Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with
no end. But here are a few:
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's
size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly
nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the
Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be
impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its
atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.3
Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the
right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.
The Earth is
located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature
swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the
Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any
closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the
Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible.
The Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it
rotates around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also
rotating on its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to
be properly warmed and cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for
its gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and
movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive
oceans are restrained from spilling over across the
continents.4
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste,
and yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and
human beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human
body is water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are
uniquely suited to life:
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water
allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature
changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water is a
universal solvent. This property of water means that thousands of
chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our
bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.5
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup
of the substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and
minerals to be absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can
therefore flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water
and nutrients to the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in
the winter.
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But
on our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from
the water and then distributes that water throughout the globe.
Evaporation takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms
clouds which are easily moved by the wind to disperse water over
the land, for vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of
purification and supply that sustains life on this planet, a system
of recycled and reused water.6
The human brain...simultaneously processes an
amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors
and objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of
your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of
your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and
processes all your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same
time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body
like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement
of the muscles in your hands.
The human brain
processes more than a million messages a second.7 Your
brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the
relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you
to focus and operate effectively in your world. The brain functions
differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to it, the
ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take
action, and relate to other people.
The eye...can distinguish among seven million
colors. It has automatic focusing and handles an astounding 1.5
million messages -- simultaneously.8 Evolution focuses
on mutations and changes from and within existing organisms. Yet
evolution alone does not fully explain the initial source of the
eye or the brain -- the start of living organisms from nonliving
matter.
Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one
enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big
Bang. This was the singular start to everything that exists: the
beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial
start of time itself.
Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic,
stated, "The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe
was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and
every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result
of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic
explosion...The Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out
what caused that to happen."9
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said at the moment
of this explosion, "the universe was about a hundred thousands
million degrees Centigrade...and the universe was filled
with light."10
The universe has not always existed. It had a start...what
caused that? Scientists have no explanation for the sudden
explosion of light and matter.
Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what we can count
on day after day: gravity remains consistent, a hot cup of coffee
left on a counter will get cold, the earth rotates in the same 24
hours, and the speed of light doesn't change -- on earth or in
galaxies far from us.
How is it that we can identify laws of nature that
never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so
reliable?
"The greatest scientists have been struck by how strange this
is. There is no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules,
let alone one that abides by the rules of mathematics. This
astonishment springs from the recognition that the universe doesn't
have to behave this way. It is easy to imagine a universe in which
conditions change unpredictably from instant to instant, or even a
universe in which things pop in and out of
existence."11
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum
electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a
mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of
miracle."12
All
instruction, all teaching, all training comes with intent. Someone
who writes an instruction manual does so with purpose. Did you know
that in every cell of our bodies there exists a very detailed
instruction code, much like a miniature computer program? As you
may know, a computer program is made up of ones and zeros, like
this: 110010101011000. The way they are arranged tell the computer
program what to do. The DNA code in each of our cells is very
similar. It's made up of four chemicals that scientists abbreviate
as A, T, G, and C. These are arranged in the human cell like this:
CGTGTGACTCGCTCCTGAT and so on. There are three billion of these
letters in every human cell!!
Well, just like you can program your phone to beep for specific
reasons, DNA instructs the cell. DNA is a three-billion-lettered
program telling the cell to act in a certain way. It is a full
instruction manual.13
Why is this so
amazing? One has to ask....how did this information program wind up
in each human cell? These are not just chemicals. These are
chemicals that instruct, that code in a very detailed way exactly
how the person's body should develop.
Natural, biological causes are completely lacking as an
explanation when programmed information is involved. You cannot
find instruction, precise information like this, without someone
intentionally constructing it.
I was an atheist at one time. And like many atheists, the issue
of people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about
atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy
refuting something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes
us to do that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as
caring for those poor, delusional people...to help them realize
their hope was completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had
another motive. As I challenged those who believed in God, I was
deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise. Part of
my quest was to become free from the question of God. If I could
conclusively prove to believers that they were wrong, then the
issue is off the table, and I would be free to go about my
life.
I didn't realize
that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was
because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that
God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we
would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and
he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was
as if I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In
fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer
began with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason
atheists are bothered by people believing in God is because God is
actively pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm
Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a
notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S.
Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever
my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady,
unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to
meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and
prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant
convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a
result of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than
rightfully admitting God's existence. Yet over the following
several months, I became amazed by his love for me.
I found a website that is suitable for God-believers to read.
http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
I am a free-thinker in this lifetime and I know God exists.
God is love. God does not judge.
God bless us all. 
