3241) The Intelligent Design Movement

One of the five classical proofs for the existence of God is the “Teleological Proof.” This proof declares that the intricate design of the universe and everything in it looks like it was ‘designed,’ and could not have all assembled itself just by random chance. Most people have heard of this approach. Many people just assume this is what happened. The argument has the ‘ring of truth’ to it.

In 1802 clergyman and philosopher William Paley provided the most famous illustration of this argument in his book Evidences of the Existence of God Collected from the Appearance of Nature. The whole book describes how the complexity, order, and purpose of the natural world all around us proves that some superior being, God, must have designed and created it. His famous illustration compared all of nature to a watch. If you are on a walk in a forest and you find on the path a watch that is keeping perfect time, you will most certainly assume that someone made that watch. You will not assume that the watch just grew there like the trees and the bugs all around you. The watch, with its gears, springs, and hour and minute hands, all working together, looks designed and built. The presence of that watch assumes, even proves, there is a watchmaker, even if you cannot see that watchmaker at that moment. You just know there is a watchmaker out there somewhere. Then, in the rest of the book, Paley points to many things in nature that are far more complex than a watch; therefore, there must be a ‘Divine Watchmaker,’ or, God, even if we cannot see Him. Even the simplest weed on the path or the bug crawling on your hand or the eyes you are using to look at that watch, are far more complex than a simple mechanical watch. How then, can anyone assume that the watch was made, but everything else sprung up all by itself.

Although Paley was the one who popularized this principle, he was not the first to think of it. It had been described by philosophers and theologians for centuries. The Bible itself makes this case in Psalm 19:1 which says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Paul makes the same point in Romans 1:19-20: “What may be known about God is plain, because God has made it plain. For 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 people are without excuse.”

This proof of God is not an absolute proof, but it has always made sense to me. And, it was believed by most people in the history of the world, even those who did not believe in any of the rest of the Bible.

That is, until 1859 when Charles Darwin published The Origin of the Species. I do not need to go into that entire story, except to say that for many people, that book made a convincing argument that God was no longer a necessary part of the story. There was no need for a ‘divine watchmaker.’ All that was needed was the right chemicals coming together to form a protein molecule that then formed the first one-celled creature, and from that, everything else evolved. Easy; and that settles it. That is what I was taught, and that is the commonly accepted narrative in schools, museums, scientific journals, television documentaries, etc. It is, in fact, considered by many to be illegal to even mention any other possibilities in a public school.

However, the ‘teleological/divine watchmaker’ argument has been making a huge comeback in the last few decades. In the 1980’s, attorney Philip Johnson (1940-2019), recently converted to Christianity, took an interest in what science had to say about the origin of life. What he found was widespread questioning of many parts of the evolutionary theory, by many top scientists. He also found out that many scientists were Bible believing Christians who still believed in a Creator God. He wondered why only one ‘origin’ story was allowed to be told in our society. In 1991 he published Darwin on Trial, challenging the whole “materialistic naturalism” worldview. That worldview is the exact opposite of the divine watchmaker. Materialistic naturalism prohibits any consideration of God as part of the process, holding that reality consists solely of matter and energy. Philip Johnson began to find, and gather together, many scientists who could no longer believe that.

The ‘Intelligent Design’ movement grew out of his work, and now many scientists and scholars from many areas of study are making the case that this universe is not all there is, and everything we see has to be more than the result of blind, random chance. There is, of course, much opposition, and it has led to a lively debate; a debate that many people are not even aware of. But no Bible believing Christian needs to think they are on the ‘wrong side of history,’ as they say nowadays, nor does anyone need to think that all the smart people are on the other side of the debate.

There is much diversity among the Intelligent Design proponents. Not all are Christians, not all would define the ‘intelligent designer’ in the same way, and not all would agree on the place of evolution in the story. All (including me) would agree that species do evolve. Have you been to a high school basketball game lately? Human boys, on the average, have ‘evolved’ into taller human boys in just the last fifty-five years since I was in high school. That is called ‘micro-evolution,’ and of course that exists. Species change and adapt, as Darwin learned. He was right about that much. But ‘macro-evolution’ says that one species can evolve into another species. All you need is one simple cell, and the whole wide and wonderful world of life is on its way to development by random mutations. That is the part of evolution that is being widely challenged. The Intelligent Design people say that there had to be some outside intelligence beginning and then guiding that process.

One more thing; do you remember that simple one-celled organism you learned about in eighth grade science; you know, the one that started the whole thing? Well, there is no such thing as a ‘simple’ one-celled anything. Even the most basic living cells are more complex than even today’s most elaborate computers. (Google RNA and DNA, the basic components of every cell, no matter how simple.)

(This is the end of today’s Emailmeditation. If you want more– much more– on this subject, see below.)

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I am including here a ten-session ‘mini-course’ from PragerU.com. The sessions are five minute videos. The course is titled “The Rational Case for God.” Most of the videos feature scientist Stephen Meyer, one of the major Intelligent Design advocates. He will inform you on several of the main points of the movement. He, like Philip Johnson before him, adds considerable credibility to his case by oftentimes quoting the opposition.

You can also learn about the Intelligent Design movement at: www.discovery.org

(Additional note: To illustrate the chokehold that materialistic naturalism has on our culture, Wikipedia calls the Intelligent Design movement “pseudo-science.” The dictionary defines the ‘pseudo’ prefix as ‘not genuine, spurious, a sham.’ That is an outrageous statement for Wikipedia to make, considering the number of top scientists in this movement. Larry Sanger, one of the original founders of Wikipedia (no longer as owner), has been a vocal critic of its current lack of “neutrality, editorial balance, and intellectual integrity.”)

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THE RATIONAL CASE FOR GOD at: http://www.PragerU.com

#1) Aliens, the Multiverse, or God? by Stephen Meyer

https://www.prageru.com/videos/aliens-the-multiverse-or-god-science-and-god?

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#2) Are Religion and Science in Conflict? by Stephen Meyer

https://www.prageru.com/videos/are-religion-and-science-in-conflict-science-and-god

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#3) What’s Wrong With Atheism? by Stephen Meyer

https://www.prageru.com/videos/whats-wrong-with-atheism-science-and-god?

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#4) How Did the Universe Begin? by Stephen Meyer