4.1 The First Life on Earth (OB13)

Evolution: According to this scheme, life could only have originated in water (primeval soup); furthermore, a certain depth of water was required to absorb the lethal ultraviolet rays. After multi-cellular organisms had developed, an incomprehensible jump by life-forms from water to dry land occurred at some unknown moment.

Scientific Objections: This supposed transition from an aquatic way of life to life on land entails a number of problems that must be resolved in one single animal—and not during successive generations—to enable it to continue living under the new conditions. Some of these problems are discussed now:

1. Larger body weight: “The solid will, when weighed in the fluid, be lighter than its weight in air by the weight of the fluid displaced” (Archimedes’ law). When an organism “decides” to go on land, it must carry its own full weight. This requires solid muscles and a stronger skeleton. The increase in weight also requires 40% more energy.
2. New way of breathing: The oxygen required for metabolic processes must now be obtained from the air instead of from the water. An entirely new oxygenation concept is necessary to prevent a sudden demise.
3. More difficult disposal of body wastes: Disposal of metabolic products becomes appreciably more troublesome, because it can no more simply be “sweated out” and washed away by the water. Water must be used sparingly on land. This becomes clear when it is noted that our kidneys, for example, can filter waste products out of 150 liters of fluids and discharge only 1 liter of urine.
4. The problem of evaporation: Water is a major component of all living organisms. The process of evaporation begins with the supposed transition from water to land. A suitable skin that prevents dehydration becomes necessary.
5. Large temperature fluctuations: During the course of 24 hours, the underwater temperature fluctuates very little. On land, there can be extreme differences between midday heat and the cold of night. An animal living on land requires suitable measures to cope with such variations.

Consequently, K. Hansen states the following requirements [H1, p. 29]: “The organisms must therefore reach a higher developmental level in the water before they could venture on to dry land.” This is an impossibility for evolution. How could any organism have so many fundamental changes at its disposal to be able to survive the transition from water to dry land? G. Osche, an evolutionary biologist, acknowledges this problem when he concedes [O1, p. 58]: “During certain evolutionary phases, living organisms cannot simply ‘suspend operations due to alterations.’ ”

The Bible: According to the biblical creation account, the first life did not originate in water and also did not evolve; the first life-forms were created on land. On the third day, God created the plants (Gen. 1:11–12) as multi-cellular organisms. Two basic evolutionary assumptions, namely that life originated in water and that the first organism was one single living cell, are biblically false. Aquatic animals were only created on the fifth day (Gen. 1:20–23).