Article #17: Series - Good Arguments for God's Existence (Design Argument pt.3)

 A Wonder of the Biological World – 

 The Molecular Motor “ATP Synthase”

Get prepared to encounter one of the most powerful and obvious instances of intelligent design in the universe: the ATP Synthase.  The ATP synthase is one of the wonders of the molecular world, and is the smallest molecular machine that we know of.  It is the epitome of complex nano-technological design and engineering.  Basically, the ATP synthase is an enzyme, a molecular motor, an ion pump, and another molecular motor all wrapped together in one amazing nano-scale machine. It plays an indispensable role in our cells, building most of the ATP that powers our cellular processes. The mechanism by which it performs this task is a real surprise.

Rotary Motors

ATP synthesis is composed of two rotary motors, each powered by a different fuel. The motor at the top, termed F0, an electric motor. It is embedded in a membrane (shown schematically as a gray stripe here), and is powered by the flow of hydrogen ions across the membrane. As the protons flow through the motor, they turn a circular rotor (shown in blue). This rotor is connected to the second motor, termed F1. The F1 motor is a chemical motor, powered by ATP. The two motors are connected together by a stator, shown on the right, so that when F0 turns, F1 turns too.

Motor to Generator

So why have two motors connected together? The trick is that one motor can force the other motor to turn, and in this way, change the motor into a generator. This is what happens in our cells: the F0 motor uses the power from a proton gradient to force the F1 motor to generate ATP. In our cells, food is broken down and used to pump hydrogen ions across the mitochondrial membrane. The F0 portion of ATP synthase allows these ions to flow back, turning the rotor in the process. As the rotor turns, it turns the axle and the F1 motor becomes a generator, creating ATP as it turns.
This enzyme is the primary source of ATP in a vast majority of living species on Earth, including us. In human body it daily generates over 50 kg of ATP, which is subsequently used to provide energy for various biochemical reactions, including DNA and protein synthesis, muscle contraction, transport of nutrients and neural activity, to name just a few.
In plants and photosynthetic bacteria ATP synthase is essential for solar energy conversion and carbon fixation. This is one of the oldest enzymes on Earth, which appeared earlier then photosynthetic or respiratory enzyme machinery.
ATP synthase is a huge molecular complex (>500,000 daltons) embedded in the inner membrane of mitochondria. Its function is to convert the energy of protons (H⁺) moving down their concentration gradient into the synthesis of ATP. 3 to 4 protons moving through this machine is enough to convert a molecule of ADP and P_i (inorganic phosphate) into a molecule of ATP. One ATP synthase complex can generate >100 molecules of ATP each second.

ATP synthase can be separated into 2 parts:

• F_o - the portion embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane and
• F₁-ATPase — the portion projecting into the matrix of the mitochondrion.

In both these cases, the machine is converting chemical energy into mechanical energy — the turning of the motor.

• from the hydrolysis of ATP in the in vitro case and
• the flow of protons down their concentration gradient in the intact mitochondrion

During ATP synthesis, the central rotor turns in the direction shown about 150 times every second. In order to provide energy to sustain our lives, every day, each one us produces a quantity of ATP by this mechanism that is approximately equal to our body weights.

ATP synthase is a key enzyme in energy transformation of a living cell.

 The enzyme makes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from adenosine diiphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate (Pi).

ATP is a universal "energy currency" of a living cell and is essential for DNA synthesis, muscle contraction, ion and nutrients transport, signal transduction, etc.

The amazing feature of ATP synthase is rotary catalysis: a complex of subunits rotates relative to the rest of the enzyme and the mechanical energy of rotation is driving ATP synthesis reaction.
In turn, the rotation is powered by transport of protons trough the membrane segment of ATP synthase. The driving force for this transport is the electrochemical potential difference of proton across the membrane.

ATP synthase is therefore the smallest know mechano-electro-chemical energy transducer  in the world, that works as a nano-turbine.

Ask yourself this:  Is it logical to think such an amazingly complex nano-technological wonder could ever come about by chance?  Is it possible for any machine to arise by random chance processes?

Or is Intelligent Design a more plausible scientific explanation? 

You decide.
- Pastor J.



Article #16 - "How can I start up a good conversation about spiritual truth?" - pt.3

Here are three final questions that you might want to memorize or write down, if you need some help getting a good conversation started regarding Christ or the truth of the Christian faith. These three questions appear to be relatively simple, but they actually deal with some of the fundamental issues of human existence.  Using these will allow you to penetrate to the core of the person you're talking to, and hopefully, expose them to the truth of God.

"Do you believe in "right" and "wrong"?  Why?  What is the basis for Morality?"  Objective morality is a common feature of our world.  In other words, everyone believes in "right" and "wrong"; in "good" or "bad", as I'm sure the person will that you're talking to.  The question is why do they believe in this.  If there is no God, there could be no moral values, for there would be nothing to anchor/ground them.  But as we look around the world, regardless of ethnic group, geography, or period of history, we see that moral values exist.  Therefore, God exists as the source of objective morality.  Speaking with them about their belief in right/wrong and leading it back to God, is a great approach to take. 

"Do you believe that absolute truth exists?  Why?  What is it's foundation?"As Christians, we believe that truth exists, is absolute (i.e. it's for all people, at all times..), and that it is defined as that which describes reality.  If someone says they don't believe in absolute truth, just ask them "Are you absolutely sure about that?".  This shows that it's a self-defeating statement and can't be correct.  If someone says that we can't know any truth for certain, just ask them "Do you exist?".  This is undeniable, since to deny their own existence they would have to first exist, in order to deny it.  Upon these simple principles, we can build up our case to show that truth exists, we can know it, and then we can begin to lead them to the truth of God's existence using good arguments (cosmological, design, moral, etc..).

