Page 92 - The Creation Of The Universe

90 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

mitted to offspring–a theory that has been soundly and rightly dismissed by
scientific circles.
Yet even though it has no scientific basis, the idea of adaptation im-
presses most people and that is why we must address this point here be-
fore going on. From belief in the adaptability of life-forms, it is only a step
to the idea that life could have developed on other planets as well as it did
once on Earth. The possibility of little green creatures living on Pluto who
might work up a slight sweat when the temperature soared to 238°C, who
breathe helium instead of oxygen, and who drink sulfuric acid instead of
water somehow tickles people's fancy, especially people whose fancies
have been richly nourished by the products of Hollywood studios.
But these are only such stuff as dreams (and Hollywood movies) are
made of however and evolutionists who are better informed about biology
and biochemistry do not even attempt to defend such notions. They know
quite well that life exists only if necessary conditions and elements are
available. If they really believe in them at all, the partisans of the little green
men (or other alien life-forms) are those who blindly adhere to the theory
of evolution and are ignorant of even the basics of biology and biochem-
istry and who, in their ignorance, come up with preposterous scenarios.
So in understanding the error in the concept of adaptation, the first thing
that we need to note is that life can only exist if certain essential con-
ditions and elements are present. The only model of life that is based
on scientific criteria is that of carbon-based life and scientists are in agree-
ment that there is no other form of life to be found anywhere elsewhere in
the universe.
Carbon is the sixth element in the periodic table. This atom is the basis
of life on earth because all organic molecules (such as nucleic acids, amino
acids, proteins, fats, and sugars) are formed by the combination of carbon
with other elements in various ways. Carbon forms millions of different
types of proteins by combining with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen etc.
No other elements can take the place of carbon. As we shall see in the sec-
tions ahead, no element but carbon has the ability to form the many dif-
ferent kinds of chemical bonds on which life depends.