"LIFE AND LIVING THINGS" ON PLANET EARTH

Three-dimensional simulation of activities in the cell.

This planet, in which we live, continues rotating chockful with life in a universe that seems huge, cold and lifeless. As much as it evokes admiration, life (aliveness) is also a thought-provoking reality. Each living being born is a new ring of life maintaining "continuation of life" and almost trying to fulfill the responsibility it assumes. "Miraculous development and lives" of these living creatures we call living beings has always deserved to attract the attention of mankind, which is a living being itself.

Brightness of life having started with a drop of water on earth dazzles those, who know how to look. "Life and Revival" are such things that they arouse joy-excitement in one. Causes compassion, mercy and reverence. Naivety, needy and helplessness of the baby resembling its origin, on the other hand, makes one think deeply.

For this reason, mankind has been curious about the living beings and life. Mankind's investigation of living beings does not consist of this curiosity. In order to maintain-continue his life, mankind has to know living beings well; moreover, it has to maintain the continuity and balance of life.

This feeling of curiosity, which, in the past, was obliged to rough and superficial investigations, has now drawn closer to self satisfaction with today's technology. Trying to understand the beauty, inner face and wholeness of creation better day by day; mankind has long been attracted by these features. As they dive into the ocean of life, scientists are amazed by the enormous consciousness they come across. This enormous consciousness, or plan, is complex and fascinating to the extent that could surprise mankind. This study of ours will be doing its duty as long as it sets light to this enormous consciousness.

WHAT IS A "LIVING BEING" OR "LIFE/LIVENESS"?

Many scientific definitions of a living being can be made. A living being is a creature, which is organized, and which, with the help of this organized character, can maintain its life. Or, it is a creature that forms various chemical reactions by itself, makes up its own building blocks through these reactions, that can reproduce, that can get informed of its environment and develop responses thereto. Above all, everything that definitely needs energy to do all these things is a "living being". However, we do not know to what extent such definitions of the world of science, which has not been able to fully present even the difference between a living thing and a nonliving thing, yet; are to the point.

In the past, arbitrary elements entered in the process of classification of living things. Classification associated with the 16s rRNA permutation discovered in the 80s is a classification system valid for the time being. However, it is quite insufficient. In order to overcome this, genome –sequence-associated classification studies have been going on in the field of molecular genetics for the past 10 years.

Taking into consideration the fact that inconsistent pictures appear in the science of fossil relating to the history of living things, the molecular hour approach and classification of living beings; the mistake made must be considered. Complex structure of the species, in fact, has caused significant difficulties as to what is a "species". None of the models relating to the classification of living things has been able to solve the emerging problems fully.

MISSING "DEFINITION OF LIFE/LIVENESS": DIFFICULTY IN "CLASSIFICATION"

Living things can be classified based on similarities without the Evolution Theory, as well. All these classifications of living beings depend on several points of view. These classifications serve a practical purpose of like getting to know living beings easier. Darwinist classifications are far away from providing the information of the origin of living beings. Living beings hold exceptional species and surprises to the extent that they will not fully comply with any classification. Maybe, one of the ways of understanding living species best refraining from faulty characterizations by discussing them with their specific characteristics without classifying each of the species.

Before all these, which living things will be included in the classification and which will be excluded is quite important. This constitutes a big problem in biology because this chaos invalidates the definitions of life. The Scientific American Magazine writes in its December 2004 edition as follows:

Virus weakening the immune system.

"Actually, in order to be able to decide whether viruses are living or not; first of all, we have to find the answer to the question 'What is life?'. This is because viruses are the grey area between life and death. Viruses, which can bring even dead cells back to life, are tangent to life. However much we consider viruses away from life, their effects on the rest of the life are great."

Can viruses be independent creatures each? Or are they primitive pieces of living things with undeveloped enzyme systems? Or, have they lost their ability to exist as independent creatures in time, while they were once complex pieces of living things? We will never know this. English chemist H. W. Pirie explains this as follows:

"It can be said that newly discovered systems are neither living nor non-living. This being the case, we should either define the terms living and nonliving very well or  give up using these terms and replace them with new terms. If it is asked whether viruses are living or nonliving; the following answer can be given: 'I don't know. What we know is that viruses does some things but does not do others.'"

GENETIC CODE: THE CRYPTIC BOOK

Science has proven that the cell was programmed beforehand. The cell carries out all functions from forming building blocks to reproduction in line with the instructions it receives. Now, we have learnt that this written instruction is preserved within the DNA in the cells. We call this instruction the genetic code. The genetic code is a perfect instruction book written in a language that can be understood by the cells. That is, an information package. Of course, such information has its source.

