The fine tuning argument

The fine-tuning argument

     Atheists often hide behind a false pretense of what they call science (1Tim 6:20). They demand that Christians provide “proof” of God. The first response of Bible-believing Christians to this should be to ask what they mean by proof. If they mean conclusive and irrefutable proof that will satisfy their demand and force them to confront the reality of God and the validity of the Bible, and thus change their worldview, then there will never be enough proof. There are many reasons for this, and none of them has to do with whether or not there is substantial and reliable evidence both within and without the Bible. It has to do with them being guilty of the very thing they accuse Christians of – inventing rescuing devices so they can reject the evidence and in their minds save their worldview. Those that say there is no God cannot prove He does not exist. In logic and debate, you cannot prove a negative. One simple illustration of this is asking the atheist if they know everything there is to know. If they don’t, which of course no man does, then how do they know that the knowledge of God is not in the information they don’t know? The problem is not that God has not provided enough evidence of His existence. It is that they refuse to acknowledge it (Rom 1:20, 2Pet 3:3-9). The problem is that their chosen worldview excludes God. When confronted with evidence, they often resort to ad hominem attacks on God Himself and His representatives. This was clearly on display when Ken Ham debated Bill Nye.

     The famous atheist Bertrand Russell was asked a question along the lines of Pascal’s wager. If God exists, what would he say to Him after he died and was before Him? His reply was that he would ask God why He took such pains to hide himself. God has not taken pains to hide Himself. He has taken great pains to reveal Himself, especially manifesting Himself in the flesh and freely giving the humanity He revealed Himself in to die a brutal death to satisfy His justice against our sin (Jn 1:1-4, Jn 14:7-11, 2Cor 5:19, Col 1:16, Col 2:9, 1Tim 3:16). The problem all along has been man hiding himself from God through sin and denial. When God asked Adam where he was (Gen 3:9), it was not because Adam had found such a clever hiding place that even God could not find him. The Lord was giving him a chance to confess and repent of what He already knew he had done. One generation later, God asked Cain where his brother Abel was (Gen 4:9). Again, this was not God asking for information He lacked. He was giving Cain a chance to voluntarily confess. When Judas led Christ’s enemies to His garden prayer retreat, Jesus called him His friend and asked him why he had come (Mt 26:50). Jesus knew all along that Judas was going to betray him (Jn 6:64).

     “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Rom 1:20).” The creation testifies to its own design and thus its designer. However, when people reject this innate knowledge, it sends them down a dark spiral (Rom 1:19-32). We can only deny our own conscience for so long without damaging it (Rom 2, Eph 4:17-19, 1Tim 4:1-3). God has given every man the measure of faith (Rom 12:3), but He has also created man in His image, which includes the ability to make moral choices (Deut 30:11-20, Josh 24:15). There are several lines of inquiry into the evidence for the existence of God revealed through His creation:

     1. The teleological argument – evidence of design is evidence of a designer

     2. The ontological argument – since there is existence, it must follow that there is a

supremely great Being

     3. The cosmological argument – also called the Kalam Cosmological argument. Since every

         effect has a cause, there must be an uncaused first cause. Since the universe had a

         beginning, someone or something brought it into being.

     4. The moral argument – morals must come from God to be objective

     5. The legal argument – laws of nature, laws of logic, and laws of mathematics point to God.

     6. The argument from evil – atheists think they are throwing an impossible wrench into belief

         in God by asking, “If God is loving, why is there evil?” This is not a problem at all for

         Christians. The problem is for the atheist. First, who defines good and evil (Gen 3:5)?

         Second, how do atheists explain it. The Biblical explanation is very easy and simple. God

         created a perfect world, and man’s sin brought evil into it. God loves us enough to send

         adversity to turn us back to Him and to develop our character. Also, God’s holiness

         supersedes His love in the sense that He does not love sin. Sometimes evil is the result of

         sin generally. Sometimes it is the result of sin specifically whether our own or someone

         else’s. Herein is the pride and hypocrisy of the atheist revealed. They complain about Christians being judgmental and demanding freedom from judgment while judging God. The Bible does not say to never evaluate anything. Jesus said to judge righteous judgment (Jn 7:24). This means to use God’s objective criteria as expressed in the Bible, and not man’s subjective measure. The other issue is judging hypocritically (Mt 7:1-5, Rom 2:1-11). Everyone makes judgments and evaluations all the time. The very people making this argument are doing it.

