SAGAN'S "MARS JARS" PROVE BIBLE FALSE

I came across the following passages in COSMOS, (p. 113) about experiments which Sagan carried on years ago. Then in 1996 a meteorite made his case for life on Mars even stronger. Of course, this life isn't like H. G. Wells would create it, but it's microbial life outside of Bible life and so puts another nail in the coffin of Bible inerrancy. As if another nail needed to be driven in. Of course, Bible apologists will now try to expand vague and general terms to make them include these new findings as if Bible peoples knew of life on other planets or that other planets even existed. To make such a claim, these apologists make Bible study seem ever more like learning the art of palm reading sorcery.

"To test this question [can living organisms survive on Mars], many years ago my colleagues and I prepared chambers that simulated the Martian environment as it was then known, inoculated them with terrestrial microorganisms and waited to see if anybody survived. Such chambers are called, of course, Mars Jars. The Mars Jars cycled the temperatures within a typical Martian range from a little above the freezing point around noon to about -80°C just before dawn, in an anoxic atmosphere composed chiefly of CO2 and N2. Ultraviolet lamps reproduced the fierce solar flux. No liquid water was present except for very thin films wetting individual sand grains. Some microbes froze to death after the first night and were never heard from again. Others gasped and perished from lack of oxygen. Some died of thirst, and some were fried by the ultraviolet light. But there were always a fair number of varieties of terrestrial microbes that did not need oxygen; that temporarily closed up shop when the temperatures dropped too low; that hid from the ultraviolet light under pebbles or thin layers of sand. In other experiments, when small quantities of liquid water were present, the microbes actually grew. If terrestrial microbes can survive the Martian environment, how much better Martian microbes, if they exist, must do on Mars. But first we must get there."

Now we go to NASA stuff which supports Sagan's early and simple experiments:

"A group of scientists led by David McKay of NASA's Johnson Space Center has published an article in the August 16 issue of Science magazine announcing the discovery of evidence for primitive bacterial life on Mars. An examination of a meteorite found in Antarctica and believed to be from Mars shows: 1) hydrocarbons which are the same as breakdown products of dead micro-organisms on Earth, 2) mineral phases consistent with by-products of bacterial activity, and 3) tiny carbonate globules which may be microfossils of the primitive bacteria, all within a few hundred-thousandths of an inch of each other. Based on age dating of the meteorite, the following scenario has been proposed:

1. The original igneous rock solidified within Mars about 4.5 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the formation of the planet. (Based on isotope ages of the igneous component of the meteorite)

2. Between 3.6 and 4 billion years ago the rock was fractured, presumably by meteorite impacts. Water then permeated the cracks, depositing carbonate minerals and allowing primitive bacteria to live in the fractures.

3. About 3.6 billion years ago, the bacteria and their by-products became fossilized in the fractures. (Based on isotope ages of the minerals in the fractures)

4. 16 million years ago, a large meteorite struck Mars, dislodging a large chunk of this rock and ejecting it into space. (Based on the cosmic ray exposure age of the meteorite)

5. 13,000 years ago, the meteorite landed in Antarctica.

6. The meteorite, ALH84001, was discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica.

Read the whole NASA story here.