Zechariah1-7NWT(2013 Edition)

1 In the eighth month in the second year of Da·ri′us,+ the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zech·a·ri′ah*+ son of Ber·e·chi′ah son of Id′do, saying: 2 “Jehovah grew greatly indignant at your fathers.+

3 “Say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “‘Return to me,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and I will return to you,’+ says Jehovah of armies.”’

4 “‘Do not become like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘Turn away,* please, from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’”’+

“‘But they did not listen, and they paid no attention to me,’+ declares Jehovah.

5 “‘Where are your fathers now? And did the prophets live forever? 6 However, my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants, the prophets, caught up with your fathers, did they not?’+ So they returned to me and said: ‘Jehovah of armies has dealt with us according to our ways and our deeds, just as he had determined to do.’”+

7 On the 24th day of the 11th month, that is, the month of She′bat,* in the second year of Da·ri′us,+ the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zech·a·ri′ah son of Ber·e·chi′ah son of Id′do, saying: 8 “I saw a vision in the night. There was a man riding on a red horse, and he stood still among the myrtle trees in the ravine; and behind him there were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.”

9 So I said: “Who are these, my lord?”

The angel who was speaking with me replied: “I will show you who these are.”

10 Then the man who was standing still among the myrtle trees said: “These are the ones whom Jehovah has sent out to walk about in the earth.” 11 And they said to the angel of Jehovah who was standing among the myrtle trees: “We have walked about in the earth, and look! the whole earth is quiet and undisturbed.”+

12 So the angel of Jehovah said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah,+ with whom you have been indignant these 70 years?”+

13 Jehovah answered the angel who was speaking with me, with kind and comforting words. 14 Then the angel who was speaking with me told me: “Call out, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great zeal.+ 15 With great indignation I am indignant with the nations that are at ease,+ because I felt indignant to a small extent,+ but they added to the calamity.”’+

16 “Therefore this is what Jehovah says: ‘“I will return to Jerusalem with mercy,+ and my own house will be built in her,”+ declares Jehovah of armies, “and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’+

17 “Call out once more and say, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “My cities will again overflow with goodness; and Jehovah will again comfort Zion+ and again choose Jerusalem.”’”+

18 Then I looked up and saw four horns.+ 19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these?” He replied: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah,+ Israel,+ and Jerusalem.”+

20 Jehovah then showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked: “What are these coming to do?”

He said: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah to such an extent that no one was able to raise his head. These others will come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah, in order to disperse her.”

2 And I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line+ in his hand. 2 So I asked: “Where are you going?”

He replied: “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is her width and what is her length.”+

3 And look! the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel came to meet him. 4 Then he said to him: “Run over there and tell that young man, ‘“Jerusalem will be inhabited+ as open rural country,* because of all the men and livestock within her.+ 5 And I will become to her,” declares Jehovah, “a wall of fire all around,+ and I will become the glory in her midst.”’”+

6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,”+ declares Jehovah.

“For I have scattered you to the four winds of the heavens,”+ declares Jehovah.

7 “Come, Zion! Make your escape, you who are dwelling with the daughter of Babylon.+ 8 For this is what Jehovah of armies says, who after being glorified* has sent me to the nations that were plundering you:+ ‘Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.*+ 9 For now I will wave my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own slaves.’+ And you will certainly know that Jehovah of armies has sent me.

10 “Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion;+ for I am coming,+ and I will reside in your midst,”+ declares Jehovah. 11 “Many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day,+ and they will become my people; and I will reside in your midst.” And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. 12 Jehovah will take possession of Judah as his portion on the holy ground, and he will again choose Jerusalem.+ 13 Be silent, all flesh,* before Jehovah, for he is taking action from his holy dwelling.

