New Signs of Life from Mars? - Creation Moments

Job 28:9-10
“He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.”

A recent science article reports finding both organic compounds and carbonate crystals in a Martian Meteorite. Carbonate is precipitated in water, so researchers have assigned this meteorite to the so-called Noachian epoch on Mars – a period when deep-time astronomers believe that Mars was mostly, if not completely, covered with water, an event they propose happened about 4 billion years ago.

How do we respond to such claims? What exactly is a Martian Meteorite? One might suppose that it was picked up on Mars by one of NASA’s rovers. This is not the case. The meteorites are found on Earth. Their rock composition appears to be similar to Martian rocks, so scientists suppose that meteor bombardment of Mars blasted some Martian rocks into space in a game of cosmic pool, and these rocks from Mars eventually landed on Earth. Is this possible? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, it is possible, though we ought to emphasize that the Martian origin of these rocks is definitely not proven. If such events took place, then it is illustrative of very heavy meteorite bombardment of Mars at some point in history; some creationists would suggest this could have happened during the Flood.

We should be clear that such findings are deeply speculative and the dates are assigned to fit with researchers’ presuppositions, rather than being factually based. Our presupposition is that the Bible is correct in every respect regarding how God made the universe.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You have given us the foundation we need on which to build our thoughts and ideas. Help us to glorify Your Name in all that we study. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Tokyo Institute of Technology. “4-billion-year-old nitrogen-containing organic molecules discovered in Martian meteorites.” ScienceDaily, 29 April 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200429075851.htm>. Image: A Martian Meteorite, NASA, Public Domain.