Re: [asa] Reference Design

On Sat, 8 Nov 2008, Michael McCray wrote:

> It appears you have both concluded that the universe is designed but there
> is no other reference with which to compare it. You have come upon the very
> reason you cannot use science to prove or disprove there is a God. A
> universe that was divinely designed but yet unfinished would look exactly
> like the universe in which we live. It would be highly complex and
> interrelated but composed of rather simple starting pieces...
>
> Now turn the question over; What would the universe look like if it was not
> divinely made?
> Many scientists have wondered why the natural constants have the values that
> they do. Others have wondered why there are constants at all. What should
> the universe look like if the materialists contentions are ture? Can this
> perspective provide you with a reference?
>
> Michael McCray
>

A major problem that I have with thinking about how to try to argue for
design is trying to imagine what an undesigned universe would look like.
What limitations are there on the possibilities? Why?

As scientists we have certain unprovable assumptions. We believe in an
orderly universe. Otherwise we couldn't do science. We assume that the
physical constants are indeed constants although we can never measure them
so accurately as to absolutely rule out the tiniest variation. We assume
that the laws we have formulated are universal although if there were
exceptions in three or four atoms somewhere in the universe, it is
unlikely that we would have found them. If these are to be expected in an
undesigned universe, then we would have to ask the question why.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Mon Nov 10 22:31:51 2008