CREATION OR EVOLUTION? CHOOSE
CREATION OR EVOLUTION? YOU CHOOSE
Alfred Horsford
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
APPROACH:
You are walking along Grand Anse Beach when suddenly you notice a dark object in the sand. You stop and pick it up. It is a Blackberry phone, the latest model. You ask yourself, “How did this thing get here? Did the sea wash it up on the sand? Did somebody drop it? Who owns it? Who made it? Surely it did not make itself, for “nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could.” Something always comes from something. Some mind must have designed and built this marvel of technology.” And you will be right in thinking so.
Since the 1850's the debate between Creationists and Evolutionists has been waging in the western world. Before that time most people in the west believed that God created the universe of men and things and few thought otherwise. Of course, since the Renaissance or rebirth of learning in the 1400's some had begun to think outside of the box because of their contact with ancient Greek learning. This pursuit of independent thought climaxed in the 1700’s in the Age of the Enlightenment.
But then came 1859 when Charles Darwin wrote his book, the Origin of Species, which threw a monkey wrench into the whole business of belief in a Creator. The full title of the first edition is as follows: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
Darwin's ideas first began to spread across Europe and then into North America. In 1928 at the Scopes Trial in Tennessee lawyers Bryan and Darrow squared off as the latter defended the right of a teacher to support the view of evolution in his class. Today, evolution is accepted and taught almost globally in schools as the only way to do science. It is seen as science and everything else as unscientific. In fact, all of life is viewed through the lens of evolution including religion, politics, psychology, entertainment, biology, economics, education, sociology, and law. Evolution has attained the status of a worldview. In fact, it has become a secular religion.
Evolution is at the heart and core of Communism as well as Nazism. It is the worldview of billions of people so that our world has generally become an evolutionary world. It should not be surprising because this philosophy (and it is a philosophy of science) allows men to live their lives free of any thought of a personal Creator although some try to synthesize the philosophies of evolution and creationism (Alistair McGrath). In his enthusiasm for evolution Dr. Zimmerman, professor of Biology at Wheaten College, an Ivy League Christian school, said regarding evolution, “Show me a better way.”
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World and brother of Sir Julian Huxley, former head of UNESCO, said that he did not want there to be a God because it would hinder his pursuit of his sensual desires. Richard Leuwenthal seals the deal on evolution by stating categorically, “We do not want a divine foot in the door.”
In spite of the worldwide power and influence of evolution a great struggle is being fought against it from without as well as from within the system. Organizations such as Institute for Creation research and Answers in Genesis are waging an effective battle against this worldview and the tide is turning in some places. You can find these two organizations on line. Many Christian apologists such as Dr. Ravi Zacharias and Oxford mathematics professor Dr. John Lennox are engaging evolutionists in debate worldwide and are winning. Dr. Duane Gish, formerly of ICR engaged for many years in spirited debates with well-known evolutionists. He became so good at the business with his combination of knowledge as a bio-chemist, intellectual acumen and grace that few cared to debate him even though he offered them $10,000 to do so. Dr. Gish knew it is one thing to win a debate and quite another to win a man's heart for men are slow to believe.
In addition, many scientists have turned from evolution to faith in the living and true God such as Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Duane Gish, Dr. John Baumgartner, Dr. Russel Humphreys, and many others. In addition, hundreds of non-Christian scientists have come to realize that evolution science is full of holes including Sir Fred Hoyle and Professor Chandra Wickramasingh who have rejected it. These two brilliant scientists, one British and the other Indian, have opted for Transpermia as the origin of life on earth. They philosophized that beings from outer space sowed seeds in the earth's oceans and so life began.
Some four hundred scientists have signed a declaration showing that evolution is false. Sir Fred Hoyle, a British scientist and an atheist, declared that the mathematical probability that evolution is true are 10 followed by 40,000 zeroes. That number is almost impossible to imagine. The number of molecules in the observable universe is only 10 followed by 80 zeroes, 10 multiplied by itself 80 times.
