Scientific Argument for the Existence of God

 

1. Laws of Thermodynamics

A. Energy

The laws of thermodynamics are fundamental laws in physics that define physical quantities such as temperature, energy, and entropy. The first law of thermodynamics states that the total energy of a system must be congruous with the law of conservation of energy; namely, energy may transform from one form to another, but it can neither be created, nor destroyed. If energy cannot be created: what, then, is the provenance of energy? From where did it originate? There are three principal possibilities one must consider.

1. Genesis of the universe from nothing (ex nihilo)
2. The universe’s existence has been interminable (always existed)
3. An intelligent being created it

 

The first possibility is least likely. Generation of the universe ex nihilo would necessitate a creation of energy/matter, and consequently, a violation of the first law of thermodynamics. Science has demonstrated that the likelihood of an interminable universe is impossible. The accepted initiation point of the “Big Bang” invokes the need for a being greater than the laws of physics – hence, a creator. The first law of thermodynamics can only be usurped by a being that is not bound by the spatial, temporal, and scientific constraints of the universe.

 

B. Entropy

 

The second law of thermodynamics – in essence – states that the entropy of a system will always increase with time, that is, the “disorder” of a system will invariably increase (disorganization, randomness, etc.). For example, a perfectly clean room will become dustier, and dirtier with time. The universe is trending toward thermodynamic equilibrium because the energy available for work is gradually decreasing. Disequilibrium is good, because you have potential to do work. Equilibrium means the physical system cannot do any work All disequilibrium is good, and we call that “order.” Every system is tending toward equilibrium. Every hot / cold place will tend toward warm. Every physical system some disequilibrium to do work, but every time it does work, it loses some order / disequilibrium. It may be able to retrograde briefly, but over the long term, disorder will win out, and eventually equilibrium.

 

The big bang is a physical system. Over the past 13.8 billion years, the universe has been working. Moving from order to disorder. If we had an infinite universe, it should theoretically be a dead universe today, due to little remaining disequilibrium (that is, the equilibration process). It follows that we must have a finite universe, which has a beginning. All universes must have a beginning.

 

You need low entropy at the big bang in order to evolve the universe. A high entropy onset means it’s all over – equilibrium. The odds of low entropy extant at the onset of a universe is akin to a monkey randomly tapping keys to create the entire corpus of Shakespeare on the first try. Furthermore, since the universe is an isolated system, it cannot exchange energy or matter with anything else. Therefore, the entropy or disorder of the universe will increase, and eventually, the universe will cease to exist. Energy available for work will decrease to zero.

 

With respect to the origin of the universe, the question becomes: how did we make the transition from non-life to complex, intelligent life on Earth? That transition would require a significant decrease in entropy, that is, a progression from disorder to order. This would ostensibly violate the second law of thermodynamics, since the universe cannot move from disorder to order. How did we transition from nothing to – post Big Bang – a universe containing the ingredients necessary for life? Again, a transition to low entropy (order) was needed.

 

Thus, there must be an intelligent being outside the bounds of the second law of thermodynamics to induce the genesis of a highly ordered universe. We know that the universe is tending toward disorder, so if we move backward in time, the order of the universe gradually increases, but it can’t increase interminably. It must have a starting point. How did we begin with a highly ordered universe? Science demonstrates that the probability of creating a high entropy universe is quite easy, but the chance of creating a low entropy universe is about 1 in 10^{10^123}.

 

One can conclude from both the first and second law of thermodynamics that the most likely provenance of the universe is an intelligent creator, since the violation of both laws necessitates the existence of an entity outside of the temporal, spatial, and scientific constraints of the universe.

 

 

2. Space-Time Geometry

 

Borde-Vilenkin-Guth Theorem (the BVG Theorem).

 

Three scientists collaborated to create this virtually bulletproof theorem which strongly corroborates the necessity of a beginning to all universes.

 

Consider the following example, derived from Alexander Vilenkin’s “Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes”:

 

“Suppose, for example, that [a] space traveler has just zoomed by the earth at the speed of 100,000 kilometers per second and is now headed toward a distant galaxy, about a billion light years away. That

galaxy is moving away from us at a speed of 20,000 kilometers per second, so when the space traveler

catches up with it, the observers there will see him moving at 80,000 kilometers per second.

If the velocity of the space traveler relative to the spectators gets smaller and smaller into the future,

then it follows that his velocity should get larger and larger as we follow his history into the past. In the

limit, his velocity should get arbitrarily close to the speed of light.”

 

Eventually, one arrives at a boundary to past time, indicative of an absolute beginning to the universe or a pre-Big Bang era beginning. These scientists founds that any expanding (inflationary) universe, or multiverse (bubble universe), or bouncing universe must have an absolute beginning. If the so-called “average Hubble expansion” is greater than zero, there must be a beginning.