     There is much to be said about each one of these arguments, but this article will focus on what is called the fine-tuning argument or the teleological argument. The universe, the solar system, the earth, and our bodies even to the subatomic level are full of examples of fine tuning. They are fine tuned to such precision that if the parameters were off by the tiniest margin, there would be no life. There are basically two views on this. The deniers want us to believe that all of this precision just happened to be this way. They say it is all random and unguided, despite the mathematical impossibility of such a position. Nobody looks at a book and supposes that the ink, the paper, and the cover just randomly came together and there was no author, printer, or publisher. The odds of that happening are much higher than what see in nature. Yet the deniers say that Christians are the ones believing in a fantastical fiction. Here are just a few examples of fine tuning:

     1. The weight of a neutron must be exactly what it is. If it is 0.1% different, there would be no

         atoms, no stars, and no life.

     2. Ice floats in its own liquid (water). If it didn’t the whole earth would be frozen over and

         without life.

     3. The sun is 400 times bigger than the moon but also 400 times further away. This is why

         eclipses happen.

     4. If the moon was slightly closer to the earth, the tides would cover the earth twice a day. If

         it was a little further away, there would be no tides at all.

     5. The earth’s place in the solar system is exactly where it needs to be for life. If it was a little

         closer, the earth would be burned up. If it was a little farther, it would be a frozen, barren

         wasteland like the further planets. This is called the Goldilocks region.

     6. The earth’s place in the galaxy is exactly where it needs to be for life (about 26,000 light

          years from the center). If it was closer to the center, the chaos and gamma radiation would

          destroy all life. If it was a little further, we would be in a spiral arm too close to other stars

          for there to be just the right stability and chemicals for life.

     7. The fine structure constant, also called the Sommerfield constant, is expressed as 1 over

         137. It is the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between particles. Physicists find  

         this constant everywhere they look but they have no explanation for why it exists exactly

         the way it does. One scientist, Wolfgang Pauli, spent decades trying to understand it

         without success. He fell ill and was taken to the hospital, where he died in room 137.

         Renowned Physicist Richard Feynman said this about it, “There is a most profound and

         beautiful question associated with the observed coupling constant, e – the amplitude for a

         real electron to emit or absorb a real photon. It is a simple number that has been

         experimentally determined to be close to 0.08542455. (My physicist friends won't

         recognize this number, because they like to remember it as the inverse of its square: about

         137.03597 with an uncertainty of about 2 in the last decimal place. It has been a mystery

         ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago, and all good theoretical physicists

         put this number up on their wall and worry about it.) Immediately you would like to know

         where this number for a coupling comes from: is it related to pi or perhaps to the base of

         natural logarithms? Nobody knows. It's one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a

         magic number that comes to us with no understanding by humans. You might say the "hand

         of God" wrote that number, and "we don't know how He pushed His pencil." We know

         what kind of a dance to do experimentally to measure this number very accurately, but we

         don't know what kind of dance to do on the computer to make this number come out –

         without putting it in secretly!”

     8. There is more matter than antimatter, which is essential for existence; but the big bang

          theory says there should be equal amounts.

     9. The cosmological constant, expressed by lambda which is the 11th letter of the Greek

         alphabet, is how astrophysicists make their equations for the expansion rate of the

universe work. It is described as the energy in space, which shows it is not “empty”. The

first predictions of it were way off, at least partly because of the faulty understanding of the

         universe they were using. If this constant was off by as little as 1 x 10 to the 60th to 120th

         power, the universe would not be expanding the way it is.

