All Christian positions on creation (including Theistic Evolution) insist that Darwinian Evolution is incorrect—that is to say, regardless of how Genesis 1 is interpreted, there are significant reasons for believing that life could not possibly have evolved by sheer chance alone. Even if evolution were allowed as a mechanism for some aspects of creation, the weight of mind-boggling improbabilities stand against the idea that pure randomness could be responsible for the complex, ordered systems of life we see around us. As the Intelligent Design model suggests, the combination of complex order with the significant unlikeliness of biological life (a combination referred to as “specified complexity”) points strongly to the inference that this system was designed by a higher intelligence.
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How Modern Physics and Cosmology Unearthed One of the
Strongest Proofs for God
In the past half-century, physicists and cosmologists have
begun noticing one of the oddest attributes of our physical universe: the fact
that, if one were to predict probabilities for the values by which the universe
is structured, our universe comes out as being wildly unlikely. Specifically,
it appears that the values of physical constants are fine-tuned to an
extraordinary degree: precisely set at values that enable the universe to host
life. Any slight variation in any one of those values (and there’s no
scientific reason why they couldn’t be different) would result in a universe
dramatically hostile to life. These oddly fine-tuned values are known as
“anthropic coincidences.”
Quotes on the Anthropic Coincidences:
Discover magazine: “The universe is unlikely. Very unlikely.
Deeply, shockingly unlikely.”
“All the seemingly arbitrary and unrelated constants in
physics have one strange thing in common—these are precisely the values you
need if you want to have a universe capable of producing life.” – Patrick
Glynn, former skeptic
“I do not believe that any scientists who examined the
evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have
been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce.” –
Fred Hoyle, astrophysicist
“A common-sense and satisfying interpretation of our world
suggests the designing hand of a superintelligence.” – Harvard astronomer Owen
Gingerich
“Though man is not at the center of the physical universe,
he appears to be at the center of its purpose.” – Robert Augros and George
Stanciu, authors of The New Story of Science
“This kind of fine-tuning would be totally unexpected under
the theory that random chance was responsible. However, it’s not unexpected at
all under the hypothesis that there is a Grand Designer.” – Robin Collins,
physicist & philosopher
“The exquisite order displayed by our scientific
understanding of the physical world calls for the divine.” – Vera Kistiakowski,
MIT physicist
“As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently
arises that some supernatural agency must be involved. Is it possible that
suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof for the
existence of a Supreme Being?” – astronomer George Greenstein
“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…. The seemingly miraculous concurrence of
these numerical values must remain the most compelling evidence for cosmic
design…. Through my scientific work, I have come to believe more and more
strongly that the physical universe is put together with an ingenuity so
astonishing that I cannot accept it merely as a brute fact.” – Paul Davies,
physicist
Examples of Anthropic Coincidences:
- Fine-tuning of the gravitational constant: a miniscule shift
in this value would result in gravitational forces that would destroy life as we
know it. The combination of this fine-tuning probability with the one above is
about the same chance as correctly picking out, at random, one specific atom
from all the atoms in the entire universe.
- Fine-tuning of the original phase-space volume: this fine-tuning
is reckoned as “one part in ten billion multiplied by itself 123 times”—a
number impossible to write down in full, since it would require more zeroes
than the number of elementary particles that exist in the entire universe
(according to Oxford physicist Roger Penrose)
- Other examples include the value of the masses of protons
and neutrons, the strong nuclear force, the three-alpha process (by which
elements necessary for life are produced), the electromagnetic force, the
vacuum expectation of the Higgs field, the flatness of space, the number of
spatial dimensions, and many more. (Lists of anthropic coincidences tend to
number at least a dozen, and sometimes as many as a hundred specific
instances.)
Possible Scientific Rebuttals:
- Grand Unified Theory—perhaps there’s an as-yet-undiscovered
theory that binds all these values together and explains why they are the way
they are.
The trouble with this idea is that even if such a theory
were discovered, it simply pushes the startling improbability of the situation
one level higher: one would still be faced with the apparent design of the
universe.
- Weak Anthropic Principle—the fine-tuned values in our
universe really are not that remarkable, because if our universe had been
anything other than this remarkably unlikely one, we wouldn’t even be here to
notice it.
John Leslie had a memorable rebuttal to the Weak Anthropic
Principle: imagine that you had fifty expert marksmen facing you in a firing
squad, with all guns loaded and aiming at you from point-blank range. The guns
go off, and you find that you’re still alive!—the wildly unbelievable result
was that none of the bullets hit you! At this point, a skeptic comes by and
says, “It’s really not that remarkable that you weren’t hit, because if you had
been, you wouldn’t even be around to notice it.”