 

Further:

“Many physicists also believe that inflation explains why the universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic), why the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly, why the universe is flat, and why no magnetic monopoles have been observed.”

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)

 

The bottom line is that most physicists accept the inflationary theory of the universe, and if the universe is inflationary, it must have a beginning. If it has a beginning, something must have caused that beginning to occur. If something caused a beginning to occur, that “something” must have been outside of the temporal and spatial constraints of the universe.

 

 

3. Putative Fine-Tuning as Further Substantiation of Intelligence

 

The unique specificity of conditions present in our universe is such that infinitesimally small alterations in fundamental forces would elicit a total dissipation of life. Consider the following.

A. There are multifarious elements necessary for life – the most important of which are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The formation of carbon in stars occurs via a collation of helium and beryllium nuclei. The reaction is contingent upon resonance, whereby the ground state energy levels of the nuclei must be fine-tuned to +/- 1%. Fred Hoyle was the scientist who discovered this process (formation of carbon in stars), and he noted that the fine-tuning was a great challenge to his atheism, as it seemed as if a super-intellect tinkered with the physics.

B. Strong nuclear force holding atoms together: as we know, atoms are fundamental building blocks of life, and so, the precise interactions of neutrons and protons are critical for building molecules, cells, and living things. If the mass of a neutron was one-seventh of a percent more than it is, stars would be incapable of burning hydrogen, and consequently, cease to exist. If the mass of a neutron was 0.085% less than it is, all of the protons would have converted into neutrons post-Big Bang, and we would not be here. If there were roughly equal numbers of protons and neutrons formed, no hydrogen would be created, making complex life unlikely.

C. The precision of the ratio between the electromagnetic force to gravitational force. A slight increase in the ratio by 1 in 10⁴⁰ would produce only small stars, while a decrease in the ratio by the same amount would produce only large stars. We need large stars for essential chemical elements, and small stars to permit planet, and life formation. The precision that we have is “akin to a marksman hitting the far side of the observable universe 20 billion light years away.”

D. The ratio of expansion to contraction forces – if the universe expands too slowly, gravity causes it too collapse; conversely, if the universe expands too quickly, galaxies will not form. The precision of this variable is 1 in 10⁵⁵.

 

 

4. Near-Death Experiences / Out-of-Body Experiences

 

There is now peer reviewed, veridical evidence substantiating posthumous survival of consciousness. Survival of consciousness after death indicates that there is a part of human beings beyond the physical – entirely detachable – that is, something unexplainable by evolution and science alone. Large scale studies have shown impressive instances of out-of-body experiences, wherein, people whose physical bodies were laying in hospital beds, were able to accurately identify objects in others rooms, or even much farther away. Examples include individuals physically blind (congenitally) who are able to see during their near-death experience, and accurately identify things in the hospital room after waking from their  near-death state in the bed. Many suggest incredible experiences of overwhelming love, hope, while being greeted by loved ones, and making the “decision” to return to their bodies.

 

The Peer Reviewed Studies are:

 

1. Samuel Parnia, M.D., et al – South Hampton University Study 2014.
2. Pim Van Lommel, M.D., et al – Lancet Study 2001.
3. Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., et al – NDEs and the Blind, 1999.
4. Janice Holden, Ph.D., et al – Combined Veridical Study 2007.
5. Journal of Near Death Studies (International Association of Near Death Studies).

 

See the following link:

 

https://iands.org/research/publications/journal-of-near-death-studies.html

 

How are people, who are physically incapacitated in a hospital, able to positively identify objects/items either in the room or much farther away upon awakening? The only possible explanation is the existence of a detachable human consciousness. A detachable human consciousness necessitates the existence of a Creator that instilled such a consciousness.

 

In conclusion, the notion that the universe initiated without exogenous induction by an intelligent being is an extremely low probability proposition. How can the provenance of the universe be explicated without an intelligent being? The initiation of the universe violates both the first and second laws of thermodynamics (energy/matter creation out of nothing, and disorder to order), which necessitates a being that is independent of those constraints. Further, the exceptional fine-tuning of the universe – to the extent that diminutive alterations in certain forces would elicit death – strongly suggests that an intelligent being exists.

 

Finally, what is the probability of: an earth-like planet existing in the universe, replete with conditions necessary for life; at the right temperature; combination of variables to elicit the evolution of non-complex life into multicellular, complex beings; and, for that life to further evolve into sentient, intelligent, human life? The probability is infinitesimally low.

 

The wager that God exists is one that science indicates we should take.

 

 

 

References:

https://blog.emergingscholars.org/2014/05/nature-as-a-christian-apologetic/

https://www.magiscenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Magis_FactSheet-1.pdf