Evolutionary Lucky Events or Intelligent Design/God
"I want to know how God created the universe. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." – Albert Einstein
Our Physical World
Our universe is composed of matter and space. All matter has mass and is composed of atoms. Atoms are composed of protons neutrons and electrons and each basic element differs only in the amount of these basic particles. These atoms and how they assemble themselves in the substance determines their chemical and physical properties. From experiments we know that the atom’s subatomic particles and their associated fields of force may themselves consist of self-sustaining forms of wave motions. In addition, light is composed of a stream of wave like particles. Such dualistic descriptions, describing both wave and particle characteristics to electrons, atom’s core particles and light, are impossible in our classical mechanics physical sense. We humans in the universe can deduce that all matter is composed of basic forces and wave like particles, and the colors we see are basically waves of particle like photons of different wavelengths. In other words, the chair that I now sit on is a visible matter, composed of empty space and of wave like particles joined by basic forces, reflecting photons in different wavelengths that our eyes interpret as different colors. All the physical matter that we see perhaps is not as “physical” and what we see and interpret in our brains is all a matter of perception. If I may, I would like to ask the reader several questions regarding our physical world: Why do our brains operate with electric energy? Is the brain our computerized hardware? Is the software in our brain our soul and are its operations executed by electric signals running in our brain’s neurons? I s time our most important dimension? What will be our view of the world if time is not a linear dimension?
Creation
The universe consists of a series of events stretched across time in a long causal chain. Each one of these events is the cause of the event that comes after it, and the effect of the event that comes before it. The world as it is, evolved from the world, as it previously was which came from the world as it was before. If we trace this series of events back in time, then what do we find? There seems, at first glance, to be two possibilities: either we eventually reach the first event in the series, the cause at the beginning of the universe that set everything going, or there is no first event in the series and the past stretches back into infinity. According to the Big Bang theory our universe is an expanding one – Started from a point. The Big Bang theory is supported by most physicists and substantiated with evidence collected from observations. However, there are no laws in science that state that matter can be created from nothing or destroyed into nothing. In order for matter to come out of nothing, all of the scientific laws dealing with the conservation of matter/energy would have to be wrong, invalidating all our science laws. On the other hand when we speak about matter or energy we know they are not eternal, however interchangeable, based on Einstein’s famous equation (E=MC2). Matter can change to energy, which can dissipate (e.g. sun or an atomic bomb). From the above reasoning we can ask ourselves from where the entire initial matter or energy came from. Furthermore, if we have a fixed amount of initial energy and matter in the universe, then the expanding universe should lose energy and slow its expansion process and cool down (second law of thermodynamics). Why doesn't the universe slow down and cool down?
Can matter self-exist and was never created? If matter had a beginning and yet was uncreated, one must logically maintain that something would have had to come into existence out of nothing, from empty space with no force, no matter, no energy, and no intelligence. When not considering creation, this could happen only by some new strange process unknown to science or by a miracle, and miracle brings us back to creation.
God’s Image
If we conceive of God as physical, anthropomorphic (like man) being, the question of God’s origin is valid. However, such a concept of God is alien to the Bible and to common sense. Obviously, the descriptions and concepts of God given in the Old Testament passages are that God is a spiritual entity. He exists outside of the three-dimensional, physical world in which we live. The idea of God exists in the minds of most humans. How did this idea come to mind and why such did such a universal idea come to mind? This common idea contradicts evolution and cannot be explained plainly by evolution terms. Throughout history, in all cultures of the world, people have been convinced that there is a God. Billions of people, who represent diverse sociological, intellectual, emotional, educational makeups, believe that there is a Creator, a God to be worshipped. Now, the fact that so many people believe something certainly doesn't make it true. However, the fact that so many societies have independently come to religious belief requires an explanation. Is this just a coincidence? Or is religious belief a natural psychological defense mechanism against the difficulties that life inevitably throws at us? If it is a natural psychological defense mechanism why do only human beings have this mechanism? Animals have a harder life and there is no proof that they believe in God. Some animals, dogs for example, may look at their master as God. However, this is just a master-slave relationship and dogs do not look beyond their physical environment for a master. Only humans instinctively look beyond the physical world. Why we humans, have this belief in Spiritual God, which is seemingly innate to us?
Intelligent Design
The subject of intelligent design has been one that has been explored in many different ways. For most of us, simply looking at our newborn child is enough to rule out chance. Advances in molecular biology have revealed vast amounts of information encoded in each and every living cell, and molecular biologists have discovered thousands upon thousands of exquisitely designed machines at the molecular level. Information requires intelligence and design requires a designer. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate designer who not only created our universe, but also sustains it today. Humans always think in terms of duality, Cold vs. Hot, Light vs. Darkness, Good vs. Evil, and our world vs. infinite universe. These duality terms can be interpreted in other ways. Cold is -273C vs. infinite heat, Darkness vs. the absence of light, Evil is the consequences of the absence of God, and our world is an integral part of the universe. Duality terms could not be used when it comes to faith. Faith is the acknowledgment of God and having faith does not mean the God’s acknowledgment.The human brain simultaneously processes an amazing amount of information. Our brain processes all the colors and objects we see, senses the temperature around us, processes touch senses, processes sounds and gives us the joys of music and the taste of food. Our brain registers emotional responses, processes our feelings, and stores our thoughts and memories. At the same time our brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of our body like our breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in our bodies. The human brain processes more than a million messages a second. Can the human brain be a product of pure evolution? Evolution from a virus to a full size functional brain? According to Darwin’s Theory: "If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking most closely all the species of the same group together must assuredly have existed. Consequently, evidence of their former existence could be found only amongst fossil remains." Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 179 1st ed. No fossil evidence linking viruses to developed mammals with thinking brains was ever found.
