1. Art and Diseño

“Evidence that Demands a Verdict” Series
Sponsored by DISCIPLES OF THE CROSS - CCNY
Andrew N. Smellie, B.S., M.H.A.
Cornell University ‘01, ‘03
Lead Evangelist
New York City International Christian Church
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Apologetics – Defending Christian Evidences
Science & Religion – Friends or Enemies?
◦ Errors of extreme views – scientific or religious!
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Evidence for a Creator
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The Origin of Universe and Life!
The Design of the Universe - Anthropic Principle
Irreducible Complexity
Biological Storage of Information - DNA
Summary
What is Your Verdict?
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“Apologetics” – (Greek) - > “Apologia”
◦ Originally used in ancient Athens as a “speech of
defense or vindication”
◦ Specifically made in a courtroom as part of normal
judicial procedure. Defendant allowed to refute
charges with a “defense” (apologia)
◦ In the 2nd century this general word for “defense”
began to refer to defending the beliefs and
practices of Christianity
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What is it today?
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Christian (1 Peter 3:15)
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Persuasion (Acts 17:2-4)
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Science (Isaiah 40:22, 55:10, Job 26:7)
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Art (1 Corinthians 9:19-22)
◦ The Science and Art of Christian Persuasion!
◦ Jesus is Lord and the people need to examine the
truth!
◦ We are called to persuade others like Paul did!
◦ Study of archeology, astronomy, medicine, & physics!
◦ Building loving relationships with people that will
break down the roadblocks of pride, sin, and false
beliefs through discussion and challenges!
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To deepen our love for God and our
neighbors (Matthew 22:37-38)!
◦ We need to love God with all our “mind”!
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To prepare us to answer the claims of the
world (1 Peter 3:15-17)!
◦ We need to be confident about the basics!
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To protect our brothers and sisters in the
church from false doctrine (Acts 20:3031)!
◦ Even disciples of Jesus in the past have
mistakenly distorted the truth!
“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no
one who does good. The Lord looks down from
heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any
who understand, any who seek God. All have
turned aside, they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”
–Psalm 14:1-3
Science & Religion:
Friends or Enemies?
"I want to know how God
created this world. I am
not interested in this or
that phenomenon, in the
spectrum of this or that
element. I want to know
his thoughts; the rest are
details."
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-- Albert Einstein, “A Talk with
Einstein” (1955)
(The Listener 54, p.370-371)
 Bacteriology
 Calculus
and Dynamics
 Celestial Mechanics
 Electrodynamics
 Electromagnetism
 Gas Dynamics
 Genetics
Louis Pasteur
Sir Isaac Newton
Johannes Kepler
James Clerk Maxwell
Michael Faraday
Robert Boyle
Gregor Mendel
Atheism vs. Creationism
 The Atheist’s view of nature can be explained as follows:
“Every event which has ever occurred or ever will occur in the universe
can be explained by the laws of nature.”
 The Creationist’s view of nature can be summed up as follows:
“The universe is a few thousand years old. The preponderance of
known scientific facts are in agreement with this claim.”
Not every scientist is an atheist and not every Bible-believer is a creationist.
Minority positions, merely the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Neither is well supported by science.
What are the positions of the atheist and creationist
on the origin of the universe?
Atheism
“In the universe of blind physical forces
and genetic replication, some people are
going to get hurt and other people are
going to get lucky: and you won’t find any
rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The
universe we observe has precisely the
properties we should expect if there is at
the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil
and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless
indifference. DNA neither knows nor
cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its
music.”
-- Richard Dawkins
A River Out of Eden, 1995
Creationism
First day of creation:
Sunday 23 October 4004 BC
Published 1650
O.T. genealogies end-to-end
James Ussher
1581-1656
Irish Archbishop & ViceChancellor of Trinity College in
Dublin
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“Mutations” supply the new raw
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“Natural selection” retains the
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material
mutations which provide a
reproductive advantage
All life (plant and animal) has
derived from a common ancestor
YET Darwin also stated: “I cannot
look at the universe as a result of
blind chance.” – “On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural
Selection” – 1859)
This theory does not explain
HOW life got here, but rather is a
proposed mechanism of
development.
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The word “evolution” is used in different ways
- one true, the others not
“Micro-evolution” – Life forms have developed
and diversified into new life forms. Gradual
changes within a kind of animal (Ex: several
generations of dogs
“Macro-evolution” – Life arose from non-life.
All life forms change from simple to complex
organisms. Gradual change from one kind of
animal to another (Ex: from fish to amphibian
to reptile - is “a research topic”)
Evolution is a proposed mechanism for life. It
doesn’t explain how life began!
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Evolutionary biologist and historian William
Provine of Cornell University said that if macroevolution is true, then there are five
inescapable conclusions:
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There’s no evidence for God.
There’s no life after death.
There’s no absolute foundation for right and wrong.
There’s no ultimate meaning for life.
People don’t really have free will.
Radical concessions from an ardent Darwinist!