     10. The Fibonacci sequence is a is a mathematical sequence in which each element is the

sum of the two elements that precede it. This sequence is all over mathematics and

nature. You can see it in flowers, plants, tree branches, leaves, nautilus and snail shells,

galaxies, spiders’ webs, honeycombs, hurricanes, ocean waves, and all over the human

body as famously depicted in Leonardo DaVinci’s drawing called the Vitruvian man. The

human face and ears are just two examples.

     11. Mathematics

        a. They are the same everywhere in the universe.

        b. They are laws which are immaterial, yet they are also material when written.

        c. They show patterns all over nature.

        d. The impossible mathematical odds of randomness:

           1. The odds of just one protein forming by chance is 1 in 10 to the 450th power.

           2. The odds of the proteins in the DNA of the smallest self-replicating organism

               coming together in the right place in the right way are 1 in 10 to the 167,626th

               power.

           3. The odds of the enzymes in one organism evolving is 1 in 10 to the 40,000th

               power.

           4. The odds of the jump from non-living to living are 1 in 10 to the 123,129,345th

               power.

        e. Fractals or the Mandelbrot set show us an unending pattern in mathematics. Animated

            computer simulations showing this pattern keep zooming into it visibly without ever

            arriving at an endpoint.

     12. Gravity has to be exactly what it is. If it became a little less, we would all float into space

            and die. If it were slightly more, it would crush us. This exact amount is also necessary

            on the astronomical level.

     13. DNA is the most efficient system for the storage and transmission of information known

           to man. It even has built in repair systems. Information only comes from an intelligent

           source, and it has to coded in such a way by the sender that the receiver can understand it

           and use it. Genetic mutations are always a loss of information, never an increase. They

           almost always result in a decrease in functionality, which is the opposite of evolution.

           Atheists have no scientific explanation for how simple organisms evolve into more

           complex ones. This requires an increase of genetic information. Where does that

           information come from, and how does it get perfectly inserted into the DNA to advance a

           beneficial mutation, and how that change get locked in forever? Believe it or not, some

           say aliens brought it. First of all, there has yet to be any concrete evidence of aliens.

           Second, this would mean that aliens would have to make the trip to earth millions of times

           at exactly the right time with the exact genetic information needed for the next step of

           evolution. This is obviously unscientific and absurd. Third, there are limits to variation

           within a kind as described in Genesis chapter 1, which has the phrase “after his kind” ten

           times. There are many variations in dogs and cats, but you can’t get a dog from a cat.

     14. The complex structure of the atom shows a level of design at such a small scale that it is

           miraculous. In Darwin’s time the idea of the atom was new and primitive. He said himself

           that if the atom proved to be more complex than what was though at the time, his whole

           proposal would collapse. There are entire precisely designed factories with many

           individual machines all working in perfect harmony to sustain life.

     15. The laws of nature

        a. Biogenesis says life can only come from other life. Who or what was the original source?

        b. The first law of thermodynamics says that matter and energy can only change form. They

            are not annihilated. Who or what is the original source of matter and energy?

        c. The second law of thermodynamics, also called entropy, says that things tend to wear out

             and break down. This is the opposite of evolution.

        d. The law of information says it only comes from intelligence. Who or what is the original

             source?

        e. Irreducible complexity shows that throughout nature we see integrated, complex systems

            that depend on each other. They must all exist together with their functionality as it is. If

            you remove one part, the whole system collapses. Evolution cannot account for this.

        f. The law of probability says that when the mathematical likelihood of something

             happening get too far out there, it is essentially zero. There is no mathematical likelihood

             that the universe created itself out of nothing, organized itself in such a precise way over

             a vast multitude of systems to allow for life, and continues to sustain it on its own.

             Notice how evolutionists substitute God with the universe, such as “the universe says”,

             the “universe knows”, or “the universe does”. If the universe is just material, random,

             and unguided, and not a living thing in the normal sense, how does it say, know, or

             intentionally do anything? They have not done away with belief in a God. They have

             merely substituted the real God with a manufactured one.

     16. Biology

        a. Similarities are the result of a common designer, not a common ancestor.

        b. Differences in kind cannot be overcome by mutations. The genetic differences between

            man and apes is much more significant than some let on.

