Missives

The next step in the stairway to life refers to the extensive but conflicting requirements of every living cell’s wall. Let’s begin with the enticing analogy of an entire city protected under a large dome. Scattered across the dome’s wall are many robotic gates. Some gates allow rainfall or trucks of food and supplies inside – only if the city needs it; all else is rejected, even lightning bolts. It also screens out harmful viruses and germs from everything passing through. Other gates attract all criminals and trash from inside the city and boots them outside. With this shield, only the best gain entry while evil is pushed out, all under the vigilant care of these robotic gates.

You actually possess 1 trillion of these gated domes. Known as a selectively permeable membrane, these walls protect each cell in your body. Each wall consists of phospholipids, an intriguing combination of water-hating (internal mortar) and water-loving (facing bricks) parts which exist in various energy states. At all times, the wall maintains a proton gradient difference between the two sides; if that were to fail, you’d die before reading this sentence (which is how cyanide poisoning works.) For reference, protons are one of three atomic parts, the others being neutrons and electrons. That’s a mighty tiny filter!

OK, so the wall is tight enough to control protons; what’s the big deal? The wall also must let in big molecules, such as ATP (batteries), nucleobases (instructions), carbohydrates (food) and amino acids (building supplies), and water. Each membrane has many protein-based pores to support each unique transportation need; in fact, these gates make up 30-50% of the membrane. The traversing molecules have electrical charges which affect the proton gradient, so the gate’s job is like trying to protect swimmers in a pool during a lightning storm.

How does the membrane keep the lightning bolts out? One highly specialized gate called an aquaporin elegantly handles this transfer across the membrane. By re-orienting every water molecule horizontally, protons cannot find a conductive path as water passes through. To enable this unnatural process, the gate pushes each molecule against its natural forces. This requires a lot of deliberate focused energy; seems like it knows the danger it’s trying to prevent. How these water gates are built with proteins inside the wall is an astonishing feat that poses big challenges to the evolutionist. Dr. C. L. Tan says “the membrane requires embedded proteins to achieve semipermeable functionality, but the embedded proteins require the semipermeable membrane to produce ATP that fuels their function.”

She summarizes that “No cell has ever been observed to generate a complete de novo functional membrane. … Membranes are inherited and used as a template for expansion; they are not fabricated from scratch.” She also reports a lack of any evolutionary explanation. Franklin Harold, professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology at Colorado State University, observed, “Just as every cell comes from a cell, so does every membrane come from a membrane.”

Christians are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Let each of us build a wall of protection around our homes, to promote the good and reject the evil, no matter how big or small.

Source: Dr. Change Laura Tan and Rob Stadler, The Stairway To Life: An Origin-of-Life Reality Check, Evorevo Books, 2020, chapter 15. Prof. Harold quote, p.147.