God: Fact or Fiction?: Exploring the Relationship Between Science Religion and the Origin of Life

by Brendan Roberts

  Here is more corroborative evidence that an atheistic theory of macroevolution is not fool proof, and that the evidence claimed by Darwin does not exist. Is it not more feasible that a Creator in fact made the original species, and that omitting a Creator produces a fallacy? Furthermore, isn’t it possible that a Creator made the laws for species to evolve?

  Notes

  1. Michael Denton. A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda: Checy Chase: Adler & Adler Publishers Inc. 1986), p. 177.

  2. Duane Gish. Evolution, The Fossils Say No!, p. 61.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Darwin, op cit, p. 309.

  5. Denton, A Theory in Crisis, p. 174.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Gish, Evolution, The Fossils Say No!, p. 85.

  8. Keane, Creation Rediscovered, p. 112.

  9. See Denton, A Theory in Crisis,p. 164.

  10. Ibid.

  11. P.E. Cloud (1968). “Pre-Metazoan Evolution and the Origins of the Metazo”, in Evolution and Environment, ed. E.T Drake, Yale University Press, New Haven, pp. 1-72, see pp. 25-6.

  12. See P.L. Forey (1980). “Latimeria: A Paradoxical Fish”, Proc. Of the Roy, Soc. Of London, B208: 369-84, see p. 369.

  13. B.J Stahl (1974) Vertebrate History: Problems in Evolution (New York: McGrawHill Book Co), p. 146.

  14. Jeffrey Schwartz. Sudden Origins, Chichester (New York: Wiley, 1999), p. 296.

  15. See www.evogeneao.com/images/Evo_large.gif.

  CHAPTER 9

  THE WONDER OF THE UNIVERSE The universe galvanises such feelings of wonder, humility and awe in us. Dr Hugh Ross in his brilliant book Creation and Time links the universe with creation:

  Ours is the first generation that has witnessed the measuring of the universe, including its date of birth. In demarking the universe, astronomers in many respects are measuring the creation. In measuring the creation, they are determining several of the characteristics of the Creator, even certain aspects of His personality.1

  We are in mesmerising times as science discovers more impressive secrets and aspects of ourselves, our world, galaxy and the universe. But how can the universe reflect a Creator’s personality? Let’s start with the power, or awesomeness of God. If God created the whole of our spectacular universe He is all powerful. Furthermore if mankind is superior to other creatures, actualising existence to a greater degree (is highly creative, has abstract thought, reasons between right and wrong, transforms the environment and loves the truth), and loves God, self and others then the universe was created for humanity. But why would a Creator choose to do so for humanity? Could it not be as a gift for us? Science can’t establish that as fact. But let’s postulate that one of the Creators’ expressions of love was to create the universe for His creation – us. He knew that we would get great delight out of first gazing at the stars and planets, and then endeavouring to explore them. Just think what sense of adventure and wonder mixed with the mystery of the unknown our ancestors had in building ships to traverse the world’s oceans and in discovering new frontiers. This creation of the universe is just one expression of God’s love, and a big one at that! As technology advances in leaps and bounds we really only begin to see the immensity, wonderful order and breathtaking beauty within the universe. We are unwrapping a cosmic gift and the giver is our loving Creator. So as we come to see this gift in all its sparkling beauty we need to figure out how it works through science. But we must not forget it is a gift which has been given to us in love.

  The vastness of space is gigantic. Or Should I say mega-gigantic! Just take this concept: Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km/sec). Therefore a light year (the distance light travels in a year) is about 6 million million miles (9 million million km). When we compare the size of our Milky Way Galaxy of about 100,000 light-years in diameter, we see the immensity of this one galaxy among about 100 billion galaxies.

  So when we see a news item of a nebular that is 7,000 light years away, then it is in fact 6 million million x 7,000 = 42,000 million million miles away (using the calculation above) which is really mind blowing! What is also astonishing is what you learnt at school (I hope), that the universe is continuing to expand.

