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The Bible and the Laws of Science: The Law of Biogenesis
INTRODUCTION
Who among us would attempt to deny or ignore the tremendous impact that
science has had on our world? Each of us lives in a world that is far
better than it would be were it not for the tremendous sacrifices of
scientists down through the years. Generations long since gone benefited
from, and we today continue to enjoy and benefit from, the fruits of
their labors. All that is necessary to understand the debt we owe to
science, and to scientists, is to survey the world around us. Science
has indeed been our great benefactor. Smallpox has been eradicated. Men
have walked on the Moon. Communications have improved drastically. Life
spans have increased. And a thousand other similar benefits could be
named, establishing our indebtedness to men and women down through the
ages who have successfully employed the scientific method.
“Science,” said Harris Rall, “stands for a way of study, and an
attitude of mind. To leave theories and prejudices to one side, to bring
an open mind and ask only for the truth, to study concrete facts with
endless patience, to try to find an order of behavior in the world, as
indicated by these facts, to test these findings by experiment and more
facts—this is the spirit and method of science” (1936, p. 66). The
Oxford Dictionary
defines science as “a branch of study which is concerned with a
connected body of demonstrated truths or observed facts systematically
classified and more or less colligated and brought under general laws,
and which includes trustworthy methods for the discovery of new truth
within its own domain.” Margaret Balcom has noted that science “is
primarily a method for dealing with matter (objects) in action through
(1) observation and experimentation, (2) analysis, (3) derivation of a
physical law (a concept), (4) prediction in terms of that law. Science
is concerned with a given physical system already in operation” (1967,
p. 592).
One applies the scientific method by observing and recording natural
phenomena. Then a basic generalization (a scientific hypothesis) is
formulated, based upon those observations. In turn, this generalization
then permits predictions to be made. Through experimentation, the
hypothesis is tested in order to determine if the predicted results do,
in fact, occur. If the predictions ultimately prove true, then the
hypothesis is considered verified. After repeated, numerous
confirmations, the hypothesis obtains the status of a theory. The
theory, if it passes continued testing through time, eventually
graduates to the status of a law. The following chart demonstrates this
procedure.
(After Wysong, 1976, p. 41)
David Hull, the famous philosopher of science, noted in his text,
Philosophy of Biological Science, that “scientific laws are viewed as reflecting
actual regularities in nature”
(1974, p. 3, emp. added). In other words, so far as we know, there are
no exceptions to scientific laws. Any law which, during experimental
testing, did not continue to fit the facts as described in that law,
would lose its position as a “law” and be relegated to the status of a
theory. Laws know no exceptions.
THE LAW OF BIOGENESIS
In the field of biology, one of the most commonly accepted and widely
used laws of science is the law of biogenesis. This law was set forth
many years ago to dictate what both theory and experimental evidence
showed to be true among living organisms—that life comes only from
preceding life, and perpetuates itself by reproducing only its own kind
or type. As David Kirk correctly stated: “By the end of the nineteenth
century there was general agreement that life cannot arise from the
nonliving under conditions that now exist upon our planet. The dictum
‘All life from preexisting life’ became the dogma of modern biology,
from which no reasonable man could be expected to dissent” (1975, p. 7).
The experiments that formed the ultimate basis of this law were first
carried out by such men as Francesco Redi (1688) and Lazarro Spallanzani
(1799) in Italy, Louis Pasteur (1860) in France, and Rudolph Virchow
(1858) in Germany. It was Virchow who documented that cells do not arise
from amorphous matter, but instead come only from preexisting cells.
The
Encyclopaedia Britannica states concerning Virchow that “His aphorism ‘
omnis cellula e cellula’ (every cell arises from a preexisting cell) ranks with Pasteur’s ‘
omne vivum e vivo’
(every living thing arises from a preexisting living thing) among the
most revolutionary generalizations of biology” (1973, p. 35).
