Intelligent Design

In May 2016, I flew from Moscow to Istanbul.

In the seat next to me was an Egyptian physician from Luxor.

He told me that some time ago, a German atheist physician visited his hospital and questioned God’s existence. Later, both went to a nice shopping mall in town, and the German enquired about who had designed and built it.

The Egyptian simply said, “Nobody.” “It is impossible,” replied the German, “for every mall presupposes a builder!” Then the Egyptian physician concluded, “If life, which is much more complex than a mall, came from nothing, why could not such a mall build itself?” Creationists have traditionally used the argument that every watch presupposes the existence of a watchmaker. The March 16, 1998, edition of an American periodical called The Banner carried William A. Dembski’s insightful article “Intelligent Design: The New Kid on the Block.” It was one of the earliest articles to present the basic theory of intelligent design, which recognizes that certain biological and informational life features, categorized as “irreducible complexity” and “specified complexity,” “are too complex to be the result of natural selection”34 processes.

Not all proponents of this theory believe in a personal Creator of the universe, but they at least concede the existence of an intelligent designing entity.

While these are somewhat helpful arguments, they do not solve all the issues involved. Some critics agree that every watch presupposes a watchmaker, but to this they add that every watchmaker also has a father. So, they ask, “Who is the father of God?” From this perspective, one could argue on and on almost forever.

The bottom line is that we are left with only two reasonable options: either there is a personal self-existent God who created and sustains the universe, or matter itself has the self-existent characteristic of God. Either option must be accepted on faith alone! God is too infinite, too powerful, too glorious, and too holy to be explained by human reason. His existence does not depend on what we think of Him.

The acceptance of God is a matter of faith that brings the hope of a glorious future to our lives. Consequently, without God, there is no hope, and without hope, there is no future. We were created by Him and for Him, and only in Him does life find its true meaning.