(Darwin on Trial, 2nd Edition – Philip Johnson, 1993)
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Basically only two choices:
◦ God exists and He created us
◦ There is no God, so natural processes must explain
how we got here
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The appeal of evolutionary thought: it
provides a way for people to justify to
themselves that there is no God, so they can
live and do as they want
1st & 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics
 (1st) “In a closed system, the sum of mass and
energy is conserved.”
 (2nd) “For any spontaneous process in a closed
system, entropy increases.”
– What does that mean in Laymen’s terms???
 Mass & energy can be interconverted but not
change (ex: Gasoline in your car – E=mc^2)
 With the absence of “supernatural intervention”,
the universe will run down completely. Order
leads to disorder!
Assumption: The Universe Exists
Therefore, the Universe has either:
1) Always Existed OR
2) Not Always Existed
In other words, the universe has either
1) Not Been Created OR
2) Been Created
FACT: The Universe Exists
Beginning
Caused
Personal
(i.e. Creator)
No Beginning
Uncaused
Impersonal
Since the universe could not create itself,
there must be some sort of Creator!
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“The heavens declare the glory of God; the
skies proclaim the works of his hands.”
◦ Psalm 19:1
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“The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and
all the peoples see his glory.”
◦ Psalm 97:6
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Universe began 15 billion years ago
Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago
Life began 3.5 – 4 billion years ago
Homo Sapiens began 250,000 years ago
Would the explosion
of a building cause
complexity or
randomness?
Entropy (disorder)
would increase!
Question for
atheists: What
caused the Big Bang
explosion?
Assumption: Life Exists
Therefore, life was either:
1) Created OR
2) It Just Happened
Which implies either:
1) There Is A Creator OR
2) There Is No Creator
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Created or Not Created?
Questions to Keep in Mind:
 How did life originate from non-life?
 How did complex order originate from disorder?
 How did complex information originate from noninformation?
All Living things are composed of:
• Proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids.
• Carbohydrates require a strong oxidizing (oxygen)
atmosphere and amino acids require a strong reducing
(hydrogen) atmosphere. Logical opposites!!!
• How could life have randomly started if the atmosphere
to begin life required completely different atmospheres?
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Non-Life
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Life
Highly
Developed
Life
• Fact: Appearance of first bacteria and algae
3.5 - 4 billion years ago (from fossil finds).
• Fact: Earth about 4.5 billion years old
• Very little time (geologically) for the earth to cool
and the first cell to arise and “evolve”.
• Scientists have postulated that nature would
need around a billion years for this to the cell
to evolve after the cooling.
• One answer to this problem…
• PANSPERMIA!
• LIFE CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
Directed panspermia: intelligent life
used space travel to colonize Earth
- Francis Crick (1916-2004)
Icarus, 1973
• Darwinists have no plausible answers to these
problems
• Everything points to “NON-NATURALISTIC
INTERVENTION”! (another word for a MIRACLE)
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Anthropic Principle:
 Physical Constants of Universe
Others are: Parent Star Constants (7); Elemental
Constants in Atmosphere (7)
Constants Which Had to be Just Right For Life
Constant
A Little Bigger
A Little Smaller
Gravitational constant
very short-lived stars
no stars
Strong Nuclear Force
no hydrogen, fusion
only hydrogen
Weak Nuclear Force
all H2  He at big bang
no He at big bang
no heavy elements
Electric Force
no chemical bonding
no chemical
bonding
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• At least 55 distinct parameters, probability: 10-69
• Maximum possible number of planets in universe: 1022
• Much less than 1 chance in one hundred billion trillion trillion exists that even
one such planet would occur anywhere in the universe
Argument from Design:
Teleological Argument
The universe (life) clearly
has design and purpose
displayed within it.
The best explanation for
design and purpose is an
intelligent designer.
Therefore, the universe (life)
is the result of an
intelligent designer.
Natural Theology, 1800
William Paley 1743 –1805
The Big Bang was Fine-Tuned!
•When the universe was one second old, its
rate of expansion had to be exactly the right
value to within 0.000000000000001%
How precise? Drive your car @ 60 mph for 40 years
around the Earth  21,024,000 miles (800 times)
(without moving off track by one hair width – 15 microns)
“Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of
God – the design argument of Paley – updated and
refurbished. The fine tuning of the universe provides
prima facie evidence of deistic design. Take your
choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of
universes, or design that requires only one… Many
scientists, when they admit their views, incline toward
the teleological or design argument.”
-- E. Harrison
Masks of the Universe, 1985
• The strength of gravity must be within
.000000000000000000000000000000000000
01%
in order for life to exist in the universe
• Stronger gravity  inconsistent sun burning
Weaker gravity  not enough metal
Two Types of Order
1. Order without information
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Example: Snowflake
Dendritic growth is an inherent property of
water
No creator needed
2. Order with information
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Example: Mt. Rushmore vs. Old Man of the
Mountain
Intelligent cause needed
 Life Zone
Larger Star:
Rapid, unstable
burning
Smaller Star:
Planet’s rotation
period is too long
Sir Fred Hoyle: The likelihood of a cell forming by chance
is the same as a “tornado sweeping through a junk-yard
and assembling a Boeing 747 from the material within.”
