LIFE AND THE ABANDONMENT OF THE NATURALISTIC HYPOTHESIS

Is the evolution of life inevitable when the right circumstances collaborate? Astronomer Hugh Ross has warned us to not expect it, anywhere in the universe:

·       The probability of life originating naturalistically on a habitable planet is mathematically indistinguishable from zero. Since zero times any other factor or set of factors equals zero, then, from a naturalistic perspective, the number of civilizations besides our own that exist in the universe is zero. (Salvo Magazine, Winter 2016, 35)

Why might Ross have calculated that the chances of life occurring naturalistically as zero? Here are several considerations:

Biologist Michael Denton points out the immensity of the machinery involved in even the simplest forms of life:

·       “If a cell were magnified a thousand million times…in every direction we looked, we would see all sorts of robot-like machines…the task of designing even one such molecular machine would be completely beyond our capacity.”

Richard Kleiss observes that:

·       “The mathematical probability that the precisely designed molecules needed for the simplest bacteria could form by chance arrangements of amino acids is far less than 1 in 10 followed by 450 zeroes.”

This is just a matter of the building blocks and not even the cellular machinery. He adds that:

·       “The coded instructions contained in the DNA of a human cell would fill 4,000 encyclopedia-sized books.”       

Interestingly, there is no evidence whatsoever that a single protein or segment of DNA has ever been found to occur naturally. Kleiss maintains that these products need to be produced within a living cell, but the cell first needs these building blocks:

·       “To make DNA, you have to have DNA in the first place…This leads to the conclusion that cells could never have evolved, they simply had to have been created with the DNA code already in them!”

Consequently, the naturalistic hypothesis might have to be abandoned.

Oblivion Looms

Atheist Stephen Knight, host of the Godless Spellchecker podcast, acknowledges that “Oblivion looms”:

• “When we reject the imagined supernatural meaning from our existence, what we’re left with is far from a consolation prize. Sure, it’ll be messy at times, sometimes joyous, sometimes miserable, but it’s all we’ll ever know. And it’s ours. We invent comforting lies to distract us from one simple truth: Oblivion looms. So, what are you going to do about it? 

What is the “comforting lie” to which Knight alludes? Heaven, an afterlife! But perhaps the atheist also has his comforting lie – an oblivion where he will not be judged, which allows him to live in any way he wants, at least for now.

The atheist and author of the Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, explained his rejection of the Christian faith:

·       I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning [and moral absolutes]; consequently assumed that it had none…We don’t know because we don’t want to know. It is our will that decides how and upon what subjects we shall use our intelligence. Those who detect no meaning in the world generally do so because, for one reason or another, it suits their books that the world should be meaningless. (Ends and Mean)

However Knight claims that oblivion is more than a “consolation prize” but an opportunity to take action:

• “I choose to live, laugh, love, travel, create, help others, and learn. And I’m going to do as much of this as I can manage, because the clock is ticking. We create our own meaning, and there’s more than enough to be had. Seize it where you can.”

According to Knight, it’s all up to you to create your “own meaning.” However, we cannot create our own meaning any more than we can create our own truth. A created meaning is a shallow meaning that will eventually become meaningless.

I had a friend who had created his own meaning. He would visit every country in the world and check it off his check-list. However, his wasn’t a meaning founded in reality, and he soon tired of it.

Life can soon become tiring unless we are convinced that our lives have a higher meaning and purpose. One friend got a promotion. This bestowed a sense of meaning, but it didn’t last for more than a couple of weeks.

In contrast, Jesus derived His meaning through service:

·       "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:34)

I too have no greater food than to serve my God, the One who loves me and has saved me eternally.

A Gift and a Rejected Gift-Giver

The speaker described how he endured a most horrific plane crash and fire. His burns were so serious that portions of his skin were hanging free. After three years, he is still recuperating. However, he regards the entire experience as a great “blessing,” which he  would not exchange for anything. Through it, he perceived the beauty of life – “gratefulness, forgiveness, and grace.”

Meanwhile, he has returned to teaching and to the meditation center, which he manages. After his talk, I approached him:

• You’ve learned some valuable lessons. You’ve learned about grace, gratitude, and forgiveness. As a Christian, I cannot help seeing my Savior in what you have described and learned. Do you feel that you’ve had an encounter with Deity?

He smiled and acknowledged that it’s possible. However, he then added something that really surprised me. He gently and graciously explained that it didn’t matter how he interpreted his experience. Instead, the important thing was the experience and the lessons he took away from it.

In my mind, it was like receiving a beautiful gift with a card, which he discarded, as if it didn’t matter from whom the gift came. Would he have said, “The gift is the important thing and not the card or the giver?” Of course not, but this was what he was saying about the gift he had just received.

I shared this with him and suggested that he needed to explore the origins of his gift - who sent it to him. He asked, “How would I do that?” I told him that he needed to pray about it and quoted Jesus’ words:

• "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

I felt that such advice was appropriate, but I also felt the curtain going down on our conversation. He had no intention of praying or seeking the identity of his Benefactor. But why wouldn’t he? Perhaps he intuitively knew that the answer might place restrictions on his life. Would he be able to continue with his own philosophy of life? His meditation center? His friends? His respect within his community? Who wants such restrictions placed on their lives! No one!

Who could blame him? I couldn’t! Besides, it wouldn’t do any good. Nevertheless, before God, he remains blameworthy. God had called his name, “blessed” him, shook him out of life’s stupor, but he refused to come into the light. Instead, he chose darkness – a refusal to see beyond the gift that had God’s name written all over it. I can only pray for him.

Life: Its Disappointments and Questions

Life folds our dreams into faded roses, spoiled milk, dear-Johns, a piercing “no” to our deepest hopes.

We come as conquerors. We crawl, then walk, run, and even climb, skip, and jump.

  We put words together, then sentences, sonnets, and songs. We write love letters, resumes, condolences, and then someone writes our obituary.

  We seek love and find bruises and abandonment.

Neon, but we get headaches.

Stars, but they are beyond reach.

 Eyes dim, eyeglasses, contacts, implants sustain until they eventually close.

           Mouths, full of teeth, jokes, and words of love fall quiet.

           Sleek bodies bulge with beauty, appeal, and sex wrinkle, fade, exhaust, decay, and silently slip away unnoticed.

          Resist! Exercise, beautify, face-lift, weight-lift, self-help, meditate, but the dust claims all.

We come as conquerors but leave as the conquered.

Is there nothing else? Nothing to give shape to our meaningless life?

Can death be tamed by a lesson? An explanation? A philosophy? A stiff-upper-lip?

Is there a song of hope for the tearful? Is there an answer to death? Is there comfort in oblivion? Or in a universal consciousness, which has no knowledge of me?

Can despair give birth to laughter? Can death be rebuked?

You may not have the answer, but do not kill the question!

Atheism and Ridicule

Atheists ridicule the idea of an omnipotent and beneficent God, citing the many instances of suffering. However, consistently absent from their dismal portrait are the blessed aspects of life.

People vote with their feet. We cling to life as long as we can, signifying that life is a good thing, worth living. Just think of it, we hunger, and God has provided food! We thirst, and He has provided water. We tire, and there is sleep. We need beauty, and this world is plastered with beauty. We need friends and family, and they are generously made available. Our needs are supremely satisfied!

If life is really such a bad deal, the atheist can sign out, but he doesn’t. He clings to God’s gift of life. What does this communicate?