A Universe Fine Tuned for Life

 

Last Christmas season, my wife and I were invited to a party at a friend’s home. We met several people including a young man that was a physics professor with a PhD in physics. I engaged him in conversation about the universe by asking him a series of questions. For example, I ask him “How do you think the universe came into existence?” His answer was predictable. He answered that it all started in the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. Then I ask him “What was the cause of the Big Bang?” His answer was that he did not know and as far as he knew, no one did. When we started talking about evolution and I asked him “From what did protons, neutrons and electrons evolve”, he got a concerned look on his face and he changed the subject.

In the book The Privileged Planet, the authors show, by statistical analysis, that the universe is fine tuned for life and the odds that life exists in this universe is almost negligible. In other words, the conditions in the universe necessary for life to exist are very complex to the point that except for a Designer, we could not be here. A couple of examples of the conditions needed for life are the values of gravity and the electromagnetic force.  These are the only two forces in the universe except for the strong and weak nuclear forces-forces that we mere mortals cannot personally observe.

When I used to teach mechanical engineering at the University of Louisville in the 1980’s, the first thing I would always share with my class was the formula for the value of gravity- F=G x m1 x m2/r squared. I explained that the “F” stood for the force due to gravity and the “m1 & m2” represented two masses in the universe such as a human being and the earth and the “r” was the distance between the 2 masses. The only symbol that doesn’t represent anything tangible is the “G”. This is the fudge factor inserted into the equation to make everything work in the computation.  The value of “G” is 0.0000000000667384.  I then ask the class “Why is that the value?” Science did not decide the value; science observed the value. Who designed the value? A similar philosophical analysis can be made concerning the formula for the electromagnetic force between two electrically charged bodies and the constant “k”.

Getting back to the conditions necessary for life, if these constants were only slightly different values life would not be possible in the universe. In the book, The Privileged Planet, there are 20 other factors necessary for life detailed and discussed. The Truth is, science is not a participant in nature, it is only an observer and may I add a somewhat less than enlightened observer. It does take some intellect to observe God’s handiwork but it takes arrogance to try to eliminate Him from the formula.

I leave you with Psalm 19: 1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

“Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” John 8: 32.

The Triune God at Creation

All through the Bible, God is presented as three persons-God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. During creation, the three persons of the Godhead were all active performing their tasks. As we find in Genesis 1:1-2: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Hebrew word used here is “Elohim” which is considered by some theologians to be the plural noun for God.  Whether “Elohim” is singular or plural or not, the involvement of all three persons of the Godhead in the acts of creation is clear. The word used for hovering in verse 2 is a term of protection and care. It is recorded in Genesis 1:26 that God made man (Adam): “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” It is clear that God is including all three persons of the Trinity in the making of mankind.  

God the father was the designer, the Holy Spirit was the observer/helper and the Son was the active agent in the creation of all things. This is clear in the reading of John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, we understand clearly that the Son was the Father’s agent in creating the universe.

The Father directed the Son to create the complexity of the universe; the Son obeyed. While Jesus was on earth as fully man and fully God he confirmed this in John 8:28-29: “ So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.’”  

In my first blog titled A Problem with a Definition I referred to the most popular definition of the term “Science”: the systematic study of the nature and behavior of the material and physical universe, based on observation, experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws to describe these facts in general terms.” If we are limited to this secular definition, “…material and physical universe…”, it would make it extremely difficult to assert that the universe is the miraculous creation of the Triune God.

As we investigate the evidence of God’s exceedingly complex and magnificent creation, we can experience  The Story of His Grace and have fellowship with Him. Join me as we allow the truth to set us free.