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671 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ
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ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßÛßßßßßÛÛÜ ÜÜßßßßÜÜÜÜ ÜÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÛßß ßÛÛ
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ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÝ Ûß
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ßßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÞÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßßÛÜÞÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÞß
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Mo.iMP ÜÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ßÛß
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ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛ
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ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ß ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛ
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ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß
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ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
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ÜÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÞÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛ Ü ÛÝÛÛÛÛÛ Ü
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ÜÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ßÛÜ ßÛÛÛÜÜ ÜÜÛÛÛß ÞÛ ÞÛÛÛÝ ÜÜÛÛ
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ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÜ ßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÜÜÜß ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛß
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ßÛÜ ÜÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßßÜÜ ßßÜÛÛßß ßÛÛÜ ßßßÛßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛßß
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ßßßßß ßßÛÛß ßßßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßß
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ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
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Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
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[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [The Case for the ]
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[ ]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [Existence of God ]
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[x]11-12 [x]Essay/Report [ ]
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[ ]College [ ]Misc [ ]
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Dizzed: 10/94 # of Words:6377 School: ? State: ?
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>Chop Here>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ>ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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THE CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
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by
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Bert Thompson, Ph.D.
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Introduction
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Either God exists or He doesn't. There is no middle ground. Any
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attempt to remain neutral in relation to God's existence is automatically
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synonymous with unbelief. It is far from a "moot" question, for if God
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does exist, then nothing else really matters; if He does not exist, then
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nothing really matters at all. If He does exist, then there is an eternal
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heaven to be gained (Hebrews 11:16) and an eternal Hell to be avoided
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(Revelation 21:8). The question for God's existence is an extremely
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important one.
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One might wonder why it is necessary to present evidence for the
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existence of God. As Edward Thomson so beautifully stated it:
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"...the doctrine of the one living and true God, Creator, Preserver,
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and Benefactor of the universe, as it solves so many problems, resolves
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so many doubts, banishes so many fears, inspires so many hopes, gives
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such sublimity to all things, and such spring to all noble powers, we
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might presume would, as soon as it was announced, be received by every
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healthy mind."
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Some, however, contrary to their higher interests, have refused to have God
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in their knowledge and thus have become vain in their reasonings and
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foolish in their philosophy (Romans 1:21,22,28). They do not see the folly
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(Psalm 14:1) of saying there is no God.
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The Christian has not only the obligation to "give answer to every man
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that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you..." (I Peter
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3:15), but an obligation to carry the Gospel message to a lost and dying
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world (Mark 16:15-16, et al.).
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There will be times when carrying the Gospel message to the world will
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entail setting forth the case for the existence of God. In addition, we
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need to remember that Christians are not agnostics. The agnostic is the
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person who says that God's existence is unknowable. As difficult as it is
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to believe, some Christians take that same stance in regard to God's
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existence. They assert that they "believe" there is a God, but that they
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cannot know it. They state that God's existence cannot be proved. `This
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is false!' God's existence is both `knowable' and `provable.' Acceptance
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of God's existence is not some "blind leap into the dark" as so many have
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erroneously asserted. The Christian's faith is not a purely emotional,
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subjective "leap," but instead is a `firm conviction' regarding facts based
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upon reasonable evidence. God's existence can be proved to any fair-minded
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person. Granted, we do not mean by the word "proved" that God's existence
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can be scientifically demonstrated to human senses as one might, for
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example, prove that a sack of potatoes weighs ten pounds. But we need to
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be reminded (especially in our day of scientific intimidation) that
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empirical evidence (that based solely upon experiment and/or observation)
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is not the only basis for establishing a provable case. Legal authorities
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recognize the validity of a `prima facie' case. Such a case exists when
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adequate evidence is available to establish the presumption of a fact
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which, unless such can be refuted, `legally stands as a fact'. Inferential
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proof (the culmination of many lines of evidence into only one possible
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conclusion) is an invaluable part of a `prima facie' case which simply
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cannot be refuted. But an important question which serves as a "preface"
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to the case for God's existence is this: "From whence has come the idea of
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God in man's mind?" The inclination to be religious is universally and
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peculiarly a human trait. As one writer observed, even today the evidence
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indicates that "no race or tribe of men, however degraded and apparently
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atheistic, lacks that spark of religious capacity which may be fanned and
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fed into a mighty flame." If, therefore, man is incurably religious--and
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has the idea of God in his mind--and if we assume that the world is
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rational, it is impossible that a phenomenon so universal as religion could
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be founded upon illusion.
