In Proof of God and the Laws of Nature, we discussed the laws of nature, the mathematical formulas used to describe them and the unbelievable precision required to support life as we know it.
As a reminder, the formulas used to describe the laws or nature include numerical constants. For instance, we treat E=mc2 as a law of nature with “c” representing the speed of light which is constant throughout the universe.
As it turns out, scientists and others have done piles of research into the implications of varying many of our universe’s most fundamental constants and characteristics. Dr. Hugh Ross, in his book, The Creator and The Cosmos, gathered this research and summarized it. In Table 14.1 from chapter 14 of that book, Ross iterates, at a high level, the impacts from changing 26 such constants and characteristics: http://www.leaderu.com/science/ross-justright.html. Scroll down about 1/3 of the page if you’d like to take a look.
The key conclusion from Ross’ summary is that we have 26 majorly significant constants and characteristics of the universe that appear aligned to produce a universe and a planet that supports life. And that’s just those that Ross found associated which research on the implications of changed values. Maybe there are more?
Some might say, “Hey, if those constants and characteristics were different then there would just be some different kind of life form in the universe.” I’m not so sure since it looks like any change in at least ½ of those formulas would preclude life in general. Be that as it may, it’s possible that some other form of life could spontaneously arise from inanimate objects in a universe with an altered set of constants and characteristics but that’s pure speculation. All we can discuss here are the facts associated with the current universe and those facts point to a universe that’s aligned to produce our planet and life as we know it.
What Are The Odds?
Considering the entire spectrum of possible options for each of the 26 universal constants and characteristics mentioned above, the odds of producing a universe that enables the creation of our planet and life as we know it are infinitesimally small. Yet here we are. Are we just that lucky or did God create the universe?
For the sake of argument, let’s get ridiculous. Let’s say that arriving at the current value for each of the 26 constants and characteristics has a 1 in 10 chance – as if you could arrive at the gravitational constant, G = 6.674 × 10−11 m3/kg⋅sec2 in just 10 tries. Ha! We've already seen there that just one change in 1060 would eliminate all life from the universe. But let’s just say - 1 in 10.
If each constant or characteristic had a 1 in 10 chance then the probability of arriving at our current universe would be 1 in 1026. That’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. (Only slightly worse that winning PowerBall. That’s a joke.) You already saw, the History Channel video, that 1 in 1018 is roughly one grain of sand from all the sand on the earth. 1 in 1026 is 100,000,000 times less likely. Extending the sand analogy: that’s like picking up one specific grain of sand from all the sand on 100 million earths. Mind boggling!
Here’s another way to think about it – adapted from Hugh Ross’ book: Cover the state of Iowa (plus/minus) in dimes and then stack more dimes on top until each stack reaches the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles. Paint one dime red and then ask someone to pick out the red dime. The odds of picking that one red dime are one in 1026. Also mind boggling!
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Proof of God - God Created The Universe
As noted, arriving at 1 chance in 1026 was based on the assumption that each of the 26 constants and characteristics had a 1 in 10 chance but we know that the odds for each is way way smaller. How small? Who knows. Knowing that isn’t particularly important because here’s the point: the creation of the universe was set in motion just one time during the Big Bang. Unlike the possibility for trial and error described in Proof of God And The Protein and Proof of God And The Cosmos, there was no opportunity for trial and error during the Big Bang. It all had to be done the right way at the outset. Just sit back and reconsider the odds of that. More mind boggling-ness.
Tangential side note: Some will say “Yeah sure, but the universe is filled with gigantic numbers.” For instance, it’s 3 x 1013 miles to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. The Milky Way galaxy is ~1 x 1018 miles across and our cluster of galaxies (the Laniakea Supercluster which contains ~100,000 galaxies) is 1 x 1021 miles across. Yep, those are big numbers. But distances and probabilities are two very different things. 1 chance in 1026 is right there like saying “it’s impossible”. Yet here we are! We just aren’t that lucky.
Based on all this mind boggling-ness, we’re left with three possible options for how it happened in the first place:
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- A universe that enables the creation of our planet and life as we know it was created out of necessity
- The universe was created by chance
- The universe was created by a creator; God created the universe
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We can immediately throw out option 1 since there’s nothing that indicates our universe must have been formed the way it is. In fact, based on the probability calculation above, it’s far more likely that a completely different universe arose after the Big Bang. We can also discard option 2 based on that same calculation – as already presented above.
The only viable option is God created the universe, one that supports the creation of our planet and life as we know it. The only creator with the knowledge and power to produce such a universe is God. We know God exists because God created the universe to be simple and elegant!
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