It’s ironic that we are told on the one hand that we ought to have a high sense of self-esteem, but on the other hand that we humans came about accidentally and for no particular purpose (there’s nothing self-esteemy about being called “lucky mud”).
Well, don’t worry. It appears that Darwin’s theory of evolution is beginning to be overturned (think “Copernican Revolution”).
The reason is because more and more scientists and academics are realizing that Darwinism has not proven its case as we first thought – and it is the Darwinist’s to prove! – and that more and more scientific evidence is actually pointing the other way, towards life having been somehow designed.
The first thing that must be recognized is that it is indeed the Darwinist, not the design advocate, who must prove his case. This is because, as common sense tells us, if you are going to try and argue against what appears to be true, you are the one who has to do the proving, not the other guy. And it is clearly the Darwinist who is arguing against what appears to be true! In fact, everybody acknowledges that life appears to have been designed. Even the preeminent Darwinist Richard Dawkins concedes that “biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose” (emphasis mine, The Blind Watchmaker, 1).
Though it is the Darwinist who must prove his case, he fails to do so for a variety of reasons. One big reason is because he rules out the option of design before the evidence is even considered (that’s like saying “I’m not going to play you, so I win”). The Darwinist does this by cleverly redefining science itself in such a way that only naturalistic explanations are allowed, so that any suggestion that life might have been designed is declared “unscientific” by definition. Well that’s convenient! If you rule out design before the evidence is even considered, then some sort of evolution just has to be true. Be careful! Refusing to consider an opposing view does not show that you are right; it just shows that you are closed-minded.
Do not be fooled into thinking that it is “unscientific” to suggest that life was designed. Sure, it is true that we only consider natural explanations within the empirical sciences (like physics and chemistry, which deal with how things work by nature now that they are here), but that is certainly not true within the historical sciences (like archaeology and forensic science, which deal with how things got here in the first place).
When the archaeologist asks “How did these cave markings get here?” he is allowed to consider the possibility that they came about through the work of some sort of intelligent agent. Likewise, when the forensic scientist asks “How did this dead body get here?” he also is allowed to consider the possibility that it came about through the work of an intelligent agent (in which case, we would have a murder).
So when we ask “How did life itself get here?” we (like the archaeologist and the forensic scientist) are asking a question that belongs to the historical sciences, so it is fully legitimate – and scientific! – to consider the possibility that life came about through the working of some sort of intelligent agent.
Not only has the Darwinist failed to make his case (and remember, it is the Darwinist, not the design advocate, that must prove his case), but more and more scientific findings are screaming “design!” anyway – findings that Darwin himself knew nothing about!
For the sake of space, let’s just consider one example – the DNA molecule. DNA is a code, a message, an instruction manual telling the cell how to operate. That was the observation made by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA molecule, an observation that today is universally accepted.
The fact that information resides in all living cells is compelling evidence that life must have been designed. Here’s why. Information Theory, also universally accepted, tells us that information always comes from some sort of intelligent agent and never from the “stuff” that contains the information. For example, a novel is not written by paper and ink (the “stuff” that contains the story), but by an author. This is just common sense and fits our collective experience of the world without one single exception! So the information within the DNA molecule could not possibly have arisen by the properties of the matter (since matter is the “stuff” that contains the information), but must have been produced by some sort of intelligent agent.
The implications of this are huge! It means not only that we have an actual reason to feel good about ourselves (since we are created for a purpose and not a cosmic accident), but also that this designer who intervened into our world to somehow bring us about might have intervened in other ways, too. So maybe things like Jesus rising from the dead or the Bible being inspired aren’t so silly or “religious” after all. Maybe they actually happened.
Chris is the campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship, a Christian student group at VCU. RUF invites you to join them as they study through the Book of Revelation every Tuesday night @ 7:30pm in the Harvest Renewal Building (822 W Franklin St). For more information, go to http://vcu.ruf.org