God - Part 2.2

God's Design in all things

One of the oldest disputes between atheists and believers is the question of whether the universe and everything in it is a result of chance or a result of intelligent design. One of the rational conclusions for the believers is that if there is a design in the creation, one is justified in attributing it to an Intelligent Supreme Designer. However, the atheists still insist that if there is a design in the universe that it too is a product of chance.

Ultimately, and as the Quran states, the atheists will not believe no matter what signs and proofs they are given, for them disbelieve is not a result of lack of proof but it is a much deeper issue. The atheists categorically refuse to accept that there is a superior 'power' that controls everything in the universe (them included). The issue in depth is one of egoism. That is why the effect of God's signs on two people may be categorically different. They may both be scientists who have similar knowledge and education, however, for one the signs may be regarded as conclusive evidence while to the other they are of no significance whatsoever.

"Say, "Look at all the signs in the heavens and the earth." All the proofs and all the warnings can never help people who decided to disbelieve" 10:101

These simple words give us 2 valuable truths:

1- All the signs in all the universe are not sufficient for the disbelievers.

2- These signs will not convince the disbelievers not because the signs lack merit, but because the disbelievers have already decided not to believe "...people who decided to disbelieve".

The purpose of this article is thus to present areas of deliberate design in the universe for all readers. If disbelievers decide to see the 'Designer' behind these signs, then they have done well. If they decide to continue in their disbelief it is to their own detriment.

Without doubt, all believers will marvel at God's awesome signs in the universe and in everything around us. The following are some signs in the creation that touch us and strengthens the believer's belief:

1- Design perceived through Intuition

Perhaps the oldest of all, is the design we acknowledge by means of our intuition. Watching the beauty in nature, watching the birth of a new child, marvelling at how all creatures function through instinct, not least mother's instincts, or looking through a telescope at the complexities of the universe, all these can inspire belief in a Supreme Designer of incredible intelligence who made all of this possible.

This kind of intuitive appreciation for God's signs comes from every field of science and from everything around us.

2- Structural Design

The second type of design is what is termed as 'Structural design'. This is evident in the fact that we frequently see things of identical pattern in the universe when they have no apparent reason to be that way. A very evident example of such design is the design of orbits.

Orbits in the macro as well as the micro worlds:

We know that the moon orbits the earth. The orbit of the moon is meticulously calculated in accordance to mass (of the moon and also earth), the distance between moon and earth, the orbital speed of the moon and the orbital eccentricity. If any of these variables were only .01% out of sync the moon would either crash to earth or would escape the gravity of earth altogether and be lost in space.

In turn, the earth employs the same design and rules while orbiting the sun, which in turn orbits the centre of the galaxy.

On the other hand, God's true signature is stamped through the employment of the same design in quantum mechanics. Inside the atom, we also find a central nucleus with electrons rotating around it.

The same structural design which is employed in the macro world, is employed in the micro world.

3- Numerical Design

The Golden Ratio:

The Golden Ration is indeed a very interesting one that once again testifies to a meticulous and deliberate design in creation. It has been found that a great number of God's creation are structured on the golden ration which is 1.618 where one value is 1 and the other is 1.618. Examples of this feature can be found all over the universe.

There are numerous golden ratios in the (average) human body, these are some of them:- If the distance between the navel and the foot is taken as 1 unit, the height of a human being is equivalent to 1.618.
- The distance between the finger tip and the elbow / distance between the wrist and the elbow,
- The distance between the shoulder line and the top of the head / head length,
- The distance between the navel and the top of the head / the distance between the shoulder line and the top of the head,
- The distance between the navel and knee / distance between the knee and the end of the foot.
- Length of the first two sections of our fingers / the full length of the finger (with the exception of the thumbs). 

There are several golden ratios in the human face, these are some of them:
- The total width of the two front teeth in the upper jaw over their height gives a golden ratio.
- The width of the first tooth from the centre to the second tooth also yields a golden ratio.
- Length of face / width of face,
- Distance between the lips and where the eyebrows meet / length of nose,
- Length of face / distance between tip of jaw and where the eyebrows meet,
- Length of mouth / width of nose,
- Width of nose / distance between nostrils,
- Distance between pupils / distance between eyebrows.

