The more scientists study the universe, the more they discover that conditions in the universe appear to have been extremely fine-tuned (designed) to permit life. Scientists call this apparent “fine-tuning” of the universe the “Anthropic Principle.” Numerous conditions have been identified that have to have just the right values (in other words, they need to be “tuned” to just the right degree) for any kind of conceivable physical life to exist in the universe. If any of these conditions were to change even a little, the universe would be hostile to life and incapable of supporting it. The odds that so many conditions in the universe could be so finely tuned has led many cosmologists and physicists to conclude that something supernatural is going on behind the scenes. Donald Page of Princetons Institute for Advanced Science has calculated the odds against our universe randomly taking a form suitable for life as one out of 10,000,000,000 to the 124th power (online source). Stephen Hawking said, “The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” And elsewhere: “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe would have begun in just this way except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.” [Brief History of Time, p. 125. Second quote is in Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, p. 134.] So even scientists who don’t consider themselves Christians are bringing God into the conversation when they discuss these finely tuned life-permitting conditions.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 01:25:46 +0000