https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=2450
Conveniently Redefining Design
According to the General Theory of Evolution, about 14 billion years
ago “all the matter in the universe was concentrated into one very
dense, very hot region that may have been much smaller than a period on
this page. For some unknown reason, this region exploded” (Hurd, et al.,
p. 61). As a result of the alleged explosion of a period-sized ball of
matter, billions of galaxies formed, and eventually planets such as
Earth evolved. Supposedly, the evolution of galaxies, and every planet,
moon, and star within these galaxies, all came about by non-purposeful,
unintelligent accidents. Likewise, every life form that eventually
appeared on Earth purportedly evolved by mindless, random chances over
millions of years. Some life forms “just happened” to evolve the ability
to reproduce asexually, while others “just happened” to develop the
capability to reproduce sexually. Some life forms “just happened” to
evolve the ability to walk along vertical ledges (e.g., the gecko),
while others “just happened” to evolve the “gift” of glowing (e.g., glow
worms). Some life forms “just happened” to evolve the ability to make
silk (e.g., spiders), which pound for pound is stronger than steel,
while others “just happened” to evolve the ability to “turn 90 degrees
in under 50 milliseconds” while flying in a straight line (e.g., the
blowfly; Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:82). Allegedly, everything has come into
existence by random chances over billions of years. According to the
General Theory of Evolution, there was no Mind, no Intelligence, and no
Designer that created the Universe and everything in it.
Ironically, though atheistic evolutionary scientists insist that the
Earth and all living things on it have no grand, intelligent Designer,
these same scientists consistently refer to amazing “
design” in nature. Consider an example of such paradoxical language in a recent
National Geographic
article titled, “Biomimetics: Design by Nature” (Mueller, 2008). The
word “design” (or one of its derivatives—designs, designed, etc.)
appeared no less than seven times in the article in reference to
“nature’s designs.” Evolutionary biologist Andrew Parker spoke of his
collection of preserved animals as “a treasure-trove of
brilliant design” (Mueller, 2008, p. 75, emp. added). After interviewing Parker,
National Geographic writer Tom Mueller noted how the capillaries between the scales of a thorny devil lizard are “evidently
designed to guide water toward the lizard’s mouth” (p. 81, emp. added). He then explained how “[i]nsects offer an embarrassment of
design riches”
(p. 75, emp. added). Mueller referred to nature’s “sophistication” and
“clever devices” (p. 79), and praised nature for being able to turn
simple materials “into structures of fantastic complexity, strength, and
toughness” (p. 79). After learning of the uncanny, complicated
maneuverability of a little blowfly, Mueller even confessed to feeling
the need to regard the insect “on bended knee in admiration” (p. 82).
Why? Because of its “mysterious” and “complicated”
design.
Brilliant and well-funded scientists around the world admit that living
things perform many feats “too mysterious and complicated to be able to
replicate.” They are “designed,” allegedly, with no “Designer.”
But how can you get design without purpose, intelligence, and deliberate planning? The first three definitions the
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives for “design” (noun) are as follows: “1a
:a particular
purpose held in view by
an individual or group...b
:deliberate purposive planning... 2
:a mental project or scheme in which means to an end are laid down; 3a
:a
deliberate
undercover project or scheme” (2008, emp. added). After defining
“design” as a drawing, sketch, or “graphic representation of a
detailed plan...,” the
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language noted that design may be defined as “[t]he
purposeful or inventive arrangement
of parts or details” (2000, p. 492, emp. added). A design is preceded
by “deliberate purposive planning,” “a detailed plan,” or an “inventive
arrangement.” A design is the effect, not of time, chance, and
unintelligent, random accidents, but of the purposeful planning and
deliberate actions of an inventor or designer. A designer causes a
design to come into existence. Thus, by definition, design demands a
designer, and one with some measure of intelligence.
Whereas
National Geographic highlights the field of biomimetics and encourages readers to “learn from what
evolution has wrought”
(Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:75, emp. added), mankind would do better to
mimic the actions of a noble inventor/designer from the mid-1800s.
Samuel Morse, who invented the telegraph system and Morse Code, sent the
very first telegraph from Washington, D.C. to
Baltimore, Maryland on May 24, 1844 (“Today...,” 2007). His message
consisted of a brief quotation from Numbers 23:23: “What hath
God wrought!”
(emp. added). Samuel Morse unashamedly testified to what everyone
should understand: design demands a designer. Morse’s code and the
telegraph system were the immediate effects of a designer: Samuel Morse.
But, the Grand Designer, Who created Morse and every material thing
that Morse used to invent his telegraph system, is God. Morse recognized
this marvelous, self-evident truth.
National Geographic purports that nature “blindly cobbles
together myriad random experiments over thousands of generations” in
order to produce complex, living organisms that the world’s “top
scientists have yet to comprehend” (Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:90). We, on
the other hand, choose to believe that, just as a painting demands a
painter, and a poem a poet, the world’s amazing designs, which
continually stump the most intelligent scientists on Earth, demand an
intelligent Designer.
REFERENCES
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin), fourth edition.
Hurd, Dean, George Mathias, and Susan Johnson, eds. (1992),
General Science:
A Voyage of Discovery (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2008), [On-line], URL: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary.
Mueller, Tom (2008), “Biomimetics: Design by Nature,”
National Geographic, 213[4]:68-91, April.
“Today in History: May 24” (2007),
The Library of Congress, [On-line], URL: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may24.html.
