God and Science Yangon Myanmar Jan 4 2011

God and Science Yangon, Myanmar Jan 4, 2011 John Oakes Ph. D

Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog” “We are as much the product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth, or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a series of singularly beneficial accidents. ”

RICHARD DAWKINS In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music.

Accident or Design? William Paley

The Teleological Argument Evidence for Design in Nature The Anthropic Principle Boeing 747 Design or Accident?

Water 1. Ideal solvent to support life (dissolves ions and molecules 2. Right boiling and melting points 3. High specific heat 4. Solid floats on liquid 5. Contracts from 0 to 4 degrees centigrade

Designed Elements?

Carbon: The Central Element of Life 3 -D molecules Large, complex yet flexible molecules

The Ozone Layer: Is oxygen a designed element?

NO URANIUM, NO PLATE TECTONICS

DNA a) b)

Protein

Nature creates order, but not information

A House of Cards: Order and Information. A much better analogy for living things.

Simplest life form: break it down E. coli: about 1 trillion bits of information. E. coli have 3000 -4000 different proteins. DNA and RNA to make and be made by these proteins. Lipids (membrane), Carbohydrates, etc. The simplest living cell is an unimaginably complex nano factory

“It is mere rubbish to think at this point of the origin of life. One might as well think of the origin of matter. ” Charles Darwin

Science before the 1950 s: The universe was NOT created. Hebrews 11: 3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created… so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible. ” Genesis 1: 3 God said “Let there be light, ” and there was light. The Big Bang · 1929 Hubble. The Red Shift: The universe is expanding. · 1965 Penzias and Wilson, background microwave radiation. Physicists now: The universe was created.

Physics: The Finely Tuned Universe

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Fine Tuning of the Universe Constant 1. Gravitational constant 2. Ratio of electrons to protons 3. Strong Nuclear Force 4. Weak Nuclear Force 5. Electric Force 6. Expansion rate of universe 7. Ratio of matter to antimatter and many more…. A Little Bigger A Little Smaller very short-lived stars no stars or galaxies no hydrogen, fusion only hydrogen all H 2 He at big bang no heavy elements no chemical bonding no galaxies universe collapses quickly too much radiation for life not enough matter for galaxies to form

A finely-tuned instrument built by humans. Good to one part in a billion?

Fred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning “… a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology. ”

Antony Flew Considers God. . . Flew is increasingly persuaded that some sort of Deity brought about this universe. He says he has in mind something like the God of Aristotle, a distant, impersonal "prime mover. " It might not even be conscious, but a mere force. In formal terms, he regards the existence of this minimal God as a hypothesis that, at present, is perhaps the best explanation for why a universe exists that can produce complex life

Spiral The Right Kind of Galaxy Irregular Eliptical

The Right Galaxy • Our galaxy is a spiral, which produces stars over much of its history. • Not an elliptical, where star formation ends before there are many heavy elements. • Not an irregular, where radiation events would have destroyed life.

The Right Star Location • Right distance from center of galaxy: - Closer: too much radiation, disruptive gravity - Further: too few heavy elements • Right relation to supernovae: - More or closer: exterminate life - Less or further: too few heavy elements • Right number of stars in system - Zero – pretty cold! - Two or more – unstable orbits if planets at all.

The Right Kind of Star The Goldilocks Star

The Right Kind of Planet Right distance Rocky planet with plenty of oxygen and water Thin, light planetary “crust” Huge moon for stable planetary rotation

Conclusion: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ” Romans 1: 20 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour fourth speech. Night after night they display knowledge Psalms 19: 1 -2