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| Vol. 15 No. 4 April 2013 | Page 15 |
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| Vol. 15 No. 4 April 2013 | Page 15 |
Roy J. Hearn (deceased)
The Cosmological Argument is the argument based upon the idea that every effect has an adequate cause. The existence of the world cannot be denied. Scientists have concluded that the material of which the earth and planets are made is not eternal. Therefore, it had to have a beginning. This argument is closely akin to the Teleological Argument.
Simply, “Teleological” means purpose, design and adaption in the universe. These studies deal primarily with our solar system, particularly the earth. Evidence is abundant that the wonders we behold could not have come by chance or accident, but as purposed and planned by a designer. Mentality and intelligence are not composed of matter, and could not possibly have merely evolved. All of nature indicates intelligence; intelligence connotes personality, and personality indicates God. The following thoughts are adapted and paraphrased from the book Man Does Not Stand Alone by A. Cressy Morrison (Fleming H. Revel Co., 1954).
That the universe was brought about by Divine Intelligence can be proved by mathematical law. Suppose one puts ten coins into a container, having numbered each coin from one to ten. Shake them up thoroughly, and then try to take them out in sequence, one to ten, that is, remove coin number one, then put it back into the container, then remove coin number two. Place it back in the can and so on until all have been removed in order. Mathematically the chances of drawing number one is one to ten. The possibility of removing numbers one and two in succession is one in 100. To draw one, two and three in succession is one chance in a thousand, etc. The possibility of drawing one to ten in succession is one chance in ten billion.
By the same kind of reasoning it may be logically concluded that the many affairs necessary for life to exist on earth could not, by chance, exist in proper relationship. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion is that such could be produced by intelligent purpose and design. For example, the earth rotates upon its axis at the rate of speed of one thousand miles per hour. If the rate of speed were reduced to two hundred miles an hour, the daylight periods would be so long that the heat from the sun would burn up all vegetable and animal life. On the other hand, darkness would prevail so long that everything would freeze. There would be five times as many heating hours and cooling as now.
Consider the sun. Scientists declare the sun to have a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The earth is located exactly the right distance from the sun that we receive the proper amount of heat and radiation. If the earth were located a million miles closer to the sun than the present arrangement, too much heat would be absorbed, and if a million miles farther away, too little. Further, if the great land masses of the northern hemisphere were to exchange places with the great masses of water in the southern hemisphere, even with the present distance from the sun, the same effects would result and all life would perish. Therefore, the land and water masses are located by design or purpose. Also suppose that the temperature of the sun were half what it is, everything would freeze, and if increased to 18,000 degrees, all life on earth would be roasted. Hence, an intelligently designed relationship is evident.
The moon is located some 248,000 miles from the earth. The moon’s gravitational pull produces ocean tides. If the moon were only 50,000 miles away, the tides would be so great that the whole earth would be submerged twice a day, and everything wherein is the breath of life could not live; also the mountains and hills would be eroded. If the diameter of the earth were much greater, the crust of the earth much thicker, oxygen could not exist and all animal life would die. If the atmosphere surrounding the earth were much thinner, meteors that are now burned in the atmosphere by friction would reach earth and set fires all over the world. The slant of the earth’s axis is no accident. If it were perpendicular instead of an angle of 23½ degrees, life could not exist. Therefore, it is conclusive that life on earth is not accidental, not one chance in millions or billions.
Law and order are found everywhere in the universe. Inanimate matter is not able to make laws to govern itself, nor is it capable of arranging itself into orderly patterns, which is the case in all natural things. For there to be a law, such necessitates a Lawgiver, and for things to be arranged in orderly fashion there must be an Arranger, which indicates intelligence, which denotes Personality, which in turn connotes Divine Intelligence or God. The Psalmist said: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works” (Psalm 139:14). If the complex spaceships, huge telephone systems and complex computers require designers, how much more the human body, which has a nervous system greater and more complex than the telephone system of Memphis, or larger cities, and a brain that outshines all human computers in the world. The brain can design and build computers, but when did a computer ever design and build a human brain and nervous system? There could be no law and order without intelligence, which brings us back to God.
“What is life?” Science has speculated, but never found the answer. Life pervades our planet; it rides upon the dust particles, abides in the water, in the juice of fruits, in the smallest of insects and the greatest of animals, but no human can explain it. A watermelon seed weighs one four-thousandth of a pound. In this seed is what may be called the principle or germ of life. When planted in soil, which of itself has no life and can give none, sprouts and produces a vine and more melons thereby reproducing itself (the seed) hundreds of times, and its weight 500,000 times greater than itself.
An elephant weighs several tons. It is powerful enough to pull its own weight. Put a bullet into its brain and immediately it becomes a mass of inanimate matter. It weighs exactly the same after life is gone as it did before. The chemical analysis is the same. The body and legs have the same strength, but the power that moved the muscles is missing. This power cannot be seen under the microscope, weighed on the scales, nor analyzed in the test tube. What is such power? It is called life! The “Big Boy,” the largest steam locomotive ever built, weighs about 1,189,500 pounds. Its power was not in the drive rods, pistons or wheels, but in the steam that moved them. This great, massive machine did not evolve; it was designed and built according to specifications. Spectators have looked upon it with awe and admiration! How much more, therefore, the magnificent earth upon which we chance to exist?
Life is said to be an artist that gives beautiful shape and color to every flower, and designs every leaf upon every plant. Life gives taste to fruit, perfume to the flowers, hence, not only an artist, but a chemical engineer. Life provides for the various tones of music sung by the birds and makes possible the calling of insects. Life is that entity that gives shape and form to the magnificent organism called the human body. Yet, the scientist is humbled to the dust in trying to explain this great phenomenon. While many who call themselves scientists and philosophers deny the existence of God, there are multitudes of others in scientific circles who consider the evidence and readily acknowledge God the Almighty.
Before the source of any object can be found, the character or personality of said object must be determined. If a coin is gold or silver, its quality and composition must be determined before its source can be found. In other words, such materials as these can be found only where such qualities can be located. Man has physical appetites such as animals, but mankind goes beyond mere passion. He has the qualities of will, judgment, thought, reason, love, hate, language, conscience, faith, hope, religion, etc. It is axiomatic that from nothing comes nothing, and like begets like. Since animals do not have the same qualities as man, it is conclusive that man did not come from animals or even the same stock, root or trunk as animals. It is impossible that life and all the qualities mentioned above could derive from dead matter; the source must be discovered elsewhere. The simple answer is: “And God said, Let us make man in our own image… So God created man in His own image… In the image of God created He him…” (Genesis 1:26-27).