-Whether the God hypothesis is needed to explain the origin of life
Objection
It seems that it is no longer necessary to invoke the God hypothesis to account for life’s origin. For science has adequately accounted for how life began on earth without the need to invoke any deity in the process thereby rendering the God hypothesis unnecessary.
On the contrary non of the proposed theories that stand as an alternative to the God hypothesis can pass the test of reason. For the question of the origin of life is more a question of proper reason than it is a question of science.
Cause and effect.
I answer that, there can be nothing in the effect that is not first in the cause, in other words there cannot be more in the effect than is inherent in the cause. For to eliminate a creator from the solution means that life originated or could possibly originate from non-life, the animate from the inanimate. It is manifest that life is not the sum total of parts, and therefore it follows that to say that God is not the author of life is to say that life, whatever its essence is, originated from a cause without life in itself, a logical impossibility. On the contrary we see in biblical creation immediately after God formed the man from the ground , breathing the breath of life into the man and the man became a living being, the inanimate being animated.
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being
Genesis 2:7
For by no means would God have been able to animate this man He had formed if He had no life in Himself.
Necessary and sufficient conditions
I answer that, there is this difference between a necessary condition and a sufficient condition. A necessary condition is that which has to be met for something else to happen. For example it is necessary for oxygen to be present for fire to burn but its not a sufficient condition in the sense that the presence of oxygen does not mean that fire will arise as a result.
A sufficient condition is one which if met the outcome in consideration with all other factors constant will definitely arise for example if I strike a match stick in the presence of oxygen fire will arise. The striking of the match was a sufficient condition. A sufficient condition is that which in the presence of all necessary conditions, produces the effect in question.
There are several necessary conditions otherwise known as the cosmological constants that are necessary for any kind of life in this world to be present meaning without them no life would have been possible. They are necessary yes but even so, their occurrence at the right place and time and even in their required quantities and state does not mean that life will as a result arise. Therefore it follows that every theory that argues for the natural occurrence of life out of this necessary conditions has only one part of the equation. A sufficient condition is required
It therefore follows that a sufficient condition for life would be a life bearing agent as seen in the earlier section.