The God of the Bible exists.

Thanks for challenging me, this should be a great debate. There are a myriad of ways to prove the existence of the Deity described in the Holy Bible. I hate to sound cocky, but it just can't fit into 8,000 characters. Let me start with my 'fine-tuning' argument. 1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design. 2. It is not due to physical necessity or chance. 3. Therefore, it is due to design. Here, premise 1 is a given. It simply provides you with the obvious options to choose from as a means of explaining the apparent ‘fine-tuning' of the universe. So the entire argument falls upon premise 2. If we can confirm that, then the conclusion will logically follow, and the ‘fine-tuning' of the universe is due to design, which requires an intelligent designer. Before I go about confirming premise 2 however, I would like to make it abundantly clear that this will not pertain to the matter of evolution, as the ‘fine-tuning' that this argument speaks of is regarding the initial conditions of the universe which are required to be precise in order for any life to exist. Before I go over premise 2, I am obligated to provide examples of ‘fine-tuning' in the initial conditions of the universe. To explain the nature of these examples, here is what William Lane Craig has to tell us: "This fine-tuning is of two sorts. First, when the laws of nature are expressed as mathematical equations, they contain certain constants, such as the gravitational constant. The mathematical values of these constants are not determined by the laws of nature. Second, there are certain arbitrary quantities that are just part of the initial conditions of the universe—for example, the amount of entropy in the universe. These constants and quantities fall into an extraordinarily narrow range of life-permitting values. Were these constants and quantities to be altered by less than a hair's breadth, the life-permitting balance would be destroyed, and life would not exist." A perfect example that we may consider is the fact that if the expansion rate of the universe had been one part in a hundred thousand million million less than what it was, then the universe would have collapsed on itself. If, however, the expansion rate were about that much more in the beginning, then galaxies would never have been able to condense out of expanding matter, and therefore, the universe would be practically empty. Also consider the fact that if neutrons and protons weren't within the range of size of one part in a thousand, then decays that involve a type of particle turning into another type would not provide sufficient deuteron production in the core of the sun. In short, life would never exist, because there isn't hardly any nuclear energy being provided for life to exist in the first place. Yet another example is the fact that the universal quantity of protons must be within one part of ten to the power of 37 of the quantity of electrons, otherwise stars and planets cannot form due to electromagnetism dominating gravity in range. If the strong nuclear force were three-tenths of a percent stronger, hydrogen doesn't exist, because protons and neutrons are incapable of separating. Conversely, if the strong nuclear force were three-tenths of two percent weaker, then protons and neutrons would be incapable of binding, in which case Hydrogen is the only element in the universe. With the slightest tweaks of any of the fundamental forces of nature life doesn't exist, and in several cases stars and planets can't form. Take for example the fact that if electromagnetism were just slightly weaker, then electrons wouldn't be captured in orbit around the nuclei of atoms, meaning that no bond can take place to build matter up to the molecular level (or any level for that matter!). If, however, the electromagnetic force were just slightly stronger, then electrons wouldn't be shared or exchanged by atoms, and again, there are no covalent bonds taking place to enable to building-up of matter. The list of finely-tuned conditions for a life-permitting universe goes on and on. A change in gravity or the weak nuclear force of a mere one part in ten to the power of 100 would alleviate the possibility of any life in the universe. So, there are a seemingly endless supply of examples that we could provide of finely-tuned initial conditions of the universe to enable the existence of life. So, now let us consider the second premise of the Fine-Tuning Argument for God's existence. If we rule out the plausibility of the two alternatives to design, them being physical necessity and chance, then design is the most plausible explanation. First, we shall consider whether the finely-tuned conditions of the universe are due to physical necessity. Did the universe simply have to be life-permitted, due to its very nature? Well, we have to keep in mind that this alternative contends that there is an unknown Theory of Everything, which would explain why the universe is the way it is and what it was like when the four fundamental forces of nature were combined in the universe's dense state. The best thing that this ‘theory-in-the-making' has going for it is M-Theory, which is a theory that combines all five string theories (including supergravity) to form a single theory. This theory fails to predict our universe in particular. As William Lane Craig notes, "…string theory allows a "cosmic landscape" of around 10500 different universes governed by the present laws of nature, so that it does nothing to render the observed values of the constants and quantities physically necessary." In short, all of the evidence we have supports that the universe's qualities are not intrinsic, but rather, are acquired. So, either the finely-tuned conditions of the universe are due to chance or design. By the nature of our case, the appeal to random chance strains credulity. Therefore, the Universe's fine-tuning is most plausibly accounted for in terms of a designer. ========================================= If this does not suffice as evidence, please challenge me. :) --------------------- Habakkuk 3:17-18