"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Genesis 1 v 1
"Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3 v 4).
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the earth"
Psalm 19 v 1-4
"Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" Romans 1 v 20
Foundational Points
* The Bible affirms that the universe was designed and created by an intelligent God.
* The Bible also affirms that human beings can detect the existence of this invisible God by observing the visible universe He has made.
* Towards this end, intelligent design theory uses scientific methodology to uncover evidence that the universe was designed by an intelligent being.
* The evidence is massive, beginning at the molecular level and reaching into the deep recesses of intergalactic space.
RECOGNISING SIGNS OF INTELLIGENCE
Human beings have become adapt at recognizing signs of intelligence.
* Sometimes signs of intelligence are obvious - such as the four presidents chiseled into the granite cliff at Mount Rushmore, or seeing words in the sky like "Free Concert in the Park Tonight."
* Other times, signs of intelligence must be uncovered.
- Today, there are many professions that involve seeking for clues of "intelligent design" and intentionality - that is, clues that indicate an intelligent being intentionally engaged in a particular action, as opposed to something being a chance occurence.
Examples include
- Crime-scene investigators (who look for intentionality at crime scenes)
- Insurance investigators (who look for clues of intentional fraud).
- Archeologists (who uncover evidences of intentional design among ruins)
- Cryptographers (who seek to distinguish intelligently encoded messages from random signals)
- Copyright investiagors (who try to detect misuse of copyrighted material)
* Here is the point to remember: The same kinds of evidence that show crime-scene investigators, archeologists, cryptographers, copyright investigators, and people who see words in the sky that an intelligent being was involved - are also clearly seen in the universe around us. There is substantive evidence that an intelligent being intentionally brought our universe into existence, and that the universe was not the result of random chance or a cosmic accident.
* Such evidence serves as the primary focus of an academic field that has come to be known as intelligent design.
* The more we study the universe, the more we find the fingerprints of God - the intelligent Designer.
UNDERSTANDING IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
From a scientific perspective, we infer that an item is intelligently designed if it is irreducibly complex.
* An irreducibly complex mechanism is composed of a number of well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the functioning of that mechanism. If any of these well-matched, interacting parts is removed, the mechanism will no longer function.
* A good example is a mousetrap:
- This mechanism has a number of components, each necessary to its functioning. If any of these components is missing, the mousetrap no longer functions correctly.
- If it's missing a spring, a hammer, or platform, for example, it will not work
- That is why we categorise it as irreducibly complex.
- We thus infer that the mousetrap was designed by an intelligent being.
The Irreducibly Complex Eye
* The irreducible complexity of the eye is evident in that it is a mechanism with many well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the function of sight.
* If any of these well-matched, interacting parts is removed, the eye will not longer see.
* Among these parts are the sclera, the cornea, the aqueous humor, the vitreous humor, the choroid, the retina, the rods and cones, and the pupil, all of which functin together in harmony with the brain to facilitate sight.
* Evolution cannot explain this mechanism. A piece by piece development of this incredibly complex organ - resulting from infinitesimally small Darwinian improvements over an unimaginably long period of time, requiring untold thousands of random positive mutations - cannot be reconciled with the evidence.
* An objective examination of the eye indicates that an incredibly knowledgeable engineer (God) planned the eye from beginning to end.
The Irreducibly Complex Wing
* Evolution also fails to explaining the wing.
* At the very least, a functioning wing requires
- a specific bone structure
- a specific muscle structure
- precise symmetrical positioning on a body (one wing on each side)
- wings proportionally large enough (relative to the size of the animal's body) to facilitate "liftoff"
- bodily coordination
- a synergistic relationship with the brain to make all the above happen
* The irreducibly complex wing gives every evidence of being designed.
Irreducibly Complex Molecular Machines
* Unlike the scientists in Darwin's day, scientists to day have discovered that the cell contains ultrasophisticated molecular machines.
* The existence of complex, information-rich structures at the molecular level cannot be explained by Darwinsim but rather calls for the existence of an intelligent designer (God)
* At the molecular level scientists witness such things as
- information storage and transfer
- sorting and delivery systems
- self regulation
* Scientists have also discovered complex molecular mechanisms that contain well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the functioning of that mechanism. For example, at the molecular level one witnesses what might be likened to rotary engines that contain components such as a rotor, a stator, and a driveshaft.
* The complexity witnessed at the molecular level is every bit as high-tech as gadgets created by human beings. Often it is far more sophisticated.
* Observations at the molecular level virtually begt for an explanation - an explanation that Darwinism cannot provide.
THE INFORMATION IN DNA
* DNA is an abbreviation for deozyribonucleic acid. It is a nucleic acid that carries genetic information in the cell; it is capable of self-replication.
* The volume of information contained in DNA staggers the mind:
- There is enough information capacity in a single human cell to store the Encyclopedia Britannica - all 30 volumes - three or four times over.
- The information capacity in a pinhead's volume of DNA is equivalent to a pil of paperback books 500 times as tall as the distance from Earth to the moon.
* Where di this staggering amount of information similar to computor software code - come from?
- Naturalistic evolution cannot explain it
- Computor programs do not write themselves. A programmer is always involved. Even if you provide plenty of time (billions of years), a computor program still cannot write itself.
- The same is true regarding the information in DNA. Somebody (God) had to program that complex information into DNA
THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE
* The "anthropic principle" - from the Greek word anthropos, meaning "man" - recognises that conditions on earth are ideal, apparently by design, for the existence of human (and other) life.
* An objective examination of the universe indicates that it is finely tuned - adjusted precisely - for the existence of complex life. Following is a small sampling of key factors:
The atheist is choosing to believe what man says, rather than God, and that is a dangerous position to put yourself in.
Most people don't want there to be a God, so therefore he denies the existence of God. It is an irrational position to take. First of all, it is a claim to omniscience; it says, "I know everything. It is not possible that a God could exist beyond the boundaries of my knowledge." Second, this attitude claims omnipresence; it says, "I am present in all places at one and the same time, and it is not possible that God could exist any place in the universe without my knowing it."
Again, this position ignores the wonders of God's creation - the immensity of the universe, the amazingly precise movement of the planets, the marvelous suitability of the earth to sustain life, the intricate design of the human body, the fantastic complexity of the human brain and the extraordinary properties of water and soil.
Take for instance the suitability of the earth to sustain life.
The earth rotates on its axis at approx 1000 miles per hour. If that had been 100 miles per hour, our days and nights would be 10 times longer, and our planet would alternatively burn and freeze. Under such conditions vegetation could not live!
If the earth were as small as the moon, the power of gravity would too weak to retain sufficient atomosphere for man's needs; but if it were as large as Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, extreme gravitation would make human movement almost impossible. If we were as near to the sun as Venus, the heat would be unbearable; if we were as far away as Mars, we would experience snow and ice every night, even in the warmest of regions. If the oceans were half their present dimensions, we would receive only one fourth the rainfall we do now. If they were one eighth larger, our annual precipitation would increase four-fold, and this earth would become a vast, uninhabitable swamp.
Water solidifies at 32 degrees above zero [oF]. It would be distastrous if the oceans froze at that temperature, however, for then the amount of thawing in the polar regions would not balance out, and ic