Down through the years, countless thousands of scientists in various
disciplines have established the law of biogenesis as just that—a
scientific law stating that life comes only from preexisting life and
that of its kind. Interestingly, the law of biogenesis was firmly
established in science long before the contrivance of modern
evolutionary theories. Also of considerable interest is the fact that
students are consistently taught in high school and college biology
classes the tremendous impact of, for example, Pasteur’s work on the
false concept of spontaneous generation (the idea that life arises on
its own from nonliving antecedents). Students are given, in great
detail, the historical scenario of how Pasteur triumphed over
“mythology” and provided science “its finest hour” as he discredited the
then-popular concept of spontaneous generation. Then, with almost the
next breath, students are informed by the professor of how evolution
started via spontaneous generations. Nobel laureate George Wald has
commented on this discrepancy as follows:
As for spontaneous generation, it continued to find acceptance until
finally disposed of by the work of Louis Pasteur—it is a curious thing
that until quite recently professors of biology habitually told this
story as part of their introductions of students to biology. They would
finish this account glowing with the conviction that they had given a
telling demonstration of the overthrow of mystical notion by clean,
scientific experimentation. Their students were usually so bemused as to
forget to ask the professor how he accounted for the origin of life.
This would have been an embarrassing question, because there are only
two possibilities: either life arose by spontaneous generation, which
the professor had just refuted; or it arose by supernatural creation,
which he probably regarded as anti-scientific (1972, p. 187).
Indeed, Dr. Wald is correct. Students
do forget to ask the
professor how, if spontaneous generation has been discredited, evolution
could ever have gotten started in the first place. This point may have
escaped some students, but it has not been lost on evolutionary
scholars, who confess to having some difficulty with the problem posed
by the law of biogenesis. Simpson and Beck, in their biology textbook,
Life: An Introduction to Biology,
state that “there is no serious doubt that biogenesis is the rule, that
life comes only from other life, that a cell, the unit of life, is
always and exclusively the product or offspring of another cell” (1965, p. 144, emp. added). Martin A. Moe, writing in the December 1981 issue of
Science Digest, put it in these difficult-to-misunderstand words:
A century of sensational discoveries in the biological sciences has taught us that life arises only from life, that the nucleus governs the cell through the molecular mechanisms of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and that the amount of DNA and its structure determine not only the nature of the species but also the characteristics of individuals (p. 36, emp. added).
In recent years, however, some evolutionists have suggested that what
is commonly referred to as the “law” of biogenesis is not a “law” at
all, but only a “principle” or “theory” or “dictum.” This new
nomenclature is being suggested by evolutionists because they have come
to the stark realization of the implications of the law of
biogenesis—not because contradictions or exceptions to the law have been
discovered. It is of interest to note that in nineteenth-century
science texts, biogenesis was spoken of as a law. But, of late, that
term has been replaced by new terms that are intended to “soften” the
force of biogenesis upon evolutionary concepts. A rose, however, by any
other name is still a rose, as the adage goes. And there can be no doubt
that biogenesis most certainly reflects (to use Dr. Hull’s own words)
“an actual regularity in nature,” since there never has been even a
single documented case of spontaneous generation! Still, some modern-day
evolutionists prefer to use a different term when speaking of
biogenesis. One well-known biology dictionary says under the heading of
“Biogenesis, Principle of ”—“The biological rule that a living thing can
originate only from a parent or parents on the whole similar to itself.
It denies spontaneous generation...” (Abercrombie, et al., 1961, p.
33). Others have followed suit. Simpson and Beck, in their text quoted
above, stated: “We take biogenesis as a fundamental
principle of reproduction from the experimental evidence and also from theoretical considerations” (1965, p. 144, emp. added).
R.L. Wysong, in his classic work,
The Creation-Evolution Controversy, commented:
The creationist is quick to remind evolutionists that biopoiesis and
evolution describe events that stand in stark naked contradiction to an
established law. The law of biogenesis says life arises only from
preexisting life, biopoiesis says life sprang from dead chemicals;
evolution states that life forms give rise to new, improved and
different life forms, the law of biogenesis says that kinds only
reproduce their own kinds. Evolutionists are not oblivious to this law.
