Why Did Life Evolve Beyond Bacteria? | The Institute for Creation Research

Why Did Life Evolve Beyond Bacteria?

According to certain scientists, human activity that causes damage to the environment may interfere with the ongoing evolution of the earth. Harvard geochemistry professor Charles Langmuir said in a recent lecture, “If we continue to view the Earth as something that is separate, that we merely use, then the resulting practices could damage the environment enough to stall planetary evolution, even causing it to fall back to a level where it supports just microscopic life.”1

The implication is that animal and plant life is more vulnerable than microbial life to environmental variations, and that it therefore carries a higher risk of annihilation (i.e., is “less fit” to survive the changes). But if microbes are so good at surviving, and if increased survivability is what drives evolution, then why did life evolve upwards from microbes? If the main driving force behind Darwinian evolution—fitness—is removed from the equation, then what remains to drive it?

The obvious, but to many unacceptable, answer is that since bacteria are earth’s superior survivors, they should be all the life this planet has ever seen. Bacteria live on almost any surface. They don’t have to waste costly metabolic resources to build specialized equipment for sexual reproduction because they divide by fission, often twice an hour in favorable conditions. They are observed with a fully-functioning suite of well-designed mechanisms that enable them to blanket the earth, grow and divide, adapt and survive. And yet the earth is populated by a variety of living things, including humans, who are supposedly the most evolved species.

Science continues to discover that even the “simplest” single-cell life forms contain a vast amount of complex, specified information. After a lifetime spent in the philosophic rigors of investigating and defending atheism, British philosopher and former atheist Antony Flew wrote, “The only satisfactory explanation for the origin of such end-directed, self-replicating life as we see on earth is an infinitely intelligent Mind.”2

In his lecture, Langmuir described a series of “evolutionary steps” through which life evolved from initially toxic conditions. There is no place in Scripture, plainly read, for a vast age of anoxic bacteria, then one of aerobic bacteria. Fortunately for scriptural history, there is also no geologic evidence for any time on earth when oxygen was not present, and there is certainly no biological evidence that indicates anything other than life having been created from Life.

References

  1. Powell, A. Humanity may hold key for next Earth evolution. Harvard University Gazette Online. Posted November 20, 2008, accessed December 1, 2008.
  2. Flew, A, and R. Varghese. 2007. There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. New York: Harper One, 132.

Image Credit: NASA

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer.

Article posted on December 5, 2008.

The Latest
NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...

NEWS
Human Evolution and the Inner Ear
The vain attempt by evolutionists to make an evolutionary connection between people and ape-like ancestors continues. This time, it is in regard to...

CREATION PODCAST
Defending the Faith with a Rocket Scientist | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How do engineering principles, biological complexity, and a solid understanding of apologetics work together to further the cause of Christ? Why...

NEWS
Aerobic and Anaerobic Hot Spring Bacteria
God designed a domain of prokaryotes called Archaea that thrive in harsh and extreme environments. In 1969, two microbiologists, Thomas Brock and Hudson...

CREATION PODCAST
The Soulless Hominid Theory: A Fatal Flaw in Old Earth Creationism...
Welcome to the second episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit...

NEWS
Humpback Whale Calls Echo Creation
There is nothing simple about the system of communication called language, whether animal or human.1 Human language is a very sophisticated...

NEWS
Mary Parker, Creation Ministry Partner of Dr. Gary Parker, Is...
Mary Parker, the wife and co-laborer of Dr. Gary Parker, went home to be with her Lord on March 20, 2025. Dr. Parker was a popular and effective...

NEWS
Plants Rely on Quantum Mechanics
Scientists will probably never fully understand photosynthesis as additional research uncovers even more fascinating mysteries.1,2 ICR’s...

NEWS
Martian Polar Ice Cap ''Surprisingly Young''?
A team of German planetary scientists has concluded that a three-kilometer-thick northern polar ice cap on Mars has a “surprisingly young”...