AN EYE ON DESIGN

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand; measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” –Isaiah 40:12-

                Design is the purposeful arrangement of parts.  It’s the ordering of individual components to accomplish a purpose or achieve some end. Everything that exists has its origin in God. Its form and order rest upon God’s precise and complex design. From mathematics to music, to the laws of nature, etc.—all reveals God’s divine handiwork, which is the undergirding of every aspect of the created order. One only has to examine and consider (carefully as to learn from) what’s in natural creation to realize that an intelligent designer, a divine deity, a being with eternal power is behind it (Gen. 1-2, Jn. 1:1-3, Rom. 1:20, Col. 1:16-18, Heb. 1:3).

                Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most widely recognized and influential scientists of all time, suggested that the stability of the planetary system depended not only upon the regular action of universal gravitation, but also on the very precise initial positioning of the planets and comets in relation to the sun, concluding “…this most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”   He also challenged, asking, “How came the bodies of animals to be contrived with so much art, and for what ends were their several parts? Was the eye contrived without skill in optics, and the ear without knowledge of sounds? …And these things being rightly dispatched, does it not appear from phenomena that there is a being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent? …”               

                Intelligent design is an evidence-based scientific theory about life’s origins that challenge strictly materialistic views of evolution. It’s not based on the Bible or deducted from religious authority. It’s an empirical way of observing nature and what’s known about the cause and effect structure of the world along with the patterns that generally indicate intelligent causes (In a sense what Romans 1:19-20, & Ps. 19 in the Bible, says). Even many atheistic scientists admit that there’s evidence of intelligent design in the DNA molecule. When digital information encoded along the spine of the DNA molecule was discovered by scientists, they concluded that the information-bearing properties of DNA provided strong evidence of a prior but unspecified designing intelligence.  Microsoft founder, Bill Gates even noted that, “DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”

 As technological devices have advanced, the molecular foundation of life is getting exponentially more complex. As it does, the case for intelligent design, as well as the God of the Bible and His written word, are only further substantiated.

                A good friend of mine, Ken (who’s no longer gracing this earth) had a wonderful way of seeing things and often wrote down many of his observations. Here is one of my favorites: (I can almost hear him reading it with his expressive voice, pauses and inflections):

“Nerves, muscles, glands, eyes, ears, arms, legs, nose, mouth, hair, nails, skin, bones, brain.

In themselves are nothing.

They have no life, no purpose, no meaning without the blood that feeds them.

And even with blood, without the heart that sends the blood to each, all die and rot away.

But even with the heart, what does it beat for and does it have a brain to tell it when to beat?

Did we tell ourselves when to be born?

Did we have anything to do with our being alive?

Who told us when to cry?

We burst forth with the announcement:

“I’m here. I’m alive. I’m a resident—unique, unlike any other that ever lived.”

It is truly an awesome thing in which I played no part.

Only a fool would think differently.

If you are a fool, explain it all to me”

                The human body is truly unique, and the only living being created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:7, 18-25, Ps. 139:13-16, Isa. 45:12, Eph. 2:10). Sadly, due to the fall, not all runs as smoothly as God originally intended. Especially when man/woman pervert God’s original design by not ‘using as directed’, resulting in the crazy, chaotic examples we see in our world today. So it’s important to view and observe our world through a spiritual lens, realizing that the God who spoke the world into being and created things in such a way that are beyond our comprehension can be trusted in all things (Isaiah 42:5, 45:12, 51:12-13, Job 38-41).

When we renew our mind with the knowledge of Him who spoke the world into existence and sustains it with the power of His word, we can consider the lilies and know that He cares for us even more than we can grasp (Col. 3:10, Eph. 3:19, Matt. 6:28-30, 10:29-31). “Lift up your eyes on high and see Who has created these things…” -Isaiah 40:26-

“I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all your marvelous works.” -Ps. 9:1-     Laura