intelligent design

Admitting the Appearance of Design

September 7, 2012 by ddunn

In light of recent discoveries, many leading scientists have had their materialistic presuppositions challenged. One of those, Sir Fred Hoyle, was a world-renowned astronomer and founder of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge.

Although Hoyle remained an agnostic, the brilliant astronomer remarked, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology.”¹

Hoyle is not alone. Other great scientists have alluded to the compelling evidence for design in the universe, yet have been unwilling to ask the question of who planned it, or to delve into the reason behind the universe. Stephen Hawking admits scientists’ reticence to probe questions of our origins, stating, “There must be religious overtones. But I think most scientists prefer to shy away from the religious side of it.”² [Read more…]

Is the Designer an Absentee Parent?

June 28, 2012 by ddunn

The big bang theory has reopened scientists’ minds to the possibility that the universe was created by an intelligent designer. But if so, has that designer remained involved with the universe? Two discoveries, quantum mechanics and string theory, suggest the answer could be yes.

In 1925, Werner Heisenberg shocked the scientific community by showing that the subatomic world is unpredictable. In fact, it behaves unlike anything scientists had ever imagined and seems to betray common sense. This marked the start of the branch of physics known as quantum mechanics, which is the study of the behavior of microscopic particles. (A “quantum,” in physicspeak, is the smallest amount of any quantity, such as particles like electrons, quarks, and photons.)

What has fascinated scientists is that particles such as electrons, quarks, and photons can appear from nowhere and disappear just as quickly. No one knows why. [Read more…]

Imprints of Design on the Soul

June 14, 2012 by ddunn

While we can speak of the mind and the soul as distinct entities, we are often talking about the same thing. It is the opposite of what we mean by the brain, or the physical processes of intelligence. The nonmaterial aspect of who we are seems to defy reduction to physical processes. A case could be made that consciousness resides within the soul and that the soul itself is really the “I” or “ego” of what I am. But there is a slight distinction between mind and soul.

MIT-trained scientist Gerald Schroeder writes of this distinction. “Consciousness has all the trappings of another nonreducible element of our universe. The conscious mind is not mystical, but it may be metaphysical–meaning out of the physical.”¹ In other words, consciousness is not explainable in natural terms and has the transcendent characteristics of a totally different dimension. Perhaps this is why materialists are so baffled by the enigma of consciousness. [Read more…]

Speaking of Speaking . . .

May 17, 2012 by ddunn

The fossil trail has revealed creatures that seem to resemble apes, but have some human-like features. These members of the ape family that scientists call “hominids” are clearly not human, but evolutionists believe they eventually became us.

Most hominids had small, ape-like brains and no capacity for language. Then, suddenly in the fossil record, man appears with several unique features, including an enlarged brain capacity. Why are there no clear-cut links between hominids without language capacity and Homo sapiens? [Read more…]

Has the Designer Spoken?

October 19, 2011 by mary

Materialists speak of a cold, uncaring universe that has originated by undirected forces blindly operating through eons of time. They believe in a universe without any purpose. But some startling new evidence recently brought forth seems to challenge their skepticism.

In The Privileged Planet, theologian Jay Richards and astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez reveal a startling fact: Earth has been placed in an optimal location for scientific observation of our universe.¹

In other words, if Earth was in a slightly different position in our solar system or galaxy, or located in another galaxy, we might find ourselves looking at a night sky with no stars to observe. Or the sky might be so flooded with light that we couldn’t distinguish one star from another. If we didn’t have this optimal position, many of the discoveries about our universe would have been impossible. [Read more…]