I use to get irritated when some fundy made the comment that science says that we are made out of rock or dirt or the like. Even when they say that Genesis is how we were created: Adam from dust (Genesis 2:7). I realized that what upset me was not that geochemical processes created life from non-life that eventually formed 3.8 billion years ago-give or take. What really bothered me was the belief that it was impossible for such a thing to occur without some form of divine assistance. That somehow rocks were inert. It makes me wonder if people do not know what the incredible mingling of water and limestone do over millions of years to from glistening caverns of calcite.

I think of silicate and the different forms that (SiO2) can become. In its simplest, it crystallizes into clear six-sided spears. And with a few impurities these spears come in a wide verities of hues. And when precipitated out of solution it can become agates of all different sorts. Then there’s flints and jaspers and on and on. And all that from two little chemicals.

When the Miller-Urey experiment was conducted; water, methane and nitrogen gas, with a little bit of heat and a little bit of electricity there formed amino acids. Since that time we have discovered all sorts of organic compounds in space. And since that time we discovered hydrothermal vents with their odd chemistries and lifeforms. So that now it is thought iron and sulfur complexes catalyze organic molecules.

So that next time some Intelligent Design proponent says “you just think we’re made out of rocks.” I’ll just smile and say yes.