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The question is highly appropriate therefore: what is the source of
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this religious tendency within man? Alexander Campbell, in his celebrated
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debate April 13-23, 1829 in Cincinnati, Ohio with Robert Owen, provided the
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answer to this question in a very positive fashion. He asked Owen from
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whence the idea of God had come in man's mind. Owen (and all skeptics) had
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(have) stated that the idea of God has not come from reason (skeptics hold,
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of course, that the concept is unreasonable), and that it has not come from
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revelation. Campbell pressed Owen to tell him from whence the idea of God
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`had' come. Owen retorted, "by imagination." Campbell then quoted both
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John Locke and David Hume, two philosophers who are highly respected in the
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secular community. Hume stated that the "creative power of the mind
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amounts to nothing more than the faculty of combining, transposing,
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augmenting and diminishing the materials afforded to us by sense and
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experience." The imagination, it turns out, has `no creative power'.
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Neither reason nor imagination create. Reason, like a carpenter's
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yardstick, is a measure, not an originator. Imagination works only on
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those items already in the mind; it does not "create" anything new.
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[Sigmund Freud, German psychoanalyst of the first part of the 20th century,
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attempted to explain God's existence by stating that man had indeed formed
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the "heavenly father" from the idea in his mind of his "earthly father."
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But this idea will not suffice either. Is the God of the Bible the God man
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would "invent" if asked to do so? Hardly. Look around at the "god" man
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invents when left to his own devices--the "god" of hedonism, epicurianism,
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subjectivism, or the "god" of "if it feels good, do it." The God of the
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Bible is not the God man would invent, if left to his own devices. Freud's
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attempt to explain the idea of God in man's mind failed miserably.]
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Campbell pointed out to Owen, in a very forceful way, that the idea of God
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in man's mind could only have come through revelation. There is no other
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choice. The concept of God, therefore, though greatly perverted in heathen
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hands, is ultimately traceable to an original communication between the
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Creator and the creature. There is no other alternative, all the
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disclaimers of the atheist notwithstanding.
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But suppose the unbeliever objects: "If the idea of God is basic to
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human nature, we would not be able to deny it; we do deny it, however;
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therefore it is not intuitive." It is sufficient to observe in rebuttal to
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such a claim that man, under the enchantment of a deceptive philosophy, can
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deny the most obvious of things. Those deluded, for example, by "Christian
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Science" religion deny the existence of matter and death. Some today deny
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that the earth is spherical or that man has ever been to the moon. But a
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denial of facts does not automatically negate the facts. Man's attitude
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toward Truth does not change Truth.
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Can God's existence be proven? Can we `know' God exists? The answer is
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a resounding "YES!" The psalmist said, "Be still and `know' that I am God"
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(Psalm 46:10) as he echoed the Creator's sentiments to man. The allusions
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to th e manifestations of Deity in the created world are profuse. David
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exclaimed, "O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the
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earth, Who has set thy glory upon the heavens?" (Psalm 8:1). In the same
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psalm, the inspired writer was constrained to say that the heavens are "the
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work of thy fingers" and the moon and stars "thou hast ordained" (Psalm
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8:3). Later David was to utter the beautiful words of Psalm 19:1--"The
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heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork."
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Isaiah graphically portrayed the majesty and power of nature's God when he
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wrote that God "hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and
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meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
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measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance"
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(40:12).
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Dr. E.A. Maness once remarked, "If the word God were written upon every
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blowing leaf, embossed on every passing cloud, engraved on every granite
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rock, the inductive evidence of God in the world would be no stronger than
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it is." John C. Monsma, in the text which he edited entitled, `The Evidence
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of God in an Expanding Universe' (which is a compilation of testimony from
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forty outstanding American scientists), affirmed "that science can
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establish, by the observed facts of Nature and intellectual argumentation,
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that a super-human power exists." . Dr. A. Cressy Morrison, former
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President of the New York Academy of Sciences, affirmed that "so many
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essential conditions are necessary for life to exist on our earth that it
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is mathematically impossible that all of them could exist in proper
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relationship by chance on any one earth at one time." Dr. Arthur H.
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Compton, Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago and Nobel
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laureate, wrote: "It is not difficult for me to have this faith, for it is
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incontrovertible that where there is a plan there is intelligence--an
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orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic
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statement ever uttered--`In the beginning, God.'" .
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Louis Agassiz, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard University (and a life-long
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opponent of Darwinian evolution), made these remarks:..