Below is a list of scientists who have dissented with the evolutionary worldview:
A SCIENTIFIC DISSENT FROM DARWINISM
“We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
This was last publicly updated December 2011. Scientists listed by doctoral degree or current position.
Neil Huber Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D. Anthropology) Tuebingen University
Marc C. Daniels Associate Professor of Biology William Carey University
J.D. Moolenburgh Ph.D. Epidemiology University of Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Roger Lien Ph.D. Physiology North Carolina State University
Dean Schulz Ph.D. Computer Science Colorado State University
John Millam Ph.D. Computational Chemistry Rice University
Joseph Lary Epidemiologist and Research Biologist (retired) Centers for Disease Control
Richard S. Beale, Jr. Ph.D. Entomology University of California, Berkeley
Ernest M. Thiessen Ph.D. Civil & Environmental Engineering Cornell University
Tianyou Wang Research Scientist Center for Advanced Studies in Measurement & Assessment, University of Iowa
?yvind A. Voie Ph.D. Biology University of Oslo (Norway)
David K. Shortess Professor of Biology (Retired) New Mexico Tech
A.D. Harrison* Emeritus Professor of Biology University of Waterloo
A SCIENTIFIC DISSENT FROM DARWINISM—16
WWW.DISSENTFROMDARWIN.ORG
William P. Shulaw Professor of Veterinary Preventive Medicine The Ohio State University
Darrell R. Parnell Ph. D. University Level Science Education Kansas State University
Daniel W. Barnette Ph. D. Aerospace Engineering Stanford University
David William Jensen Professor of Biology Tomball College
Edward M. Bohn Ph. D. Nuclear Engineering University of Illinois
Robert G. Vos Ph.D. Civil/Structural Engineering Rice University
Yvonne Boldt Ph. D. Microbiology University of Minnesota
William B. Collier Ph. D. Physical Chemistry Oklahoma State University
Edward Gade Professor Emeritus of Mathematics University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
James E. Nymann Emeritus Professor of Mathematics University of Texas at El Paso
Malcolm A. Cutchins Ph. D. Engineering Mechanics Virginia Tech
Lisanne D’Andrea-Winslow Ph. D. Cell Biology & Biochemistry Rutgers University
Holger Daugaard Ph. D. Agronomy Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (Denmark)
Shieu-Hong Lin Assistant Professor of Computer Science (Ph.D., Brown University) Biola University
W. John Durfee Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Case Western Reserve University
Dominic M. Halsmer Ph. D. Mechanical Engineering UCLA
Charles B. Lowrey Ph.D. Chemistry University of Houston
Jeffrey H. Harwell Ph. D. Chemical Engineering University of Texas, Austin
Frank Cheng Associate Professor of Chemistry University of Idaho
David Heddle Ph. D. Physics Carnegie Mellon University
These are only part of a list of some three hundred names.
In every debate it is important to define the terms used. So what is evolution?
The popular meaning is that man came from monkey. That is a rather simplistic way to put it because it is much more than that. Yet, we see pictures of imaginary creatures from whom modern man is supposed to have developed - Neanderthal Man, Peking Man, Australopithecus, Homo Sapiens, CroMagnon man and so forth. The following is a definition of the evolutionary concept:
Evolutionary Concept
Evolution is a process of change over time and is accomplished by natural selection.
Life evolved in the oceans first, along with oxygen in the atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis of primitive plants.
Unicellular life evolved on earth first, followed by multi-cellular life over periods of millions of years.
Evolution is the belief that everything we see around us came from one cell that began somewhere that somehow developed into something without any intelligent help some 15 billion years ago. Stephen Hawking, famed British physicist, who works from a wheel chair because of Lou Gherig's disease, believes that everything came from what he calls a “singularity,” a tiny speck of dirt.
Evolution never starts with nothing. There has to be something there in the first place in order for the process to begin. Yet it cannot explain where the tiny thing that it started with came from and why there was anything at all to begin with. We built our house a number of years ago. It did not come from nothing. We had to gather materials and workmen put it all together with skill, hard work, and intelligence.