  There is another mind-blowing concept to remember; although the Nebula is 7,000 light years away we are observing something that is 7,000 light years in the past.

  Professor Emeritus Chet Raymo is the author of over twelve books on science and nature. He gives some stunning facts about the constellation Canes Venatici, or the Whirlpool Galaxy:

  Modern photographs show a dazzling double coil of tightly spiraling arms sprinkled with stars and streaked with dark lanes of dust. The Whirlpool Galaxy is 15 million light-years distant and contains at least 100 billion stars. It is very much like our own Milky Way Galaxy, from which it is receding at 340 miles per second as part of the general expansion of the universe. Tonight it will be 30 million miles farther away than last night.2

  Intricacies of the Big Bang The eminent physicist and author Stephen Hawking writes regarding the universe: ‘If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million the universe would have recollapsed before it even reached its present size.’3 Wow! Just think how precise the Big Bang actually had to be!

  As you reflect on your childhood moments of gazing at the stars with all its thrill and wonder, they seemed as endless as counting grains of sands on the beach. Astronomers have now estimated the number of stars in our galaxy: The Milky Way has about 200 - 700 billion stars. However this number could grow, as the ability to detect the very dimmest of stars (red dwarfs) improves.4 We can now comprehend even more the awesome splendour of our universe.

  Age of the Universe and the Earth Have you ever pondered the possible ages of the universe and the Earth? World famous astronomer Carl Sagan, author of Pale Blue Dot reveals the likely answers:

  Ages rolled by before the Earth began. More ages will run their courses before it is destroyed. A distinction needs to be drawn between how old the Earth is (around 4.5 billion years) and how old the Universe is (about 15 billion years since the Big Bang). The immense interval of time between the origin of the Universe and our epoch was two-thirds over before the Earth came to be.5

  Though the universe is said to be about 10-15 billion years old,6 Paul Davies testifies that it is hard to be precise and they are subject to different errors: ‘Even though modern telescopes have greatly increased the number of galaxies investigated, the expansion rate is still uncertain to within a factor of two, and is the subject of lively controversy.’7

  Neta A Bahcall, Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University studied the mass density of the universe. Through studies conducted over a decade Neta and her colleagues conclude that our universe has low mass – ‘as little as 20 percent of the minimum mass density required to eventually stop the universe expansion’.8

  Hang on a minute! So that means that there isn’t enough mass detected to even slow down the expansion of the universe. Therefore it gives what Aczel says is ‘strong indications that the universe will expand forever’.9

  But Neta was not alone in discovering this awesome secret. At the meeting of the American Astronomical Society, January 1998 a rival team of astronomers presented their findings using different methods of analysis.

  The Big Bang, exploded space into existence and reveals a first cause. It is even logical that such a Creator who created the universe did so as an expression of His love. One merely has to explore the grandeur of the universe with its estimated 100 billion galaxies and the beauty residing there, together with humanity being superior in intellect, creativity, sense of wonder, appreciation of beauty and seeking love and truth to know that is not a big leap to conclude that the universe was designed for our pleasure and our responsibility.

  Anthropic Principle The Anthropic Principle is the principle that the physical structure of the universe is precisely what it must be in order to support life. Using this principle,
theoretical physicist and mathematician, Freeman Dyson claims that an intelligent mind could be behind the functioning of the universe:

  Being a scientist, trained in the habits of thought and language of the 20th century rather than the 18th, I do not claim the architecture of the universe proves the existence of God. I claim only that the architecture of the universe is consistent with the hypothesis that mind plays an essential role in its functioning.10

  Incredible! Here is a scientist saying that the setup and processes of the universe are consistent with the possibility of mind, hence Intelligent Design is possibly playing an essential role. Therefore we can detect that a mind can be behind the functioning of creation. How could there be such an intelligible universe without a Creator?