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"Though I know those who hold it to be very unscientific to believe
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that thinking is not something inherent in matter, and that there is an
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essential difference between inorganic and living and thinking beings,
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I shall not be prevent ed by any such pretentions of a false philosophy
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from expressing my conviction that as long as it cannot be shown that
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matter or physical forces do actually reason, I shall consider any
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manifestation of physical thought as an evidence of the existence of a
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thinking being as the author of such thought, and shall look upon
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intelligent and intelligible connection between the facts of nature as
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direct proof of a thinking God....` All these facts in their natural
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connection proclaim aloud the one God whom man may know, adore, and
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love, and natural history must in good time become the analysis of the
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thoughts of the Creator of the universe' as manifested in the animal
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and vegetable kingdoms."
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Lord Kelvin, the famed English thermodynamicist once said,
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"I cannot admit that, with regard to the origin of life, science
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neither affirms nor denies Creative Power. `Science positively affirms
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Creative Power'. It is not in dead matter that we live and move and
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have our being, but in the creating and directing Power which science
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compels us to accept as an article of belief.... There is nothing
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between absolute scientific belief in a Creative Power, and the
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acceptance of the theory of a fortuitous concourse of atoms.... Forty
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years ago I asked Liebig [famed chemist Justus von Liebig--BT], walking
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some-where in the country, if he believed that the grass and flowers
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that we saw around us grew by mere chemical forces. He answered, `No,
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no more than I could believe that a book of botany describing them
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could grow by mere chemical forces'.... Do not be afraid of being free
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thinkers! `If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science
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to the belief in God', which is the foundation all religion. `You will
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find science not antagonistic but helpful to religion.'" .
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One cannot help but wonder what has caused many of the most prominent
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and brilliant minds of both days gone by and of our day to make such
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statements. No doubt, at least a partial explanation lies in the fact that
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they saw a few, or many, of the thousands of "signposts" or "ensigns"
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scattered throughout the natural world which point clearly to the unseen
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Designer of nature. These "signposts" are multitudinous in our world, and
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plainly obvious to those whose minds have not been blinded by the "god of
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this world" (II Corinthians 4:4), "refusing to have God in their knowledge"
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(Romans 1:28). An examination of these "ensigns" makes for a profitable
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and edifying study.
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NATURE'S HOME: THE UNIVERSE
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When the writer of Hebrews stated that, "...every house is builded by
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someone..." (Hebrews 3:4), he suggested the well-known principle of cause
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and effect. Today the Law of Causality is the fundamental law of science.
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Every effect must have an adequate cause. Further indicated is the fact
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that no effect can be qualitatively superior to or quantitatively greater
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than the cause. The universe is here, and is a tremendous effect. Hence,
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it must be explained in terms of an adequate cause.
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There are four possible explanations for the universe. (1) It is but
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an illusion, and does not really exist. This is hardly worthy of
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consideration. (2) It spontaneously arose out of nothing. This view is
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absurd, and cannot be entertained scientifically. Dr. George E. Davis,
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prominent physicist, has declared:"No material thing can create itself." .
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(3) It has always existed. This theory, though held by many atheistic
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scientists of our day, is scientifically untenable. Many evidences (e.g.,
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the Second Law of Thermodynamics) reveal that the stars are burning up, the
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sun is cooling off, the earth is wearing out, etc. Such facts indicate
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that the universe had a beginning; otherwise it would long ago have already
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reached a state of deadness. Dr. Robert Jastrow, of NASA, states in his
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book, `God and the Astronomers :
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"I am fascinated by some strange developments going on in astronomy....
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The essence of the strange developments is that the Universe had, in
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some sense, a beginning--that it began at a certain moment in time....
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And concurrently there was a great deal of discussion about the fact
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that the second law of thermodynamics, applied to the Cosmos, indicates
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that the Universe is running down like a clock. If it is running down,
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there must have been a time when it was fully wound up....The
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astronomer comes to a time when the Universe contained nothing but
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hydrogen--no carbon, no oxygen, and none of the other elements out of
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which planets and life are made. This point in time must have marked
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the beginning of the Universe."
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(4) It was created. This is the only remaining alternative and the only
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reasonable view of the origin of the universe. Since our finite, dependent
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(and contingent) universe (of matter/energy) did not cause itself, it was
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obviously caused by an infinite, independent, eternal Mind.
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God, speaking through Moses (Genesis 15:5) and Jeremiah (33:32),
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mentioned that "the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of
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the sea measured ...." Little did we know how true those statements were.
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Johann Bayer (1603) devised a system to indicate the brightness, or
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magnitude, of the stars, using the Greek and Roman alphabets to denote
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their brightness. [Remember Paul's statement to the Corinthians (I
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Corinthians 15:41): "...for one star differeth from another star in
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glory."] Men before and after Bayer tried to count the stars. Hipparchus
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the astronomer, in 128 B.C. counted the stars and said there were 1,026.
