Consider a man walking – hundreds of years in the future. He pushes through a set of trees and sees a tremendous mountain. On the peak he beholds four giant faces as if they are emerging from the mountain itself. What should he assume? What would you assume? Did these four intricately detailed faces we know as Mount Rushmore come about by the natural process of rain and erosion? Of course not. That man and you would wonder, “Who designed and created such an impressive display?”
In our previous essay, we demonstrated that the Universe is not eternal (Big Bang evidence shows the Universe had a beginning), and that something cannot spring into existence out of absolute nothingness. As such, the best answer to the origin of our Universe is a designed beginning emanating from a kind of mind (John 1). At this stage in our exploration, we can also identify data that point to this Creator of the cosmos via the remarkable design within space.
In 2007, Antony Flew, one of the 20th century’s most prominent philosopher and atheist (a person who does not believe in God) stunningly announced that he now believed in God. In his thundering book, There Is a God, Flew stated his belief in a “divine Source” because it was the best answer to the evidence that had “emerged from science.” Following the Big Bang, as we look across the cosmos of planets, stars, celestial dust, and black holes, we are faced with two options:
What then is our evidence for an extraordinarily fine-tuned Universe that we can measure and study? Although much of cosmology and astrophysics can get very technical, consider this: If you gather all the stars, planets, moons, galaxies, nebulae, gas, and dust in the Universe, it makes up just .27% of the ingredients in the Universe. The rest is made up mostly of dark energy and dark matter (but don’t worry about what that is). The point being, if we were to change the total quantity of the ingredients in the Universe by just 1 part in 10 to the 122nd power, there would be no possibility for life. That number is a 1 with 122 zeroes after it. That’s a big number, and that’s big fine tuning!
In other words, think of a gigantic muffin recipe that calls for enough flour to fill the entire volume of planet Earth. We all know how tiny a single grain of flour is. Consider this: If you were to add ONE GRAIN of flour or take away ONE GRAIN, the recipe would be ruined. That is how extraordinarily fine-tuned our Universe is and how mathematically impossible it is that creation came about by random chance.
Additionally, our Universe is expanding (stretching) and it has been since the beginning. However, if the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by 1 part in a hundred thousand million, million, the Universe would have collapsed on itself. If the charge of an electron had been only slightly different, stars would have exploded. If the strength of gravity were changed by 1 part in ten thousand billion, billion, billion there would be no life-supporting world. The exact tilt of Earth’s axis, the position and characteristics of our Moon, the specific role of Jupiter, and many other precise factors all contribute to a perfect Universe for life. In short, our Universe displays truly remarkable, almost unfathomable, fine tuning. Only a Designer best explains such elegant and complex design.
Critics will counter with a theory known as the multiverse, the idea being that if you have enough universes beyond ours (a near infinite number), one is sure to randomly, and by pure chance, support life. However, multiverse remains only a theory supported by speculation and not by independent evidence. Is it wise to bet everything on such speculation and unsubstantiated theory?
If we would never believe that the faces of Mount Rushmore were the result of random rain and erosion, then why would we ever believe our Universe randomly took shape to such a profoundly perfect degree? The science and the numbers don’t lie. The finely tuned aspects of our Universe remain truly extraordinary, and they only become more so as time and science have advanced. This is what Antony Flew meant when he said his faith relied on what had “emerged from science.”
p.s. "Do You Know the Muffin Man" is a traditional English nursery rhyme referenced in the movie, "Shrek."
In our previous essay, we demonstrated that the Universe is not eternal (Big Bang evidence shows the Universe had a beginning), and that something cannot spring into existence out of absolute nothingness. As such, the best answer to the origin of our Universe is a designed beginning emanating from a kind of mind (John 1). At this stage in our exploration, we can also identify data that point to this Creator of the cosmos via the remarkable design within space.
In 2007, Antony Flew, one of the 20th century’s most prominent philosopher and atheist (a person who does not believe in God) stunningly announced that he now believed in God. In his thundering book, There Is a God, Flew stated his belief in a “divine Source” because it was the best answer to the evidence that had “emerged from science.” Following the Big Bang, as we look across the cosmos of planets, stars, celestial dust, and black holes, we are faced with two options:
- The cosmos came about by unguided, random chance.
- The cosmos is designed, that signs of design are evident, and that these signs point to a Designer.
What then is our evidence for an extraordinarily fine-tuned Universe that we can measure and study? Although much of cosmology and astrophysics can get very technical, consider this: If you gather all the stars, planets, moons, galaxies, nebulae, gas, and dust in the Universe, it makes up just .27% of the ingredients in the Universe. The rest is made up mostly of dark energy and dark matter (but don’t worry about what that is). The point being, if we were to change the total quantity of the ingredients in the Universe by just 1 part in 10 to the 122nd power, there would be no possibility for life. That number is a 1 with 122 zeroes after it. That’s a big number, and that’s big fine tuning!
In other words, think of a gigantic muffin recipe that calls for enough flour to fill the entire volume of planet Earth. We all know how tiny a single grain of flour is. Consider this: If you were to add ONE GRAIN of flour or take away ONE GRAIN, the recipe would be ruined. That is how extraordinarily fine-tuned our Universe is and how mathematically impossible it is that creation came about by random chance.
Additionally, our Universe is expanding (stretching) and it has been since the beginning. However, if the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by 1 part in a hundred thousand million, million, the Universe would have collapsed on itself. If the charge of an electron had been only slightly different, stars would have exploded. If the strength of gravity were changed by 1 part in ten thousand billion, billion, billion there would be no life-supporting world. The exact tilt of Earth’s axis, the position and characteristics of our Moon, the specific role of Jupiter, and many other precise factors all contribute to a perfect Universe for life. In short, our Universe displays truly remarkable, almost unfathomable, fine tuning. Only a Designer best explains such elegant and complex design.
Critics will counter with a theory known as the multiverse, the idea being that if you have enough universes beyond ours (a near infinite number), one is sure to randomly, and by pure chance, support life. However, multiverse remains only a theory supported by speculation and not by independent evidence. Is it wise to bet everything on such speculation and unsubstantiated theory?
If we would never believe that the faces of Mount Rushmore were the result of random rain and erosion, then why would we ever believe our Universe randomly took shape to such a profoundly perfect degree? The science and the numbers don’t lie. The finely tuned aspects of our Universe remain truly extraordinary, and they only become more so as time and science have advanced. This is what Antony Flew meant when he said his faith relied on what had “emerged from science.”
p.s. "Do You Know the Muffin Man" is a traditional English nursery rhyme referenced in the movie, "Shrek."
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