 

3 And he showed me Joshua+ the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan+ was standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 Then the angel of Jehovah said to Satan: “May Jehovah rebuke you, O Satan,+ yes, may Jehovah, who has chosen Jerusalem,+ rebuke you! Is not this one a burning log snatched out of the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 The angel said to those standing before him, “Remove his filthy garments.” Then he said to him, “See, I have caused your error* to pass away from you, and you will be clothed with fine garments.”*+

5 So I said: “Let a clean turban be put on his head.”+ And they put the clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing nearby. 6 The angel of Jehovah then declared to Joshua: 7 “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘If you will walk in my ways and carry out your responsibilities before me, then you will serve as a judge in my house+ and take care of* my courtyards; and I will give you free access among these who are standing here.’

8 “‘Hear, please, O High Priest Joshua, you and your companions who sit before you, for these men serve as a sign; look! I am bringing in my servant+ Sprout!+ 9 See the stone that I have set before Joshua! On the one stone are seven eyes; and I am engraving an inscription on it,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and I will take away the guilt of that land in one day.’+

10 “‘In that day,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘Each of you will invite your neighbor to come under your vine and under your fig tree.’”+

 

 

4 The angel who had been speaking with me came back and woke me up, as when waking someone from sleep. 2 Then he said to me: “What do you see?”

So I said: “I see, and look! a lampstand entirely of gold,+ with a bowl on top of it. There are seven lamps on it,+ yes, seven, and the lamps, which are at the top of it, have seven pipes. 3 And next to it are two olive trees,+ one on the right of the bowl and one on the left.”

4 Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What do these things mean, my lord?” 5 So the angel who was speaking with me asked: “Do you not know what these things mean?”

I replied: “No, my lord.”

6 He then said to me: “This is the word of Jehovah to Ze·rub′ba·bel: ‘“Not by a military force, nor by power,+ but by my spirit,”+ says Jehovah of armies. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Ze·rub′ba·bel+ you will become a level land.*+ And he will bring out the top stone* amid shouts of: “How wonderful! How wonderful!”’”

8 The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: 9 “The hands of Ze·rub′ba·bel have laid the foundation of this house,+ and his own hands will finish it.+ And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. 10 For who has despised the day of small beginnings?*+ For they will rejoice and see the plumb line* in the hand of Ze·rub′ba·bel. These seven are the eyes of Jehovah, which are roving about in all the earth.”+

11 Then I asked him: “What is the meaning of these two olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand?”+ 12 I asked him a second time: “What is the meaning of the two bunches of twigs* of the olive trees that are pouring out the golden liquid through the two golden tubes?”

13 So he asked me: “Do you not know what these things mean?”

I replied: “No, my lord.”

14 He said: “These are the two anointed ones who are standing alongside the Lord of the whole earth.”+

 

 

5 Again I looked up, and I saw a flying scroll. 2 He asked me: “What do you see?”

I replied: “I see a flying scroll, which is 20 cubits* long and 10 cubits wide.”

3 Then he said to me: “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the earth, because everyone who steals,+ as written on its one side, has gone unpunished; and everyone who makes a sworn oath,+ as written on its other side, has gone unpunished. 4 ‘I have sent it out,’ declares Jehovah of armies, ‘and it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who makes a false oath in my name; and it will remain inside that house and consume it and its timbers and its stones.’”

5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me: “Look up, please, and see what is going out.”

6 So I asked: “What is it?”

He replied: “This is the e′phah container* that is going out.” He continued: “This is their appearance in all the earth.” 7 And I saw that the round lid of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting inside the container. 8 So he said: “This is Wickedness.” Then he threw her back into the e′phah container, after which he thrust the lead weight over its mouth.

9 Then I looked up and saw two women coming forward, and they were soaring in the wind. They had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the container between the earth and heaven. 10 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “Where are they taking the e′phah container?”

11 He replied: “To the land of Shi′nar*+ to build her a house; and when it is prepared, she will be deposited there in her proper place.”

 

6 Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were of copper. 2 The first chariot had red horses, and the second chariot, black horses.+ 3 The third chariot had white horses, and the fourth chariot, speckled and dappled horses.+

4 I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these, my lord?”

5 The angel answered me: “These are the four spirits+ of the heavens that are going out after having taken their station before the Lord of the whole earth.+ 6 The one* with the black horses is going out to the land of the north;+ the white ones are going out beyond the sea; and the speckled ones are going out to the land of the south. 7 And the dappled ones were eager to go out to walk about through the earth.” Then he said: “Go, walk about through the earth.” And they began walking about through the earth.

