Science Increasing Case for God

Science now admits that we cannot be the result of random forces, there is Intelligent Design behind the Cosmos

Based on Eric Metaxas' article, Dec. 25, 2014

Many have accepted the cultural narrative that "God is Dead"—that as science progresses, there is less need for a “God” to explain the universe. Yet it turns out that in our time the case for his existence comes from a surprising place—science itself.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence launched in the 1960s, but silence from the rest of the universe was deafening. As of 2014, researchers have discovered precisely bubkis—0 followed by nothing.

What happened? As our knowledge of the universe increased, it became clear that there were far more factors necessary for life than Sagan supposed. The requisite parameters grew from 2 to then 20 and then 50. The number dropped to a few thousand planets and kept on plummeting.

Peter Schenkel wrote in a 2006: “In light of new findings and insights, it seems appropriate to put excessive euphoria to rest . . . . We should quietly admit that the early estimates . . . may no longer be tenable.”

As factors continued to be discovered, the number of possible planets hit zero, and kept going. The odds turned against any planet in the universe supporting life, including this one. Probability said that even we shouldn’t be here.

The odds against life in the universe are simply astonishing

Today there are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life—every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart. Without a massive planet like Jupiter nearby, whose gravity will draw away asteroids, a thousand times as many would hit Earth’s surface.

Yet here we are - existing. Why? Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident? The very science now admits that we cannot be the result of random forces. In fact, assuming that an intelligence created these perfect conditions require far less faith than believing that a life-sustaining Earth just happened by accident?

There’s more. The fine-tuning necessary for life to exist on a planet is nothing compared with the fine-tuning required for the universe to exist at all. For example, astrophysicists now know that the values of the four fundamental forces—gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the “strong” and “weak” nuclear forces—were determined less than one millionth of a second after the big bang. Alter any one value and the universe could not exist. For instance, if the ratio between the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force had been off by the tiniest fraction of the tiniest fraction—by even one part in 100,000,000,000,000,000—then no stars could have ever formed at all. Feel free to gulp.

Multiply that single parameter by all the other necessary conditions, and the odds against the universe existing are so heart-stoppingly astronomical that the notion that it all “just happened” defies common sense. It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads 10 quintillion times in a row. Really?

The appearance of design is overwhelming

Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who coined the term “big bang,” said that his atheism was “greatly shaken” at these developments. He later wrote that “a common-sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with the physics, as well as with chemistry and biology . . . . The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”

Theoretical physicist Paul Davies has said that “the appearance of design is overwhelming” and Oxford professor Dr. John Lennox has said “the more we get to know about our universe, the more the hypothesis that there is a Creator . . . gains in credibility as the best explanation of why we are here.”

The greatest miracle of all time, without any close seconds, is the universe. It is the miracle of all miracles, one that ineluctably points with the combined brightness of every star to something—or Someone—beyond itself.