The Organ of Meaning

“John Bradford, the martyr, used to say, ‘I never go away from any part of the service of God till I feel thoroughly alive in it, and know that the Lord is with me in it.’ Carry out this rule conscientiously. In confessing sin, go on confessing till you feel that your tears have washed the Saviour’s feet. In seeking pardon, continue to seek till the Holy Spirit bears witness to your peace with God. In preparing a sermon, wait upon the Lord until you have communion with Christ in it, until the Holy Spirit causes you to feel the power of the truth which you are to deliver.”

C.H. Spurgeon, An All-round Ministry, “Light. Fire. Faith. Life. Love.“

The common policy of our churches is that of great prudence. We do not, as a rule, attempt anything beyond our strength. We measure means, and calculate possibilities with economical accuracy; then we strike off a large discount for contingencies, and a still larger percentage as provision for our ease, and so we accomplish little because we have no idea of doing much.”

C.H. Spurgeon, An All-round Ministry, “Light. Fire. Faith. Life. Love.“

“Take care, brethren; for if we think we can do anything of ourselves, all we shall get from God will be the opportunity to try. He will thus prove us, and let us see our inability. A certain alchemist, who waited upon Pope Leo X, declared that he had discovered how to transmute the baser metals into gold. He expected to receive a sum of money for his discovery, but Leo was no such simpleton; he merely gave him a huge purse in which to keep the gold which he would make. There was wisdom as well as sarcasm in the present. That is precisely what God does with proud men; He lets them have the opportunity to do what they boasted of being able to do. I never heard that so much as a solitary gold piece was dropped into Leo’s purse, and I am sure you will never be spiritually rich by what you can do in your own strength. Be stripped, brother, and then God may be pleased to clothe you with honour, but not till then.”

C.H. Spurgeon, An All-round Ministry, “Light. Fire. Faith. Life. Love.” p. 183-4

So, as Carrie and I were listening to the NPR game show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” they talked about a chemical that was found on Mars’ surface that they are saying would hinder the chances of finding life there. I don’t know what the chemical is and it doesn’t matter when it comes to my question. I’ve read a couple of articles stating that it would indeed be dangerous for life there and would hinder it’s survival; so here’s my question that I think is rooted relatively well in evolutionary theory:

Wouldn’t life on Mars have evolved in such a way that the substance would either end up being beneficial (at best), guarded against or a non issue (worse)? There are plenty of chemicals and compounds here that can be harmful, but life here uses or just ignores (oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc.) would that not also happen with this specific chemical if life were to occur on Mars?

I think the issue lies in the fact that people who hear these things don’t understand how the evolutionary theory is supposed to work - things evolve to adapt to their environment. Life adapted to Earth’s environment would not be able to hand the compound well, but then again life from Mars might find some other substance that we don’t even think about deadly.

There seems to be one article that I’ve found that at least questions these evaluations as well.