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In 150 A.D., the famous astronomer Ptolemy counted the stars and arrived at
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the number of 1,056. Years later, in 1575 A.D., the renowned Danish
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astronomer, Tyco Brah, counted the stars and said there were 777. In 1600
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A.D. the German astronomer Johannes Kepler counted the stars and gave the
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number 1,005. At last counting (and we are nowhere near finished yet) the
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number of stars stood at `25 sextillion'. That's a 25 with twenty-one
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zeroes after it! There are an estimated one billion galaxies,. and most
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of them contain billions of stars (the Milky Way galaxy in which we live,
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for example, contains over `100 billion stars'). It is so large that
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travelling at the speed of light (186,317.6 miles per second) it would take
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you 100,000 years to go across just the diameter of the galaxy. Light
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travels in one year approximately 5.87 x 1O.MDSU/12' miles. In 100,000
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years, that would be 5.87 x 1O.MDSU/17' miles, or 587+ quadrillion miles.
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Our nearest neighboring galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy, which is an
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estimated 2,000,000 light years away. That's so far that a radio wave
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which goes around the earth approximately 8.2 times in one second would
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require over 1 million years to get there, and a return message would take
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another 1+ million years. The observable universe has an estimated
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diameter of 20 billion light years.
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But it isn't simply the size of the universe that is so marvelous. The
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size is important, of course, but so is the `design'. The earth, for
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example, in orbiting the sun, departs from a straight line by only
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one-ninth of an inch every 18 miles--a very straight line in human terms.
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If the orbit changed by one-tenth of an inch every 18 miles, our orbit
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would be vastly larger and we would all freeze to death. If it changed by
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one-eighth of an inch, we would come so close to the sun w e would all be
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incinerated.. Are we to believe that such precision "just happened by
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accident"? The sun is burning at approximately 20 million degrees Celsius
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at its interior.. If we were to move the earth `away' 10%, we would soon
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freeze to death. If we were to move the earth `closer' by 10%, we would
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once again be incinerated. The sun is poised at 93 million miles from
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earth, which happens to be just right--by accident?
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The moon is poised some 240,000 miles from the earth. Move it in just
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onefifth, and twice every day there would be 35-50 feet high tidal waves
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over most of the earth's surface. The distance of 240,000 miles happens to
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he just right--by accident? And consider these facts: the earth is
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rotating at 1,000 miles per hour on its axis at the equator, and moving
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around the sun at 70,000 miles per hour (approximately 19 miles per
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second), while the sun with its solar system is moving through space at
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600,000 miles per hour in an orbit so large it would take over 220 million
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years to complete just one orbit. [Remember the psalmist's statement
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(Psalm 19:61) about the sun--"his circuit is from the ends of the
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heavens."] What would happen if the rotation rate of the earth around the
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sun were halved, or doubled? If it were halved, the seasons would be
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doubled in length, which over most of the earth would cause such harsh
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summer heat and winter cold that not enough food could be grown to feed the
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world's population. If it were doubled, no single season would be long
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enough to grow the amount of food necessary to feed the world's population.
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[Remember God's words to Moses: (a) "Let there be lights in the firmament
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of heaven to divide the day from the night: and let them be for `signs and
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for seasons', for days and for years" (Genesis 1:14, emp. added), and; (b)
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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and
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summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).]
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Then there is this matter: from where does our day come? It comes from
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the earth's rotation once approximately every 24 hours on its axis. From
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where do we get our month? It comes from the moon circling the earth once
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approximately every 28 days. From where does our year come? It takes the
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earth approximately 365.26 days to go around the sun. `But where do we get
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our week?' There is no purely natural explanation for the week. The
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explanation, instead, is found in Exodus 20:11 (cf., Exodus 31:17): "for in
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six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
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and rested on the seventh day...." The week is an entirely universal
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phenomenon. Yet there is no purely natural explanation for it. Little
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wonder Isaiah wrote (40:26): "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who
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hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he
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calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is
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strong in power; not one faileth."
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The fundamental law of science, we repeat, is the Law of Causality
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which states that every effect must have an adequate cause. There is no
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known exception. The universe is admittedly a known effect. [Note Dr.
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Robert Jastrow's statement in his book, `Until The Sun Dies': "The Universe
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and everything that has happened in it since the beginning of time, are a
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|
grand effect `without a known cause'." . The question is: `What is the
|
|
adequate cause?' The atheist/agnostic has no answer, as Dr. Jastrow has so
|
|
well explained. The Christian, of course, does. `God is the First Cause',
|
|
and has left the evidences of His existence so evident that they are
|
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incontrovertible.