They simply question it. They say that spontaneous generation was
disproved under the conditions of the experimental models of Pasteur,
Redi, and Spallanzani. This, they contend, does not preclude the
spontaneous formation of life under different conditions. To this, the
creationist replies that even given the artificial conditions and
intelligent maneuverings of biopoiesis experiments, life has still not
“spontaneously generated.” ...Until such a time as life is observed to
spontaneously generate, the creationist insists the law of biogenesis
stands!... How can biogenesis be termed any less than a law? (1976, pp.
182-185).
Moore and Slusher, in their text,
Biology: A Search for Order in Complexity, wrote: “Historically the point of view that
life comes only from life
has been so well established through the facts revealed by experiment
that it is called the Law of Biogenesis.” In a footnote, the authors
stated further: “Some philosophers call this a
principle instead of a law, but this is a matter of definition, and definitions are arbitrary. Some scientists call this a
superlaw,
or a law about laws. Regardless of terminology, biogenesis has the
highest rank in these levels of generalization” (1974, p. 74, emp. in
orig.).
Indeed, biogenesis does have the highest rank in these levels of
generalization. As Dr. Kirk (quoted above) noted, the dictum “became the
dogma of modern biology, from which no reasonable man could be expected
to dissent.” Furthermore, it is of interest to turn to the scientific
dictionaries and observe the definition of the word “principle” that is
being used so often in the current controversy. The
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, an industry standard, defines principle as, “a scientific
law
which is highly general or fundamental, and from which other laws are
derived” (1978, p. 1268, emp. added). Little wonder, then, some
scientists call biogenesis a
superlaw, for in a sense, other laws
are indeed derived from it (the laws of Mendelian genetics hardly could
operate without the fundamental “principle” of biogenesis being
correct). If a principle is defined as a law, and biogenesis is spoken
of as the “principle of biogenesis,” then what more shall we say? As
Kirk himself noted: “The more broadly encompassing paradigms—those from
which the largest and most diverse blocks of biological information may
be related in orderly fashion—are sometimes called ‘principles’ of
biology” (1975, p. 14). In other fields of science besides biology, it
is not uncommon to hear scientists speak of established and recognized
laws as “principles.” Reference often is made to the “principles” of
thermodynamics or the “principle” of gravity instead of the “laws” of
thermodynamics or the “law” of gravity. Yet no one calls into question
these basic and fundamental laws of science. Even in biology we use such
terminology (e.g., we speak of the “principles” of Mendelian genetics),
without having anyone question the basic nature of the laws of science
that are under discussion.
Why, then, are we suddenly being told that, in regard to biogenesis,
the word “law” no longer applies? It did in the nineteenth century. Has
it been disproven? On the contrary, every piece of scientific evidence
still supports the basic concept that life arises only from preexisting
life. Is biogenesis no longer an “actual regularity in nature”? On the
contrary, every piece of scientific information we possess shows that it
is, in fact, just that—an actual regularity in nature (remember Dr.
Simpson’s statement that “there is no serious doubt that biogenesis is
the rule, that life comes only from other life...”). Has biogenesis
somehow ceased being experimentally reproducible? Not at all. Why, then,
does the evolutionist wish us to refrain from calling the law a law?
The answer, it would seem, is obvious. If evolutionists accept
biogenesis as a
law—an actual regularity in nature—how could evolution ever get started? Biogenesis (the
law
of biogenesis) would represent the complete undoing of evolutionary
theory from the ground floor up. Little wonder, then, that some
modern-day evolutionists have attempted to scour the dictionary in order
to come up with some other word (“rule,” “principle,” “dictum,” etc.)
besides law to attach to biogenesis. Regardless of their efforts, and
the success or failure with which those efforts eventually meet, one
thing is for certain. The “dogma of modern biology, from which no
reasonable man could be expected to dissent,” is still biogenesis.
