Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” ― John Calvin
Dr. Vince Vitale was an atheist and a doctoral grad from an Ivy League school. While he was unaware of the credible evidence behind faith and the resurrection, through guided literature by C.S. Lewis, Chesterton, Collins and Strobel, he was introduced to these intellectually-driven cases for faith.
Dr. Vitale would study scripture and write "BS" in the margin of his Bible for passages he struggled with (and when questioned about this cryptic note, he would say it meant, "Bible Study"). His story is one among many intellectuals who gave faith a chance in light of the evidence and experienced transformation because of it.
At Princeton he recounts another part of his conversion that was significant. He studied the religious claims about creation, and mentally compared them to secular claims about origins of life, he soon realized a startling truth that he already believed in miracles.
As scores of students sit on edge at RZIM conferences, he explained that in his mind he sees only three plausible explanations for the universe.
1 - It is eternal.
You can hear thousands of students laugh as he explains why this is a weird option. To have the level of complexity and type of universe that we have, and believe it is past eternal is a remarkable notion.
2 - It popped into existence from non-existence randomly
The unfathomably remote probability of this options also makes this belief startling and downright weird.
3 - God made it.
To Vince's secular mind, this concept seemed so archaic and strange. As he examined all three possibilities however, he realized they are all miraculous. No matter what you believe, you have to accept miracles as legitimate to ground the initial starting point of life.
Syndicated radio host Eric Metaxas in his book "Miracles" opens with material from the astrophysicist, Hugh Ross. Ross, along with many secular through theistic minds have attempted to speak to our beginnings scientifically. In an article on Ross's website, the following statement is made after pages and pages of research,
"General relativity theory, which gave rise to the big bang, stipulates that the universe had a beginning and specifically a “transcendent” beginning. The space-time theorem of general relativity states that matter, energy, and all the space-time dimensions associated with the universe began in finite time, and that the Cause of the universe brings all the matter, energy, and space-time dimensions of the universe into existence from a reality beyond matter, energy, space, and time. The extreme fine-tuning of the big bang parameters that are necessary for physical life to be possible in the universe exceeds by many orders of magnitude the design capabilities of human beings. The worldview significance of these conclusions cannot be avoided. No philosophical system or religious doctrines in the world fits them as does the Bible. It not only fits them, it anticipates them by several thousand years¹."
It gets stranger still.
Not only was our creation miraculous, but miraculously we have the ability to ask why we were created!
This is a challenging step to demonstrate for many worldviews, especially naturalistic ones that aim to disprove any level of transcendence. Demonstrating how consciousness arose from non-consciousness in simply naturalistic terms is a remarkable undertaking. As you read this you think, feel and have your existence.
Why?
Dr Zacharias follows Dr Vitale's opening to expound on what is needed to think rationally. We have transitioned from cosmic impossibilities to conceptual frameworks, this is where "truth becomes stranger than fiction". Libraries have been filled to their seams as scientist hypothesize on were the air and rocks came from. Philosophers are right behind them, with possibly even more volumes, speculating on the correct way to even begin to think about air and rocks. Dr. William Craig (philosopher), Dr. Ian Hutchinson (Nuclear physicist from M.I.T), Dr Bernard Rolling (Distinguished bioethicist) are a few names among countless that believe that philosophy, specifically theology, was a necessary prerequisite that allowed science to even be born as a discipline.
We have a two-fold complexity in asking a one word question, "why?"
On one level, the grounds of existence to even be able to ask that question are astronomically complex.
On the next level, the grounds of correct mental perspective to be able to properly answer that question are incomprehensibly complex.
Dr Zacharias explains that the beginning of a worldview must provide an answer to 4 questions.
1 - Where did we come from?
2- Why are we here?
3 - What are the rules of engagement (ethics)?
4 - Where are we going?
Then each answer to each question must correspond to truth either based on the laws of logic, empirical adequacy or experiential relevance. Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson who doctoral work in biology from Harvard spoke on this in his recent work shedding light on Darwinian flaws regarding life. He reminds us that experiential relevance is a golden rule in science and uses it frequently to demonstrate how his work corresponds to truth.
After answering all 4 questions and having your answers verified in one of three ways, all your answers must paint a coherent picture.
Philosophy considers this a sound way to begin to think about the unthinkable, how "why" was created.
I cannot count the pebbles in the brook. Well hath He spoken: "Swear not by thy head. Thou knowest not the hairs," though He, we read, Writes that wild number in His own strange book. I cannot count the sands or search the seas, Death cometh, and I leave so much untrod. Grant my immortal aureole, O my God, And I will name the leaves upon the trees, In heaven I shall stand on gold and glass, Still brooding earth's arithmetic to spell; Or see the fading of the fires of hell Ere I have thanked my God for all the grass.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” ― John Calvin
Work cited:
¹= Scientific Evidence for an Old Earth, www.reasons.org/explore/publications/facts-for-faith/read/facts-for-faith/2000/07/01/a-beginner's-and-expert's-guide-to-the-big-bang-sifting-facts-from-fictions.