- Multiverse Theory—maybe there are actually many universes
out there, and ours is just one of a vast number (possibly infinite) of other
universes, each with different values. If that’s true, then the weak anthropic
principle makes sense—somebody has to end up living in the lucky universe, and
it happens to be us.
The main trouble here is that the multiverse idea is a true
leap of faith. It is something that can never be tested or verified, it can only
be believed (is it then a truly scientific idea?). For many skeptics, it’s just
a fanciful way of getting out of the obvious inference of cosmological
fine-tuning: they don’t want to admit that our universe looks very, very much
like it was designed by a superintelligence, so the only way to beat those
ridiculous probabilities is to invent enough alternate universes to make the
wild math even out.
As physicist Stephen Barr says, “In an effort to avoid the
hypothesis of God, scientific materialists are frequently driven to hypothesize
the existence of an infinity of unobservable entities…. It seems that to
abolish one unobservable God, it takes an infinite number of unobservable
substitutes.”
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A brief update for my faithful readers on some other notes: my PhD is nearing completion, and so I hope to be able to defend my doctoral dissertation by the end of the calendar year. I'm also working on a new book project which is currently in the review/approval stages with a publishing house, and if it gets picked up, it would appear sometime in 2023. I may also have a few pieces running in Christian magazines and websites in the coming months, and I'll post those links as they become available. Thanks and blessings!
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For our Thursday piece this week, I wanted to share this extended extract from the Romanian Orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae. It expresses, in terms that I find quite beautiful, the possibilities inherent in being formed into the image of Christ--of becoming what Staniloae calls, in the words of his tradition, a saint. I keep this quote near at hand, because I hold onto the (admittedly unlikely) hope that someday God might, by his grace, grow me into such a person as this. It's a rather high ideal, but a lovely one.
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"In the saint, there exists nothing that is trivial, nothing coarse, nothing base, nothing affected or fake, nothing insincere. In him is the culmination of delicacy, sensibility, transparency, purity, reverence, and attention before the mystery of his fellowmen […] The saint grasps the various conditions of the soul in others and avoids all that would upset them, although he does not avoid helping them overcome their weaknesses. He reads the least articulate need of others and fulfills it promptly, just as he reads their impurities also, however skillfully hidden, through the delicate power of his own purity, exercising upon them a purifying action. From the saint there continually radiates a spirit of self-giving and of sacrifice for the sake of all, with no concern for himself—a spirit that gives warmth to others and assures them that they are not alone. And yet there is no one more humble, more simple, less artificial, less theatrical or hypocritical, no one more natural in his behavior, accepting all that is truly human and creating an atmosphere that is pure and familiar. The saint has overcome any duality in himself […] He has overcome the struggle between soul and body, the divergence between good intentions and deeds that do not correspond to them, between deceptive appearance and hidden thoughts, between what claims to be the case and what is the case. He has become simple. Therefore, because he has surrendered himself entirely to God, that is why he can surrender himself entirely in communication with others. The saint always lends courage, and at times, through a humor marked by the same delicacy, he shrinks the delusions created by fears or pride or the passions. He smiles but does not laugh sarcastically, he is serious but not frightened, he finds value in the humblest persons, considering them to be great mysteries created by God and destined to eternal communion with him. Through humility the saint makes himself almost unobserved, but he appears when there is a need for consolation, for encouragement or help. For him no difficulty is insurmountable, because he believes firmly in the help of God, sought through prayer. He is the most human and humble of beings, yet at the same time of an appearance that is unusual and amazing, and gives rise in others to the sense of discovering in him, and in themselves too, what is truly human. He is a presence simultaneously most dear and, unintentionally, most impressive; the one who draws the most attention. For you he becomes the most intimate one of all, and the most understanding. You never feel more at ease than near him; yet at the same time he forces you into a corner and makes you see your moral inadequacies and failings. He overwhelms you with the simple greatness of his purity and with the warmth of his goodness and makes you ashamed of how far you have fallen away from what is truly human, of how far you have sunk in your impurity, artificiality, superficiality, and duplicity; for these appear in sharp relief in the comparisons you make unwillingly between yourself and him. He exercises no worldly power, he gives no harsh commands, but you feel in him an unyielding firmness in his convictions, his life, in the advice he gives. And so his opinion about what you should do, expressed by delicacy or a discreet look, becomes for you a command, and to fulfill that command, you find yourself capable of any effort or sacrifice. Whoever approaches a saint discovers in him the peak of goodness, purity, and spiritual power, covered over by the veil of humility. He is the illustration of the greatness and power of kenosis [Phil. 2:7]. From the saint there irradiates an imperturbable quiet or peace, and simultaneously a participation in the pain of others that reaches the point of tears. He is rooted in the loving and suffering stability of God’s incarnate Son Jesus, and rests in the eternity of the power and goodness of God."
