God—Gambler or Creator?
“THERE is no doubt that many scientists are opposed temperamentally to any form of metaphysical, let alone mystical arguments. They are scornful of the notion that there might exist a God, or even an impersonal creative principle . . . Personally I do not share their scorn.” Thus states Paul Davies, professor of mathematical physics at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, in his book The Mind of God.
Davies also says: “A careful study suggests that the laws of the universe are remarkably felicitous for the emergence of richness and variety. In the case of living organisms, their existence seems to depend on a number of fortuitous coincidences that some scientists and philosophers have hailed as nothing short of astonishing.”
He further states: “The scientific quest is a journey into the unknown. . . . But through it all runs the familiar thread of rationality and order. We shall see that this cosmic order is underpinned by definite mathematical laws that interweave each other to form a subtle and harmonious unity. The laws are possessed of an elegant simplicity.”
Davies concludes by saying: “Just why Homo sapiens should carry the spark of rationality that provides the key to the universe, is a deep enigma. . . . I cannot believe that our existence in this universe is a mere quirk of fate, an accident of history, an incidental blip in the great cosmic drama. Our involvement is too intimate. . . . We are truly meant to be here.” However, Davies does not come to the conclusion that there is a Designer, a God. But what conclusion do you reach? Was mankind meant to be here? If so, who meant for us to be here?
Keys to the “Enigma”
In the Bible the apostle Paul offers a clue to understanding what Davies calls “a deep enigma.” Paul shows how God has revealed himself: “Because what may be known about God is manifest among them [“men who are suppressing the truth”], for God made it manifest to them. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.” (Romans 1:18-20)a Yes, the endless variety of life forms, their incredible complexity, their exquisite design, should lead a humble, reverent person to recognize that there is a supreme power, intelligence, or mind vastly superior to anything that man has ever known.—Psalm 8:3, 4.
Paul’s further words regarding those who reject God give one pause for thought: “Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish . . . , even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:22, 25) Those who venerate “nature” and reject God are certainly not wise from Jehovah’s viewpoint. Bogged down in the morass of conflicting evolutionary theories, they fail to recognize the Creator and the intricacy and design of his creation.
“Monstrous Series of Accidents”
Paul also wrote: “Without faith it is impossible to please him [God] well, for he that approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Faith based on accurate knowledge, not credulity, can lead us to an understanding of why we exist. (Colossians 1:9, 10) Surely, credulity is involved when some scientists would have us believe that life exists because it is “as if we had won a million-dollar lottery a million times in a row.”
British scientist Fred Hoyle theorized that nuclear reactions that led to the formation of two elements essential to life, carbon and oxygen, produced a balanced relative amount of these elements only because of a fortunate accident.
He gives another example: “If the combined masses of the proton and electron were suddenly to become a little more rather than a little less than the mass of the neutron, the effect would be devastating. . . . Throughout the Universe all the hydrogen atoms would immediately break down to form neutrons and neutrinos. Robbed of its nuclear fuel, the Sun would fade and collapse.” The same would be true of the billions of other stars in the universe.
Hoyle concluded: “The list of . . . apparent accidents of a non-biological nature without which carbon-based and hence human life could not exist, is large and impressive.” He says: “Such properties [essential to life] seem to run through the fabric of the natural world like a thread of happy accidents. But there are so many of these odd coincidences essential to life that some explanation seems required to account for them.”—Italics ours.
He also stated: “The problem is to decide whether these apparently coincidental tunings are really accidental or not, and therefore whether or not life is accidental. No scientist likes to ask such a question, but it has to be asked for all that. Could it be that the tunings are intelligently deliberate?”
Paul Davies writes: “Hoyle was so impressed by this ‘monstrous series of accidents,’ he was prompted to comment that it was as if ‘the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside the stars.’” Who or what is responsible for this “monstrous series of [fortunate] accidents”? Who or what produced this speck of a planet, teeming with an almost endless variety of millions of exquisitely formed plants and creatures?
The Bible’s Answer
The psalmist wrote reverently some three thousand years ago: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions. As for this sea so great and wide, there there are moving things without number, living creatures, small as well as great.”—Psalm 104:24, 25.
The apostle John said: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) Life is not the result of blind chance, of some cosmic lottery that happened to churn out winners for millions of life forms.
The simple truth is that God “created all things, and because of [his] will they existed and were created.” Jesus Christ himself said to the Pharisees: “Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” Jesus knew the Creator! As Jehovah’s Master Worker, he had been alongside Him during creation.—Matthew 19:4; Proverbs 8:22-31.
However, it requires faith and humility to perceive and accept this basic truth about the Creator. This faith is not blind credulity. It is based on tangible, visible evidence. Yes, “[God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward.”—Romans 1:20.