If the information we are talking about is the information of the ball of secrets called existence; then, the source must be an "infinite dimensional mind". In fact, all scientific evidences point at a supra-life, a very high consciousness and thought. This superior consciousness reveals itself both within the physical structure of the universe and in the characteristics of the living organism. Information that is profoundly aesthetic and includes order and complexity discloses this "Infinite Mind" again.

See, what Francis Collins- Manager of the US National Human Genome Research Institute says on this matter:

"If a 3,1 billion- letter instructions (book) that belongs to humanity and includes all kinds of information and secrets is opened before us for the first time; you can go through it only with feelings of reverence. Unable to take my eyes from the pages of the book; I felt that I saw a vague 'small spark' regarding 'God's mind.'"

See, with the help of this information, the source of which is the infinite mind; there is consciousness in everything from the atom to an organized cell. Therefore, there is consciousness in all living beings but the degree (size) thereof varies. Some scientists cannot help confessing this consciousness.

THE VITAL ESSENCE OF THE LIFE: WATER

Physicist Freeman Dyson, after accepting the Templeton Award, expressed his opinions as follows:

"Rather than being static substances, atoms are strange things behaving like active substances. According to the quantum mechanics, atoms make unpredictable choices among possible alternatives. As can be understood from the capacity of atoms to make different choices, a mind must be available in each atom to some extent."

This being the case, we behold that information, consciousness, organization and energy are inevitable but not distinguishing characteristics for liveness. What is distinguishing is the essence originating life. And the essence of life is water. Gerald L. Shroeder carrying out his researches at the Weizmann Institute at Hebrew University writes in his book called "Hidden Face of God" as follows: 

"The basic structure of a cell is the same in all living things from the relatively simple structure of a parasite to the complex structure of man. The point of view of a cell is covered with a sea of water inside and outside. All the known living things are water-based. This is a common classification including all living things."

Well, how did life appear? Why on this planet? How did a cell come into being and started to live?

HOW DID "REVIVAL" BEGIN?

The structure of eucaryotic cell.

Probably the most common and popular opinion about the origin of life is the opinion as to the appearance thereof by chance (coincidental). In order to review our knowledge relating to this opinion, let’s have a look at the book called "Roots of Life" by Mahlon B. Hoagland:

"Here is our scenario: simple compounds including molten carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphor (where did these elements come from?) in sea water are constantly bombarded with ultraviolet rays and lightning. By the way, they are also forced into different combinations, some of which are permanent and balanced (how?).

"While the procedure takes millions of years, the sea gets ever richer in terms of different combinations of the elements. New molecules and by the way, nucleotides and amino acids accumulate. In the end, there comes a time when the sea converts into a thick soup including extremely abundant and all types of new molecules.

"Now, the idea of the sea becoming like a soup may seem extreme to you. This has nothing to compare with our experiences of today. Accumulation of such a rich formation is, maybe, impossible today as living beings would have eaten it up immediately."

"Let's stop here to grasp the significance of time in such process. The longer the time, the more probable occurrence of some things is. This is true also for the chemical reactions. The most unlikely reactions may come true if there is no time restriction and enough time is allowed for."

UREY-MILLER EXPERIMENT

Concerning this matter, we cannot help but mention the "Urey-Miller Experiment", which is very well known in biology. In this experiment, three out of 20 amino acids available in the structure of living things is obtained by developing the conditions, under which the earth was believed to be early on, in a laboratory. After this experiment, scientists made many experiments under similar conditions hoping to get more. However, no progress could be made. Almost 60 years have passed since this experiment. The "Urey-Miller Experiment" is still shown in each biology textbook studied at schools all over the world as a basis for the thesis that life started spontaneously.

For example, Prof. Dr. Ali Demirsoy, who based the evolution theory on the findings obtained from this and similar experiments, can easily say the following in his book called "Main Principles of Life":

"In the light of all these (experiments), it can be understood that life does not require a special power, that it does not have a special structure or special chemical bonds, that it appeared as a result of a chemical arrangement we are unable to form artificially again today."

"TRACER AND KNOWING MOLECULE": HOW IS IT FORMED?

Whereas, Francis Collins –director of US National Human Genome Research Institute- states the following about the Urey-Miller Experiment in his book called "The Language of God" published in 2006:

"50 years ago, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey reconstructed a mixture of water and organic compounds that might have represented primeval circumstances on Earth. By applying an electrical discharge, these researchers were able to form small quantities of important biological building blocks, such as amino acids. The finding of smiliar compounds within meteroits  arriving from outer space has also been put forward as an argument that such complex organic molecules can arise from natural processes in the universe."

