Many scientists are opposed to the assumption that the universe was created by God. Even when their opponents back off and say the Universe was created by a cosmic intelligence rather that suggest God, many scientists still reject the Intelligent Design proposal. They claim the universe was not created by anyone. It happened by pure chance, and all living forms simply evolved due to slow mutations over long periods of time. When a mutation occurs; if it improves survivability of the life form, the life form thrives and passes the mutation on to succeeding generations. If the mutation does not improve survivability, the life form cannot do well and dies out, along with the mutation.
I have wrestled with this for a long time. I’m very much impressed by the complexity of the various life forms and by the internal chemistry in, for example, an animal’s body. I think there is simply too much interdependence between different life forms and the nervous system, hormones, antibodies within those animals for me to accept that all this is simply random chance mutations.
Even the idea that the universe existed for 13.8 billion years and, finally just a few hundred thousand years ago, spontaneously evolved intelligence. Where did this intelligence come from? Why is it that humans appear to be the only life form that exhibits cognitive intelligence? If the human race continues for another billion years, how much more intelligent will those humans be? How can a non-intelligent origin for the universe give rise to any form of intelligence? That’s my dilemma.
Opponents to this idea of evolution argue that God created the universe. Previous generations tried to prove divine creation by pointing out what they thought was evidence of design in certain parts of the body, like the eye. This argument, today, falls on deaf ears. I think the final front for those who argue that God created the universe is to cite passages attributed to God’s revelation to humans and let proving or disproving those passages be ground zero in the argument. That’s what I’m struggling with.
A good passage is the revelation made to Moses: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” This happened only about thirty-four hundred years ago. There are historical documents showing that Moses believed it, and his fellow Israelites, even their descendants down to the present day, believe it. God had Moses record the oral traditions that the Israelite ancestors remembered about God and to include what Moses learned and how God wanted the Israelite people to respond to God in subsequent years. This became a sacred text for the Israelites and today is still an integral part of the religious traditions of a very large number of people. There exists far more affirmation from generations of humans that this revelation is creditable than there is for deductions made from fossilized bones millions of years old, or theories that posit nullification of the known laws of physics as is done explaining singularities and black holes. If the revelation to Moses came from the God who created the universe, and if it is not likely that God would have been lying or would have been deluded by mistaken opinions; then, we humans have, since the time of Moses, always been aware that God claimed to have created the universe.
Maurice A. Williams
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