Now let's talk about viruses. COVID19 (ssRNA) has 29,903 base pairs which is considered large for a virus. For reference and with only 5,386 base pairs, Phage F-X174 (ssDNA) is commonly used in biological experiments because of its relatively small genome. The smallest known sequenced genome (to date) is Circovirus (ssDNA) with a genome size of only 859 base pairs.
(7)

We have now established a hard lower limit for genome size. Sort of. Technically speaking, this isn't the lower limit because viruses do not code for all of the cellular machinery they require to replicate. They are after all parasitic. So, we need to increase this a bit. The lower limit for a self-replicating molecule has been estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 base pairs in length.
(8)

There are in total only 4 possible base pairs and the minimum length is 1,500 so the math is easy.

4 ^ 1500 = 1.2302319221611171769315588132768e+903

That's the chance that the very smallest, minimum self-replicating molecule randomly assembles itself according to natural processes.

Now let's compare this to the known age of the universe which is 13.78 billion years old which has been confirmed through multiple independent methods of experimentation.
(9)

Written out that is 13,780,000,000 years.

But we don't actually have that much time to work with. I mean, atoms don't yet exist at the beginning of the big bang and neither does the Earth. So, we actually only have 4.5 billion years, the approximate age of the Earth.

Written out that is 4,500,000,000 years.
(10)

But we don't actually have that much time to work with because we think we have found the isotopic signature of life in zircon crystals that date back to around 4.1 billion years ago. That brings us way down to 4 million years.

And this is an estimate. The markers in the zircon crystals may be inaccurate or the crystals themselves may date slightly more or less recently. Bottom line: The window of opportunity for life to arise through natural processes is fairly narrow.
(11)

Written out that is just 400,000,000 years.

Let's compare it to the minimum size self-replicating molecule.

4 ^ 1500 = 1.2302319221611171769315588132768e+903

Written out that is 12302319221611171769315588132768 with another 872 zeroes after it

OR

123023192216111717693155881327680000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
(12)

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
(13)

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Oy! 🤦‍♀️ Let's do some math to get this number into a form that we can understand and work with.

There are exactly 31,557,600,000 milliseconds in a Julian year in astronomy which is defined as exactly 365.25 days.

Our available time for evolutionary processes translates to:
(14)

400,000,000 years x 31,557,600 seconds = 12,623,040,000,000,000,000 microseconds

And, well, you hopefully get the point. Even if we cycle through the available sequences at millisecond speed we will only sample a TINY fraction of what is necessary for life to have evolved on its own.

1.0260699444236031677449413559454e-884 sequences will be missed to be exact.
(15)

Even if the whole surface of the Earth were a vast set of tiny laboratories operating perfectly for hundreds of millions of years (!) we still aren't getting that number down far enough or fast enough. The total surface area of the Earth is 509,600,000 square km. This translates to 509,600,000,000,000,000 microns.
(16)

Time x Surface Area

12,623,040,000,000,000,000 ms x 509,600,000,000,000,000 microns = 6.432701184e+36

Minimum Size Self-Replicating Molecule / Earth's surface as a set of tiny laboratories

1.2302319221611171769315588132768e+903 / 6.432701184e+36 = 1.9124655210490143870042989599512e+866
(17)

Or instead of the Earth's surface you can substitute that many coexisting Earths each trying to birth life. Scientists estimate that there are 200 billion galaxies in the universe. That's 200,000,000,000 or 2.0e+11. With 6.432701184e+36 simultaneous "laboratories" working in parallel that's enough for more than 3 Earth-like planets in every galaxy.

In short, there just isn't enough time. Or planets. And we're GREATLY skewing the odds in favor of natural processes to the point of absurdity.
(18)

So, it didn't happen this way. The math tells us that the chance life happened naturally is virtually zero. Now if you think that this is how it happened--how it must have happened!--then you have placed your faith in a scientific process. How is that any different from me placing my faith in a Creator God? BTW, my belief simplifies everything. Believing that there is a God removes the element of random chance which is required for all natural processes.
(19)

All that math I did doesn't matter if there is someone powerful enough to orchestrate these things. Or has the ability to create at will. BTW, there are multiple creation viewpoints. The most common is Young Earth Creationism (YEC). This is the position of most christians, sadly, and is filled with #pseudoscience like the belief that the earth is only around 10,000 years old. I'm an Old Earth Creationist (OEC) which is not built on pseudoscience.
(20)

People who think God used evolution to create life are Evolutionary Creationists. And there are others. All of them are based on real world science except YEC.

