Creation and the Creator

Why do I believe God created everything?

Three reasons I choose to believe God created all things, including all things on the earth:

1. Everything that starts needs a starter. A true perpetual motion machine does not exist. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says "the total entropy (disorder) of an isolated system always increases over time, or remains constant for reversible processes, meaning energy naturally disperses and processes have a specific direction. It implies heat flows spontaneously from hot to cold, and perfect, 100% efficient energy conversion is impossible" (https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/second-law-entropy/). In other words, order always devolves to disorder, and heat always transfers to cold.
   
   No one has ever seen ocean waves on the shore spontaneously creating a sand castle. An analog watch has never been assembled by wind blowing loose metal and glass fragments together. If you fill a jar with three colors of M&Ms, you can shake the jar for the rest of your life, and the colors will never settle into three discrete layers. If astronomers and physicists are correct that the universe started with the "Big Bang," something had to start it. I believe that "something" is God.
   
   
2. One hundred conditions for the "Goldilocks Zone." Based on scientific research in astrobiology, astrophysics, and planetary science, the Earth requires a complex, highly specific set of conditions to support complex life. These factors include the nature of the star, the composition of the planet, and its position in the galaxy (https://seec.gsfc.nasa.gov/what_makes_a_planet_habitable.html).
   
   For example, a habitable planet must be far enough from the center of its galaxy not to be overwhelmed by supernovas and radiation, but not so far from the center that heavy elements cannot form. Its star must be a G-type main-sequence star (like the Sun). The planet must be the right distance from the Sun to permit liquid water. It must be in a circular orbit to avoid climate extremes. A large moon is needed to stabilize the planet's axis tilt to enable moderate seasonal variations. The planet's size must be large enough to generate sufficient gravity to hold a substantial atmosphere and water vapor, but not so large as to create a "gas giant." The planet must have a molten core to generate a magnetic field to shield the planet from excess solar radiation. It needs an oxygen-rich atmosphere, liquid water, carbon materials, moderate surface temperature, deep oceans, tides, and on and on.
   
   The odds of a planet satisfying all 100+ conditions are extremely low--unless it is done by design. I believe God is the Designer.
   
   
3. The human genome is almost infinitely complex. A human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes that host 3.2 Billion base-pair sequences of DNA, containing roughly 20,000-25,000 genes. The structural variation of genes within humans makes each collection as unique as a fingerprint. The odds of the human genome developing by random gene mutations are astronomically low (near zero) if viewed as a precise, predetermined outcome (https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/1f4ae7f/request_what_is_the_probability_that_humans/).
   
   The scientific caveat to the theory of unguided evolution is natural selection. We have evidence of natural selection driving evolution within species. What scientists cannot prove, however, is how natural selection caused some organisms to become fish, others birds, still others mammals, and ulitimately humans.
   
   The incredibly complex messaging in human DNA suggests that behind it all was a Master Messager. I believe the genetic programmer is God.

Those who do not accept the Creation/Creator proposition put their faith in other precepts, such as the power of big numbers and the inevitability of natural selection. It is simply a matter of a different kind of faith. No one has watched billions of planets form around billions of stars in billions of galaxies to know for sure that the Goldilocks Zone happens by accident. No one has witnessed a sequence of gene mutations over a billion years turn a cat into a dog, a fish into a bird, or a monkey into a man.

I'm not saying the modern scientific theory of how the earth and human life came about is without merit. I'm saying that scientific theory is based on plausible suppositions and stretches of imagination. Other plausible suppositions are also possible.

At the same time, no one on earth today saw God trigger the Big Bang or watched Him tinker with the formation of our planet or witnessed Him guiding the gene mutations that led from a prokaryote to a human. Faith is required for either scenario. Weighing the options and looking at the evidence, I choose to believe that God created (organized, guided, directed) the forces and materials that became the universe, the Milky Way galaxy, our solar system, the planet on which I live, and me. It takes a stretch of faith either way. I choose the way that leads to God.