Dimes up to the moon on 48
billion Earths!
Fine-tuning
Over 200 parameters had to be fine-tuned for
life to exist in the universe.
•The odds are one chance out of 10237 = 0!
•That is like flipping a coin and getting tails
787 times in a row!
“If it could be demonstrated
that any complex organ existed
which could not possibly have
been formed by numerous,
successive, slight
modifications, my theory would
absolutely break down.”
--Charles Darwin
Origin of Species, 1859
The survival of the fittest does
not explain the arrival of the
fittest
Bombardier Beetle
H2O2 reservoir
Hydroquinone reservoir
Inhibitor
Anti-inhibitor
Schematic diagram of the
"irreducibly complex" human eye
1:posterior chamber
2:ora serrata
3:ciliary muscle
4:ciliary zonules
5:canal of Schlemm
6:pupil
7:anterior chamber
8:cornea
9:iris
10:lens cortex
11:lens nucleus
12:ciliary process
13:conjunctiva
14:inferior oblique muscle
15:inferior rectus muscle
16:medial rectus muscle
17:retinal arteries and veins
18:optic disc
19:dura mater
20:central retinal artery
21:central retinal vein
22:optical nerve
23:vorticose vein
24:bulbar sheath
25:macula
26:fovea
27:sclera
28:choroid
29:superior rectus muscle
30:retina
DNA
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“Human DNA contains more organized
information than the Encyclopedia
Britannica. If the full text of the
encyclopedia were to arrive in computer
code from outer space, most people would
regard this as proof of the existence of
extraterrestrial intelligence. But when seen
in nature, it is explained as the workings of
random forces.”1
-George Sim Johnson
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E. coli contain about 500 billion atoms.
E. coli have 3000-4000 different proteins.
DNA and RNA to make and be made by these
proteins.
Dozens of lipids (membrane)
Saccharides
Other organic molecules
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Cause and effect must trace back to a “first cause”
(God). Disorder does not lead to order.
Complexity cannot arise by chance
Design and purpose in nature requires intelligence
Ultimately there are only two origins choices
(natural or super-natural), and the random,
undirected processes of evolution are incapable of
creating life or advancing it to higher forms, or
explaining how something (the universe) came
from nothing - the super-natural is necessary!
The Biblical revelation – which we will talk about in
next week
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Design a robot:
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Less than 1/4 inch tall
Can carry heavy loads
Can dig large holes
Can cross any terrain
Can find its own energy sources
Can make other robots like itself
Do this and you would be famous - people
would marvel at your skills
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This work has been done
The robot is called an “ant”
We squash them because they are trivial and
unimportant compared to man
Complex things require a designer,
intelligence, and a plan!
Macro-evolution has NO designer, NO
intelligence, NO plan!
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“All the evidence available in the biological
sciences supports the core proposition of
traditional natural theology– that the cosmos
is a specially designed whole with life and
mankind as its fundamental goal and
purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality,
from the size of galaxies to the thermal
capacity of water, have their meaning and
explanation in this central fact.”
(Michael Denton, Nature’s Destiny, p. 389)
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“There is for me powerful evidence
that there is something going on
behind it all....It seems as though
somebody has fine-tuned nature's
numbers to make the Universe....The
impression of design is
overwhelming.” - Paul Davies
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“As we survey all the evidence, the
thought insistently arises that some
supernatural agency - or, rather, Agency
- must be involved. Is it possible that
suddenly, without intending to, we have
stumbled upon scientific proof of the
existence of a Supreme Being? Was it
God
who
stepped
in
and
so
providentially crafted the cosmos for our
benefit? (George Greenstein)
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A common sense interpretation of the
facts suggests that a superintellect has
monkeyed with physics, as well as with
chemistry and biology, and that there
are no blind forces worth speaking
about in nature. The numbers one
calculates from the facts seem to me so
overwhelming as to put this conclusion
almost beyond question. (Fred Hoyle)
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For the scientist who has lived by his
faith in the power of reason, the
story ends like a bad dream. He has
scaled the mountains of ignorance;
he is about to conquer the highest
peak; as he pulls himself over the
final rock, he is greeted by a band of
theologians who have been sitting
there for centuries. (Robert Jastrow)
“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 1:20
 Do you have the faith to be an atheist???
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Join us next Friday for our next presentation:
“The Holy Bible: Examine the Evidence!”
Disciples of the Cross - A diverse CCNY student
group dedicated to teaching and living out the
Bible!
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www.nycicc.org – New York City Intl’ Christian Church
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See me for any further references and Bibliography info!
Thank you for your attention!
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Disciples of the Cross – A diverse CCNY
student group dedicated to teaching and
living out the Bible! (Matthew 28:18-20)
Join us for our informal “Bible Talk” discussion!
 Thursdays @ 1:00PM – NAC Cafeteria
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QUESTIONS?