Does Science Disprove God Part II: The Teleological Argument by author John Galt Robinson

 Last month I asked author and Dr John Galt Robinson, who is one of my new favorite authors - and an ER physician - if he would do a guest blog post on whatever he wanted. He picked the topic of discussing if science disproves God, and offered to do more than one post on it. (Last month's post here.)

(And my post about his books here.)

In his books, his fictional characters discuss this. The hero of his Joe O'Shanick Series is an agnostic or atheist at the beginning of the series, and I loved the discussions between he and Christian and ER doctor Christy Tabrizi.

So here is John's blog post for this month:

Does Science Disprove God? Part II

The Teleological Argument

By John Galt Robinson

Last month, we entered the debate over whether or not God, or a god, or gods exist, an argument that has permeated society throughout the ages. As we discussed last month, the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared; “God is dead.”. More recently, naturalists have asserted that science explains “everything” thus replacing the need for a god and have essentially declared the universe to be of natural origin with no evidence for any god, a worldview that has gained significant traction in today’s post-modern society. In fact, post-modernism goes so far as to declare that there is no absolute truth, only relevant truth.

So, is this the case? Last month we examined the Cosmological Argument which states that since science has proven that the universe - time, space and matter - had a beginning, that it is beyond reasonable to presume it had to have been created by something rather than nothing as it is illogical to conclude that something can be created from nothing. We further determined that, based on the evidence, whatever or whoever created the universe had to meet several characteristics. It had to be timeless, spaceless, immaterial, incredibly powerful, highly intelligent, and personable. All of the characteristics we would expect to see in a god. Now, this does not prove this to be the God of the Bible but He does meet all these criteria and is therefore on the list of possibilities. Continuing along this line, now that we have established that the universe was created and all creations require a creator, let us now look at the design of the universe and see whether or not that speaks to an intelligent designer. This is what is known as the fine-tuning or teleological argument.

Let’s begin with the fact that, even though the universe burst into existence, it should have disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. In fact, the universe shouldn’t exist and we should not be here. It’s true. The universe and the natural laws that govern it are so precise and highly fine-tuned that even the minutest deviation would make life on earth impossible and, in many cases, the existence of the universe impossible. Sir Isaac Newton attested to this when he wrote, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” William Paley made the argument that every watch has a watchmaker. Imagine walking along a beach and finding an Apple Watch laying in the sand. Did the wind and the waves spontaneously create this watch over billions of years of erosion and the random effect of natural forces? Nobody would conclude that. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to conclude that the watch and each of it’s parts were designed by intelligent beings and crafted by other intelligent beings and with purpose? Our universe is much the same except even far more complex and far more fine-tuned. There are dozens of precise environmental conditions, many of them interdependent, known as anthropic constants that must exist in order for the universe and life to exist. In fact there are well over a hundred but we will touch on just a few here today.

1. Oxygen Level - the earth’s atmosphere is made up of 21% oxygen. If it were just slightly higher at 25%, conditions would be ripe for widespread fires that could begin spontaneously and make life scarce. Conversely, if the oxygen level were to drop below 15%, there would not be enough oxygen for human beings to live.

2. Atmospheric Transparency - if the atmosphere were any less transparent, too little solar radiation would reach the earth’s surface making plant life non-existent and conditions too cold for life. If the atmosphere was was too transparent, the solar radiation would be too extreme for life. This atmospheric transparency is dependent on precise levels of oxygen as described above along with carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and ozone. Any variation among these and we would not be able to survive.

3. Moon - Earth gravitational interaction - if the gravitational component were any stronger, the moon would crash into earth or the tidal effect on the oceans would be too strong. if it were any less, there would be severe climactic instability.

4. Carbon Dioxide level - if it were any higher, we would have a escalating greenhouse effect and would all burn up. Any less and plants would not survive.

5. Gravity - if the gravitational force was off by 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent, our sun would not exist. Needless to say, neither would we.

