Does the Universe “Prove” God’s Existence?

Unit 4 Handout: “Does the Universe “Prove” God’s Existence?”

1.        Questions and Answers from Last Week’s Discussions and the Readings for This Evening

2.        Quiz and Review of Quiz

3.        Questions and Answers: Chapter 2: Does God Exist? The Cosmological Argument

a.        Definitions

b.        Kalam Cosmological Argument

c.        Thomist Cosmological Argument

d.        Leibnizian Cosmological Argument

e.        Scientific Arguments

f.        Conclusion

4.        Article: SEP, “Cosmological Argument,” http://tinyurl.com/8xkm72n

a.        Discussion

5.        Introduction: The Design Argument

a.        Existential Questions: Do My Surroundings Tell a Story about My Existence?

i.        If so, what is that story?

(1)      Is my story merely physical, or metaphysical?

b.        Review: 5 Things the Scientific Method Can’t Prove (Craig)

c.        Review: The One-Two Punch: Cosmological Argument and Design Argument

6.        Is there Design in the Universe?

a.        Design in the Cosmos (Isaiah 40:38)

b.         Design in Living things (Psalms 104:24)

c.        Design in Man (Psalm 8:5,6)

d.        Design in Ethics and Morality (Romans 2:15)

7.        The Anthropic Principle

a.        Embodied conscious life requires stable, reproducible complexity

i.        To say that the laws are fine-tuned means that the universe must have precisely the right set of laws in order for (highly complex) life to exist.

b.        Gravitational Constant: very short-lived stars v. no stars

c.        Ratio of electrons to protons: no stars or galaxies v. no stars or galaxies

d.        Strong Nuclear Force: no hydrogen, fusion v. only hydrogen

e.        Weak Nuclear Force: all H₂ –> H_e at big bang    v. no H_e at big bang, no heavy elements

f.        Electric Force: no chemical bonding v. no chemical bonding

g.        Expansion rate of universe: no galaxies v. universe collapses quickly

h.        Ratio of matter to antimatter: too much radiation for life v. no galaxies

i.        Possible explanations other than creation: Multiverse? Chance?

8.        Information Theory and DNA (Order as Information, i.e., communication between minds)

a.        Information has code, meaning, action, purpose

b.        Common language requires tokens (symbols or code representing ideas)

c.        Fundamental entities: Mass and Energy …. and Information?

i.        Life = material + (nonmaterial) information

d.        Code: 4 letters – adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T)

9.        Irreducible Complexity (Order as complexity)

a.        Some things are as simple as they could be and still function.

i.        They are so simple, that if any part was missing they would not function.

ii.       They had to have been created just as they are, or they would not have survived, or they would not have had any purpose.

b.        By identifying the genes shared by the simplest organisms, researchers have recently concluded that at least 250 or so are required for survival as a self-replicating cell. That’s about half the number present in the smallest known bacterial genome.

c.        E.g. The bacteria flagellum. Is a whip like part of a bacteria that allows it to move. An outboard motor. This motor is water cooled, it features a universal joint, has gears for forward and reverse, and can reach speed up to 100,000 rpms, and can do self-assembly and repair. It demonstrates a precision that cannot be accounted for in evolution, but can be explained by intelligent design.

10.      The Soul (Order as creativity)

a.        1 King 17:21-22; Matt 10:28; 2 Cor 12: 2-4; 2 Cor 5:1-4, 8

11.      For Next Week: Chapter 03: Does God Exist? The Design Argument

a.        David D. Gebhard, “An Overview of Intelligent Design,” http://tinyurl.com/n3lv2rf