The amazing aspects of our world: the Earth's position to the sun, some properties of water or one organ in the human body. Could any of these have come about by chance? Evolution theory simply cannot explain why we have a universe that is fine-tuned to support life, simply because the laws of nature can allow only a limited margin for evolution but can not explain the initial creation. In other words, there were initial creations, on which God allowed evolution to operate and modify his initial design to limited extents. Evolution in itself cannot prove or explain how a virus evolved to a fully thinking human. Intelligent design can.
The information
contained in the genetic code, like all information or messages, is not made of
matter. The meaning is not a property of the arrangement of the symbols or
alphabet of the code. The message or meaning in the genetic code is non-material
and cannot be reduced to a physical or chemical property. Only
Intelligent design can explain DNA. Biochemists and mathematicians have
calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via
unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. In fact, scientists aren't
even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligent processes.
The evolutionary assumption
that the exceedingly complex linguistic structures which comprise the
construction blueprints and operating manuals for all the complicated chemical
nano-machinery and sophisticated feedback control mechanisms in even the
simplest living organism simply must have a materialistic explanation is
fundamentally wrong. Creation and
evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origins of
living things. Living species
either appeared on the earth fully developed as original (originating) species
or they did not. From these
originating species other species may have evolved according to the theory
evolution; thus creation and evolution do not contradict using this logic. The originating species must have been
created. If they did appear in a
fully developed state, they must have been created by some omnipotent
intelligence.
Even a single cell organism can
not be developed by series of lucky events that will create a cell with DNA
structure and a mechanism to split and replicate. Further more, it will be a far fetch
idea to imagine that a series of evolutionary events can create a fully-grown
thinking human. It is statistically
impossible. Thus, evolution can only be used to explain evolution of species to
their current state from some earlier original created state.
Time, Space and
Relativity
We humans, in our known world think that we live in a four dimensions universe. We only can perceive a four dimensions coordinate system composed of length, width, height and time dimensions. In 1916, Albert Einstein published his theory of General Relativity and later published his Special Relativity, forever altering the science of cosmology and the meaning of our known dimensions. The theory of Special Relativity suggested that time - something that had always thought to be unchanging and absolute – was relative. It could speed up or slow down depending on the speed you were traveling. For one thing, other aspect of the theory placed the creation event at less than 20 billion years ago (modern data now suggest a 12 to 13 billion year range and that the earth coalesced about 4.5 billion years ago); this was simply not enough time to accommodate the origin of life by random chance processes (see evolution above).
Initially, Biblical literalists, who believed (and who continue to believe) that the universe was created in six 24-hour days, approximately 6,000 years ago, were contradicted by this theory. However, if we consider a different coordinate system, creation time mentioned in the Bible may not parallel the time coordinate we have. If we look at the sequence of creation according to the Bible it approximately parallels the creation sequence taking into consideration Special Relativity and the Evolution theory. Evolution theory differs from the Creation theory with sun-earth creation sequence and fish-plant-birds creation sequence. The creation sequence, using days of creation as time coordinate, may mean some other time coordinate, written in the Bible in simplistic time values that can easily interpreted by us.
Consciousness, Mentality and
Morality
Humankind's inherent sense of right and wrong cannot be biologically or evolutionally explained. There arises in all of us, of any culture, universal feelings of right and wrong. Human traits like courage, dying for a cause, love, dignity, duty and compassion; where did these come from? If people are merely products of physical evolution, "survival of the fittest," why do we help each other? Where did we get this inner sense of right and wrong? Morality is ultimately authoritative and a set of commands: The moral argument appeals to the existence of moral laws as evidence of God’s existence. According to this argument, there couldn’t be such a thing as morality without God; to use the words that Sartre attributed to Dostoyevsky, “If there is no God, then everything is permissible.” When there are moral laws, then not everything is impermissible, then crime is not permitted, then civilized order is permissible, then evolution is contradicted. Evolution “survival of the fittest” does not allow morality or explain morality.
Consciousness and sub-consciousness was explained and researched by Freud, Adler, Jung and other well-known psychologists. We human beings are not just physical systems; we have rich mental lives. The process of natural selection selects organisms for survival based only on their behavior, on what they do. An organism that behaves as we behave but which does not have the attendant mental states that we have will have just as much survival value as we do. Mentality is not necessary for behavior, and nothing more than behavior is necessary for survival, so there is no survival value to having mental states, except for the id drives. Consciousness and sub-consciousness gives us access to our mind and it ways. Our thinking, spirituality, intellectual needs, personality, self, survival drives and sexuality, are all part of our mind. Consciousness and sub-consciousness (super-ego, ego and id) are also part of our minds. However, there is evolutionary value only for the id, our basic drives, survival drives and sexuality. There is no evolutionary value for Ego and Super-Ego, which is part of our mind. How do the evolution theories explain the above?
History
Archaeological findings continue to confirm rather than
refute the accuracy of the Bible. For example, an archeological find in northern
Israel in August 1993 confirmed the existence of King David, author of many of
the Psalms in the Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls and other archaeological
discoveries continue to substantiate the historical accuracy of the Bible.
Archaeological digs in Egypt confirm that the Hebrews were in Egypt and that
Ramses was ruling in their times in Egypt.
The Bible does mention the cities of Pittum and Ramses. The Bible was written over a span of many years
span, by different authors, in different locations and on separate continents,
written in three different languages, covering diverse subject matters at
different points in history. Yet there is an astounding
consistency.
Philosophical Arguments
I cannot skip the
philosophical arguments for the existence of God after bringing the above
reasons, and I will briefly describe them here. Many known philosophers of the last four
centuries have discussed God in their works and tried to prove the existence of God
using reason. Descartes
(1596-1650) and Leibniz (1646-1716) assumed that God's existence could be
rationally proved; indeed God was a necessary part of their philosophy. The French mathematician Blaise Pascal
(1623-62) put forward an argument that would appeal to agnostics. His argument goes something like this:
God either exists or he does not. If we believe in God and he exists, we will be
rewarded with eternal bliss in heaven. If we believe in God and he does not
exist then at worst all we have forgone are a few sinful pleasures. If we do not believe in God and he does
exist we may enjoy a few sinful pleasures, but we may face eternal
damnation. If we do not believe in
God and he does not exist then our sins will not be punished. Would any rational gambler think that
the experience of a few sinful pleasures is worth the risk of eternal damnation?
Hegel (1770-1831) thought that the God of religion was an intuition of
Absolute Spirit or Geist. Hegel's Geist is not like the transcendent (outside of
our consciousness) God of traditional Christianity. For Hegel God is immanent
and when we have understood that history is the process of Geist coming to know
itself it appears that we are all part of Geist, or God.
Kant (1724-1804) attempted to show how philosophy could prove the existence
of God. Unfortunately for him his previous work showed that we could not know
reality directly as thing-in-itself. What is real in itself is beyond our
experience. Even if God exists, we cannot know God as he really is. For Kant the Christian could have faith
in God, and this faith would be consonant with reason and the categorical
imperative. Given that human beings have the autonomy to create moral values; it
would not be irrational to believe in a God who gives purpose to the moral
realm.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) God does not play dice (meaning
that nothing would be left to chance in the universe). Einstein's work was
underpinned by the idea that the laws of physics were an expression of the
divine. This belief led him to think that everything could be described by
simple, elegant mathematics and moreover, that once you knew these laws you
could describe the universe with absolute accuracy. Einstein loathed the
implications of quantum mechanics (it was a clash of ideologies). To which the quantum mechanics community
replied: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do with his
dice."
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) agreed with Kant that the
existence of God could not be proven by reason. However Kierkegaard did not
think that it was rational to believe in God, rather one should have faith in
God even if this seems to reason to be absurd. To put it another way reason has
no place in faith. God is beyond reason.
There are three main
philosophical arguments for the existence of God: The argument from design, the
ontological argument and the cosmological argument.
1) The argument from Design: If you found a clock and examined the mechanism within it, you would probably think that this intricate mechanism was not the outcome of mere chance, that it had been designed. Now look at the universe; is it possible that such an intricate mechanism, from the orbits of planets round the sun to the cells in your fingernails could all have happened by chance? Surely, this enormously complex mechanism has been designed, and the being that designed it must be God.
2)
The ontological argument: God is the
perfect being. As He is most perfect, He must have all perfections. If God
lacked existence He would not be perfect, as He is perfect he must exist.
3)
The cosmological argument (God as "First cause"): Everything that exists has a cause. However, there must at
some time have been a cause prior to all other causes. This 'prime mover' or
first cause is necessary to explain existence. This first cause is God.
Conclusion
Man has always been conscious of the existence of a Supreme Being, the Master and Creator of all. Many people claim to have had a religious experience, to have experienced the divine directly. This experience is direct and is of a different quality to sensory experience or intellectual discovery. Is the belief in God mere wishful thinking or just an emotional need? Are we just products of evolution or Intelligent design? Julian Huxley once said: “We are as much a product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a long series of singularly beneficial accidents.”
"I want to know why God created the universe, Earth, and Man. I am particularly interested to know why he made us smart enough to learn his ways and understand his powers, and evil enough to create wars, mayhem and destruction." – Albert Talker
Composed by: Albert Talker
Written by: Albert Talker
References: Internet websites
In memory of my uncle Colonel Gabriel Ashton, a leader and a firm believer
Adapted to web-site by: Albert Talker