These are just five anthropic principles that, if just one was minutely altered, life would not exist on earth and, in many cases, the universe would not exist. There are more. As we mentioned in last month’s article, according to the late Stephen Hawking, widely considered one of the most brilliant minds in physics, if the expansion rate of the universe was off by just one millionth of a percent, it would never have formed. That minute amount too fast and the galaxies would never have formed. Too slow and it would have collapsed back in on itself. THAT is how fine tuned our universe is. One can say it is still possible to believe that the universe could have defied the odds but, believing in a virtual statistical impossibility takes way more faith than it does to believe in a powerful, highly intelligent being designing the universe and ordering it in such precise fashion as to allow it to exist and function, let alone, allow for life to exist. And that’s just ONE anthropic constant! As stated earlier, there are over 100 of these precise anthropic constants, each of which is a statistical improbability or impossibility. If just one is not met, we wouldn’t be here. For the purpose of brevity, I will list just a few more. 

1. The centrifugal force of planetary movement has to precisely counteract the gravitational force. Otherwise, planets would not be able to orbit the sun without either falling into the sun or flying off into the universe.

2. If the speed of light (299,792,458 meters per second) were even minutely off, all of the laws of physics and constants be altered to the point where life on earth could not exist.

3. Similar to carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, if water vapor levels were even slightly off, there would be a runaway greenhouse effect or the earth would be too cold to support life.

4. Jupiter the space magnet - Jupiter’s large mass creates a strong gravitational field that acts as a cosmic vacuum, attracting asteroids and comets that could otherwise strike our planet.

5. The earth’s rotational speed is so precise that any faster and atmospheric wind velocities would be too strong for life. Any slower and the differences in temperature between day and night would be too extreme.

6. The 23 degree tilt of the earth on its access is so precise that any variation would result in too great of surface temperatures.

7. If the thickness of the earth’s crust were any thinner, volcanic and seismic disasters would be too prevalent to allow for life. Any thicker and it would absorb too much oxygen from the atmosphere to make life possible.

So what can we conclude with this information? Using the earlier example, if we can look at an Apple Watch and conclude it was designed and created, how can we look at a vastly more complex yet exponentially more precisely designed and ordered universe and not draw the same conclusion. Every design has a designer. In regards to the laws of physics and the laws of nature, every law has a lawgiver just as every creation has a creator. One may still choose to believe this all came by random chance but the astronomical odds say otherwise and require a lot more faith. 

Now, some may argue that we are using the “God of the Gaps” theory in which they state we are injecting God into the things we do not know or cannot explain. To the contrary, we are arguing from what we DO know. Just as we cannot see gravity, we know it exists because we see its effect. From this effect, we can reason back to a cause, in this case gravity. Similarly, we see the effect of a created universe and reason back to a creator. In this article we see the immense precision and fine tuning in the design of the universe and reason back to a cause, in this case a designer. 

Even with this amazing evidence, we still have not proven this is the God of the Bible but it certainly puts Him on the list of possible gods. Whether or not it is the God of the Bible is a topic for a future discussion. For now, we must at least acknowledge that we are left with two possibilities; either the universe exists through shear random chance despite near impossible odds, or it was precisely designed to be able to exist and support life.

You may still be unconvinced and that is certainly understandable, but I hope this at least opens your mind to the possibility. In the next discussion we will delve into the evidence for God through life. For now, I will leave you with one question to mull over; If there is no god, how can anything exist?

Author’s note: nearly all of this information was obtained from the book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. If you would like to much more detailed and comprehensive study of this topic and much more, I highly recommend this book or visit Frank Turek’s website www.crossexamined.org

John Galt Robinson is a board certified emergency medicine physician practicing in South Carolina. He is also a published fiction author writing the Joe O’Shanick/Christy Tabrizi series as well as his soon to be published Nate Kelsey series in the suspense/thriller genre. His website is www.johngaltrobinson.com.