"Beyond this point, however, the details become quite sketchy. How could a self-replicating information –carrying molecule assemble spontaneously from these compounds? DNA, with its  phosphate-sugar backbone and intricately arranged organic bases, stacked neatly on top of one another and paired together at each rung of the twisted double helix, seems an utterly improbable  molecule to have "just happened"- especially since DNA seems to possess no intrinsic means of copying it-self."

"More recently many investigators have pointed instead to RNA as the potential first life form, since RNA can carry information and in some instances it can also catalyze chemical reactions in ways that DNA cannot. DNA is something like that hard drive on your computer: it is supposed to be a stable medium in which to store information (though, as with your computer, bugs and snafus are always possible). RNA by contrast, is more like a Zip disk or a flash drive –it travels around with its programming, and is capable of making things happen on its own. Despite substantial effort by multiple investigators, however formation of the basic building blocks of RNA has not been achievable in a Miller-Urey type of experiment, nor has a fully self-replicating RNA been possible to design."

"SURPRISING LIVENESS" CANNOT BE SOLVED

"Difficulties in explaining the beginning of life caused some scientists such as, especially Francis Crick (Discovered the double strand structure of the DNA together with James Watson) claim that life entered earth from the outer space. Life either started upon gravitation of small particles towards the earth by chance (accidently) or an ancient space Explorer brought life to earth. Perhaps, such assumptions may explain how life started on this planet. However, they can say nothing about the root of life. They only put off this 'amazing life event' to another place and time, a long way off."

Inner ear epithel cells of a mouse the micro channels and nucleus of which can be seen. Micro channels are highlighted in green, cell protein fibers in red and the nucleus in blue.

Gerald L. Schroeder point at the experiment-based error with respect to the beginning of life as follows:

"In 1953, when Stanley Miller obtained some amino acids as a result of accidental reactions taking place between the chemicals inherent in the universe; scientists got the feeling that the question relating to the beginning of life was solved. However, the situation was not as expected at all. In the experiments following the first one, Miller could not succeed in developing the results he had achieved. Thermodynamics support disorder, not order. All the attempts at assembling amino acids together to form complex molecules ended in failure. Appearance of the complex structure of life even in the simplest forms has always remained as a mystery puzzling mankind."

A LIVING SYSTEM REQUIRES: "INFORMATION-PLAN AND MANAGEMENT"

Right here, it will be up to the point to talk about the 2nd law of thermodynamics. According to this law, entropy (disorder) constantly increases in the universe. Everything proceeds towards chaos at a time scale of billions of years. Whereas, atoms' coming together to form molecules, molecules' splicing together to form chains, chains' being arranged to form structures (complex structure), the event of formation of the live cell upon arrangement of structures require a great amount of organization and energy. Some of these reactions may produce some orderliness. However, if this system has not been fixed, it will go back to its chaotic status soon. In other words, if there is not a high pressure order (will) on the system (order) from outside, the order proceeds towards disorder-chaos as required by the law of entropy. It will be enough to have a look at our physical environment and the world we live in to understand this progress towards disorder and how this order generated.

On this matter, Gerald L. Schroeder continues as follows:

"Life is a breathless journey to preserve order in a universe breeding chaos."

Mahlon B. Hoagland, on the other hand, speaks of the order and chaos in the "Roots of Life", living things as follows:

"The meaning of being alive is not just order, organization and complexity. More importantly, it is the ability to create, to get organized, to insure organization in a hostile environment working against it. In a way, creation of a new life is miraculous. In order to create order, a plan is necessary. Cells get organized by following a pre-existing plan."

First of all a plan and then a will (management) to execute this plan is needed so that objects are in order in a space. And a compelling energy is required from inside and outside so that the living system is steady.

A PERFECT PLAN AND CONTROL: "EMBRYOGENESIS"

Fertilization: Millions of sperms compete to be able to fertilize an ovum and the one winning the competition fertilizes the ovum. When one enters the ovum, entrance is almost barred to others. Above is a close-shot plan.

We may call the purpose, consciousness, coordination and design in the cell "plan-order". "Embryogenesis", that is the creation of the embryo, can be cited for these perfect control systems. As it is known, a single cell, containing the genetic substance in both reproduction cells, forms upon insemination of the ovule by the sperm. This single cell starts to divide and such division continues very fast. However, dividing cells stick to each other tightly, instead of getting along just like the dividing cells of protists. And after a short while, an extremely surprising event starts to take place. Cells start moving in separate parts. Each part heads towards almost its place of duty. The cells in each division specialized to different cell types. Liver cells gather where the liver have to be. Muscle cells  accumulate where the muscles have to be.

