Transcript 3 The Design Argument

DOES GOD EXIST?

THE DESIGN ARGUMENT.
• The Watchmaker
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THE ARGUMENT

The argument states that when
we look around us we see
observations in nature that
attest to a intelligent designer.
Whether in single cells or in the
universe itself.
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THE HISTORY
The Design argument for God is
also called the Teleological
argument. Telos is Greek for
purpose.
 Thus Teleological is the study of
a things purpose.
 The design argument predates
Christianity, with Plato and
Aristotle arguing for the
existence of God with it.

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WILLIAM PALEY
IN 1802 William Paley published
what is probably the most
famous articulation of the
argument.
 This is where the watch
Maker story comes from.

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3 EXAMPLES
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THE FINE TUNING OF THE
UNIVERSE (Order as design)
DNA (Order as information)
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
(Order as complexity)
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THE FINE TUNING OF THE
UNIVERSE (Order as design)
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
The universe has a great deal of
precision.
The degree of precision is so great
that to alter many of the parameters
even slightly would destroy life as we
know it.
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SOME EXAMPLES
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If the axial tilt of the earth was
greater or less, the surface
temperature would be to harsh to
support life.
If the distance of the earth from the
sun was greater or less the earth
would be to hot or to cold to support
life.
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
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If the earths crust was thicker, to
much oxygen would be transferred
from the atmosphere to the crust. But
if the crust was thinner, there would
be to much volcanic activity.
If gravity was stronger, the
atmosphere would retain too much
ammonia and methane, which is
poisonous. But if gravity was less, the
atmosphere would lose to much
water.
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DNA (Order as information)
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If we see a rock that has been shaped
by erosion of say the wind we might
see some kind of order to it, but the
order would be a product of chance
and random factors.
But if we saw a statue, we would not
say the same thing. We would notice a
specific complexity, that had to have
been made by an intelligent designer.
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IS THERE INFORMATION ON
THIS PAGE?
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MY CAR IS IN THE SHOP GETTING
REPARED. IT HAS NOT BEEN RUNNING
VERY WELL. THE MECHANIC TELLS ME
THAT I WILL NEED A NEW ENGINE
AND THAT IT WILL COST TWO
THOUSAND DOLLARS TO FIX.
IF YOU ANSWERED “NO” YOU ARE
CORRECT.
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WHAT IS INFORMATION?

Information is communication
between minds.
• But in order for minds to communicate
there must be a common language .
• The language must exist and be
understood prior to any ability to
communicate.
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TOKENS
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Every language is a set of tokens.
A token stands in for something
intangible.
• Example: the number “1” is not really an
actual number. “1” is a token or symbol
representing the number “1” which is a
non-physical entity.
• There are no actual letters on this page,
simple tokens representing letters.
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THE POINT.

The rules of language were
established before we could use them
to communicate even on the most
primitive level.
• A designer had to have created the
language that we use tokens (symbols) to
communicate with.
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
If you are eating your alphabet soup
and the letters in your bowl spelled
“I LOVE YOU” you would immediately
understand that it is not a
communication from another mind.
Your soup is not declaring its
passionate affection for you.
• It would contain no information.
(information is communication between
minds).
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VIRGIN TOAST
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When you are on E-Bay, you should
not bid on a grilled cheese sandwich
that contains the face of the virgin
Mary. There is no mind
behind the alleged image.
• Sold for $28,000
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DNA
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Understanding of DNA has given new force
behind the argument for design based
information.
That DNA contains information is not
disputed.
• It stores and retrieves information, corrects any
errors when it copies itself, contains redundant
information so that if a gene mutates it can be
turned off and not cause any damage, is
expressible in mathematical terms (its digital),
and contains as much information as an average
volume of an encyclopedia.
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IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
(Order as complexity)

Some things are as simple as they
could be and still function.
• They are so simple, that if any part was
missing they would not function.
• They had to have been created just as
they are, or they would not have survived,
or they would not have had any purpose.
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MOUSETRAP.
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Which part of the mouse trap can be
removed and still leave you with a
functioning mouse trap?
Nothing can be removed
without completely
disabling the mechanism.
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TACTICAL NOTE.
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Understand that the design argument
does not prove that Christianity alone
is true (we will get to that later), but
the God described in the Bible is
consistent with the intelligent
designer described in the argument.
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all
describe an intelligent designer.
Eastern religions have no place for
such a being, as we will show later.
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CONCLUSION
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The different approaches to the
design argument all try to show the
same thing: that naturalism can only
account for so much; at a certain
point its powers fail.
The precision of the universe, the
nature of information, and the
observation that random and
undirected forces cannot account for
the complexity of living things all lead
to a transcendent, personal,
intelligent designer.
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