8 He then called out to me and said: “See, those going out to the land of the north have caused the spirit of Jehovah to rest in the land of the north.”

9 The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: 10 “Take from Hel′dai, To·bi′jah, and Je·da′iah what they brought from the people in exile; and on that day, you must go to the house of Jo·si′ah the son of Zeph·a·ni′ah along with these who have come from Babylon. 11 You should take silver and gold and make a crown* and put it on the head of Joshua+ son of Je·hoz′a·dak, the high priest. 12 And say to him,

“‘This is what Jehovah of armies says: “Here is the man whose name is Sprout.+ He will sprout from his own place, and he will build the temple of Jehovah.+ 13 He is the one who will build the temple of Jehovah, and he is the one who will assume the majesty. He will sit down on his throne and rule, and he will also be a priest on his throne,+ and there will be a peaceable agreement between the two.* 14 And the crown* will serve as a memorial* for He′lem, To·bi′jah, Je·da′iah,+ and Hen the son of Zeph·a·ni′ah, in the temple of Jehovah. 15 And those who are far away will come and take part in building the temple of Jehovah.” And you will have to know that Jehovah of armies has sent me to you. And it will occur—if you do not fail to listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.’”

 

 

7 And in the fourth year of King Da·ri′us, the word of Jehovah came to Zech·a·ri′ah+ on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chis′lev.* 2 The people of Beth′el sent Shar·e′zer and Re′gem-mel′ech and his men to beg for the favor* of Jehovah, 3 saying to the priests of the house* of Jehovah of armies and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month+ and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years?”

4 The word of Jehovah of armies again came to me, saying: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month+ for 70 years,+ did you really fast for me? 6 And when you would eat and drink, were you not eating for yourselves and drinking for yourselves? 7 Should you not obey the words that Jehovah proclaimed through the former prophets,+ while Jerusalem and her surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, and while the Neg′eb and the She·phe′lah were inhabited?’”

8 The word of Jehovah again came to Zech·a·ri′ah, saying: 9 “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘Judge with true justice,+ and deal with one another in loyal love+ and mercy. 10 Do not defraud the widow or the fatherless child,*+ the foreigner+ or the poor;+ and do not scheme evil against one another in your hearts.’+ 11 But they kept refusing to pay attention,+ and they stubbornly turned their backs,+ and they stopped up their ears so as not to hear.+ 12 They made their heart like a diamond*+ and would not obey the law* and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit through the former prophets.+ So there came great indignation from Jehovah of armies.”+

13 “‘Just as they did not listen when I* called,+ so I would not listen when they called,’+ says Jehovah of armies. 14 ‘And I scattered them with a storm wind throughout all the nations that they had not known,+ and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one passing through or returning;+ for they turned the desirable land into an object of horror.’”

 

Bible illiteracy a crisis:Don't take my word for it.

The Church is Starving Itself: An Interview with Kenneth Berding

You say the church needs a revival of the Bible. What do you mean?

Dr. Berding: As with other times in history when love for God and his kingdom has waned, spiritually-minded people in our generation are longing for a renewal of the Holy Spirit. But I am convinced that any work of the Spirit not grounded in the Word of God is destined to be short-lived. My newest book Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves to One Book starts by comparing two revivals that took place in the country of Wales, the first in 1859 and the second in 1904. Both seem to have been genuine works of the Holy Spirit. But the impact of the first on the church and society was lasting, whereas the second was like a sparkler that spouted brilliant colors for a moment, sputtered, then grew suddenly dark. The difference between the two revivals was the Bible. In the first there was a strong emphasis on teaching the Bible and biblical doctrine; in the second such an emphasis was largely missing. If the Holy Spirit moved in revival in our generation I’m afraid that is might be short-lived in light of our current state of general disengagement with the Bible.

There are thousands of books about the Bible, yet you say yours is different since its aim is to help the reader “learn, live, and love the Bible.” How so?

