In our journey to explore the validity of our Christian faith, I continued with our students the idea of a supreme being. Do we have any evidence to support the idea that there is an intelligent designer behind creation? This is a summary of the discussion and the main points of it:
In discussing the possibility of a supreme being, or an intelligent designer, it is important to look closely at the world around around us. Look at the universe, look at our solar system, look at our planet, look at ourselves. Now let's ask this question: is our universe one of order, or one of disorder? Do things appear to be guided and set in place? Or does everything seem to be going about at random? If our universe was created and set into place by a higher power, then there would definitely be evidence for this. Just as a building reflects the builder, so our universe would reflect the creator. But, if the universe came into existence by chance, or by random occurrence, then it would be just that; random.
What does science tell us about our universe? Let's take a look at our planet. We know that the earth is the perfect distance from a perfect sized star that we call the sun. If the sun was any bigger, or if we were a little closer to the sun, our planet would be too warm for life to exist. If the sun was any smaller, or if we were further from the sun, our planet would be too cold for life to exist.
The rotation of the earth is also very interesting, and something we must consider. The earth makes a full rotation in 24 hours. It takes the same time to rotate each day. This is obvious, considering the length of our days stay the same. It would be odd if one day was long, and the next was suddenly and unexpectedly short. Instead we see a reflection of amazing order.
The revolution of the earth around the sun is also quite remarkable. It takes 365.25 days for the earth to make a full revolution around the sun (the .25 is the reason for leap years). The Earth must travel about 585 million miles to make a full revolution. The time it takes for the earth to do this always remains the same. The earth's orbit around the sun does not change. Once again, amazing order is reflected.
Let's take a look at the human body. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Molecular Biology tells us a lot of the complexity of cells. Each cell is like a little factory, with many parts, and specific jobs for each of those parts. The things that are going on in our body at this very moment are absolutely amazing. Our bodies are not a reflection of disorder, but of order.
Through what we discover through science we are able to see the systematic, planned, and order that we are able to observe all around us. Now considering this, let me give you an example that one our students shared this last Sunday, as we discussed this topic: Do we ever see a building or a structure come from an explosion? When a bomb goes off does the debris and shrapnel ever come together perfectly to create a structure of any sort? It never has, it never does and it never will! It would be ridiculous to suggest that this would be possible.
So, is it possible that the universe we see today (including ourselves) resulted from a "big bang" which took place billions of years ago? Is it possible that such an event of disorder, such as the big bang theory suggests, resulted in a universe of incredible order? It is evident and logical that some other power, being, or person was behind the creation of the universe. This higher power is the one who put everything into place. Let's not be ignorant of the order around us. Instead, let's observe it and come to the rational conclusion that our universe is not random, but planned and designed.
This is known as the Teleological argument. In summary, our universe is one of order. The idea that what we have today came from a random explosion is absurd. The more we look deeper the more we find order, and the more we find the work of a supreme being.
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