July 2019 – Page 3 – HolyWord.com

I went to a public school where natural biology and evolution were taught. At the same time, I received an hour of religious education a week. From what I remember my public school science teachers stuck to the science and religious teachers stuck to the religion. It wasn't a battle of one vs the other. Today we are baited into taking one of these diametrically opposed opinions but don't have to be. Evolution is a scientific fact, separate from God.God had to create in strict 24 hour periods and thus there could not be any evolution. We do not have to be forced into either view. I'll give two quick reasons why not and then move to the odds of life forming randomly. A literal view of everything in the BibleTo God, one day is like a thousand years. Even the Bible says that God does not work like humans, He calls himself 'I AM'; the state of ever being. There is no rulebook in the Bible that says it is all to be read absolutely literally or according to 21st-century expectations. Some parts can be figurative, to convey a spiritual truth. (For more see Is the Genesis Account Real?)Evolution as FactDarwin's theory is called the 'Theory of Evolution', not the 'Fact of Evolution'. He even presented various issues in his own theories that were not resolved. We want to avoid making sweeping claims of fact with it or claiming religious dogma by saying it is the origin of life. On both fronts, there is a lot more about creation that we don't know than what has been revealed in the Bible or Darwin's Theory of Evolution. What we can do is look at science in an objective manner. If God created the universe, then science can discover various aspects of that creation without contradiction. Fine Tuning One very interesting modern scientific discovery is that there are various physical constants in the universe (such as the speed of light) and other variables (like the gravitational force) that are mathematically fine-tuned in such a narrow state, that questions arise as to whether they could be there by accident? Why is this important? Because if one of these variables was even different by a small percentage, all the stars and planets would never have formed and that would have been bad for us. No intelligent life. Since we are hearing (can accept that as proof) we are happy the fine-tuned variables are set just the way they are. What Are the Odds? If you ever invested your time or money into something, whether it be schoolwork or a business venture or retirement savings, what kind of risk would you deem is acceptable? Would you accept that your retirement fund only had a 25% chance of being there when you retired and a 75% percent chance of being gone? Probably not. You would look for a different plan.Would you take on a new business venture that only had a 10% chance of success with a 2% possible profit possibility with a 90% chance of failure? Probably not. You would look for a better opportunity.Would you pay for an optional college course that took 10 weeks to complete with only a 5% chance of passing? Probably not. You would look for something more reasonable.What if the odds dropped 1 in a million? Would you risk anything serious on something you lose 999,999 times to 1? Probably Not. When it comes to the chances the universe was created randomly by accident I'll show you worse odds. The Big Bang Let's consider the beginning of our universe, some will call it the creation event, some will call it the Big Bang. Either way, as far as we can prove today scientifically, it was started at a single point and only occurred once. The significance of the universe forming from 1 point is there is only one chance to get all the variables aligned correctly for intelligent life to exist. There are some 30-40 physics-related variables and constants in the universe which have a profound impact on whether life can exist. Some of these even affect whether the universe could form, let alone reach life. Let's look at one... The Cosmological Constant The Cosmological Constant can be thought of as the energy needed to counter gravity. Without any of this Cosmological Constant energy, only gravity would exist and everything in the universe would have collapsed at the start. If there was too much of this energy the universe would have scattered too quickly and no objects would have formed. In other words, the Cosmological Constant and Gravity are finely tuned in such a way that they precisely match the ratio needed for the universe to support intelligent life.In fact, the value of the Cosmological Constant is so finely tuned it is called a constant. If it was to change by even 1 part in a million (highly conservative estimate), we would not exist. Powers of Ten To go further in the discussion we need to look at a few examples of powers of 10 that you know, stretching ourselves a little more. A Million is ten to the 6th power because it has 6 zeros.A Billion is ten to the 9th power (1,000,000,000)A Trillion is ten to the 12th power; (1,000,000,000,000) A Quintilian is ten to the 18th power (1,000,000,000,000,000,000)An Octodecilian is ten to the 57th powerA Googol/Googolplex is ten to the 100th power or1 followed by a hundred zeros10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 As you can see it starts to get cumbersome writing all the zeros. At these scales we talk in powers of 10, like 10 to the 57th power. So far, we only looked at a couple of finely tuned variables and the odds we are in a random universe is a million to 1 against it. This is a conservative estimate with some calculations going to ten to the 120th power. The odds of me flying to space tomorrow, landing on a planet, digging a hole, burying a blue coin, and then asking you to find it without any knowledge of how to fly in space or where I put it, is theoretically possible, but when we consider the actual probability of it happening, we are getting into outlandish scenarios. When we start to look at more than one finely tuned variable at the same time, the odds of a random universe only get worse. Multi-Verses Some skeptics try to avoid this scientific proof because they don't like to hear about the order in the universe that could include the possibility of God as an intelligent creator. They will pursue other ideas. One popular idea is the concept of multi-verses. A multiverse is an idea that there could be more than one physical universe. You are probably aware of the concept as it is often used in science fiction. Multi verses don't have any verifiable proof at this time. If evidence for a multi-verse was to occur in the future, it is not a problem; the same question remains, only one step further, how could such an intricate structure exist that results in finely tuned physics for intelligent life. To be fair, there are scientists who are open to all the evidence. Some have changed their minds when learning about the finely tuned universe, others are still investigating all the evidence. Some are curious about the Big Bang and other theories, following where the science leads. Not Only 1 Variable The Cosmological Constant was only one constant. As we start to add other finely tuned variables like gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and the electromagnetic force, the odds of a random universe start to get exponentially lower. We run out of words and analogies to describe such odds other than to conclude that a random universe is 'not possible' given the current scientific proof of a single creation event. God the Intelligent Creator When there is an ordered universe, what can we conclude? As we covered in other articles, if God exists, He would be outside the physical universe and have the ultimate intelligence to design such a system. If we see a finely tuned watch, we can detect an intelligent watchmaker.If we see a finely tuned universe, we can detect an intelligent creator. For someone who believes in God, the finely tuned universe doesn't cause confusion but makes reasonable sense. Keep in mind these scientific findings of finely tune variables and constants in the universe are not an invention of religion, but scientific discoveries that happened to uncover what was already there. Since scientific facts and evidence can change, we don't rest our whole belief in God on this one topic, but we consider it. List of Other Finely tuned variables Many finely tuned variables exist. Some more are listed below... The expansion rate of the Universe:If it is too low, the universe never expands. Too high and the molecules fly apart never forming elements. The Strong Nuclear force: The force that holds the protons and neutrons of a nucleus of an atom together. Too low and none of the elements would hold together. Too high and there wouldn't be multiple elements. The Weak Nuclear Force: The force that triggers nuclear fusion. Too low and there is no energy to power stars. Too high and everything could explode. Electromagnetic force: too high or too low and we don't get chemistry for life Goldilocks Zone:The habitable zone of a star where liquid water exists. Outside this range, it is too cold or too hot to support our life. Planet Rotation: Helps to keep a planet temperature even to avoid boiling off all the water. Thank you for reading. I enjoyed catching up on some physics. Note: The existence of God does not exclude the possibility of life elsewhere. The Bible includes what is essential to get to heaven, not everything God does in the whole universe. Return to this Category to Read MoreWould You Like to Read a Quiet Passage? - Click Here