Some form the nerves, some the skin and some the veins. This is a very fast and pre-planned transformation. You cannot observe any disorder during the process taking place. The cells are even more obedient and contented than the readiest soldier in this regular army. They fulfill their duties by complying with the commands issued thereto in full and spending as little energy possible. As a result of an amazing organization, the body starts to take form slowly. Today, we know that the plan relating to this organization lies in DNA. But that is all we know.

Even if this plan is written in the DNA, what is it that makes cells read this plan correctly and implement the command issued in full?

How on earth can billions of different cells choose the commands in the endless list of commands in the DNA that interest them and differ complying thereto? For example, how do the cells making up the eye calculate the reaction they should give when a photon hits the retina? How do they know to make the eye lenses up to what size and where to stop? An exactly same amount of DNA is available in each cell within a developing cell cluster. How do the cells transform into different cells, then?

DEADLOCK OF EVOLUTIONISTS- SCIENTISTS: "EMBRYOGENESIS"

The embryogenesis incident, which is still inexplicable in some respects even today, is the biggest deadlock of the evolutionist scientists. Speaking of a purposeless and impassive universe, Dawkins confesses a perfect control mechanism on this matter, in opposition to impassivity, in his book called "The Selfish Gene" as follows:

"Embryonic development is controlled by an interlocking web of relationships so complex that we had best not contemplate it."

One of the evolutionist German scientists Hoimar von Ditfurth words about the miraculous development process of the embryo as follows:

"How on earth the division of a single ovule results in the birth of numberless cells so different from each other, the spontaneous communication and relationship between these cells lead the events that cannot be conceived by scientists."

Artchitecture of the Bone: Cave-like structures that seem to be empty house marrow tissues. Moreover, these structures distribute the load of the bone helping the load be carried without harming the bone.

In his book called "The Gene and its Molecular Biology", J. D. Watson writes the following:

"Which way, through what kind of a mechanism do a wide variety of structures relating to a complex living thing originate from a zygote? How did this differentiation develop, although all cells preserve the genetic information in the ovule verbatim?

While looking for answers to these questions, we acknowledge that some specific systems operate some genes in the cell and withhold others from functioning. However, with the existence of these mechanisms, differentiation of cells with different phenotypes from cells bearing the same genotype is possible."

THE MIRABLE AND SUPRISING: "EMBRYOGENESIS"

Hoagland, author of "Roots of Life" could not hide his amazement on this matter either:

"Among all the problems of biology, embryogenesis is the most charming and difficult. We saw 'expression of genes' in the embryogenesis as the main problem. However, the sharpest thing is the development of form; the incredible architectural success in the transformation from an ovule to a baby. For example, all the special tissues and organs making up our body are hung on a skeleton. As well as all the other structures, a bone develops in the embryo. Starting from the average looking cells; a new tissue, in which calcium is accumulated form a hard structure, comes out. This tissue is hard and extraordinarily strong. It is formed in a way that it could carry the weight of an organism lifelong. It can restore itself when it is broken. How does such a process of structural formation occur?"

Here is the "embryogenesis" in living things impressing some scientists, leaving perturbing some and still render others helpless. A pre-determined "goal" and a finally achieved "result" without a shadow of doubt. Cells confiding the "STOP" command without protest, as well as carrying out all the written commands. Mechanisms monitoring all these functions in each step.

Let's reverse the last three sentences. "A purposeless effort", whose goal is nothing but to disturb the order. Rebellious cells not reading any written commands, again not complying with the "STOP" command and dividing constantly. A cell terror opposing the system. You must have understood that this is Cancer.

Are not all these- "Embryogenesis and Cancer"; purpose-design; purposelessness- recklessness; the good and bad- enough to understand the "truth"? Evolutionists claim that evolution has no purposes. If it was an evolution in the sense they understand it, the "order of living beings" would not comply with the "normal distribution", "disorder" would comply with the, "normal distribution" as in the Cancer cells.

In an era, in which we discovered that all the living structures have a "purpose" even at the molecular level; how can we believe in what they say? We are now going through a period, in which new discoveries are being made in the consciousness of the micro kingdom everyday.

UNIVERSE AND LIVING BEINGS: BASED ON VERY SENSITIVE PARAMETERS

Everything's being "planned" and fully "appropriate" corners the claim that life began coincidentally. Physicists have found more than thirty physical and cosmological parameters requiring accurate adjustment to form a universe accommodating life.

