"THE CASE FOR CREATION" The Scientific Case For Creation by Mark Copeland

 

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"THE CASE FOR CREATION"

The Scientific Case For Creation

INTRODUCTION

1. In this series, we are examining several basic questions...
1. Where did life come from? How did it all begin?
2. Is matter eternal, with life evolving through purely natural processes?
3. Is matter not eternal, with life created by a supernatural force?
2. Thus far we have considered...
1. The Biblical Case For Creation
2. The Philosophical Case For Creation
3. Now we shall consider The Scientific Case For Creation...
1. Based on the evidence of intelligent design
2. Which argues that evidence of design points to a creator

[Lee Strobel in "The Case For A Creator" offers a cumulative case for creation, beginning with...]

1. THE EVIDENCE OF COSMOLOGY
1. THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING...
1. Scientific discoveries in the past 50 years confirm the universe had a beginning
2. The universe is expanding in outward directions, suggesting one point of origin
-- Every indication is that the universe began at some point
2. HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN...?
1. Many scientists subscribe to the "Big Bang" theory
2. "Almost everyone now believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the Big Bang." - Stephen Hawkins
3. But no one has been able to explain the cause of the "Big Bang" itself
1. Some have speculated of multiple universes being formed ad infinitum
2. But there is no evidence for such multiple universes
4. Both scientist and Christian depend on faith to explain the beginning of the universe
-- God as described in the Bible is certainly a sufficient First Cause

[From the cosmos we turn our attention closer to home, where we discover...]

2. THE EVIDENCE OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
1. THE FINE-TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE...
1. More than thirty separate parameters require precise calibration to produce a life-sustaining planet - Robert Collins, physicist-philosopher
2. "If you change a little bit the laws of nature, or you change a little bit the constants of nature -- like the charge on the electron -- then the way the universe develops is so changed, it is very likely that intelligent life would not have been able to develop." - Dr. Dennis Scania, head of Cambridge University Observatories
3. "If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all." - Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, Oxford University
4. "The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural 'constants' were off even slightly. - Dr. Paul Davies, professor of theoretical physics at Adelaide University
5. This "fine-tuning" is so pronounced, many scientists have come to espouse "The Anthropic Principle," which contends that the universe was brought into existence intentionally for the sake of producing mankind
-- The possibility that life exists based on random chance alone is astronomical!
2. SUGGESTING INTELLIGENT DESIGN...
1. "The fine-tuning of the physical laws and constants of the universe and the precise configuration of its initial conditions...suggest the need for a cause that's intelligent." - Stephen C. Meyer, Science philosopher
2. "It is hard to resist the impression that the present structure of the universe, apparently so sensitive to minor alterations in numbers, has been rather carefully thought out..." - Paul Davies, physicist
3. "The seemingly miraculous concurrence of these numerical values must remain the most compelling evidence for cosmic design." - ibid.
4. "It is quite easy to understand why so many scientists have changed their minds in the past thirty years, agreeing that the universe cannot reasonably be explained as a cosmic accident." - Walter Bradley, scientist
5. "Evidence for an intelligent designer becomes more compelling the more we understand our carefully crafted habitat." - ibid.
6. "If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence." - John A. O'Keefe, Harvard-educated astrophysicist of NASA
7. "It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in." - ibid.
-- The evidence for intelligent design in physics and astronomy is overwhelming!

[From the fine-tuning of the universe and conditions required for life on this planet, we turn our focus to smallest of cells and...]

3. THE EVIDENCE OF BIOCHEMISTRY
1. THE AMAZING MOLECULAR MACHINES...
1. Such as the simple cell
1. "Most scientists speculated that the deeper they delved into the cell, the more simplicity they would find. But the opposite happened." - Michael Behe, biochemist
2. "We have always underestimated the cell...The entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large protein machines." - Bruce Alberts, president, National Academy of Sciences
2. Such as the bacterial flagellum
1. "A flagellum is on the order of a couple of microns. A micron is about 1/20,000 of an inch. Most of its length is the propeller. The motor itself would be maybe 1/100,000ths of an inch." - Behe, ibid.
2. "The flagellum's propeller can spin at 10,000 rpm...can stop spinning within a quarter turn and instantly start spinning the other way at 10,000 rpm." - ibid.
3. "The most efficient machine in the universe" - Howard Berg of Harvard
-- Such complexity at the molecular level cannot be explained by the theory of evolution
2. IMPLICATING INTELLIGENT DESIGN...
1. "If the creation of a simple device (like a mouse trap) requires intelligent design, then we have to ask, 'What about the finely tuned machines of the cellular world?' - Behe, ibid.
2. "If evolution can't adequately explain them, then scientists should be free to consider other alternatives." - ibid.
3. "Right now, there's only one principle that we know can come up with complex interactive systems, and that's intelligence." - ibid.
-- The evidence for intelligent design in biochemistry is mind-boggling!

[The amazing complexity of the cell is made possible because of the instructions found in its DNA, which leads us to...]

4. THE EVIDENCE OF BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION
1. THE COMPLEXITY OF DNA...
1. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules - Wikipedia
2. "An organism accesses the information that it needs from DNA so it can build some of its critical components." - Meyer, ibid.
3. "DNA is like a software program, only much more complex than anything we've ever designed." - Bill Gates, Microsoft
4. "Human DNA contains more organized information than the Encyclopedia Britannica." - Georg Sim Johnson, Did Darwin Get It Right?
5. "If the full text of the encyclopedia were to arrive in computer code from outer space, most people would regard this as proof of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence." - ibid.
6. "But when seen in nature, it is explained as the workings of random forces." - ibid.
-- The sequential and logical nature of DNA makes random forces highly unlikely
2. INDICATING INTELLIGENT DESIGN...
1. "Whenever you find a sequential arrangement that's complex and corresponds to an independent pattern or functional requirement, this kind of information is always the product of intelligence." - Meyer, ibid.
2. "The origin of information in DNA - which is necessary for life to begin - is best explained by an intelligent cause rather than any of the types of naturalistic causes that scientists typically use to explain biological phenomena." - ibid.
3. "This new realm of molecular genetics is where we see the most compelling evidence of design on the earth." - Dean Kenyon, biology professor
4. "An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going." - Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner
-- The evidence of intelligent design is found in the smallest building blocks of life!

CONCLUSION

1. In this brief presentation of "The Scientific Case For Creation", we have touched on...
1. The evidence of cosmology
2. The evidence of physics and astronomy
3. The evidence of biochemistry
4. The evidence of biological information
-- All of which point toward creation by an intelligent designer
2. As our scientific knowledge increases, so does evidence for creation by an intelligent designer...
1. "Ironically, the picture of the universe bequeathed to us by the most advanced twentieth-century science is closer in spirit to the vision presented in...Genesis than anything offered by science since Copernicus." - Patrick Glynn, former atheist and author of God: The Evidence
2. "It now seems to me that the findings of more than fifty years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design." - Anthony Flew, philosopher and former atheist Note: Much of the material in this lesson comes from "The Case For A Creator" by Lee Strobel, which describes his own spiritual journey from atheist to believer.

Perhaps it would thus be fitting to conclude with this quotation:

"One of the most interesting things I've learned as I've gone on this journey of scientific discovery has been that you don't have to commit intellectual suicide to acknowledge the existence of an Intelligent Designer, because today science is pointing more directly toward a Creator than at any time in the history of the world." - Lee Strobel

Confirming what the Bible revealed thousands of years ago...

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge. - Psalms 19:1-2

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. - Romans 1:20

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. - Hebrews 11:3

Our next study we will consider...

"The Historical Case For Creation"

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2022