Page 82 - The Origin of Life and the Universe - International Conference 2016

The Origin of Life and the Universe

Now the free agency of a Creator necessitates empirical methods that
God could have done things different and so we have to measure what He
actually did. God encourages, in fact, tells us to take dominion over the
natural world. That encourages and propels science. Intellectual virtues
make science essentially the part of God's moral law. Perhaps most
important is that humans possess an ability to discover the universe's in-
telligibility. I asked the question does this make sense if atheism is true?
I'm reminded of a quote by C.S. Lewis that I think summarizes it well.
“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then
the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and
the whole evolution of man was an accident too. If so, then all our
present thoughts are mere accidents – the accidental by-product of the
movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists
and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts – i.e.,
of Materialism and Astronomy – are merely accidental byproducts,
why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing
that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the
other accidents.” (C.S. Lewis, Essays on Theology and Ethics, Cambridge,
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, p.41)
If my brain is just an accident, why should it be able to describe the
rest of the universe? Given these assumptions and philosophical presup-
positions of the scientific enterprise one should ask the question: “What
world view properly anchors these philosophical presuppositions?” A
theistic worldview where God creates humanity with a purpose and a
moral code and desire to worship and know God; that does anchor all
those assumptions. I'm not saying that a scientist must be a theist to do
science. But I am saying, that a scientist must adopt a worldview theistic
for the scientific enterprise to progress consistently and do it over time.
So we live in a universe where the scientific description matches that
revealed by God. We live in a universe that's designed to support life. And
we live in a universe where a theistic worldview anchors all the presuppositions
of science. To me that says the latest scientific evidence or our scientific
understanding of the universe is best described or best accounted for, by a
theistic worldview. That points to a God, Who created everything.
Thank you very much.