Dr. Berding: Almost half of Bible Revival directly addresses the underlying spiritual problems that have contributed to our current generation’s disengagement with the Bible. The book doesn’t simply address how to interpret the Bible. Its probing of the underlying spiritual problems is what makes this book unique. Besides that, the book is short. People like short books.

How has technology’s distractions contributed to biblical illiteracy?

Dr. Berding: Technology is an enormous help for those who have the discipline to use it judiciously and keep its allurements at bay. The greatest problem with technology, though, is the amount of time we tend to devote to it—to social networking, television, video games, and internet surfing. Some of this time really needs to be given to reading God’s Word, memorizing it, meditating on it, and speaking about it to each other.

Yet, hasn’t technology made a positive contribution; for example, ubiquitous access to the Bible through such websites as Bible Gateway?

Dr. Berding: Absolutely! I am deeply grateful for the access people currently have to the Scriptures digitally, and I regularly recommend that my students access Bible Gateway. Furthermore, such technology has truly been a God-send to people in limited-access countries who want to learn God’s Word! Technology has also made it much easier to compare Bible translations, something that is extraordinarily helpful when doing a close study of a passage.

Still, I can’t help but reflect upon a comment made by a young man who was being challenged by a friend to start memorizing larger portions of Scripture. He cavalierly pulled out his smart phone, tapped it with his index finger, and retorted: “Why do I need to memorize the Bible? I’ve got it right here!” I wonder if that young man’s comment is in any way representative of a mindset shared by many who have been excessively devoted to technology.

How do you respond to people who say they’re too busy to read the Bible?

Dr. Berding: At the end of the first chapter of Bible Revival, I introduce people to Maxine Gowing, a woman who came to know the Lord at the age of 34. She was working two jobs and raising three children on her own. But her mentor emphasized from Day One the importance of the Bible for growth in her spiritual life. So Maxine carved out time to read, memorize, and talk to her children about the Bible. Maxine (now much further on in life) recently told me (though I had to squeeze the information out of her) that she memorized Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, and 1 John during those years. If someone like Maxine could do this, I believe that any of us can make some time to read and learn the Bible. Will it entail for you cutting into a bit of sleep, or listening to a recording of the Bible while you drive to school or work, or reading the Bible aloud to your children before dinner? So be it. The Bible is basic to our Christian lives. All of us need to make it a priority.

You claim that many people have an underlying distrust of the Bible. Explain what you mean.

Dr. Berding: We live in a generation where lots of people distrust authoritative texts. Even though we are not always aware of it, many of us—self-professing Christians included—have breathed in this air of distrust. During doctoral studies I had to read a book titled Is There a Text in This Class? by Stanley Fish, a Duke University professor at that time. In his opinion, there are actually no meanings that you can discover from reading written words. Instead, social groups create their own subjective meanings when they read texts. Said differently, it isn’t possible to read a text and actually know what it means. You’re stuck with trying to make some sort of meaning out of it in whatever setting you find yourself. Have you ever heard the following comment? “Well, maybe the passage means that to you, but it doesn’t mean the same thing to me.” Anyone who makes such a comment is inhaling the same air as the professor I just mentioned. I have had various students over the years make a related comment: “There are so many different interpretations, how can we know which is correct?” They’re breathing in the same air.

The multitude of today’s Bible versions shows how nuanced and complex it is to translate Hebrew and Greek into English. How important is it to memorize Scripture perfectly and minutely word-for-word?

Dr. Berding: It’s important to memorize word-for-word, but not for the reason most people who emphasize it think. The goal in translation is that translators do everything possible to minimize the bits of lost meaning or added meaning that pop up whenever any text is translated from one language to another. That process is very nuanced. The goal in memorization is different. It’s that you remember what you’ve learned; and to do that you need to stick with one generally faithful translation. Yes, learn it word-for-word, otherwise you’re going to forget it. But if you discover that there is a problem somewhere in your otherwise-generally-faithful translation, my recommendation is that you switch out a word or phrase from another translation and memorize that expression in place of the problematic one. For example, right now I’m trying to memorize the book of Galatians, and the translation I’m using often employs the word bond-servant where slave would be a better translation. So I’ve penciled out bond-servant on my memorization paper and have replaced it with slave. Still, since most of us don’t have the background in biblical languages to make calls like this, my recommendation is that for the purpose of memorization—not for study, mind you—you stick with one translation and learn it word-for-word.