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NATURE'S HUMAN INHABITANT: MAN
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"Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves
|
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of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the
|
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ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves
|
|
without wondering." So stated Augustine many years ago. So many people
|
|
fail to see one of the most powerful arguments possible for God's
|
|
existence--their own selves! Consider, for example, the "earthly
|
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tabernacle" (II Corinthians 5:1) that we call the human body. It is comp
|
|
osed of 30+ different kinds of cells, totalling over `100 trillion' cells
|
|
when all added together to make up the human adult.. These cells come in
|
|
all different sizes and shapes, with different functions and life
|
|
expectancies. For example, some cells (e.g., male spermatozoa) are so small
|
|
that 20,000 would fit inside a capital "O" from a standard typewriter, each
|
|
being only 1/20th mm long. Some cells, put end-to-end, would make only one
|
|
inch if 6,000 were assembled together. Yet all the cells of the human
|
|
body, if set end- to-end, would encircle the earth over 200 times. Even
|
|
the largest cell of the human body, the female ovum, is unbelievably small,
|
|
being only 1/1OOth of an inch in diameter. Yet each cell is composed of a
|
|
lipo- protein membrane lining (lipids/proteins/lipids) which is
|
|
approximately 6/100-8/100 fm (4 atoms) thick. Yet it allows selective
|
|
transport outside the cell of those things that ought to go out, and
|
|
selective transport into the cell of those things that ought to go in.
|
|
Inside the cell's three-dimensional cytoplasm there are over 20 different
|
|
chemical reactions going on at any one time, with each cell containing five
|
|
major systems: (1) communication; (2) waste disposal; (3) nutrition; (4)
|
|
repair, and; (5) reproduction. The endoplasmic reticulum of the cell
|
|
serves as a transport system. The ribosomes produce protein, which is then
|
|
distributed around the body as needed by the Golgi bodies. The mitochondria
|
|
(over 1,000 per cell) are the "powerhouses" of the cell, producing the
|
|
energy needed by the body. The nucleus, of course, carries the genetic code
|
|
in its DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Red blood cells (there are
|
|
approximately 30 trillion of them) live about 120 days; white blood cells
|
|
(the blood's defense system) live about 13 days; platelets (which help
|
|
blood to clot) live about 4 days; nerve cells may live over 100 years. In
|
|
any given 60-second period, approximately 3 billion cells die and are
|
|
replaced in the human body through the process we call `mitosis', whereby
|
|
the standard chromosome number (in the human, 46) is faithfully reproduced.
|
|
A single cell contains a strip of DNA (placed in the nuc leus in a
|
|
spiral-staircase configuration) which is about one yard long, and which
|
|
contains `over 6 billion biochemical steps'. Every cell of the body
|
|
contains such DNA--over a billion miles total in one human. How powerful is
|
|
the DNA? It provides, in coded form, `every physical characteristic of
|
|
every living person'. How many people are there on the face of the earth?
|
|
There are a few more than 5 billion. It took two cells (a male
|
|
spermatozoan and a female ovum) to make each one of these people. If there
|
|
are roughly 5 billion people on the earth, and it took two cells to make
|
|
each of them, that's approximately 10 billion cells (remember: this is the
|
|
DNA it took to give every living person every physical characteristic he or
|
|
she has), and that DNA would fit into no more than `1/8th of a cubic inch'!
|
|
Does that tell you how powerful the DNA is? Are we to then understand that
|
|
this kind of design came "by accident"? Hardly! The Hebrew writer was
|
|
correct when he said, "For every house is builded by someone; but he that
|
|
built all things is God"(3:4).
|
|
|
|
Consider the skin of the human. It is a nearly waterproof layer,
|
|
enclosing the body's contents, almost 60% of which is water. It prevents
|
|
the exit or entrance of too much moisture, and acts as a protector for the
|
|
rest of the body. At the same time it is both a radiator and retainer of
|
|
heat, helping to regulate the body's temperature in conjunction with the
|
|
two hypothalamus glands in the brain. Skin may be as thick as 5/16th of an
|
|
inch (e.g., the eyelid). The skin contains over 2,000 sweat glands which
|
|
form one of the most ingenious air-conditioning systems ever known to man.
|
|
Skin acts as a barrier to protect the sensitive internal organs, and even
|
|
has the power to regenerate itself.