Some try to explain the origin of things by means of the Big Bang. According to Space.com,
“The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it talks about the universe as we know it starting with a small singularity, then inflating over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.”
Anyone knows that when there is a big bang or a big explosion destruction takes place and not construction, disorder and not order, chaos rather than cosmos. Therefore, a well ordered universe seems to me to be inconsistent with the theory of the Big Bang. I have personally listed seventy-nine questions which cannot be answered if we predicate a Big Bang Theory for the origin of the universe. I will mention just a few for the sake of time and space:
? If the universe came into being through the Big Bang how come there is cosmos rather than chaos?
? If the universe came about by the Big Bang how come there is order and complexity in the universe?
? If there was a Big Bang where did humans come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did life as a whole come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did speech come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did faith, hope, and love come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the water cycle come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did emotions come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did personality come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did intelligence come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the sense of eternity come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the weekly cycle come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the capacity to reproduce come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did religion and worship come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the concept of God come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did a sense of morality come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did a thirst for meaning and fulfillment come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did grace and mercy come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did justice and human rights come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did mathematics come?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the concept of the after- life come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the concept of evil and a personal devil come from?
? If there was a Big Bang where did the DNA template and genetic information come from?
? If there was a Big Bang how do you explain the functions of DNA, RNA, and the proteins that make up the cells?
By contrast, Creationists believe that all which exists came from the hand of an Almighty, Eternal, Supernaturally-intelligent, Creator-God as revealed in the Bible. He was the only One present when all things had their beginning in a six-day period and as the Super Scientist that he is gave us a ball by ball report in the Holy Scriptures of the process he used. Besides, he made all things with a purpose in mind – to use the creation as a stage to show how great and gracious he is so that we might love and serve him and enjoy a wonderful relationship with him. In fact, he made us in his image for that very purpose.
Yes, God has revealed the origin of all things to us in the bible. Contrary to what many believe the bible is not a book of religion. It is the God-given handbook for life and godliness. It answers the questions of origin, identity, purpose, morality, and destiny because it tells us where we came from, who we are, why we are here, how we should live, and where we are going when our life on earth is over. It includes every discipline of life and area of instruction such as science, religion, history, geography, poetry, law, health, astronomy, physiology, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, biography, culture, military arts, language, oceanography, zoology, botany, genealogy, geology, genetics, hydrology, aesthetics, morality, medicine, literature, ethics, life after death, and prophecy. To limit the bible to religion is to cut ourselves off from other vital areas of knowledge. The archaeologist's spade has time and again unearthed evidence to corroborate the accuracy of the bible. It is a book which goes back to antiquity yet it straddles time and space and penetrates into eternity.
A great American oceanographer, Matthew Maury, used the bible to discover ocean currents. The bible speaks of the springs of the seas which refers to both ocean currents as well as cryptic oceans under the known oceans which spring up like artesian wells. Whatever the bible speaks on it does so with authority and accuracy because its Author is divine and true science supports it. Those who limit the bible to religion are biased and narrow-minded. They are afraid that careful study of it might blow their theories out of the water. They even refer to it as a book of myths, fables, and fiction without any supporting facts to back up their claims. When people speak like that you just know that they have not done any serious study of the Holy Book. Yet, if they have many do not understand it because they fail to use in tandem the two principal laws of interpreting it, the law of language and the law of the Spirit.
It is important to realize contrary to what many think, that both Creationism and Evolution are belief systems, contrasting philosophies of science. Each requires faith. Evolution bases its belief on the book of creation or nature. Creationism is based on both the book of nature as well as the Book of books, the bible. They see both books as complementing and interpreting each other without any conflict. Creationist accept reason or science and faith as necessary to each other. Evolution denies faith and claims to cling only to reason although it is also based on faith. The scientist who believes in Darwin's origin of species must extrapolate from the present to the past because they were not present when the processes they describe were occurring. And so they must believe that certain conditions existed in the past as they do in the present such as the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere. If creationism is a religion so also is evolution because each system faith applies faith to the conclusions which they make from the evidence they extract from their sources through observation and experimentation.
