“Did you see the movie Contact?”
“Sure,” I said. “It was based on Carl Sagan’s book.”
“That’s right,” he replied. “In the movie, scientists are scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life in space. Their radiotelescopes just receive static – random sounds from space. It’s reasonable to assume there’s no intelligence behind that. Then one day they begin receiving a transmission of prime numbers, which are numbers divisible only by themselves and one.
“The scientists reason that it’s too improbable that there would be a natural cause behind a string of numbers like that. This wasn’t merely unorganized static; if was information, a message with content. From that, they concluded there was an intelligent cause behind it. As Sagan himself once said, ‘The receipt of a single message from space’ would be enough to know there’s an intelligence out there. That’s reasoning by analogy- we know that where there’s intelligent communication, there’s an intelligent cause.”
Bradley’s eyes bored in on me as he delivered his conclusion. “And if a single message from space is enough for us to conclude there’s an intelligence behind it, then what about the vast amounts of information contained in the DNA of every living plant and animal?” he said, his voice rising in emphasis.
“Each cell in the human body contains more information than in all thirty volumes of the
Encyclopaedia Britanica. It’s certainly reasonable to make the inference that this isn’t the random product of unguided nature, but it’s the unmistakable sign of an Intelligent Designer.”
It was an argument without an answer. “Then,” I said, “the origin of life is the Achilles heel of evolution.”
“That’s right. As Philip Johnson said, ‘If Darwinist are to keep the Creator out of the picture, they have to provide a naturalistic explanation for the origin of life.’
“Lee, they haven’t been able to do it. Despite all their efforts, they haven’t even come up with a single possibility that even remotely makes sense. And there’s no prospect they will. In fact, everything is pointing the other way – in the unmistakable direction of God. Today it takes a great deal of faith to be an honest scientist who is an atheist.”
Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith – A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity. Zondervan ISBN 0-310-23528-6 Also read: The Case for Christ - A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Zondervan ISBN 0-310-20930-7
Both books are highly recommended!
Click here if you want to visit the official SETI site (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. But of course you can also look
here for some fascinating answers... Two examples:
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Hebrews 11:3
Later I saw this picture (left) on the internet and now I know who this friendly grey bearded man was! I would have loved to talk with him about his statues. Maybe next time!
My email message to Heartlight:
“Did you see the movie Contact?”
“Lee, they haven’t been able to do it. Despite all their efforts, they haven’t even come up with a single possibility that even remotely makes sense. And there’s no prospect they will. In fact, everything is pointing the other way – in the unmistakable direction of God. Today it takes a great deal of faith to be an honest scientist who is an atheist.”
Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith – A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity. Zondervan ISBN 0-310-23528-6 Also read: The Case for Christ - A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Zondervan ISBN 0-310-20930-7
If you can afford to buy just one book, buy a Bible..jpg)