     17. The teleological argument says purpose shows design. It is impossible to assert

           scientifically that nothing in nature shows any purpose.

     18. Logic is not relying on human intellect outside of God. It is the set of laws that govern the

           pursuit of truth. Without them, we cannot really know anything for certain. The very fact

           that there are laws governing it shows us that truth is not arbitrary or subjective.

     19. The law of cause and effect, also called the Kalam cosmological argument, says that since

           the universe had a beginning, there is an uncaused first cause. Time, matter and energy

           had to come into existence together all at once. Therefore, their source must be eternal,

           immaterial, and all powerful – God. If the universe is eternal and had no beginning, today

           would never come. Eternity by definition is without measure, as is infinity, whether in

           mathematics or space, as well as in time. Time is a measurement.

     Maybe the reason some scientists have no explanation for many things such as those above is because they have excluded all supernatural possibilities because of their chosen materialistic worldview. They find this view necessary to uphold their atheism. However, their view has everything backwards. The invisible, immaterial, and supernatural came first and produced the visible, material, and natural (Heb 11:3). Their own theory demands materialism, but instead of attributing the source to the invisible, immaterial, supernatural God, they attribute it to nothing, which is scientifically impossible. Thus, the foundation of their worldview and faith is literally built on nothing. They deny religion, but they actually have a religion. A religion is a system of beliefs. The Bible says you can test a system of beliefs by what it produces (Mt 7:15-201, 1Jn 4:1-3). The fruit of atheism is a dark, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that cannot answer the basic questions: Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? They can’t even define consciousness. The visible things are not eternal. The eternal things are invisible (2Cor 4:18).

     If God is that intentional and precise in His created order of natural things that will pass away (Mt 24:35, 2Pet 3:10-13). how much more careful is He with the eternal things – heaven, our souls, and the truth, etc. He values one soul more than all the world (Mt 16:26). We are of much more value to Him than anything else in nature (Mt 6:25-34, Mt 10:29-31, Mt 12:8-21). In the description of the creation in Genesis 1, everything outside our solar system is described with just five words: “He made the stars also (Gen 1:16)”. In the original Hebrew, it is only one word. Before He said, “Let there be light (Gen 1:3)”, and before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden (Gen 3), He had already made the plan of our salvation (Jn 17:5, 1Cor 2:7, Eph 1:4, 2Tim 1:9, Titus 1:2, 1Pet 1:20). The Old Testament gives many detailed and precise prophecies which were fulfilled when He came in the flesh. Psalm 22, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 53, Micah 5:2, Zechariah 9:9, Zechariah 11:12-13, and Zechariah 12:10 are just a few examples. He knew what saving us was going to cost Him (Acts 20:28), yet He created us anyway. There is no greater love than laying down your life for your friends (Jn 15:13). He took it one step further and did it for his enemies (Rom 5:6-10). Who are His enemies? Everyone that rejects Him, and lives in sin in rebellion against Him. This is even true for those who call themselves Christians but practice a lifestyle contrary to Him (Jam 4:1-5). Yet He offers us forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. He died, was, buried, and rose again for us. This is the gospel (1Cor 15:1-4). We apply the gospel by repenting of our sins, being baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost with the initial outward evidence of speaking in tongues (Rom 6:1-4, Col 2:8-12). This is what Jesus told the apostles to preach (Mt 28:18-20, Mk 16:15-20, Lk 24:43-49, Jn 20:21-23, Acts 1:4-8), and it is what they preached (Acts 2:36-39, Acts 8:12-17, Acts 10:43-48, Acts 19:1-7). It is still how we should respond to the gospel. Then we can find His plan for mankind generally, and His plan for us individually. General relativity deals with the large scale in creation, and quantum mechanics deals with the subatomic world. Both of these branches of physics seem strange to us. Although they have real world implications, they mostly describe the world differently than our normal experience can relate to. God made both of these worlds. This tells us that when our life doesn’t seem to make sense from our perspective, it does to Him who sees all. Nothing is too big or too small for Him. He has the love and the power we need to guide us through this life into eternity. He knows how to execute His will while incorporating our choices.