Complexity of Creation

In my last post, which was admittedly way too long ago (my bad), I argued that there are certain things that science will never be able to explain—namely, the origin of matter, life, and human morality/rationality.  The notion that science will fill every explanatory “gap” that God currently fills is farfetched in my estimation.  This was confirmed for me once again just over the holidays when my oldest son received a kids-sized wooden workbench as a gift (pictured below).

Like most kids toys this one promised “easy assembly” on the front of the box.  And to be fair, I’ve encountered worse.  Cribs are notoriously challenging.  But this was no cakewalk either.  There were over 140 parts to this easy-to-assemble workbench.  Let me give you a quick sampling of Step 3 – “Attach the upper sides (K-1) (K-2) using screws (I) and bolts (J).  You may need to nudge the legs so that the screw holes align. Slide the back piece (L) down into the slot on the inside of the upper sides.  Attach the supports (N-1) (N-2) using screws (I) and bolts (J).  Attach the support (M-1, M-2) to tray using screws (1) and bolts (J).  Attach the other end (M-1, M-2) to leg (G) & (H) using screws (X) and bolts (Y).”  Easy assembly my eyeball!!!

Now, perhaps you are wondering where I am going with this.  My point is simply that there is absolutely no way this bench with all of its pieces and parts and steps would just fall together by chance.  And it is ultimately no different with a universe that is infinitely more complex.  Just think about the universe.  Physicists have actually come to the conclusion that certain features of the universe have to be exactly as they are or the universe itself would not exist.  The expansion rate of the universe is just one example.  The universe is expanding outward.  On the one hand, if the universe were to expand at a faster rate, no galaxies would form.  But, on the other hand, if the universe were to expand any slower, the universe would collapse in on itself.  The rate the universe is expanding is just right to sustain life and hold the universe together.  And there are many features just like this—entropy levels of the universe, mass density of the universe, velocity of light, average distance between stars, decay rate of protons, and so on.  As I said in my previous post, the probability of having all the variables just right to sustain life is 1 in 10¹²⁷. 

You see, the most substantive problem with a naturalistic view of the world is that it requires an unreasonable amount of faith—the belief that everything in existence just happened to come together by chance (i.e. the absence of both a design and Designer).  It simply is not the case that theists have faith and atheists do not.  Everyone exercises faith on a regular basis.  You exercised faith that the chair you are sitting in would hold you up.  You exercise faith that the pilot knows what he is doing when you board a plane.  You exercise faith that your breaks are going to work every time you drive your car.  You exercise faith because you can’t prove any of these things.  You can’t prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that your breaks will work.  You trust that they will.  As I mentioned in my last post, we know hardly anything with 100 percent certainty.  So again, it’s not that some people exercise faith and others do not.  Everyone exercises faith.  Some beliefs just require more faith than others.  And in the case of an infinitely complex universe, I think it requires more faith—not less—to believe that it all came together by chance rather than simply believing in both a design and Designer.