a "God of the gaps" argument.

[Rob Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, presented as a verifiable/falsifiable theory that examines the evidence for/against the origin of life being naturalistic vs intentional. Chock full of objective scientific information.

[Jason Mccool · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather intriguing book, in that it was fairly professional and level in it's treatment of naturalistic evolution versus intelligent design. Some of the web resources I've come across have unfortunately displayed ignorance on the part of the Biblical Creation supporters, and downright hateful, pompous, foaming-at-the-mouth-rabid-dog kind of loathing on the part of the evolutionary supporters. Though some resources claimed to be trying to establish an open dialogue, they tended to degrade to childish name-calling and ridicule of the other side. This book was refreshing in it's treatment of both sides as simply competing theories in search of supportive evidence with the best side winning until future evidence comes along to require another review. There do appear to be many roadblocks to a non-directed evolution that are laid out in the various chapters. The evidence reviewed covers fields of astronomy, chemistry, biology, geology, physics, and genetics. One thing I liked is that although the authors are both Christians who favor a Biblical model of the origin of life (if not the same one I would vote for), they still showed how the various experiments and discoveries by scientists could lead to hope of a naturalistic origin of life before they delved into how those discoveries only led to further dead-ends for the non-directed evolution. One really sees the see-saw effect as a find looks promising, but then only opens up more problems. The majority of the book looks at problems with the historic and current evolutionary models. I would've liked to have seen more detail on their model. While they seem to do a thorough job of showing the impossibility of life appearing without a Creator, they don't really get into the questions brought up by skeptics about the possibility of Creation. Nevertheless, it does answer a number of questions that many laypeople might have regarding the constantly changing scientific landscape, and does show that naturalistic, non-directed evolution is not the undeniable, undebatable law of the universe that many secular scientists would make it out to be. While I don't think I can subscribe to their old-earth creation theory yet, they do at show that no matter what time frame life originated in, it required a Master Chemist to make it work.

[dainis-k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good book to read for everyone that wants to understand problems related to origin of life and how origins can not be easily explained within naturalistic framework. There are a lot of examples outlined by author that lead naturalistic explanations to the dead end. Book is quite technical also, but still well understandable for a layperson.

[Michael A. Simmons, Sr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguingly written

Intriguingly written, the author's take you step by step through the hypothesis of abiogenesis and demonstrate convincingly that life could not and did not occur due to random chance. A lot of technical detail to absorb but well worth the time.

[Dr Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Well written treatise on how life had to originate by intelligent design and the improbability of all factors of life's origin (which number in the hundreds) coming together by chance

[The Great Asπ e · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popular creationist models and evolutionary models compared and contrasted to see the probability of each towards a reliable method of interpreting our origins.

[Reneau Peurifoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for those wanting to understand biology's failure to describe how life originated.

[Jayde Schwerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting...

[Jennifer Ritchie]

I’m too stupid to read this book…

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting read about the origins of life here, the universe. Biblical and Evolutionary models face off and present some fascinating information to mull over.

[Gerald Thomson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though much of the science goes right over my head, the main message of this book is clear: life on Planet Earth is too complex and interdependent to believe that a designer was not behind it. The authors are old Earth proponents who find the naturalist explanations for how life began to be lacking. I’m not sure that the authors have sold me on their version of how life began, called the Reasons To Believe Testable Creation Model, but they do a great job showing how current naturalistic models fall apart or are so improbable as to be statistically impossible. I fear this is a part of Earth’s story we will never know for sure.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Probably deserves more. This is the most empirically supported balanced view on the subject I've read to date (which is not very many). Spoke with good knowledge from both a theological and scientific perspective - the few books I've read so far on the subject are usually written with a strong theological or scientific knowledge base and the treatment of the other is woefully lacking which really drops their credibility. This one really seemed to bring an understanding of both to the table. That much was definitely 4 star worthy; it just didn't quite grab me the way I need a 4 star book to.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that impressive, but what I would expect from a Creationist writing. They do a good job criticizing other possible explanations, but their own effort is too underdeveloped to be scientific.

[Sergio Alonso Méndez · Rating 4 out of 5]

La ciencia tratando de probar que el origen de la vida está en Dios. Muy bueno, aunque pesado en partes.