Last year I made a video for my church in response to a question from our congregation entitled "Does God Exist?". It hasn't blown up. It hasn't started a firestorm of controversy. It hasn't gone viral. But today I got a challenge in the comment section and I enjoyed responding to it so much, I thought I'd share the exchange with ya'll. (The video is at the bottom if you want context)
CHALLENGE: "The Big Bang needs a big banger." If your proposal is that God is that
big banger, then what created God? Your argument hinges on the concept
that everything has to be created by something, so that must hold true
for God as well. Also, if the universe is so finely tuned, why is
99.99999999% of the universe uninhabitable by any life as we know it? In
fact, over 80% of our own planet is uninhabitable.
RESPONSE: My argument is not that every THING must be created, but that every
effect must have a cause. God, by definition, isn't an effect, and
therefore needs no cause.
Next...
If a cordless
drill is finely tuned for drilling holes, how come only the tiniest
surface area of the drill (on the tip of the drill bit) can
actually...drill holes?
If an airplane is so finely tuned for
human transportation, why is only 20% of a plane conducive to human
transportation? (I freely admit I totally made up that percentage)
There
are plenty of design features for the Earth (just like the drill and
airplane) that take up a large percentage of space but that are required
for the thing to function as it's designed. The Earth's molten core and
polar ice caps are both unfavorable for human habitation, but the rest
of the Earth would be equally uninhabitable without them. (see "The
Privileged Planet by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards for details on
the the finely tuned Earth and universe)
However, I believe that
God is more than a pragmatist, he is an artist. I certainly wouldn't
begrudge him a few extra billion stars on the edge of space even if it
had no bearing on the survival of humanity or the habitability of their
planet.
2 comments:
Cool!! God is always bigger when I read your blog.
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