|
|
|
|
Consider the skeletal system of the body. It is composed of 206 bones,
|
|
more durable and longer lasting than man's best steel. Each joint produces
|
|
its own lubrication and the system as a whole is able to provide not only
|
|
structure, but great protection (e.g., the 24 ribs guarding the internal
|
|
viscera). There are 29 skull bones, 26 spinal vertebrae, 24 ribs, 2 girdle
|
|
bones, and 120 other bones scattered over the body. The bones range in
|
|
size, from the tiny pisiform bone in the hand, to the great femur (over 20
|
|
inches long in the thigh of an average man). Yet in a man weighing 160
|
|
pounds, the bones weigh only 29 pounds. [Remember Paul's comment about
|
|
"all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint
|
|
supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part,
|
|
making the increase of the body into the building up of itself..."
|
|
(Ephesians 4:16).] And consider, of course, the muscles. There are over
|
|
600 of them in the human, with the function of contraction and release.
|
|
From the smile on the face of the newborn baby to the legs of the marathon
|
|
runner, the muscles are in charge. They are placed, however, into two
|
|
systems--the `voluntary system' over which you have control (reach out and
|
|
grab a ball), and the `involuntary system' over which you have little or no
|
|
control (try stopping a kidney). Are we to believe that the skeletal and
|
|
muscle systems, in all their complexity, "just happened"? No one could
|
|
ever convince you that, for example, a Cadillac limousine "just happened."
|
|
Yet something infinitely greater in design and structure-- the human
|
|
body--we are asked to believe "just happened." What kind of incongruous
|
|
logic is that, to reach such a conclusion? As G.K. Chesterton once said:
|
|
"When men stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing. They
|
|
believe in `anything!'" How true. One does not get a poem without a poet,
|
|
or a law without a lawgiver. One does not get a painting without a
|
|
painter, or a musical score without a composer. And just as surely, `one
|
|
does not get purposeful design without a designer!'
|
|
|
|
Consider, for example, the human ear and the human eye. The average
|
|
piano can distinguish the sounds of 88 keys; the human ear can distinguish
|
|
over 2,500 different key tones. In fact, the human ear can detect sound
|
|
frequencies that flutter the ear drums as faintly as one- billionth of a
|
|
centimeter (a distance one-tenth the diameter of a hydrogen atom).. The
|
|
ear is so sensitive that it could even hear, were the body placed in a
|
|
completely soundproof room, the blood coursing through the veins. Over
|
|
100,000 hearing receptors in the ears are sending impulses to the brain to
|
|
be decoded and answered. The human eye is the most perfect camera ever
|
|
known to man. So perfect is it that its very presence caused Charles
|
|
Darwin to say, "That the eye with all its inimitable contrivances...could
|
|
have been formed by natural selection seems, I freely confess, absurd in
|
|
the highest degree." Darwin also commented: "If it could be demonstrated
|
|
that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed
|
|
by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely
|
|
break down." The eye, as it turns out, is such an organ, and Darwin's
|
|
theory, as such, has broken down. Each human eye is composed of over 107
|
|
million cells with 7 million cones (allowing the eye to see in full, living
|
|
color) and 100 million rods (allowing the eye to see in blacks, whites, and
|
|
greys). The eyes are connected to the brain by over 300,000 nerves, and
|
|
can detect light as feeble as 1/100 trillionth of a watt. How is the eye
|
|
supposed to have "evolved"? What "intermediate state" between no eye and a
|
|
perfect eye could nature have "selected" to be passed on to successive
|
|
generations? As Mark Twain once c ommented, "It's amazing what men will
|
|
believe, so long as it's not in the Bible!"
|
|
|
|
There are so many systems in the human body that could be discussed,
|
|
but since space precludes discussing them all, it is now to the brain that
|
|
we turn our attention. The brain, of course, regulates the rest of the
|
|
body. It contains over 10 billion nerve cells, and 100 billion glia cells
|
|
(which provide the biological "batteries" for brain activity). These cells
|
|
float in a jellied mass, sifting through information, storing memories,
|
|
creating what we call consciousness, etc.. Over 120 trillion connections
|
|
tie these cells together. The brain sends out electrical impulses at a
|
|
speed of 393 feet per second (270 mph), and receives nerve impulses being
|
|
produced at a rate of over 2,000/second. The brain receives signals
|
|
continuously from 130,000 light receptors in the eyes, 100,000 hearing
|
|
receptors in the ears, 3,000 tastebuds, 30,000 heat spots on the skin,
|
|
250,000 cold spots, and 500,000 touch spots. The brain does not move, yet
|
|
consumes 25% of the blood's oxygen supply. It is constantly bathed in
|
|
blood, its vessels receiving 20% of all the blood pumped from the heart.
