Each year, as Christmas approaches, articles appear in numerous publications, both secular and religious, "explaining" the famous star whose unspoken testimony led the wise men to Bethlehem when Christ was born.

There are two basic models which scientists may use when they study the origin of life. One is that all the basic life forms which may be observed in the world around us and in the fossil record were created supernaturally and instantaneously. The other is that over millions of years, atoms came together by accident to form complex organisms.