The Existence Of God

God As A Necessity

There is no rational explanation for the existence of the universe outside the reality of a transcendent being who possesses unlimited knowledge and power. Every thinking person on this planet understands that all things which have a beginning have a cause. This would of course exclude God, since He is eternal and has no beginning.[1]

See A List Of Evidence Which Proves God Must Exist

A universe that is vast and complex—yet clearly ordered, balanced, and calibrated to make life possible, must have a source that is infinite and eternal. Scientists know today that life on earth was made possible because of the precise manner in which the universe began. Had it not formed in a specific way, no life would have been possible on earth nearly 13 billion years later. Given the conditions that were present at the beginning of the “Big Bang,” the universe we presently observe would have been impossible apart from an intelligence that directed the specific sequence of events—which would make life a reality many billions of years later. Francis Collins describes the unlikely chance that life would have ever taken place anywhere in the universe:

“The chance that all of these constants would take on the values necessary to result in a stable universe capable of sustaining complex life forms is almost infinitesimal. And yet those are exactly the parameters that we observe. In sum, our universe is wildly improbable.”[2]

Theoretical Physicists, Stephen Hawking described the impossibility of a universe existing at all, as a supernatural event apart from a naturalistic cause.

“The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications.” [3]

In the first picosecond (one trillionth of a second) of the universe, the precise balance between gravitational force and the expansion of energy, was precisely calibrated, within extremely narrow limits—necessary for life to exist on earth, billion of years later. The big question is why they were calibrated at all since the models that scientists have developed for how the universe should have expanded, reveal a universe drastically different from what actually occurred.

Stephen Hawking describes the models that scientists have developed for a universe which began under the conditions that were present at the moment of the Big Bang:

“Why did the universe start out with so nearly the critical rate of expansion that separates models that recollapse from those that go on expanding forever, that even now, 10 thousand million years later, it is still expanding at nearly the critical rate? If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in 100 thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size.”[4]

In fact, during the first trillionth of a second, during the initial expansion of gases, there were many essential elements and that were required if life would be possible on the earth. If, for example, the ratio of electromagnetism to gravity was either increased or decreased by 1040, we would have the wrong type of stars in the universe that would make life impossible on any planet.[5]

A Universe Without God is Irrational

There are certain phenomenon that are present in the universe that leave us with little doubt of their origin. Gasses may form stars, and stars form planets; these groups of stars may form galaxies, but what of their origin? We know today that specific and incredible processes were in play during the initial moments of the big bang. The universe did not come into existence by totally naturalistic causes. There is a reason for the order that we observe in the cosmos. Order never comes from chaos. When we behold a magnificent machine we understand that conception, design, engineering, and building were necessary for this device to exist.

Physicists have described the universe as a “masterful machine.” Some scientists and mechanical engineers describe the universe as “indistinguishable from a quantum computer.⁠[6]

The universe contains an organization and symphony of physical constants that have made life possible. The precise requirements that are necessary and provide enough stability for advanced life form to exist, is stunning.

If we modify any of the physical constants of the universe, even slightly, we end up with a completely different universe from the one that we presently have.⁠[7]

“On the face of it, the universe does look as if it has been designed by an intelligent creator expressly for the purpose of spawning sentient beings.”⁠[8] —Paul Davis, Physicist and Cosmologist

Physicist, Fred Hoyle, described the universe as existing in its present form as though a “superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.”

The existence of the universe is an ever-present reminder that we live in a world that was specifically made for us

It is unreasonable to try to explain the universe without God. What we observe is a cosmos of Brobdingnagian size and complexity that could not have come into existence apart from an eternal and infinite mind.

 


[1] Anything which has existed forever does not require a first cause. The universe, having been established with a beginning, is not eternal, therefore, requires an intelligent and powerful source.
[2] Collins, Francis S. (2006-07-17). The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (p. 74). Free Press. Kindle Edition. ”
[3] 1. Collins, Francis S. (2006-07-17). The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (p. 75). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
2. I. G. Barbour, When Science Meets Religion (New York: HarperCollins, 2000).
[4] Stephen Hawking, A Brief History, Page 138.
[5] Davies, Paul. 1983. God and the New Physics. London, J M Dent & Sons
[6] First described as a machine by Johannes de Sacrobosco in “The Universe as a Machine,” (De Spehra Mundi), 1230 A.D.
Described by Isaac Newton in his laws of motion with the laws of universal gravitation.
Gottfried Leibniz: “The Notion of the World’s being a great Machine, going on without the Interposition of God, as a Clock continues to go without the Assistance of a Clockmaker; is the Notion of Materialism and Fate, and tends, (under pretence of making God a Supra-mundane Intelligence,) to exclude Providence and God’s Government in reality out of the World.”
Dennis Richard Danielson, The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking, Basic Books, 2001 (p. 246).
”The universe is a physical system.…In fact, the universe is indistinguishable from a quantum computer.” Lloyd, Seth (2006-03-14). Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos (p. 54). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
[7] 1.Davies, Paul (2008-04-29). The Goldilocks Enigma (Kindle Locations 175-177). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
Peter Ward, Life as We Do Not Know It (New York: Viking, 2005).
[8] Davies, Paul (2008-04-29). The Goldilocks Enigma (Kindle Locations 180-181). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.