In his book called "Nature's Destiny", Michael Denton reports that the continuation of life on this planet depends on "very sensitive adjustments and equilibriums". Denton studied many other conditions required, especially, for human life taking advantage of chemistry, geology and biology. Moreover, he showed clearly that a large number of single parameters imply an extraordinary harmony.

The Oxford physicist Roger Penrose states: "the initial space-time volume" required such a precise "calculation and harmony" that the creator had to work with a precision (sensitivity) of one 123 to the power of 10 to the power of 10 (10¹⁰¹²³ )." Penrose continues as follows:

"If I put a zero on top of each one of the fundamental particles available in the universe, I would, again, not write the number in the denominator, this is a a very high number." Reverse of this number, on the other hand, shows zero "possibility or precision".

Various calculations were made by scientists taking the Urey-Miller and similar experiments to determine the "possibility of coincidental formation" of functional proteins and nucleic acids. Morowitz, Hoyle, Wickramasinghe, Cairns, Smith, Prigogin and Yockey proposed various methods to calculate the possibilities. All such calculations imply that the possibility of obtaining the functionally ordered bio-macromolecules coincidentally is, in Prigogin's words, is, even at a time near zero scale of billion years.

INFINITE DIMENSINAL GOD: CREATED EVERYTHING THAT IS FINITE-DIMENSIONAL

Almost the cast-iron conviction approach of naturalist scientists shadows the objectivity of science. Unfortunately, the position of these scientists evokes the narrow mindedness of the medieval church which they have reviled.

Just like Hoagland, the physicist George Wald advocates that "luck" would be enough for life to appear, if a long time period is provided:

"In fact, time is the hero of the novel. When a very long time is allowed, what is impossible becomes possible, the unlikely turns to likely and likely turns to certain."

Well, can such an approach become science? Taking shelter in coincidence and an almost infinite time frame! If science adopts such "logic" as a method; then, there is presumably no extreme statement that cannot be proven. If you cannot prove something, transfer it to an almost infinite time, it will certainly (!) be. Well, how did you find that very long period of time? Even the universe has a finite lifespan and beginning.

Moreover, do not we know how many times the living beings experienced mass extinctions on this planet? Does not the latest report of the UN prepared by nearly 500 experts read as "A 6th mass extinction resembling the previous ones awaits world species."? In that case, it means that evolution has stopped every time. Where is constant change and evolution? Where is a very long period of time?

Some scientists, on the other hand, put an interpretation on events they cannot explain by coincidence (by accident) as follows:

"Once the circumstances are convenient and life starts, the matter has to behave that way. That is, the matter gains the character to draw itself up. This is called the cosmic necessity."

Here is a non-scientific necessity. If there is a necessity; then, there is certainly someone (something) forcing (necessitating) these events and occurrences. Is this matter or cosmos? We believe and say that who plans and creates manages all these finite dimensional realms (universes), all the living and nonliving things and does not look like those it creates is the infinite dimensional God. He creates and manages all finite dimensional things, including time. His speed does not resemble that of any real or imaginary particle's or creature's he has created. He is anywhere at any moment. He sees everything at any moment as a spot. No time passes over it. Yet, time is a dimension related to the matter He has created.

CONCLUSION

The God, Lord of the Realms, not only create everything and living things; but also predestinated their development, change, food, duty and time of death. This magnificent equilibrium of the kingdom of living beings has been duly noticed only recently, in this era. This is because, mankind, having been enslaved by its own desires and ambitions, brought all living things to the brink of disaster by turning all the "living ecosystem and equilibriums" upside down. Not only living things, but also mankind, whose life depends wholly on living beings and the environment have approached to the brink of disaster.

Nothing has been created without a reason in this marvelous ecosystem where life shoots out of death. It is now known that nothing (energy) is wasted at all in the "giant cycle moving from life to death" of all living beings on earth. The Creator, who provides all these system with energy, has taught the systems to use this energy again and again without losing its energy. Living things can continue their lives only due to this. Today, science has come to a point that can show what results even a slightest intervention disturbing the equilibrium would lead to.

The infinite dimensional God endowed with the most beautiful names keeps the things it has created under control from micro to macro at any moment and in its entirety; and governs "existence", just as it does the "quantum-matter kingdom". All these are within the "Master Plan" and "Master Computer" and under the management of the Infinite Almighty God.

References:
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15) Ajlan Abudak, "Darwincilerin Materyalist Kökeni Üzerine", Akıllı Tasarım Türkiye Platformu Blog' da yayınlanmaktadır.
16) biltek.tübitak.gov
17) wikipedia