Also, do not make the mistake in thinking that evolution is science and creationism is not science. Both use hypothesis, observation, experimentation, and conclusion in their research and gathering of data. These are principles which go back to the days of Bacon, Descartes, Newton and other scientists as far back as the 1400's. But each comes at the material from different points of view and interpret the scientific data differently. The evolutionist does so through his personal assumptions and the Creationist from his biblical presuppositions. No scientist is fully objective but is influenced by his own subjective outlook. Some are even influenced by political correctness. Evolution is a way of understanding science and is not all that science is. It is a philosophy or way of interpreting science. Creationism is also a perspective on science as well as a philosophy of science. Each is a worldview, a way of looking at or understanding men and things.
The first scientists as well as some of the greatest were creationist in their worldview: Roger Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Gregor Mendel, Francis Bacon, Nicholas Copernicus, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir William Ramsey and many others. Alfred North Whitehead claims that scientific advancement would not have been possible apart from a Judeo-Christian worldview. Although not all scientists were Christians they did science from a Christian worldview as well as a Christian framework just as many artists of the Renaissance period in their approach to painting or design.
The U.S. Constitution is framed from a creationist point of view declaring that all men were created equal and endowed by their Creator with life, liberty and the capacity to pursue happiness. Science could not have advanced under a Hindu, Confusion, or Buddhist worldview.
You see these scientists recognized that according to the bible there are laws which govern the universe. These laws are called constants and they determine the make-up and function of all things including Higgs Boson, the infinitesimal atom to the enormous galaxies in outer space. These laws control gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces. These are the most powerful forces in the universe and are responsible for everything that takes place in nature. Because of them protons, electrons, and neutrons maintain their proportions hold together in the atom, and planets and stars keep their place in space and in relation to each other. If the sun were too close or too far from the earth we would either become toast or ice cream.
If the moon was too close or too far away we would either have tsunamis and agricultural problems or no tides and no crops. Scientists have discovered what they call the anthropic principle. That is, God has placed everything in its proper place and in proper proportion for human survival. A little more or a little less of any element or force would make life on earth impossible. Because of nature's constants or laws the ratio of the gases in the atmosphere remains the same. Oxygen never ceases to be 25%, nitrogen 78%, Carbon dioxide 2%, with traces of other gases such as argon, xenon, krypton, etc. Even our bodies obey these laws. We breathe oxygen and live. If we were to breathe nitrogen or carbon monoxide we would die.
If one were to believe that all things came about by themselves without a supernatural Creator how would we explain the design in creation? We would never be able to use logic or reason or even carry out an intelligent conversation. Things do not think; intelligent people do, and intelligence does not come about by chance. No books could be written and no transactions made if everything came about by chance. There would be no mathematics and psychology courses; there will be no DNA to determine our characteristics and personalities as individuals if everything came about by the chance co-location of atoms.
DNA was discovered only in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson. “DNA (deoxyribo-nucleic acid) {is} the basic molecule of hereditary information which serves as a code for the production of proteins and is common to all living (things).”
Our English alphabet consists of twenty-six letters and the tonic solfa (doh, re, me, etc.) in music consists of eight notes. DNA consists of four letters: AGCT - adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. Like the letters of our alphabet these were intelligently put together by the Creator in different patterns. They spell out the information for the design and function of the 100 trillion cells in the human body. These letters are organized to spell out designs and commands for each cell in your body. The DNA template or pattern is so complicated that it had to have been put there by a super intelligent Being and could not have happened by itself. The information in your DNA determines the colour of your hair, the number of rods and cones in your eyes, your finger nails, teeth, and your inner ear. They also determine your shape as well as your height. Life would be impossible without DNA and RNA (ribonuclearic acid). Experts in information theory recognize the amazing structure and function of the nucleotides in the DNA template. Even Bill Gates, the Microsoft genius admitted that DNA is more complex than anything produced by his company.