J.W.N. Sullivan, brilliant scientist of a generation ago, penned these
words, which are as applicable today as the day he wrote them.
The beginning of the evolutionary process raises a question which is
yet unanswerable. What was the origin of life on this planet? Until
fairly recent times there was a pretty general belief in the occurrence
of “spontaneous generation”.... But careful experiments, notably those
of Pasteur, showed that this conclusion was due to imperfect
observation, and it became an accepted doctrine that life never
arises except from life. So far as the actual evidence goes, this is
still the only possible conclusion. But since it is a conclusion that
seems to lead back to some supernatural creative act, it is a conclusion
that scientific men find very difficult of acceptance (1933, p. 94, emp. added).
The law of biogenesis plainly teaches that all life comes from
preexisting life, and that of its kind. That is exactly what the Bible
always has taught as occurring in nature. In Genesis 1:11-12, recorded
by inspiration are these words:
And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed and
fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof,
upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herbs
yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the
seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good.
The same point is made again in Genesis 1:24-25:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their
kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their
kind: and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their
kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth
upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.
Other passages throughout Scripture (e.g., Leviticus 11:13-19) continue
to stress that life comes only from life, and that “of its kind.” The
law of biogenesis states exactly that. This fundamental law of science
is the basis for all that we do in biology and biology-related
fields—from hybridization research to genetic engineering. Scientists
and non-scientists alike recognize the truthfulness of this law, which
knows no exceptions. Ask any farmer what he expects to get when he
plants wheat seeds, and he will tell you he expects to reap wheat—not
corn, or tomatoes. Ask him what he expects to get when he breeds a bull
to a cow, and he will tell you that he expects a calf to be born as the
result of that union. The law of biogenesis rules supreme in the
biological world. From peas you get peas; from tulips you get tulips;
from horses you get horses; from dogs you get dogs. That is the law of
biogenesis at work.
Everything reproduces “after its kind.”
I often have stated that the Bible and true science have the same
author—God. This is the God Who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). That being the
case, one can rightfully expect God’s book in nature (the world around
us) to perfectly coincide with His book, the Bible. The law of
biogenesis is just one example of the truthfulness of that statement.
While on occasion one may see examples of a conflict between poor
biblical interpretation and good science, or between poor science and
good biblical interpretation, it never will be the case that good
biblical interpretation and good scientific interpretation are at odds.
Rightly so. Ultimately, they both share the same Author.
REFERENCES
Abercrombie, M., C. Hickman, and M. Johnson (1961),
A Dictionary of Biology (Baltimore, MD: Penguin).
Ackerknect, E.H. (1973), “Rudolph Virchow,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 23:35.
Balcom, Margaret (1967),
The Christian Century, May 3.
Hull, David (1974),
Philosophy of Biological Science (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall).
Kirk, David (1975),
Biology Today (New York: Random House).
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms (1978), ed. D.N. Lapedes (New York: McGraw-Hill).
Moe, Martin A. (1981), “Genes on Ice,”
Science Digest, 89[11]:36,95, December.
Moore, John N. and H.S. Slusher (1974),
Biology: A Search for Order in Complexity (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Rall, Harris (1936),
Faith For Today (Nashville, TN: Abingdon).
Simpson, G.G. and W.S. Beck (1965),
Life: An Introduction to Biology (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World), second edition.
Sullivan, J.W.N. (1933),
The Limitations of Science (New York: Viking).
Wald, George (1972),
Frontiers of Modern Biology in Theories of Origin of Life (New York: Houghton-Mifflin).
Wysong, R.L. (1976),
The Creation-Evolution Controversy (East Lansing, MI: Inquiry Press).
Originally published in
Reason & Revelation, June 1989, 9[6]:21-24. Copyright © 1989 Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