Let's talk about #Faith for a moment. Faith isn't something restricted to religious expression. Faith isn't rare and is never blind. We all use faith every day. All of us. Because no human has perfect knowledge, we go about our daily lives trusting that things will go a certain way.
(21)

Whether that is trusting a spouse not to cheat or sitting down in a chair before we've tested it thoroughly to know if it will hold our weight or not. Faith is common. Sherlock Holmes popularized the notion of deductive reasoning but there is a related type called abductive reasoning. This is often defined as "inference to the best explanation". In other words, this is faith or something very close to it.
(22)

e.g., My wife hasn't cheated on me in the past so I believe / I have faith / I infer that she will not cheat on me in the future.

Now, there is another way to resolve the problem of random chance. Scientists have been, shall we say, uncomfortable with the idea that the universe had a beginning for decades because of the implication that there has to be something--or someone--outside the universe to get it going.
(23)

After all, scientists are human beings complete with all their faults, fears, and biases. Many humans are uncomfortable with the idea of a supreme being who might sit in judgment over them. So, some of those human beings, who also happen to be scientists, have looked for anything which might contradict the implications of a beginning or offer an alternative theory for decades. The current best alternative is the #ManyWorlds hypothesis better known as the #Multiverse.
(24)

@holon42 I hope you kept reading all the way to the end.

@danielbsmith

yes, i read the entire thread.

@holon42 I think then that you and I differ a bit in our focus. I perceive that you prefer the mystery of the universe whereas I prefer to know how it works.

But the latter doesn't preclude the former. Far from it in fact. As a believer I understand that God wants us to explore the world and to marvel at His handiwork.

Consider that one reason for God to create the entire universe was to give us a nice place to live and a beautiful starry sky to look at each night.

@danielbsmith

i prefer:
"All beings originate from the creativity of Heaven, so all are transformations of the path of Heaven. Being transformations of the path of Heaven, each has the great function of the whole body of the path of Heaven, and is not just a small portion of the effective capacity of Heaven.

Every being contains the totality of the path of Heaven and can preserve unity with universal harmony. Every being contains the function of origination from the creativity of Heaven."

@danielbsmith
here's one scholar's work on describing the "how" process:

"All great religions used the light as a symbol of transcendence and characteristic of divinity, talking about “divine spark that is inside us”. Light indicates the life; the symbol of light pervades the Bible from the first to the last page, it is the principle of creation. God has been called in various ways, but the light is the metaphor used to talk about His nature."
continue ⬇️

@danielbsmith

"From the point of view of physics, the light is an electromagnetic wave; the electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces known today. Recent insights consider our physical universe as appeared by a phase-like transition from a universe with 10 space-time dimensions. Relatively to a new appeared model, called B-DS model, consciousness would be created by the electromagnetic field in relation to the SU(6) x U(1) symmetry group."
continue⬇️

@danielbsmith

"The human brain is conceived as an interface organ receiving informations, an element of interference from incoming data and already existing data (the subject’s memory)."

article available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338554768_Origin_of_consciousness_and_contemporary_physics

@holon42 No complaints here. It's interesting stuff. I will just say that if we are living in a simulation then we are unable to distinguish any difference between that and the real world. The two are effectively identical. Consequently, we still have to respond to the question of God's existence.

@danielbsmith
no simulation claim.
systems and their gods are the conceptual mind grasping at experience, trying to control it.

the point is to break through all phenomena by questioning whether they arise from themselves, from something else, from both themselves, and something else, or from no cause.

when you push this inquiry on and on over and over, you realize it CANNOT be grasped.

You don't need to seek out the point of arising—that is to say any god—anymore.

@danielbsmith

humans are story telling animals. there's a wealth of such stories from all cultures. some are more interesting, some more edifying.

for example, the story of the prodigal son and of a prince who offered to suffer for the sins of his people trace back to the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka sutra, written in the 1st century BCE.

stories, with morals and wisdom, but stories. the human mind tends to mistake its ideas for ultimate reality. that's its Achilles' heel.

@holon42 I don't think god was invented by humans and exists only in our minds. There are things in the bible that no human would say or invent.

I think there is one Creator God. This entity is moral and good but will also hold us accountable for our actions in this life. This God interacted with human history to teach us how to behave and live in harmony with Himself and one another. We blew it so He made a way to restore our relationship with Him.

@holon42 Test Him if you don't believe. He will show you that He's there but you must approach Him with the appropriate humility. Hebrews 11:6 says you must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. That is all.

#Blessings to you 🙏

@danielbsmith

been there, done that. moved on in joy and freedom.

@danielbsmith

that's fine for you. be well with it.