If your eyes had to wait for a million years for optic nerves to develop before messages could be sent to your brain so that you could see it would never happen. What if your heart was waiting five million years for your lungs to suddenly appear? It would be without oxygen and therefore unable to function. What if you had to wait another million years before your feet were formed you would never be able to walk? But that is how the evolutionary process is supposed to operate. Everything is by chance without any particular order because there are no laws or constants in evolution. If order is admitted into the system it would be inconsistent with a chance plus matter view hypothesis.
The evidence which we see around us indicates that evolution is the biggest lie that was ever told to mankind. It is vain attempt to rob God of his glory as Creator and to remove him out of existence.
If everything came by chance how come we have moral laws in the human conscience or laws in the society for order and protection? Moral laws require a Lawgiver and cannot develop by themselves. These laws flow from the nature and character of a God who is holy, righteous, and good. They require intelligence and must have a purpose. Chance has neither intelligence nor purpose.
At the heart of evolution is a hatred for God. Man has a moral problem and not a scientific one. Evolutionist Richard Lewontin in The New York Review, January, 1997, page 31:
“We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of the failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so-stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
Dr. Joh Morris of ICR says the following:
“Evolutionary scientists are notoriously dishonest. Consider this interview:
Columnist George Caylor once interviewed a molecular biologist for an article entitled "The Biologist," that ran on February 17, 2000, in The Ledger (Lynchburg, VA), and is in part reprinted here as a conversation between "G: (Caylor) and "J" (the scientist). We joint the piece in the middle of a discussion about the complexity of human code.”
G: "Do you believe that the information evolved?"
J: "George, nobody I know in my profession believes it evolved. It was engineered by genius beyond genius, and such information could not have been written any other way. The paper and ink did not write the book! Knowing what we know, it is ridiculous to think otherwise."
G: "Have you ever stated that in a public lecture, or in any public writings?"
J: "No, I just say it evolved. To be a molecular biologist requires one to hold onto two insanities at all times. One, it would be insane to believe in evolution when you can see the truth for yourself. Two, it would be insane to say you don't believe evolution. All government work, research grants, papers, big college lectures—everything would stop. I'd be out of a job, or relegated to the outer fringes where I couldn't earn a decent living.
G: I hate to say it, but that sounds intellectually dishonest.
J: The work I do in genetic research is honorable. We will find the cures to many of mankind's worst diseases. But in the meantime, we have to live with the elephant in the living room.
G: What elephant?
G: Creation design. It's like an elephant in the living room. It moves around, takes up space, loudly trumpets, bumps into us, knocks things over, eats a ton of hay, and smells like an elephant. And yet we have to swear it isn't there!
Dr. John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research:
[Scientists] see the evidence for creation, and they see it clearly, but peer pressure, financial considerations, political correctness, and a religious commitment to naturalism force them to look the other way and insist they see nothing. And so, the illogical origins myth of modern society perpetuates itself.
The three quotes used above are from Daryl E. Witmer of AIIA Institute
Evolution by its nature is entirely without rules because it is built on relativism. With relativism anything goes. Can you imagine a society or school that is run without rules? There will be chaos rather than cosmos or order. Even those who believe in evolution do not live consistently with their presuppositions. The entailment will make it impossible. One psychologist, Carl Jung, suggested that they should live as if there is a God because he knew that to do otherwise life would result in disorder, danger, and destruction. It took intelligence and design to put up traffic lights and road signs. Remove the road code and there will be no limit to traffic accidents. Luck and chance do not produce order but disorder. Big Bangs are destructive rather than constructive.
And so the debate between Creation and evolution continues. In an age when men have lost their senses and make decisions based on feelings or political correctness we will continue to decay morally, kill the unborn, euthanize the terminally ill, the infirm, and the abnormal as well as destroy our prospect for true happiness in one man/one woman heterosexual marriage relationship. Indeed, evolution has serious moral, intellectual, and social consequences because of its uncontrollable ramifications.