|
|
If the blood flow is interrupted for 15-30 seconds, unconsciousness
|
|
results. If blood is cut off to the brain for longer than 4 minutes, brain
|
|
damage results. Four major arteries carry blood to the brain as a sort of
|
|
"fail-safe" system. And, the brain is protected from damage by not one,
|
|
but three major systems: (1) the outer skull bone; (2) the `dura mater'
|
|
(Latin for "hard mother"--the protective lining around the brain), and; (3)
|
|
the absorbing fluid, which keeps the brain from hitting the inner skull.
|
|
With the brain properly functioning, all the other body systems (hormones,
|
|
circulatory, digestive, reproductive, etc.) can be overseen and controlled.
|
|
Are we, as Dr. George Gaylord Simpson of Harvard stated some years ago, "an
|
|
accident in a universe that did not have us in mind in the first place"?
|
|
Or, are we created "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:26,27)?
|
|
|
|
Sir Isaac Newton once said, "In the absence of any other proof, the
|
|
thumb alone would convince me of God's existence." How much more, then,
|
|
should the cells, the brain, the lungs, the heart, the reproductive system,
|
|
etc., be shouting to us that `there is a God, and He is not silent.' As
|
|
the psalmist so well said, "I praise you because I am fearfully and
|
|
wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). Or, as Imogene Fey has observed: "The
|
|
birth of every new baby is God's vote of confidence in the future of man."
|
|
Dr. Lewis Thomas, the renowned medical doctor and author of `The Medusa and
|
|
the Snail', commented in that work about the "miracle" of how one sperm
|
|
cell forms with one egg cell to produce a single cell that will, nine
|
|
months later, become a new human being. His conclusion:
|
|
|
|
"The mere existence of that cell should be one of the greatest
|
|
astonishments of the earth. People ought to be walking around all day,
|
|
all through their waking hours, calling to each other in endless
|
|
wonderment, talking of nothing except that cell.... If anyone does
|
|
succeed in explaining it, within my lifetime, I will charter a
|
|
skywriting airplane, maybe a whole fleet of them, and send them aloft
|
|
to write one great exclamation point after another around the whole
|
|
sky, until a ll my money runs out."
|
|
|
|
Yet we are told that such a "miracle" has "just happened." Carl W. Miller
|
|
once stated: "To the reverent scientist...the simplest features of the
|
|
world about us are in themselves so awe-inspiring that there seems no need
|
|
to seek new and greater miracles of God's care."
|
|
|
|
In order to get a poem, one must have a poet. In order to have a law,
|
|
one must have a lawgiver. In order to have a mathematical diagram, one
|
|
must have a mathematician. A deduction commonly made is that order,
|
|
arrangement, or design in a system suggest intelligence and purpose on the
|
|
part of the originating cause. In the universe, from the vastness of
|
|
multiplied solar systems to the tiny world of molecules, marvelous design
|
|
and purposeful arrangement are evidenced. In the case of man, from the
|
|
imposing skeletal system to the impressive genetic code in all of its
|
|
intricacy, that same design and purposeful arrangement are evidenced. The
|
|
only conclusion that a reasonable, rational, unbiased mind can reach is
|
|
that the existing systems of our world, including all life, have been
|
|
purposefully designed by an Intelligent Cause. We call that Cause "God."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conclusion
|
|
|
|
Alan Devoe significantly writes, "Some naturalists have become
|
|
convinced that there is an `unknown force' at work--a force that guides
|
|
creatures by influences outside the entire sphere with which science
|
|
ordinarily works." We would prayerfully urge those who speak of this
|
|
`unknown force' to turn to the "God that made the world and all things
|
|
therein" (Acts 17:24), and ascribe honor and glory to Him. The revelation
|
|
He has left of Himself in nature simply could speak no louder of His
|
|
existence than it already does. Furthermore, this examination of arguments
|
|
for God's existence has not even touched upon the "historical" arguments
|
|
which come to bear on the case. For example, the historical Christ, the
|
|
resurrection, the Bible, the system of Christianity, and other such
|
|
arguments are equally as important. The arguments from historical fact are
|
|
additional proof that there is a God, and He is not silent. That Christ
|
|
existed cannot he doubted by any rational person. His miracles and other
|
|
works are documented, not only in biblical literature, but in profane,
|
|
secular history as well. The empty tomb stands as a silent but powerful
|
|
witness that God does exist (Acts 2:24; Romans 10:9) and that Christ is His
|
|
Son. The Bible exists; therefore, it must be explained. The men who wrote
|
|
it were either deceivers, deluded, or telling the truth. What do the
|
|
evidences say? The internal and external evidences are enough to tell the
|
|
story of God's existence, and the fact that He has spoken to us from His
|
|
inspired word. Additional evidences are available at every turn. Little
|
|
wonder Paul stated that "in him we live, and move, and have our being..."
