hydrogen and oxygen do not combine to make water because
they can or because they want to or feel as if they need to.
they combine because there is some external process outside of
the elements themselves than cause them to form together into a water molecule.
and that process occurs when they are in the vicinity of
a heat source such as lightning or fire.
If it is necessary to have a heat source of some sort to cause hydrogen and oxygen to combine where do you think the water in comets, which formed in the cold depths of space, came from?
They formed from a chemical reaction which is easily initiated in a great many ways. The chemicals of life can be formed in the same way, by simple chemical reactions. They can then be combined through other simple chemical reactions to form ever more complex chemicals until they all come together to produce life.
We don't know all the details of how it happened, but our understanding of chemistry is good enough so that we can figure out the general outline of how life came into being. It can be done without any great leap of faith. However, the idea of life being created by a higher intelligence does require a leap of faith, because all we can say is "God did it". Scientists are never happy with that kind of statement, particularly when they see good evidence that it is possible for it to happen in a non-miraculous way.
Bill Gill