Why is it important to intentionally talk about the Bible with others?

Dr. Berding: First of all, the Bible itself instructs us to talk about the Bible. It’s one key theme of the book of Deuteronomy, which is concerned especially with parents speaking to their children (e.g., Deut. 4:9-10; 6:4-9; 11:18-20; 29:29; 31:12-13; 32:45-46). But beyond this, did you know that one of the quickest ways of remembering and retaining is by verbally relating to others what you have read? There is a good reason some of us become professors; we know that teaching others is one of the best ways to learn!

How can people achieve what you call Bible fluency?

Dr. Berding: The most important thing you can do to achieve “Bible fluency” is to set aside daily time to read (that is, larger sections), study (smaller sections, like paragraphs), and memorize God’s Word (click to learn the easiest way to memorize Bible passages). Furthermore, in September I’m releasing a project called simply Bible Fluency, which is a method for learning how to locate the most important events, characters, and themes in the Bible. Bible Fluency employs high quality recorded music, graphic art, teaching videos, a workbook, and class curriculum to help people learn their way around the Bible. All materials will be made available for free at biblefluency.com (once the password has been lifted) and some of the physical materials will be made available to purchase through Weaver Book Company. I’m super excited to be on the cusp of releasing this exceptionally useful resource in September. I anticipate that this is precisely the kind of resource people who visit Bible Gateway will be interested in using.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Dr. Berding: I’m “praying my heart out” that God will do a genuine work of renewal by the Holy Spirit in this generation. But I long for it to be a lasting work of God. In preparation for this we need to recommit ourselves to One Book—the Bible—and commit ourselves to learn it, value it, understand it, apply it, obey it, and speak it. Lord, may it be!

Being relevant to whom?

1Corinthians6:9-11NIV"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

Romans1:26,27NIV"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."

Where does the Episcopal Church stand on the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian people?

Closeted gay and lesbian people have been ordained throughout Christian history.  The same has been true in the Episcopal Church.
In 1977, Bishop Paul Moore of New York ordained Ellen Barrett as the first openly lesbian priest in the Episcopal Church.  Since then, numerous openly gay and lesbian clergy have been ordained or come out of the closet.
In 1993, Bishop Otis Charles of Utah retired and came out.
In 1994 the General Convention passed the following resolution...

No one shall be denied access to the selection process for ordination in this Church because of race, color, ethnic origin, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age, except as otherwise specified by these Canons. No right to ordination is hereby established.

In 1996, several conservative bishops filed heresy charges against retired Bishop Walter Righter because he had ordain an openly gay man to the deaconate.  The ecclesiastical court dismissed the charges--ruling that the Episcopal Church had no clear doctrine on the issue.
In 2003, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Where does the Episcopal Church stand on same-sex marriages?

In 2009, the General Convention passed the following resolution...

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church, and for an open process for the consideration of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same gender relationships; and be it further
Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological and liturgical resources, and report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further
Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion; and be it further
Resolved, That bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further
Resolved, That this Convention honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality; and be it further
Resolved, That the members of this Church be encouraged to engage in this effort.

As a result, an increasing number of bishops have promulgated official, written policies that permit the blessing of same-sex relationships.  In a few dioceses, bishops allow their clergy to act as agents of the state and marry same-gender couples.

The freedom that Jehovah God gives through Christ is the power to live as we ought and not license to live as we please. 

1peter2:16NIV"Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves."

The driver of modern alchemy.

So, What Really Drives Origin-of-Life Research?

Denyse O'Leary

 

 

Whether a field is considered "science" or "pseudoscience" now often depends principally on its relationship to naturalist ideology, not on whether it advances our understanding. What exactly have speculations about the multiverse contributed to science, for example? Today, in fact, evidence-based and reality-based thinking are seen not as tools or guides but as obstacles to the quest to make the multiverse real, at least in our minds -- possibly the only place it ever can be real.