  In Mere Creation, in the chapter Big Bang Model Refined by Fire, Astronomer and Astrophysicist, Hugh Ross describes 29 characteristics of the universe that must be fine-tuned for any kind of physical life to be possible. A couple of sources you can use are The Fingerprint of God (1989); and a more extensive list is in The Creator and the Cosmos (1995) – though I have used Hugh Ross’ contribution in Mere Creation. Firstly I will list only a proportion of the most fascinating ones, in order to give you a glimpse of the wonderful order that is in our universe:11

  ♦ Age of the universe – if older: no solar-type stars in a stable burning phase in the right part of the galaxy;

  if younger: solar-type stars in a stable burning phase would not yet have formed.

  ♦ Expansion rate of the universe – if larger: no galaxy formation; if smaller: universe collapses prior to star formation.

  ♦ Initial uniformity of radiation – if smoother: stars, star clusters and galaxies would not have formed;

  if coarser: universe by now would be mostly black holes and empty space.

  ♦ Gravitational force constant – if larger: stars would be too hot and would burn up quickly and unevenly;

  if smaller: stars would be so cool that nuclear fusion would not ignite, thus no heavy element production.

  ♦ Mass density of the universe – if larger: too much deuterium from Big Bang, hence stars burn too rapidly;

  if smaller: insufficient helium from Big Bang, hence too few heavy elements forming.

  ♦ Ratio of number of protons to number of electrons – if larger: electromagnetism dominates gravity preventing galaxy, star and planet formation;

  if smaller: electromagnetism dominates gravity preventing galaxy, star and planet formation.

  ♦ Number of effective dimensions in the early universe – if smaller: quantum mechanics, gravity and relativity could not coexist, and life would be impossible;

  if larger: quantum mechanics, gravity and relativity could not co-exist, and life would be impossible.

  ♦ Velocity of light – if larger: stars would be too luminous; if smaller: stars would not be luminous enough.

  Incredibly, there are another 45 characteristics which specifically relate to the fine tuning of our galaxy to support life. I have listed only 12 such characteristics:12

  ♦ Galaxy size – if too large: infusion of gas and stars would disturb sun’s orbit and ignite too many galactic eruptions; if too small: insufficient infusion of gas to sustain star formation for long enough time.

  ♦ Galaxy type – if too elliptical: star formation would cease before sufficient heavy element buildup for life chemistry; if too irregular: radiation exposure on occasion would be too severe and heavy elements for life chemistry would not be available.

  ♦ Galaxy location – if too close to a rich galaxy cluster: galaxy would be gravitationally disrupted;

  if too close to very large galaxy(ies): galaxy would be gravitationally disrupted.

  ♦ Jupiter mass – if greater: Earth’s orbit would become unstable;

  if less: too many asteroid and comet collisions would occur on Earth.

  ♦ Proximity of solar nebula to a supernova eruption – if farther: insufficient heavy elements for life would be absorbed; if closer: nebula would be blown apart.

  ♦ Parent star distance from center of galaxy – if farther: quantity of heavy elements would be too great; stellar density would disturb planetary orbits.

  ♦ Age [of planet e.g. Earth] – if too young: planet would rotate too rapidly;

  if too old: planet would rotate too slowly.

  ♦ Thickness of crust [i.e. Earth] – if thicker too much oxygen would be transferred from the atmosphere to the crust; if thinner: volcanic and tectonic activity would be too great.

  ♦ Asteroidal and cometary collision rate – if greater: too many species would become extinct;

  if less: crust would be too depleted of materials essential for life.

  ♦ Carbon dioxide level in atmosphere – if greater: runaway green house effect would develop;

  if less: plants would be unable to maintain efficient photosynthesis.

  ♦ Quantity of forest and grass fires – if too many: too much destruction of plant and animal life;

  if too few: not enough charcoal returned to soil, limiting biomass and diversity of life.

