Designer Universe

“I think the world is just awesome, because, I mean, Mars is too cold, Venus is too hot, everyplace else is too far away.” - Jamie Hyneman

In the previous quote, the myth buster was referring to the earth being in the “Goldilocks Zone” – just the right distance from the sun to sustain life. This is an example of what physicists call the Anthropic Principle, which states that the observable properties of the universe must be compatible with its living observers. Simply put, it means that the universe seems “fine tuned” to support intelligent life.

Think about it. If the universe were any other way, life would not exist. Another example would be the gravitational force. Like earth’s distance from the sun, if the force of gravity was changed in the slightest degree, then we wouldn’t be here to discuss it. This, along with other finely tuned constants (electromagnetic force, strong/weak nuclear force, etc.), prove that the odds for our existence is improbably small.

Given these facts, it’s unthinkable for any sane and rational person to believe that life is a mere product of random chance or luck. At the very least, anyone endowed with reason should consider the possibility that an Intelligent Being is responsible for the undeniably deliberate existence of life.

As I began this entry with a quote, let me end it with another, this one from Stephen Hawking, by acclamation the most brilliant physicist since Einstein:

"The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron ... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life."

Humpty Dumpty and The Origin of Life

The Miller-Urey experiment, conducted in 1952 at the University of Chicago, demonstrated that organic compounds can be created in, what was thought to be at the time, an accurate simulation of the early Earth’s atmosphere (composed of water vapor, methane, ammonia, hydrogen). The theological implication of this was obvious: if life originated naturally, then the existence of a Supreme Creator, God would be unnecessary.

However, it was established later on that the early Earth’s atmosphere was more likely made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor. Under such conditions, the result of the Miller-Urey experiment would be invalid.

Moreover, in Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator, biologist Jonathan Wells states:

“Even if Miller’s experiment were valid, you’re still light years away from making life. It comes down to this: no matter how many molecules you can produce with early Earth conditions, plausible conditions, you’re still nowhere near producing a living cell. And here’s how I know: if I take a sterile test tube and I put in a little bit of fluid, with just the right salts, just the right balance of acidity and alkalinity, just the right temperature, the perfect solution for a living cell, and I put in it one living cell. This cell is alive. It has everything it needs for life. Now I take a sterile needle and I poke that cell, and all its stuff leaks out into this test tube. You have in this nice little test tube all the molecules you need for a living cell. Not just the pieces of the molecules but the molecules themselves, and (still) you cannot make a living cell out of them. You can’t put Humpty Dumpy back together again. So what makes you think that a few amino acids in the ocean are going to give you a living cell? It’s totally unrealistic.”

It seems that from a scientific point of view, the origin of life is still a mystery.

For Christians and Jews however, the answer is found in the book of Genesis.