Does God Exist

Well to begin, I'd like to propose the teleological argument for the existence of a God. The teleological argument goes like this: 1. Every design has a designer 2. The universe has a highly complex design 3. Therefore, the universe must have a designer Now there are over 100 constants that if only one were changed, life would not be possible, and each of the 100+ have almost infinitesimally narrow margins to stay in. First, here on Earth, O2 is an extremely important part of our planet and its ability to sustain life. O2 makes up 21% of our atmosphere, but if it were changed, say 4% more, fires would erupt spontaneously, a little lower amount of O2, and we wouldn't be able to breath, and therefore we would suffocate. And O2 isn't the only anthropic constant, if the levels of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or ozone were changed, life would not be sustainable here on Earth. Gravity is also an extremely fragile piece of our universe. Mathematicians have calculated that if the force of gravity was altered by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent (I did not do that randomly, that's 38 digits after the decimal point), then our sun would not have been able to form, thus terminating the chance of our existence. Going back to the very beginning of the universe, let's talk about the big bang. Physicists have determined that if the strength of that explosion had differed by as little as 10^60 (one part in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion), the universe would have done one of two things: 1) If it was too weak, it would have collapsed back in on itself. 2) Would have expanded so swiftly that galaxies would not have been able to form. Neither of these instances would have resulted in life. This list goes on and on, and the really fascinating part is that all of these parameters are independent of each other. Meaning, all of them except one could be fine-tuned for life to exist, but that one that was off would have prevented me from being here to write this, and you from being able to read it. Paul Davies, one of the leading cosmologists of our time said this in light of all these facts, "I cannot believe that our existence in this universe is a mere quirk of fate... We are truly meant to be here." Please note that this guy does not believe in a personal God. Back to our planet. Along with the necessity of our certain atmospheric conditions, we also have about a 2 dozen other characteristics of Earth that are necessary for life. We need to be orbited by a large moon compared to our planet size, we need to be orbiting a main sequence, G2 dwarf star, a magnetic field, and we need to be in a certain galactic hospitable zone. Many scientists have been working hard to come up with theories and alternate explanations to these immensely improbable parameters. One is the mulit-verse theory. This basically says that there could be trillions of other universes out in space that we don't know of. And sure, most of these universes will have life prohibiting factors, but eventually, if there are enough universes, one will have the right mix. This might seem to hold water until you realize that there is no scientific evidence for there being multiple universes. And until there is evidence, it is much more reasonable to believe in a creator. People have also speculated that there could be an infinite amount of universes, but that is mathematically impossible. You see, the greatest minds have looked at infinity and realized you get self-contradictory answers when you use it. For example, what is infinity minus infinity? When this is computed you get self-contradictory answers. This is why infinity can only an idea in your mind, and it can not be anything in the real world. So, with the infinitesimally small chance of all these requirements be fulfilled by chance, provides solid proof for a Grand Designer. Sources: -John Polkinghorne, "Quarks, Chaos, and Chrisitanity" ( New York: Crossroad, 1994), xii -Chris Mooney, "Are Top Scientist Really So Athiestic? Look at the Data," Discover magazine blog article (April 13, 2010), http://blogs.discovermagazine.com... - Richard Dawkins, "The Selfish Gene", 30th Anniversary Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976, 2006), 1 -Carl Sagan, "Cosmos" (New York: A Ballantine Book, Random House, 1980), 179 -"Choosing Your Faith... In a World of Spiritual Options" (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2008), 136-143