It is reasonable to believe in God. Pt 3

             I have been arguing for the viability of belief in God.  My previous post on the Kalam Cosmological Argument  argued the beginning of the universe is best believed to be caused by something outside the universe.  But how do we know the universe was caused by a designer?  Part of the answer to this question comes from another type of argument for God's existence: The Teleological Argument, or Argument from Design.  There are at least two forms of this argument, in this post I will focus on the argument from the design of the universe.

Designer Jeans and Designer Worlds

            Sometimes people will comment how much better clothing looks on the models that wear it than it does on themselves.  There is a good reason for this.  The designer has made the jeans to fit people who look just the models who wear it.  Unfortunately, not many people actually look like models.  In fact, it is much more probable that clothing should be made different from how it often is, because most people do not look like models.

            In the same way, the universe could be much different from how we observe it to be.  The universe could be hostile to life in so many ways.  Most of the possible configurations for the world are hostile to life.  However, this is not what we find.  Instead, we find the universe is strangely configured for the flourishing of life.  It is as though the universe , like designer jeans, was made for those who live in it. This argument is often called the Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life.

What evidence is there that the universe was fine-tuned for life?  Many aspects of our universe must be very specific for the habitability of complex life.  There are at least 154 different environmental requirements that must fall “within narrowly defined ranges for physical life of any kind to exist.”  These environmental requirements are often called Anthropic Principles.  These principles must be very narrowly defined or life would be impossible.  Some examples of these principles are the force of gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the type of galaxy we live in and where we live in it, and even the size of Jupiter and our own moon.  All of these things must be exactly what we find them to be, or life would be impossible.

For example, if the force of gravity were changed even a little, the implications on life would be catastrophic.  If it “were altered by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent our sun would not exist, and, therefore, neither would we.”  Similarly, if gravity were too strong the universe would have collapsed on itself during the Big Bang, but if gravity were too weak, planets, galaxies, and stars could not have formed as we know them.  We need gravity to act exactly as it does for life to be possible.

In the same way, even the size Jupiter creates an environment for life to be possible on earth.  If it the distance was greater too many asteroid and comet collisions would occur on Earth.  If the distance was less: Earth’s orbit would become unstable.

With at least 154 of these types of parameters, obviously the chance the universe could have just happened this way would be very low.  It has been calculated that the chance life would arise without an intelligent designer is less than 1 chance in 10²⁸² (million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion).  In other words, this is the chance that the universe could be the way that it is without a God creating the universe for a reason.  This is astounding considering there are only 10⁷⁰ atoms in the entire universe.  In other words, the chance the universe just happened to be this way is effectively zero.  It would take an intelligence to create the universe in such a meticulous fashion.  God being omnipotent is able to produce a world orderly in these respects.  And he has good reason to choose to do so: a world containing human persons is a good thing.  The universe was intelligently designed for life.

Does this prove there is a God? Not 100%, but these arguments show it is reasonable. Next, the Teleological Argument pt. 2