Origin-of-life research provides another classic illustration. Our survey of the field has turned up crowds of conflicting theories churning a largely disputed fact base. Crowds of conflicting theories is a bad sign in itself; when a science is advancing our knowledge, disagreements becomes sharper perhaps, but narrower. OOL research offers occasional new understandings here and there -- and so did the practice of alchemy. That is because, happily, we can often learn something even when on the wrong track. But until we are on the right track, we cannot develop a large, organized program of evidence-based knowledge.

Sometimes, we refuse to admit we are on the wrong track because of a heavy emotional investment. Just such an investment drives current OOL research: the need to disprove design. As cosmologist Paul Davies explains,

Many investigators feel uneasy about stating in public that the origin of life is a mystery, even though behind closed doors they freely admit that they are baffled. There seems to be two reasons for their unease. Firstly, they feel it opens the door to religious fundamentalists and their god-of-the-gaps pseudo-explanations. Secondly, they worry that a frank admission of ignorance will undermine funding, especially for the search for life in space.¹

Well, continuing failure can undermine funding too.

The alchemists slowly began to change their goals: They began to meet nature on her own terms. What they then learned about the elements and their real interrelationships proved far more valuable than what they had given up, though the nature of their choice prevented any such prior knowledge.

What if origin-of-life researchers did something similar? Quit looking for the hidden law or the magic zap. If it is design, fine, how does the design work? For the record, there can be design without creation. Philosopher of science Del Ratzsch offers,

For instance, suppose that we finally discover that life can arise spontaneously but only under exactly one set of conditions. One must begin with 4003.6 gallons of eight specific, absolutely pure chemicals, exactly proportioned down to the molecule. The mixture must then be sealed into a large, light green Tupperware container with one sterile copy of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Do that, and life develops spontaneously by natural means (catalyzed by the precise surface characteristics of "Sgt. Pepper"). Its development, subsequent reproductions and characteristics are completely according to normal natural laws. And life in this case was not directly specially created. But those initial conditions involve interjection of deliberate intent and design with a vengeance.²

For now, life goes on. A decade ago, Harvard University announced that it was spending a million dollars annually to find the origin of life. Their hope was succinctly expressed by Harvard chemist David Liu, "that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events."

Carl Woese and Gunter Wachterhauser have been more realistic and less sanguine:

In one sense the origin of life problem today remains what it was in the time of Darwin -- one of the great unsolved riddles of science. Yet we have made progress. Through theoretical scrutiny and experimental effort since the nineteen-twenties many of the early naive assumptions have fallen or are falling aside -- and there now exist alternative theories. In short, while we do not have a solution, we now have an inkling of the magnitude of the problem.

And Stanley Miller, of the Miller-Urey experiment? He too has gone on record saying, "Origin of life has turned out to be much more difficult than I, and most other people, envisioned." with science writer Dennis Horgan adding in 2011, "Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began." These are the kinds of things people say when they have spent a great deal of time, energy, and money with no discernible result. It is depressing indeed if a major concern is, "What will the creationists say?"

Some advocate a complete rethink. Others offer more guesses. Still others, mindful of their heritage, inform us that "Charles Darwin Really Did Have Advanced Ideas About the Origin of Life." As if anyone should care much at this point whether a man who was prudent enough to step around the mess ages ago had advanced ideas about it or not.

If all the mutually contradictory, sketchily supported theses offered over the last 150 years are naturalism's best efforts, then surely this is the most reasonable conclusion: There is no convincing, perhaps no believable, scientifc evidence for a merely natural origin of life. Can information theory help us here, as it can with evidence-based cosmology?

References:

(1) Paul Davies, The Origin of Life (London: Penguin Books, 2003), p. xxiv.

(2) Del Ratzsch, "Design, Chance & Theistic Evolution," in William A. Dembski, ed., Mere Creation: Science, Faith & Intelligent Design (Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), p. 291

 

More storytelling.

Did life begin on Mars and then travel to Earth for its blossoming?