|
|
(Acts 17:28). Moses' statement still stands as inspired testimony to the
|
|
fact of the existence of God: "In the beginning, God created the heavens
|
|
and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
|
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|
ENDNOTES
|
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|
|
1. Thomson, Edward. `Evidences of a Revealed Religion'. Hitchcock and
|
|
Walden. Cincinnati. 1872. p 1.
|
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|
|
2. Dummelow, J.R. (Editor). `The One-Volume Bible Commentary'.
|
|
MacMillan. New York. 1944. p vi.
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|
|
|
3. Hume, David. Quoted in: `The Campbell-Owen Debate'. Gospel Advocate
|
|
Co. Nashville Tennessee. 1957. p 124.
|
|
|
|
4. Monsma, John C. (Editor). `The Evidence of God in an Expanding
|
|
Universe'. G.P.Putnam's Sons. New York. 1958. p 12.
|
|
|
|
5. Morrison, A. Cressy. `Man Does Not Stand Alone'. Revell. Westwood,
|
|
New Jersey. 1944. p 13.
|
|
|
|
6. Compton, Arthur H. `Chicago Daily News'. April 12, 1936.
|
|
|
|
7. Agassiz, Louis. `Contributions to the Natural History of the United
|
|
States'. Boston, Massachusetts. 1857. Vol. 1. p 298. Emp. added.
|
|
|
|
8. Kelvin, Lord. `Nineteenth Century and After'. June, 1903. LIII. pp
|
|
1068,1069.
|
|
|
|
9. Davis, George E. `IN: The Evidence of God in an Expanding
|
|
Universe'. John C. Monsma, Editor. G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York.
|
|
1958. p 71.
|
|
|
|
10. Jastrow, Robert. `God and the Astronomers'. W.W. Norton & Co. New
|
|
York. 1978. pp 11,48,110.
|
|
|
|
11. `Science Digest'. Jan/Feb. 1981. p 98.
|
|
|
|
12. `Ibid'. p 105.
|
|
|
|
13. `Ibid'. p 124.
|
|
|
|
14. `Ibid'. p 102.
|
|
|
|
15. Jastrow, Robert. `Until The Sun Dies'. W.W. Norton Co. New York.
|
|
1977. p 21.
|
|
|
|
16. `Science Digest'. Sept/Oct. 1980. p 49.
|
|
|
|
17. `Ibid'. p 52.
|
|
|
|
18. `Ibid'. p 118.
|
|
|
|
19. Brand, Paul and Philip Yancey. `Fearfully and Wonderfully Made'.
|
|
Zondervan. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1980. pp 24,25.
|
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|
|
20. Darwin, Charles. `The Origin of Species'. J.M. Dent & Sons.
|
|
London. 1956 edition. p 167.
|
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|
|
21. `Ibid'. p 170.
|
|
|
|
22. `Fearfully and Wonderfully Made'. pp 188,189.
|
|
|
|
23. Newton, Isaac. Quoted in: `Fearfully and Wonderfully Made'. p 161
|
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|
|
24. Thomas, Lewis. `The Medusa and the Snail'. Viking Press. New York.
|
|
1979. pp 155-157.
|
|
|
|
25. Miller, Carl Wallace. Quoted in: `The Encyclopedia of Religious
|
|
Quotations'. Frank S. Mead, Editor. Revell. Westwood, New Jersey.
|
|
1965. p 179.
|
|
|
|
26. Devoe, Alan. `IN: The Marvels and Mysteries of Our Animal World'.
|
|
Readers Digest Association. Pleasantville, New York. 1964. p 232.
|
|
Emp. added.
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|
NOTE: The author gratefully acknowledges permission to use in this
|
|
manuscript materials by Wayne Jackson which were previously published
|
|
in his monthly journal, `The Christian Courier'.
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This file may be copied, but is distributed on the understanding that
|
|
it will not be modified or edited, and will not be used for commercial
|
|
purposes. Further, it may not be copied without due reference to the
|
|
original publication source, author, year, and name and address of the
|
|
publisher.
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Apologetics Press
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|
230 Landmark Drive
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|
Montgomery, AL 36117-2752
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