Creation is an Intelligent Design, Not a Random Coincidence

By Pierce K. Kozlowski

What proof is there that creation was made on purpose?

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)—a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author—understood the complex strings and structures of nature working together. Newton awed at the great expanse and grand design of the universe, and in his book Principia Mathematica he wrote, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. . . . This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as the Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God Pantokrator, or Universal Ruler.” Newton would go on to provide evidence of God—an intelligent and powerful being—based on a theory Newton devised called the fine-tuning argument.

English clergyman William Paley (1743-1805) simplified Newton’s fine-tuning argument by saying that every watch comes from a watchmaker, and every design comes from a designer. Author Frank Turek elaborated on Paley and explained it this way: Say you happen across a wristwatch in the woods, and you ask yourself, ‘how did it get there?’ ‘Was it a great explosion?’ No, because order cannot be derived from chaos. Someone probably lost their watch while walking in the woods; the watch didn’t suddenly exist and magically end up there by random chance.

The universe and tapestry of reality are much more complex than a watch, but this logic speaks to a broader truth. The universe was precisely designed to keep time, which is done so through the days. This concept and system of time were established by God in 1st Genesis when He spoke creation into being for the first time, marking the first measurement of time itself by the first day. Because creation is a complex and sophisticated design, creation, therefore, has a ‘powerful and intelligent' designer.

References

1. Smith, George. “Isaac Newton.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 19 Dec. 2007, plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton/.

2. Newton, Isaac. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. 1687.

3. Friederich, Simon. “Fine-Tuning.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 12 Nov. 2021, plato.stanford.edu/entries/fine-tuning/.

4. Ratzsch, Del, and Jeffrey Koperski. “Teleological Arguments for God's Existence.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 19 June 2019, plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/.