Today’s post is both for those who do not believe in a creator……..in God……..and for defenders of the creator. Because creation……bringing the universe out of nothing……bringing life out of nothing……is the defining act of God. Creator and God are synonymous.
Today I will focus on “how did life begin?”……..but the same argument applies to “how did the universe begin?”
Once I met a committed secular humanist. She asked, “do you actually believe in creation in seven days?” I said yes…….and she laughed. The encounter has caused me to spend years exploring my beliefs on creation……my “creation story”. The question that she asked was terribly effective……..secular humanists use it frequently…….because they find my “creation story”……..they would call it a “creation myth”…..to be laughable. And as Christians………we are intimidated………we are silenced. And that is the entire point of the question.
The secular humanist begins with the requirements that any explanation for the beginning of life must occur in a closed system and cannot rely on an outside intelligence or any phenomenon that current science cannot explain. Using those ground rules, the secular humanist tells us that intelligent design is laughably impossible.
Today I want to turn the tables……to ask the hard questions of the secular humanist. My first question is: “how did life begin?” The usual answer is one of the following:
Lightning struck a puddle of “primordial ooze” (simple, non-living molecules) causing them to come to life. Those simple molecules then assembled themselves into mRNA which then reproduced and generated proteins which then assembled themselves into living cells and reproduced.
Or
Primordial ooze coalesced into blobs which then assembled a surrounding membrane to become protocells which then became alive and reproduced.
The problem is that there is not a whiff of hard evidence that any of these things ever actually happened…….or that they are even possible. Even with the intervention of a scientist in a white lab coat (read…..intelligent creator), these explanations cannot be reproduced in a laboratory setting. Generations of scientists have tried.
And that brings me to the second question for the secular humanist:
Absent any proof that any of these things has ever happened…….absent any proof that any of these things is even possible……..why do you believe them?
The secular humanist will often reply with a barrage of interlocking theories, many of which do have merit…..but many of which rely on other unprovable theories and assumptions. This is a “primordial soup” of circular logic. When push comes to shove, if you throw out all of the unproven theories and assumptions, the hard evidence for the beginning of life out of non-living material simply does not exist.
If we are being honest. The “scientific” explanation for the origin of life is no more plausible than intelligent design.
There is only one honest answer to question number two.
The secular humanist believes in the “scientific” explanation of the origin of life……..because it has to be true. Because if it isn’t true their entire belief system fails.
So…….given two unproveable creation stories……..what drives the choice between them?
We tend to believe the ideas that serve us.
Secular humanism puts man at the top of the pyramid….we are in charge and can do as we please with impunity. The secular humanist wants power and control. Most of all……he wants to be in charge.
Intelligent design puts a creator who has expectations of us at the top. We are rewarded for meeting his expectations. We are punished when we fail. God is in charge……not man. Most of all…….the Christian wants eternity in paradise.
And what is God’s expectation?
Only that we recognize him and love him.
The choice, in the end, is a choice between living under external expectations……..that serve God…….and creating our own expectations…….that serve us.
And that is the way to answer……..when someone asks you about your belief in intelligent design.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Paul, Hebrews 11:6, ESV
in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self………lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
Paul, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, ESV