4- Geometric Design

The Fibonacci Spiral:

Another example of identical designs is seen in Fibonacci's ratio. In 1202 the Italian mathematician Fibonacci noticed some constant patterns in numbers that ultimately resulted in not only some interesting data about numerical sequences, but also in geometric patterns.

The figure above, which is based on the golden ratio and the Fibonacci numbers, is a spiral that has been constructed using these numbers. This type of spiral is used in designing lots of things like spiral staircases, music symbols, etc. The interesting thing is that this spiral is also seen over and over in everything around us. Galaxy arms curve with the same shaped spiral that we have here. The same spiral describes water as it goes down the drain. A wave curls with the same shape as does the tail of a comet. Subatomic particles curl in magnetic fields with the same shape. We find the same shape in the curl of the horns of animals, the curve of the roots of teeth, the curl of a spider web, or of the antenna of insects. The Fibbonaci curl is seen in the tuber of plants, in the arrangement of seed in sunflowers, or the shape of pine cones. We see the same curl in sea shells, in the inner ear of a human, in the internal structures of all brain tissue, in the inside structure of algae.

It is important to notice that this curl is not confined to biological systems or to astronomical systems. Numerous examples abound in every discipline of science one can imagine. 

4- 'Exception to the rule' Designs

The creation of the universe was accompanied by the setting of a great number of unchanging laws. All the laws of physics have continued to function in the same manner for billions of years. The speed of light, the speed of sound, laws of gravity, chemical reactions, thermodynamics laws and numerous other fields of science all function at set and unchanging rules. All these unchanging laws were set by the Creator of the universe.

Once in a while however, we witness a breaking of a rule in a certain field of physics. The breaking of the rule must be deliberate and it is deemed to happen to serve a visible and vital purpose.

One such example is related to the law that governs the weight of various forms of matter. The laws of physics state that the solid state of any substance is heavier than the liquid state of the same substance, which is turn is heavier than the gas state of the same substance. For example, liquid iron will float on solid iron, and gas iron is lighter than the two. This rule applies to all known substances except one. This is water, solid water (ice) floats on liquid water. This kind of a deliberate breaking of a rule is a great sign of an intelligent Designer. The purpose of this deliberate breaking of a law of physics is intended to serve mankind. If water was like any other substance, ice would actually sink to the bottom of the oceans. In due time all the oceans would become one big frozen ice pond. All marine life would exterminate. However, and since ice actually floats on liquid water, in arctic and other similarly freezing areas, it forms a thermal protective layer for the water beneath it, leaving the ocean water below at above freezing temperatures, and thus protecting the marine life below.

6- Irreducible Complexity

The scientist David Behe and several other writers have introduced a new design principle. He defines this design as follows:

"Irreducible complexity - a single system composed of several well matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning." (David Behe, Darwin's Black Box).

Behe is a biochemist and his illustrations involve biochemical systems which he demonstrates could not have happened by chance because all have to be integrated for the system as a whole to work. On a physics/chemistry level one might work with the systems responsible to produce a molecule.

In a complex multipart biochemical machine composed of many parts, evolution cannot produce these parts because these individual parts have no function of their own.
These individual parts cannot have been produced through natural selection (evolution) because evolution does not have a brain to instruct it to produce non functional parts that have no individual functions, nor a brain to tell it that these parts can only have a function when integrated into a bigger multipart system.

In addition, in order for a stable molecule to exist, a variety of physical systems have to be operative. The mass of the components of the atom determines how much gravitational attraction will exist between the individual parts of the atom and of the atoms that make up the molecule. The electrical forces in the atom are defined in terms of electrical charge and have no direct relationship to anything gravitational. These electrical forces are also critical and have to be structured in a particular way for the molecule to exist. The magnetic forces within the electrons and protons that make up the atoms and the molecules are also critically integrated with the other forces. In addition to all of these there are nuclear binding energy forces that contain all of the other forces and allow the atoms, and therefore the molecules, to exist. All of these forces and particles are claimed to have begun at the same point in time and space after the creation of the universe. If any one of them was not at the appropriate level, stable atoms and molecules could never have come into existence.

