Page 76 - The Origin of Life and the Universe - International Conference 2016

The Origin of Life and the Universe

requires. And so this really looks like we live in a universe that is designed
to support life. And this points to design and that there is a Creator who
fashion the universe for a purpose.
So let's look a little closer to home. We see evidence of design in the
moon that orbits the earth. Not only is it pretty to look at during the night,
but it actually is important. Now Jupiter and Saturn both have satellites
that are larger than Earth's moon. But when compared to the size of its
host planet, earth's moon is in a class by itself. The large size of the moon
plays an important role in Earth’s capacity to support life. The moon
stabilizes the rotation axis. Earth rotates around an axis. And the moon
stabilizes that rotation axis, so it doesn't flip around. Without such a large
moon, the Earth's rotation axis would wobble in that would cause
catastrophic and violent changes to the Earth's climate. The moon prevents
this wobble and the earth is maintained a climate conducive to life for
billions of years. Perhaps more importantly the size of the moon also
provides the critical heat that enables the planet to have tectonic activity.
We think of earthquakes and volcanoes are bad, but they're just
evidence of this tectonic activity that is crucial for regulating the climate
of the earth as well as building the continents where the bulk of life live.
And the gravitational tug of the sun and the moon and the Earth, heats up
Earth's interior causing it to flex and stretch and compress. And this heat
drives the plate tectonics on Earth’s surface. As scientists seek to understand
how the Earth acquired such a large moon they recognize that it took a re-
markable collision early in Earth’s history. This collision needed to happen
at just the right speed, at just the right time, at just the right angle and
with just the right sized object. It really is an unusual collision. The moon
looks designed so that Earth can support life. And it also looks like the
Earth is just the right size so the tectonic activity is not too large or too
small. If it were larger the plates would be too thick and the tectonic
activity would be too small. If it were any small tectonic plates would be
much thinner and the tectonic activity would be too great. We live on a
planet with just the right size so that the tectonic activity is just right.
I want to mention one more piece of evidence for design, that we see
when we look inside the cell. When we study the genetic code we see