A long-debated and often-dismissed theory known as "panspermia" got new life in the past week, as two scientists separately proposed that early Earth lacked some chemicals essential to forming life, while early Mars likely had them.

First came Steven Benner, an iconoclastic and highly regarded origins-of-life chemist with the Westheimer Institute of Science and Technology in Gainesville, Florida.

Last week, during a keynote talk at the Goldschmidt conference for geochemists in Florence, Italy, Benner said that two elements that allow the precursors of life to form were almost certainly unavailable on early Earth but were likely present on early Mars.

"Basically, we went looking on Mars because the origins-of-life options on Earth just aren't looking very good," Benner said.

One of the stumbling blocks to life starting on Earth is the fact that water is almost universally accepted as necessary for the onset of life. Yet RNA—which many consider to be the earliest expression of genetic replication and another essential precursor to life as we know it—falls apart if you try to build it in water.

What keeps that from happening, Benner has found over years of study, is the presence of a form of the element boron. While geologists say boron was too scarce on early Earth to support any widespread creation of RNA, it was seemingly more abundant on early Mars. One sign of its presence on the red planet is that at least one meteorite has delivered some Martian boron to Earth.

Benner has also found in his lab that if a form of the element molybdenum is added to the mix, the boron-steadied compounds are rearranged to form a stable version of ribose—the "R" in RNA.

Again, the element was far more available on early Mars than early Earth. (See "Naked Science: Finding the Origin of Life.")

So the question arises: Did RNA on Mars lead to actual DNA-based life? And did those lifeforms then travel to Earth on rocks kicked up when a meteorite struck Mars?

"The Phosphate Problem"

A few days after Benner's talk on August 29, a paper appeared in the journal Nature Geoscience that made a similar argument about phosphorus compounds, which form the backbone of RNA, DNA, and proteins.

While phosphates were present on early Earth, said lead author Christopher Adcock of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, they were most frequently found in a solid state, in which they are most stable. Yet biology is understood to have started in water, which would have contained little of the phosphates on early Earth.

"This has long been called 'the phosphate problem,'" Adcock said in an interview. "There are theories out there about how it might have worked [on early Earth], but there's no consensus.

"That played a part in getting us interested in Mars," he said.

On Mars, Adcock's team concluded, the phosphate problem appears to be much smaller. Adcock and his colleague Elizabeth Hausrath synthesized the two types of phosphates known to be on both early and current-day Mars, compounds that have also been delivered to Earth via meteorites.

Those Martian phosphates turned out to be far more soluble in water and also more abundant. So when it came to essential phosphates, at least, Mars appears to have been a better nursery for life.

Answering the Big Cosmic Question

The reemergence of the theory of panspermia is intertwined with progress (or lack of progress) in a long-term scientific quest to find out how life began on Earth, a question that synthetic biology experts such as Benner have been working on for decades. Despite some advances, the field has come up against chemical walls that are proving impossible to climb.

For instance, Benner said, the organic—meaning carbon-based—compounds understood to have come together to form life in a "prebiotic soup" do not behave in the lab in a way that would indicate they led to the formation of life on early Earth.

When these compounds are energized by heat or light, instead of producing early RNA they create tar—hardly the stuff from which we would all evolve. Yet discoveries over the past decade on Mars have pointed to a planet that was once warmer and wetter than it is now.

No living or fossil organisms have been found on Mars. But the science team working with the rover Curiosity concluded earlier this year that they had drilled into an ancient lake bed that had all that was needed to support life—and consequently that the planet had been habitable. (See "NASA's Mars Rover Makes Successful First Drill.")

That doesn't mean it ever was inhabited, but scientific signs are beginning to point, however hesitantly, in that direction.

Does this mean Benner or Adcock sees panspermia as a likely beginning for life on Earth? Not exactly.

Benner says that "it's yet another piece of evidence which makes it more likely life came to Earth on a Martian meteorite." But it's more of a changing of probabilities than it is scientific proof.

"A panspermia solution, after all, produces another panspermia problem," he said. "If a Martian microbe did make it from Mars to Earth, maybe it would be as if it landed in Eden. But just as likely, it would quickly die."