To suggest a series of chance events which could produce all of these forces and the mathematical constants which regulate them is an impossibility, because there is no time sequence that allows it to happen. Similar problems come up in biochemical processes of high complexity critical to life. Behe and others have shown the absolute necessity of intelligence to come up with a functional system that allows these biochemical processes to take place (John Clayton, Designs).

7- Probability Designs

Over the past 30 years mathematicians have entered the discussions about whether chance is a viable mechanism to explain the complexities seen in the cosmos. For many years there have been books and articles written by experts in the field on the question of statistical reasonableness of explanations of the origin of life and other evolutionary models.

The huge number of variables that have been discovered to exist pose a major problem for those who wish to believe that chance is the cause of all that we see. The problem lies in the nature of probability. When you flip a coin, the odds of getting a "heads" is one in two or 50/50. If you flip a coin twice and want to get "heads" each time, the probability is 1/2 x 1/2, or 1/4. That means if you flipped the coins four times in a row, you would get back-to-back heads only once. If you wanted to get "heads" three times in a row, it would be 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 or one chance out of eight tries. The total probability is calculated by multiplying the individual probabilities that make up the total. To get a "heads" ten times in a row, the odds would be one in 1,024.

When we start considering highly complex things like life, atomic structure, chemical processes, or galactic events, the individual odds are not nice and simple like one out of two. Not only are the numbers not as simple, but there are far more variables involved. When scientists do these kinds of calculations they end up with probabilities that are so astronomical that chance becomes a clearly untenable explanation. Numbers like 1 in 10¹⁶⁰ are common (that would be one chance out of 1 with 160 zeros after it). This kind of a number exceeds the number of possible stars in the cosmos, or even the number of possible baryons (building blocks of an atom). One cannot argue that given a certain amount of time, the event has to occur; but the event is unlikely to occur in any amount of possible time. On top of that, the event is only one step in a long line of steps to get to a desired final objective.

Chance is an invalid mechanism to explain the complexities seen in all parts of the cosmos. If there is an intelligence who used purpose and design to accomplish the creation then the odds no longer are relevant. A tornado will not go through an aircraft assembly factory and produce a 747, nor will an explosion in a print factory result in a play by Shakespeare, but intelligence and creativity will.

The lessons we can learn by studying God's designs are endless, many and can draw us to our Creator and His design for our own lives.

When we speak about probability we must pause and consider the DNA coding.

DNA is a very small particle which stores coded hereditary information. It is said that the DNA of a human stores enough information code to fill 500,000 pages of very small, closely-printed text.

The information is so compactly stored that the amount of DNA necessary to code all the people living on our planet might fit into a space no larger than an asprin tablet!

Taking DNA coding into account, two well known scientists calculated the odds of life forming by mere chance. They estimated that there is less than 1 chance in 10 to the 40,000 power that life could have originated by random trials. 10 to the 40,000 power is a 1 with 40,000 zeros after it! (Fred Hoyle and N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space [Aldine House, 33 Welbeck Street, London, W1M 8LX, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1981), p. 148, 24,150,30,31).

Conclusion

These were some of the designs that we are able to see and comprehend in the universe at large. By no means are these the only such designs, there are undoubtedly thousands others that are lying dormant and inaccessible to us due to our limited knowledge of the universe.

What we see in these marvelous designs are sufficient to indicate to us that we are a product of design, purpose, and intelligence. It must also be said that the very same designs speak to us about some of God's attributes. Authority, Intelligence, Power, Creativity, Adaptability, and an incredible love and concern for man are all displayed.

Intellectual belief in God rests on the merits of observation, contemplation, and verification. It should not be a product of blind faith nor an inherited collection of unverified beliefs.