What is curious to me is that a large majority of people believe in a God, yet there is this ongoing forced separation between science and God. Science looks at how the world works, but God is normally not considered as a factor when testing theories or hypotheses. God is just a spiritual thing and doesn’t have anything to do with the real world, or so they say. If there is the God that most people believe exists, would He really be that disconnected from life on earth? Wouldn’t the greatest scientific discovery ever be to prove whether or not God exists? It’s not likely to be accomplished through discovery of direct evidence, but it could be accomplished by identifying artifacts and processes in the universe that can’t be accounted in any other way known to science, such as the origin of life and the dominion of man over other species.

There are so many observations that can be made to indicate that this planet and human life were part of a fabulous design. We are a one of a kind. We have been able to explore a significant amount of the universe and, yet, have been unable to discover other life or a single planet that has the ability to support life as we know it. Here we are in this universe on a small sphere with abundant life and no signs of anything close to this within millions of light years in any direction. How is it that the earth was positioned so perfectly in the universe? It was set in orbit at just the right amount of distance from its light/heat source. It revolves around that source tilted at an angle to provide seasonal changes for its inhabitants. It rotates so that life is able to have light for its daily activities and darkness for sleep and regeneration. The earth has an atmosphere that helps keep in the warmth of the sun and also protects it from the sun’s harmful rays. How amazing is it that the sun’s heat output and the earth’s orbit have remained so stable over however many years that life has been on this planet?

Life forms certainly do evolve and adapt to environmental changes over long periods of time, but the separation of plants and animals and the extent and complexity of the millions of species that exist, surpass anything that could occur through basic evolutionary processes. The amazing complexities, functionality and differences between species are more than what an unscripted evolutionary process can justify.

It certainly seems possible that all species could have started from a single cell as Darwinism theorizes. However, this initial cell had to be created and designed by God and the subsequent evolution occurred as part of God’s design, not randomly. On the other hand, it also seems feasible that various species were created at specific points within the timeline of life on earth, while others came about through evolutionary forces. I don’t know how the design has actually played out, but it seems obvious to me that there was a Supreme Designer involved.

Although Darwinism is assumed to be scientific fact and taught in schools, there are many variations proffered from other scientists regarding how evolution works and how long the earth and its life forms have been around. Darwinism, and its variants, are just theories, not proven facts. I don’t want to diminish the fact that they are rooted in scientific evidence and have consensus buy-in from many scientists. However, in past history, there was scientific consensus that the earth was flat and also that the sun revolved around the earth. Darwinism is not a scientific fact and maybe it will eventually fall into the scientific junk heap, if scientists are ever able to produce an accepted intelligent design theory.

In the meantime, here’s my intelligent design theory...

The earth was designed by God specifically for humans as the predominant life form. We were given mental capabilities above all other species, partially to ponder the existence of God and to have the desire to know Him. The purpose of our existence is to seek out and rejoin our Creator, while having free will and living in an environment that is both supportive and sometimes harmful. I think of it as God’s experiment to see how humans will overcome their limitations and the challenges of the environment to eventually discover and find their Maker. The key components of the design are the balance and cyclical patterns that are found throughout:

- Animals, plants, minerals, gases, liquids, etc. are provided as multi-use natural resources (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medicine, companionship, etc.) that support human life, but are also harmful in certain situations.

- These natural resources were designed to regenerate themselves, or be continually created, through natural processes.

- The earth is set in an infinite universe so that humans can explore and ponder if other life exists, but never be able to explore it completely.

- DNA is the blueprint designed into every new life form to instruct it how to develop itself during its lifetime. However, this development peaks at a certain point and then it starts to degenerate until it eventually moves toward its planned death.

- All living things eventually die and are replaced by new life.

- All life has self-preservation capabilities (immune system, blood clotting, cell regeneration, antibodies, adrenaline, etc.), but none of them can prolong life indefinitely.

- Self-adjusting cyclical patterns are used to provide environmental changes (i.e. day/night, seasons, climates, wind and water currents, mating cycles, precipitation, tides, etc.).

- Extreme conditions (earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, monsoons, lightning, hail, heat, cold, meteors, etc.) can cause loss of life, but are temporary and allow new life to replace the old.

Human life cycles, natural resources, cyclical environmental patterns and extreme conditions all work together in a finely tuned, yet “industrial strength”, balance to allow the planet and human existence to last indefinitely (or at least until God wants them to). There are no flaws in this design. We are talking about the Master of all designers here – not some apprentice or journeyman! This planet was designed to bend, not break. Since our existence, humans have polluted the water and air, wiped out fish and animal populations, clear-cut forests, over-farmed land and detonated nuclear bombs, yet the planet is very self-healing and self-correcting and no permanent damage remains. Pollutants are eventually dissipated and new life replaces the old. The bottom line is that no matter what we do, we do not have the capability to destroy the earth.

Having said that, I want to make it clear that I think we should be good stewards of what God provided for us. Even though we can’t ultimately destroy the earth, we can surely do a lot of damage to existing life on it. I fully support keeping our air and water clean and nurturing the beautiful environment that God has designed for us.

The Gore-bal Warming theory is based on a false assumption that the planet is fragile, when exactly the opposite is true. When Al Gore titles his book “Earth in the Balance”, he is implying that the earth is at a tipping point where just the least little shove from humans can push it over the edge. What I have been saying here is that the balancing processes built into this design are what make it so resilient and self-adjustable. The global warming that appears to be happening now is being driven by forces much more significant than what is caused by the additional greenhouse gases that humans are putting into the atmosphere. The next global cooling period will happen despite any attempts we make to curb carbon dioxide emissions. It would be really interesting to see how the Gore-bal Warming zealots will address the next cooling period. Do you think they will advocate more coal-burning plants and gas-guzzling SUVs to stop the coming ice age? No, my guess is that they will come up with the theory that we have previously put so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the greenhouse effect is no longer warming the planet, but it is now actually blocking enough of the sun’s warming rays so that the planet is cooling, or something like that.

To me, the key sign that theories like Darwinism and Gore-bal Warming have significant gaps in believability is the amount of effort the advocates put into stifling opposing opinions or challenges. A red flag goes up in my head when I start hearing phrases like “A consensus of scientists believe…”, “The debate is over” or “Even if you don’t believe this, you should…” Then there is the direct suppression, or even legal actions taken, to stop any alternative theories from being articulated. This has and will continue to happen to the opponents of Darwinism and Gore-bal Warming. From my perspective, any theory worth its salt should be proud to be challenged. The more unsuccessful challenges that are made against a theory, the more solid the theory. Unfortunately, theories, like these two, are propagated by people who use them for their social and political agendas. They can’t afford to have them challenged and will do whatever it takes to squelch opposing views.

The intricacies and balance between the earth and its life forms indicate an amazing design that could only be developed by an omniscient God. This design is not delicate or fragile. Coal and oil are natural resources that God provided for us. Human uses of these resources for energy are specifications built into the design. The earth is not going to break, or even be severely injured, because we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we did in the past. The earth was designed for human life. Let us use our resources wisely to make the most of our limited existence on this planet.