  ♦ Gravitational interaction with a moon – if greater: tidal effects on the oceans, atmosphere and rotational period would be too severe;

  if less: orbital obliquity changes would cause climatic instabilities; movement of nutrients and life from the oceans to the continents and vice versa would be insufficient; magnetic field would be too weak.

  The evidence builds for the universe to have been the product of design by an intelligent being. Meyer explains that even slight alterations in the values of the expansion rate of the universe, the strength of gravitational or electromagnetic attraction, or the value of Planck’s constant would have rendered life impossible. Physicists label these factors as anthropic principles because they make it possible for humans to exist. Meyer concludes: ‘Many physicists have noted that the fine tuning strongly suggests design by a preexistent intelligence.’13

  Sir Fred Hoyle admits that the evidence speaks for itself: A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.”14

  Is it absurd to conclude that someone has fine-tuned the universe so that complexity and precision could happen in our galaxy and universe? Isaac Newton explains that though planets can maintain their orbits due to the laws of gravity it doesn’t explain how they derived the first regular position of their orbit. He concludes: ’This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.’15

  As illustrated above, the Earth has a gravitational interaction with the moon. The moon affects the ocean tides and the Earth’s ocean tides ‘pull on the moon, causing it to speed up and spiral away from the Earth. These tides also slow the Earth’s rotation’.16

  Without the moon mankind would not have been able to keep track of the seasons, and so plantation and harvesting would have been like playing Russian Roulette:

  For example, during a new moon, when the moon is between the Earth and the sun, the moon and the sun pull on the oceans in the same direction and the tides are especially high. During a quarter moon (when one half of the moon’s face is visible), the gravitational forces act in different directions and partially cancel each other, leading to lower tides.17

  The Sun There are many characteristics of the universe that we owe our lives to. For example the sun is located 93 million miles from us and is a vital part of life; without it we would not exist! Sudden emissions of the sun have seriously impacted on our lives, such as a coronal mass ejection. On 13 March, 1989, the sun suddenly ejected ten billion tons of hot hydrogen gas toward the Earth. Three days later this huge mass struck the Earth’s magnetic field causing huge electrical currents to surge in the power lines of eastern Canada. Within seconds, transformers smoked and relays melted and the entire electric power grid of Quebec shut down.
Millions were left in darkness, longing for power to be restored.

  Scientists can only predict by a matter of days when such an occurrence is likely. Does not such an ejection show how vulnerable we really are?

  The Birth and Incredible Stamina of the Sun Astronomer Jack Zirker, in Journey from the Center of the Sun explains how the sun is believed to have been born from a huge interstellar cloud of molecular hydrogen gas about 5 billion years ago:

  The cloud slowly collapsed under its own gravity, spinning faster and faster as it shrank, much as a skater spins when she folds her arms. Gradually, a flat disk developed at the edges of the cloud, from which all the planets eventually formed. At the center of the cloud, the proto-sun continued to shrink, heating up as gravity compressed the gas. After several million years, thermonuclear processes ignited in the sun’s core and it began to shine as a real star. Theorists calculate that it has at least 5 billion years left before it runs out of fuel.18

  Moreover Zirker depicts the sun as having a mass that is a million times that of Earth’s. It also loses a ‘million tons a second in the form of sunlight and has been doing that with no perceptible shrinkage, for over four billion years!’19 Now that you have an inkling of the sun’s power, check out this intriguing statistic related to solar energy: ‘In one second the sun emits enough energy to supply the United States for four million years!’20

  Planets and Guardians Jupiter and Saturn are a couple of planets that are intrinsic to our existence and have been our cosmic defenders. They are so fundamental to our existence that they have actually saved our lives. It is believed that 65 million years ago a cosmic impact from cometary debris, including comets, destroyed the dinosaurs and most other species. Astronomer Ken Crosswell in Planet Quest illustrates such a cosmic impact closer to our time: