| It might surprise you to know that the Bible never argues God's existence. It simply states: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." No philosophy about it. No apology for it. No explanation of it. Just a statement of fact. The existence of God is assumed. But how can we know that what the Bible states is true?
There's a philosophical axiom that runs: "Where ever there is a thing that exhibits orderly design, there must have been a preceding thought, and where there is a thought, there must be a thinker." Let's apply that axiom. The universe is the thing. If you study the intricacies of it, it certainly demonstrates thought. Thought demands a Thinker, a Creator. That Creator is identified as God in Gen. 1:1--"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Does our universe exhibit an orderly design? Yes! The stars move with such exact precision, that the atomic clock has an error factor of less than 3 seconds per 1000 years. Now that's orderly design! Those stars reflect thought, and if there is a thought there must be a Thinker. The planets in their courses speak of a plan, and if there is a plan, there is a Planner. Because of that, roughly 90% of the world's astronomers believe in a Creator.
Most astronomers would agree with King David who looked up at the canopy of stars that sparkle like diamonds against the velvet of the night, and wrote: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands..." (Psalm 19:1-6). David was saying that the sun, moon, and stars are celestial evangelists that shout from the heavens: There is a God! This great earth with all of its interrelated and complex ecosystems, and the oceans ebbing and flowing, and the seasons meticulously changing, speak of a great design. And if there is a great design, there must be a Great Designer--God.
Switch from the telescope to the microscope and look the intricacy of design. Nervous systems. Cell structures. Protein molecules--life can't exist without protein and the chances of a protein molecule, which is made up of 2000 atoms coming together by chance is 1 out of 10 to the 321st power. Consider atoms that are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and even smaller particles called qwarks. All this intricate design screams that there must be a Great Designer--God!
The very existence of life itself with all these interdependent elements in delicate balance defies the mathematical probability of pure chance. Since there is a plan, there must be a Planner. Since there is a thought, there must be a Thinker. If there is a design, there must be a Designer. Who? God, the Creator of heaven and earth! Still have questions? Continue on the journey...
More Evidence for God's Existence
A. C. Morrison, former President of the NY Academy of Sciences, wrote a book entitled Man Does Not Stand Alone, and in it he gives this illustration:
If I were to take 10 pennies and mark them with a number from 1 to 10, place them in a hat, and ask you to shake them up. If I were to reach in and pull out penny # 1, I would have a one in 10 chance of doing so. Now suppose I did, and I put the penny back in the hat. For me to reach in and pull out the penny marked # 2, I would have 1 chance in 100. Putting the penny back, for me to draw out penny # 3, my chances would jump to 1 in 1,000. If I were able to do the same in successive order, right up through # 9, do you know what my chance would be of pulling out # 10 from the hat? It would be 1 in 10 Billion!
Morrison writes: "If I did it, you would say: `The game is fixed.' My answer: `You're right. And so is creation.'" It is fixed! God created the heavens and the earth!
Let me set before you 10 coins, 10 very interesting things about the earth that make life possible and that argue for the existence of an Intelligent and Sovereign Creator, i.e., God.
1. Tilt of Earth's Axis:
The first thing is the angle of the earth in relationship to the sun. If you remember your science and basic astronomy, you remember that the earth is not straight up and down, the axis is tilted at about 23%, no other planet is tilted like this in the known universe. Why? Its like a chicken on a rotisserie, the tilt makes for equal distribution of the heat from the sun. Why this tilt? Oh yes, it's an accident. This is the first coin out of ten.
2. Rotation of Earth:
Here's the second coin. The earth is rotating on that titled axis at about 1000 miles an hour. And this rate of speed is critical for life to exist. Let's say it turned at 10 times less or 100 miles an hour, our days and nights would be 10 times as long. What do you think would happen to you on an August day that lasted 10 times as long?
The heat would build up so great that it would scorch everything above the surface of the ground, and whatever survived the incredible heat of the day would be frozen in the 10 times as long nights--temperatures would plummet to -240 below 0. Our world is rotating at just the right speed to alternate between heating and cooling. The earth is titled just right and turning just right.
Why? It's an accident, right?
3 & 4. Oscillation of the Earth's Axis:
Here are the third and fourth coins. Our earth wobbles off of that 23% tilt by about 3%. It wobbles up 3%, then back to 23%, and then down 3%, and then up again to the 23% average tilt. And it does it with amazing regularity, while spinning at 1000 miles an hour. Our seasons and climate depend on this oscillation of 6 degrees. Anything more than 3% up from the average and the sun would strike the earth with such force and heat that it would evaporate the oceans, and we'd have 2 massive ice caps at the poles and a boiling cauldron of lava in the middle. Life as we know it would perish from off the earth.
Now a drop of more than 3% off the average would result in the ice caps melting, flooding the earth, and if any land masses still existed, the increase in liquid would literally run the carbon-dioxide and oxygen out of the atmosphere, killing all the plant life, animal life, and human life. So you have four things working together just right in our world--Tilted just right, spinning just right, wobbling up just right, wobbling down just right. And the chance of pulling four coins out of my pocket in perfect sequence by accident is 1 out of 10,000.
5. Depth of the Oceans:
Now here's the 5th coin. The depth of the earth's oceans is just right. Former president of the American Academy of Sciences said that if the earth's oceans had been just a little deeper when the earth began, the extra water would have robbed the atmosphere of the oxygen and carbon dioxide. The atmosphere we breath is made up of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% trace elements--Just the exact combination for human life to prosper. But without it, life would have never begun. Therefore the earth's oceans are just the right depths in relation to the atmosphere.
Why? An accident, right?
6. Thickness of Earth's Crust:
A sixth coin is the earth's crust. Not only are the earth's oceans the right depth, the earth's crust is the right thickness. If the earth's crust was only 10 feet thinker, that would have oxidized all the earth's oxygen when the world began. 10 feet more solid matter on the earth's crust in relation to 4000 miles in radius. 10 feet makes the difference in life and death. An accident.
So here are six things working together. The earth is tilted just right, spinning just right, wobbling up just right, wobbling down just right, oceans just right, the earth's crust just right. Six things just right. And the chances of me pulling 6 things out of my pocket just right by accident, is one chance in one million.
7. Speed of Orbit:
While all these six things are just right, here's a seventh coin. We are moving around the sun in an elliptical orbit at just the right speed--Not a circular orbit but an elliptical orbit. We are spinning through space around this elliptical orbit at the rate of 18 miles per second. And this is the right speed. If the earth slowed just a couple of miles per second we would be pulled into the sun and burned to a crisp. Or if we increased our speed, we would freeze to death. So our speed around the sun is just right.
8. Distance from Sun:
Here's the eighth coin. Our earth is just the right number of miles from the sun--about 93 million miles. At this distance we get just the right amount of heat to survive. The surface of the sun is about 12,000 degrees. But 100 degrees seems like hot weather to us, and we are so fragile that we would perish if the temperature varied 50 degrees plus or minus the average. That's only 1/2 a percent of the 12,000 degrees radiating from the sun--a very narrow margin indeed. If we were just a few degrees closer, we would burn like a torch. If we were just a few degrees further away, we would freeze like popcicles.
Why? Oh yes, its all an accident. Eight things closely working together by chance.
9. Distance from the Moon:
Here's the ninth coin. While the earth is spinning, oscillating, and racing round the sun, the moon is moving around the earth at just the right distance. Because at the present distance, the pull of the orbit causes the tides to ebb and flow at just the right rate. If our moon were to orbit closer, the increased gravitational pull would cause the lower regions of the earth would be flooded, and the tide would erode the landmasses until finally the mountains would crumble into the sea. So the distance of the moon is just right. And the chance of my pulling 9 coins out of my pocket in sequence is 1 out of 1 billion.
10. Photosynthesis:
Here's a tenth coin. Let's go from the telescopic to the microscopic. In biology class we learned that plants contain chlorophyll, and it performs a function so basic that we are absolutely dependent on it for our existence. The energy of the sun, combined with moisture, combined with nutrients from the atmosphere and soil, produce food for the plants and oxygen for the air. This process called photosynthesis is essential for plant life and by connection animal and human life on the earth. Because without the oxygen produced by plants, we'd have nothing to breathe in a short time. Our lives depend on photosynthesis.
So here are 10 things working together like 10 coins in sequence and the chances of pulling 10 coins out of my pocket in perfect sequence is 1 in 10 Billion. Could all these things happen by accident? Could life have begun by chance when so many things had to be just right in order for it to begin? No way. Just like you couldn't pull 10 coins out of your pocket in sequence. Too many variables coming together in just the right combination on one planet. And then when you get to life itself, you find that life can't exist without protein and the chances of a protein molecule, which is made up of 2000 atoms coming together by chance is 1 out of 10 to the 321st power.
Saying that the earth is an accident and life is a product of chance is like finding a Rolex watch on the street and saying that the gold casing blew in from a South African gold mine, and the glass cover rolled down from Pittsburgh, and the diamonds fell out of the pocket of a jewel thief from Zaire, and the main spring bounced all the way from Switzerland, and they all came together here on the street spontaneously and together they keep the perfect date, and the perfect time. And that's an accident?! I don't have faith enough to believe that! Neither do I have faith enough to believe that the earth and all that is in it, a billion times more complex than a Rolex watch, is the result of an accident, blind chance.
No, there is a Creator. But how can we know Him? Has He revealed Himself in other was than the created universe. The answer is: Yes! The Creator has revealed Himself in His word, the Bible. Still not convinced? Then continue a little farther on the journey...
Accept Him and walk with Him and you'll see.
- Akane |
