Evidence for abiogenesis

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

The only place we have evidence of life - so far - is on earth. Earth has not always existed, therefore life has not always existed. Therefore, according to the only evidence we have, life must have come from non-life.
You aren't concerned about the high degree of provincialism you have to invoke there to avoid begging the question?
 
Can you give me evidence for how life basically kind of created itself, or came about in any other way, using only the laws of physics?
The record in the rocks. The various common features shared by all known living beings. Etc.
That's evidence that it happened, and suggests various possibilities for how in fact things played out.

That it is possible is easily observed in every snowflake, every ball of clay, once you understand evolutionary theory.
Notice that when people look for evidence of life on Mars or somewhere, they often get temporarily fooled by nonliving formations?

And we know that the laws of physics actually prevent and even destroy life now.
? That's kind of silly. The laws of physics do nothing physical - they're laws.
 
The record in the rocks. The various common features shared by all known living beings. Etc.
That's evidence that it happened, and suggests various possibilities for how in fact things played out.

That it is possible is easily observed in every snowflake, every ball of clay, once you understand evolutionary theory.
Notice that when people look for evidence of life on Mars or somewhere, they often get temporarily fooled by nonliving formations?

Sorry, but none of these are adequate evidence for me, but I do understand your point of view.

Thank You!
 
Sure there is. Life is made of the same chemicals as non-life. It's just a different set of reactions. We know a lot about the reactions that cause life. We just don't know the specific path from non-life to life - yet.
Needless to say, post dated cheques are the bane of empirical investigation. The abiogenesis bandwagon has certainly got a lot of mileage out of this word "yet" since the early 20th century.
 
Sure there is. Life is made of the same chemicals as non-life. It's just a different set of reactions. We know a lot about the reactions that cause life. We just don't know the specific path from non-life to life - yet.


No. We know that the laws of nature DO NOT prevent life because life exists.

I understand, but disagree.

Simple does not explain complex.

Chemical reactions do not even come close to explaining the existence of life.

Not even close.
 
Chemical reactions do not even come close to explaining the existence of life.
Of course not.
You clearly aren't following the argument at all.
Sorry, but none of these are adequate evidence for me, but I do understand your point of view.
They are adequate evidence for anyone who understands basic evolutionary theory.

As noted, your responses reveal major gaps in your "understanding". You have no idea what evolutionary theory is, for example. Have you taken high school biology?
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btw: have the powers that be given up on these threads yet? The oA theists who post on science forums are never - never - going to present evidence for the reality of their God, or discuss the matter honestly. That's not why they are here.
 
The abiogenesis bandwagon has certainly got a lot of mileage out of this word "yet" since the early 20th century.
And the naysayers have been wrong every step of the way. "You can't make amino acids from simple chemicals!" Yes we can. And so on.
 
If the thus created complex molecules you mentioned have never been observed to make the transition to life, why bring it to a discussion primed around the issue of (empirical) evidence?
Because there was once a belief that simple chemicals could not become complex chemicals (i.e. the ones that life uses.) Miller-Urey and its followon experiments proved that false.
Because there was once a belief that complex chemicals, on their own, could not show signs of life. UCSD-Scripps proved that wrong in 2014.

So we have a case where we have observed two out of the three steps of the process being possible. And we have a line of sight on the third. So that is very good evidence that God is not required for life to begin.
 
I don't see the planet earth as a "province".
If you frame it as the ultimate context for life, isolated from any cause outside of itself, its obvious you would face tremendous difficulties to think otherwise.
 
Because there was once a belief that simple chemicals could not become complex chemicals (i.e. the ones that life uses.) Miller-Urey and its followon experiments proved that false.
Because there was once a belief that complex chemicals, on their own, could not show signs of life. UCSD-Scripps proved that wrong in 2014.

So we have a case where we have observed two out of the three steps of the process being possible. And we have a line of sight on the third. So that is very good evidence that God is not required for life to begin.
As the joke goes, you have to watch out for the last step ... it's a big one.
 
If you frame it as the ultimate context for life....
I frame it as the only evidenced context for life. The thread is about evidence, after all.

But it's supposed to be about you providing evidence for God.
 
As the joke goes, you have to watch out for the last step ... it's a big one.
Perhaps. But that was once believed for ALL the steps.

In any case, since the "impossibility" of life evolving on its own (and thus providing proof of God) has been reduced by at least 2/3, it is no longer a great argument for the existence of God.
 
Because there was once a belief that simple chemicals could not become complex chemicals (i.e. the ones that life uses.) Miller-Urey and its followon experiments proved that false.
Because there was once a belief that complex chemicals, on their own, could not show signs of life. UCSD-Scripps proved that wrong in 2014.

So we have a case where we have observed two out of the three steps of the process being possible. And we have a line of sight on the third. So that is very good evidence that God is not required for life to begin.

That is perhaps only evidence that intelligence (in this case, the scientist) can create some chemical reactions. Not create life.
 
I frame it as the only evidenced context for life. The thread is about evidence, after all.
That's fine, but then you take it a step further and try to play it as the sufficient context for life, plying your "no earth = no life". So the whole thing becomes an exercise in begging the question.
At the very least, this is not how empiricism works, nor is a claim on par with what is available in the field of gravity.

But it's supposed to be about you providing evidence for God.
It seems others thought it was a good idea to invoke this so-called scientific version of "Simon says" to clear out the opposition.
 
Perhaps. But that was once believed for ALL the steps.

In any case, since the "impossibility" of life evolving on its own (and thus providing proof of God) has been reduced by at least 2/3, it is no longer a great argument for the existence of God.

I think it is evidence, as requested by this thread.

Not proof, it just points in the direction of an intelligent creator.
 
then you take it a step further and try to play it as the sufficient context for life
No. I said it is the only context we have. We are looking for more evidence. Why aren't you actively looking for evidence for God instead of smugly proclaiming that you have "sufficient"?
 
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