Why Haven’t We Found Life on Mars?

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Chile were doing research out in Chile’s Atcama Desert. This desert features an ancient delta called the Red Stone, and it contains sand and rock that is rich in hematite and mudstone. According to these scientists, this region is very similar to parts of Mars. And because of that, astrobiologists often use it as a model for considering what Mars might be like. In particular, they are trying to see if they can better understand the evolutionary history and relationships among, or within, groups of organisms.

When this research team tested the Red Stone’s mineralogy with the best instruments available today, they discovered something unexpected. They found that 9% of the genetic sequences obtained using Next Generation Sequencing fell into the “unclassified” category. Additionally, 40% of the remaining sequences could not be assigned to anything more specific than the highest orders or domains. In other words, there was a lot of genetic material there that they just couldn’t specifically classify.

What these scientists are speculating from that is that among this unknown material, there may be novel species of life not found anywhere else on Earth. And if that is the case, perhaps the same situation exists on Mars. Maybe, just maybe, the instruments being used on the Mars rovers to try and discover life on the Red Planet are not calibrated to detect the kind of life found on Mars. So, if they can figure out what life forms they may be missing in the Atcama Desert samples, perhaps they can ultimately test for these in samples from Mars. NASA has a goal to actually retrieve soil samples from Mars by the 2030s or 2040s. In a concluding statement, they wrote, “Hopefully by then our technology will be better equipped to take a proper look at what we have found.”

It is important to understand that one of the primary reasons for sending probes to Mars, and other places, is an attempt to find life – or at least evidence that life once existed there. If you have ever watched any of NASA’s TV shows where they talk about the Mars missions, you will discover that there is great passion associated with the search for extraterrestrial life.

In case you were wondering, there is a reason for this passionate search for life on another planet. It’s a religious quest, and billions of dollars are being spent on it.

Now most of the people involved in this quest would fight you tooth and nail in their attempt to deny that it has anything to do with religion. In fact, most of them would probably insist that they are not religious at all. They honestly believe that their quest is based purely in science. What they mean by claiming they are not religious is that is that they are not a part of any organized religious movement, or at the very least, if they are a member of some church, they would claim that their religious beliefs do not interfere with their belief in naturalistic evolution. What they would not tell you, or perhaps don’t even realize themselves, is that naturalistic evolution is an expression of naturalistic philosophy/religion.

Naturalism is the belief that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. If that is true, then their belief in evolutionary biology actually must be true. There would be no other possibility. But it is not true. That belief is based 100% on naturalistic philosophy, not science. There is no science of any kind that can demonstrate that it is even possible for life to have emerged from non-life, then evolve to higher life forms. It is purely a profession of faith.

But here’s the weird thing – they are desperate to try and prove their belief. For years, evolutionary biologists on earth have attempted to figure out how naturalistic evolution works. Besides running experiments to try to make life emerge from non-living chemicals, they have used their naturalistic assumptions to develop an evolutionary tree to demonstrate how life, once it did exist, has evolved. And in the process of that, they have performed all kinds of experiments to try to get one life form to evolve into a more complex form. But once again all that has resulted is utter failure. There is no actual science able to actually show naturalistic evolution is even possible.

So, since their attempts on earth have failed, they are throwing a hail Mary pass to try to find signs of life outside of earth. They figure that even if they have not yet been able to figure out how evolution works, at least if they can find life someplace else it would justify the belief itself.

No, the belief in naturalistic evolution is not based on science. It is purely a religious belief – and it is not true. No amount of new technology is ever going to prove the existence of something that doesn’t exist.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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