A Computer (Part 7)

Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I'm talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made. So people have no excuse for what they do.  (Romans 1:20 NIrV)

I teach a class where I take apart the computer I mentioned about a week ago.  In this class I take apart the laptop, separating the major parts that are easily removable.  I then take those parts (about 10-12 of them) and give them to the participants.  I give them 5 minutes to put the computer together.  Sometimes they beat the clock.  Sometimes they don't.

Then I ask the critical question.  "If I took the laptop apart again and put the parts in a box and shook it randomly for 5 minutes, would the computer put itself back together again in a way that would work like it is now?"  The class always answers a resounding, "No!"  Of course not.  As a scientist, I would never believe something like that would happen.  The probability of that is statistically zero.

"What if I gave it more time, though.  Perhaps I could shake it randomly for a day...a month...a year...10 years...100 years...1000 years...a million years...a billion years.  Perhaps I could put it in outer space with little or no gravitational pull on it.  Then would it fit together in a way that would work?"  Class members always come to the same conclusion: "No!"  "Why not?", I ask.  "What would happen?"  They come to the same conclusion, "You would have a box of plastic and metal pieces, then dust."

Adding years to the timeline doesn't help them.  Adding more "ideal" conditions to the equation doesn't help them.  They can't take the leap of faith necessary to believe that the computer was put together by an explosion in a silicon, metal, and plastic factory.  They believe it was designed.  They believe it was purposefully created and put together in such a way that the computer works.

A computer has many more than 10-12 parts, but it only takes that many parts for us to see the need for a designer and a creator of the computer.  Over the past week, we have explored over 10 factors that need to be in place for life as we know it to exist.  Like the computer, there are many, many more factors necessary to sustain life.  How many does it take before we see the need for a Designer and a Creator?

You see, out of the two theories discussed earlier I have come to believe in the theory that states that God has existed forever.  That leap of faith is no larger than believing that "stuff" has existed forever.  I've come to believe that God designed and created the universe, putting everything right where He wanted it to be.  Then He created life as we know it and has been sustaining it ever since.  That is a much smaller leap of faith than asking me to believe there was an explosion of life-building-block-parts and that everything fell together in such a way to produce the world and the universe we experience now.

My faith is not blind.  It is based in reality.  The world around us is trying to point us to a Creator God...even in the world of science.  Some, unfortunately, are simply not willing to accept where the data is pointing them.  How about you?  Do you see Him?