At heart everyone knows that there is a God. This is especially seen in the fact that we have so many religions because people want something or someone to believe in and worship. Men and women are believers of one kind or another. We also know that there is a God because so many people are trying to get away from him or resist him. They even try to drown out their awareness of God with music, parties, drugs, and material possessions. If there was no God there would be no reason to oppose him. If there is a God then nothing happens by chance. He plans and controls the circumstances of our lives.
God is not surprised that evolutionists deny him. In fact, he knew that they would. He declared a long time ago in Psalm 14 that, “The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' According to this Psalm those who take that position are corrupt, vile, and do no good, No wonder society is becoming increasingly more vile and corrupt because men influenced by evolutionary thinking deny the existence of God. Since God is good and righteous whenever and wherever he is not recognized we cannot expect to find righteousness, holiness, and truth. The further men remove themselves from God the more evil they become. Evolution at its core is atheism and never makes a person a better man or woman. Only belief in God does.
But God refuses to be left out our thinking and plans. He shows up at the most unexpected moments. He never leaves us alone but is patient and long-suffering towards us. You see,the Creator of the universe designed all things with a purpose in mind. He wants to reveal his love to us. He created our world and the universe to show us his grace and the great plans which he has for us. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he grace his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The Creator himself came in the person of his Son Jesus Christ to show us what he is like and then to die for our sins in order to bring us back to himself.
Your religion consists in what you believe and what you believe will determine the way you live for we all live out what we truly believe. What you believe will determine the kind and quality of your life. Those who believe in the Creator will live with a song and die in the hope of eternal life. Those who believe in evolution will live with a sigh and will die with the the prospect of eternal gloom and doom. As Robert Ingasoll, well-known atheist believed, “Life is a narrow vale between two bleak and dark eternities.” The wise person would know how to choose and what to believe. I trust that you are wise. It is either belief in evolution or faith in the Creator-God Jesus Christ. Receive him by faith and he will transform your life and give you new hope. He will become your song, your salvation, and your strength.
ADDENDA
Dr. Walter Bradley, Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Baylor University says:
A universe that contains a special place of habitation for complex, conscious life is so truly remarkable that it is, realistically speaking, impossible to believe it is the result of a series of cosmic accidents. To choose to believe that there is a naturalistic explanation for (a) the mathematical forms encoded in the laws of nature, (b) the precise specification of the nineteen universal constants and (c) the remarkable initial conditions required for star formation and the simplest living systems is to believe in a miracle by another name. Physicist Freeman J. Dyson of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study seems to implicitly affirm theism when he say,
"As we look out into the universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked to our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe must in some sense have known that we were coming."{51}
Physicist and Nobel laureate Arno Penzias, contemplating our enigmatic universe, observes:
Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe that was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.{52}
Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle argued in The Nature of the Universe{53} in 1950 for the role of sheer coincidence to explain the many unique but necessary properties of the universe and of planet Earth. But the discoveries of the next thirty years dramatically changed his mind, as described in his book The Intelligent Universe in 1983; to quote,
"Such properties seem to run through the fabric of the natural world like a thread of happy coincidences. But there are so many odd coincidences essential to life that some explanation seems required to account for them."{54}
It is easy to understand why many scientists like Sir Fred Hoyle changed their minds in the past thirty years. They now agree that the universe, as we know it, cannot reasonably be explained as a cosmic accident. Frederic B. Burnham, a well-known historian of science appearing on ABC'sNightline with Ted Koppel, confirmed the current openness to the intelligent design model with his comment,
"The scientific community is prepared to consider the idea that God created the universe a more respectable hypothesis today than at any time in the last 100 years.”
The design requirements for our universe are like a chain of 1000 links. If any link breaks, we do not have a less optimal universe for life -- we have a universe incapable of sustaining life! The evidence I have present is daunting, but still short of "proof". I must conclude that it takes a great deal more faith to believe in an accidental universe than to believe in an intelligent creator, or God who crafted such a marvelous universe and beautiful place of habitation in planet Earth, and then created life (including human beings) to occupy it.