With our present limited scientific knowledge, we cannot explain how God created. Therefore, we should acknowledge that at present we cannot know or understand everything about the origin of life. We are reminded of this when we read Jehovah’s words: “The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isaiah 55:8, 9.
The choice is yours: either credulous belief in blind and fortuitous evolution, the numberless gambles that supposedly paid off, or faith in the Purposer-Creator-Designer, Jehovah God. The inspired prophet rightly said: “Jehovah, the Creator of the extremities of the earth, is a God to time indefinite. He does not tire out or grow weary. There is no searching out of his understanding.”—Isaiah 40:28.
So, what will you believe? Your decision will make a big difference in your future life prospects. If evolution were true, then death would mean total oblivion, in spite of the specious arguments of labyrinthine Catholic theology, which attempts to introduce the “soul” into evolution.b Man has no immortal soul to soften the inevitable blow of mortality.—Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 18:4, 20.
If we accept that the Bible is true and that the living God is the Creator, then there is the promise of the resurrection to eternal life, perfect life, on an earth restored to its original state of balance and harmony. (John 5:28, 29) Where will you put your faith? In the unbelievable gamble of Darwin’s evolution theory? Or in the Creator, who has acted with purpose and continues to do so?c
[Footnotes]
a “Ever since God created the world his everlasting power and deity—however invisible—have been there for the mind to see in the things he has made.”—Romans 1:20, Jerusalem Bible.
b See “Watching the World,” page 28, “Pope Reaffirms Evolution.”
c For a detailed discussion of the matter, see the book Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation?, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
[Blurb on page 14]
Some evolutionists, in effect, say that our existence on earth is “as if we had won a million-dollar lottery a million times in a row.”
[Box/Picture on page 15]
Endless Variety and Design
Insects “Scientists discover from 7,000 to 10,000 new species of insects every year,” states The World Book Encyclopedia. Yet, “there may be from 1 million to 10 million species still undiscovered.” The French newspaper Le Monde, as quoted in the Guardian Weekly, in an article by Catherine Vincent, speaks of the species that have been documented as a “pathetically small number compared with the actual number . . . put at anything between 5 and, incredibly, 50 million.”
Think of the world of amazing insects—bees, ants, wasps, butterflies, cockroaches, ladybugs, fireflies, termites, moths, houseflies, dragonflies, mosquitoes, silverfish, grasshoppers, lice, crickets, fleas—just to begin with! The list seems endless.
Birds What can we say about a bird that weighs less than an ounce [14 g]? “Picture it migrating more than 10,000 miles [16,000 km] a year from Alaska’s tree line to the rain forests of South America and back, skimming wooded peaks, skirting urban skyscrapers, and crossing vast stretches of open water in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.” Which incredible bird is this? “The blackpoll warbler [Dendroica striata], a dynamo whose traveling prowess is virtually unrivaled among North America’s land birds.” (Book of North American Birds) Again we ask: Is this the result of myriads of quirks of nature that just happened to come out right? Or is it a wonder of intelligent design?
Add to these examples the birds that have a seemingly endless repertoire of songs: the nightingale, known throughout Europe and parts of Africa and Asia for its delightful calls; the northern mockingbird of North America, a bird that is “a skillful mimic and incorporates memorized phrases as part of its song”; the superb lyrebird of Australia, with its “highly developed song, with elements of astonishingly clever mimicry.”—Birds of the World.
In addition, the perfection of the colors and the wing and feather design of so many birds leaves one gasping in amazement. Add to this their skills at weaving and making nests, whether on the ground, in cliff faces, or in trees. Such innate intelligence has to impress the humble mind. How did they come to exist? By chance or by design?
The Human Brain “There may be from ten trillion to one hundred trillion synapses in the brain, and each one operates as a tiny calculator that tallies signals arriving as electrical impulses.” (The Brain) We tend to take the brain for granted, yet it is an intricate universe contained and protected in the cranium. How did we come to have this organ that allows humans to think, to reason, and to speak thousands of languages? Through millions of lucky gambles? Or by intelligent design?
[Diagram on page 16, 17]
Simplified Diagram of Brain Exterior
Sensory cortex
Analyzes sensory impulses from entire body
Occipital lobe
Processes visual signals
Cerebellum
Controls balance and coordination
Premotor cortex
Controls muscular coordination
Motor cortex
Helps control conscious movement
Frontal lobe
Helps control reasoning, emotions, speech, movement
Temporal lobe
Processes sound; controls aspects of learning, memory, language, emotions
[Diagram on page 16]
Axon terminal
Neurotransmitters
Dendrite
Synapse
[Diagram on page 16, 17]
Neuron
Dendrites
Axon
Dendrites
Synapse
Neuron
Axon
“There may be from ten trillion to one hundred trillion synapses in the brain, and each one operates as a tiny calculator that tallies signals arriving as electrical impulses.”—THE BRAIN
[Picture Credit Line on page 13]
Moon and planets: NASA photo