What is your philosophy on life?  Why?  How did you come to develop it?"This question gets right at the heart of the person's worldview.  Whether they answer that they are an Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist, Pantheist, Polytheist, etc... now you know where to begin your conversation.  The strategy and wisdom of asking good questions is that you will know the correct starting point for you conversation about the Lord.  If a person doesn't believe in truth, for example, why would you start speaking to them of God's existence?  If a person is Islamic or Hindu, why would you start giving them arguments for God's existence?  You would be starting in the wrong place, wasting your/their time, and covering something that is irrelevant to their current situation.  Asking good questions help avoid this mistake by pinpointing where the person is at in their beliefs.  Of course, if they answer with one of these alternative worldviews, you need to know a bit about it before you can engage them on it.  Intelligent Faith 315 will cover all of these different philosophies and more, in the months to come, so don't worry! 

- Pastor J.

Article #15 - "How can I start up a good conversation about spiritual truth?" - pt.2

Here are some more good questions that you can write down, or just try to remember for the next time you have the opportunity to start up a conversation about the Lord and the evidence for the Christian Faith:

"Do you think that Jesus was a real person?"
This is a question that gets right into the historical issue of the Person of Jesus.  Due to popular novels such as "The Da Vinci Cod", historical misrepresentations of Christ in movies, and many atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins doubting Jesus' historicity, many people simply assume that there really was no historical figure named Jesus of Nazareth.  Even if there was, some argue, there's no way that we could possibly ever know it.  This is where you ask them if they've ever heard of any of the 17 non-Christian historians, officials, and documents that mention the life and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth in specific detail.  Some of these include Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Emperor Trajan, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, Emperor Hadrian, the Jewish Talmud, the Koran, and the Gospel of Thomas.  I will be posting all of these quotations and historical sources in the future on IF315, so don't worry! (If you'd like the complete list of these sources and the specific quotes that they've written concerning Christ, email me at jason@claycup.com , mention this article and I'll send it to you asap!)

"Do you believe that there's any evidence for God's existence?"
This question works well for someone you think might be an atheist or agnostic.  This question is a terrific way to find out very quickly if the person you're talking to is an atheist, theist, pantheist, etc...  Once you know what their worldview/philosophy is, then you can begin to address it in the appropriate fashion.  If the person doesn't believe that there is any convincing/good evidence for God's existence, then you can introduce them to the Cosmological, Design, or Moral Arguments for theism.  One can also use the Conceptual Argument, Ontological Argument, or Argument from Religious Experience.  Individually, each of these arguments hold their own weight, but together, they form an intellectual chain-mail that is almost impossible to penetrate.  I will continue to list more of these arguments on IF315 in the series "Good Arguments for God's Existence".  (If you'd like them all in one shot, email me at jason@claycup.com )

"What do you think the purpose of life is?"
This goes right to the heart of the existential focus of the person you're talking to.  Most people will answer with some version of "the purpose of life is to be happy".  You can ask them why they think that, and then begin to bring up the subject of God.  If God truly does exist, even secular thinkers agree, He is the Ultimate Reality.  If this is the case, then the only logical answer one could give for the purpose of life, is to know Him and to please Him.  If He is the Ultimate Reality, then knowing Him must become my ultimate goal and purpose in life.  That is, if the person is rational and logical.  If not, then be patient, talk with them, and lead them to the truth of God step by step, premise by premise, using loving arguments and good thinking!!

- Pastor J.

Article #14 - "How can I start up a good conversation about spiritual truth?" - pt.1

This is one of the most common questions that Christians tend to have about sharing their faith.  It seems to be difficult to think up ways to generate a conversation that can lead into the truths/evidence of the Christian faith.  It's actually very simple and can be done using some very specific questions.  Here are some examples that you might want to try:

"Where are you on your spiritual journey?" 
This is a very general and non-threatening question that most people will find unoffensive.  It moves the topic of discussion into the realm of the spiritual, and then you can introduce general Christian truth claims.

"Where do you think everything came from?" 
A normal query for today's scientific mind.  This question moves the conversation to the topic of Origins, which is one of four questions that must be answered by any good worldview/philosophy.  Usually the answer will be one regarding Evolution or the Big Bang.  Here you can begin to introduce the evidence for an Intelligent Designer and use the Design Argument for God's existence. 

"What do you think happens to us when we die?" 
A very general and inoffensive inquiry.  This question moves right into the realm of the "afterlife" and will reveal to you very quickly if the person believes in a soul/spirit in addition to their physical body.  It also brings up the topic of accountability to a Creator, and so ties into moral duties and obligations that we have to Him.

"Why do you believe in _______?  What is the evidence for that belief?"  This approach is a bit more confrontational but well worth it.  It jumps right into the justification that the person your talking to has for believing what they hold to be true.  It goes right to the "jugular" question for apologetics, and inquires as to the specific evidences a person posesses that justifies their worldvies and philosophy.  Commonly, the average person has a "smorgasboard" combination of ideas that they've gleaned from TV, movies, school, and their own desires for moral independance that shape their personal belief system.  Once it is shown that these reasons aren't compatible and implode upon another, one can begin to help them construct a robust philosophy of life based upon evidenc and reason, namely Biblical Christianity.

Article #13 - Series: Good Arguments for God's Existence (Design Argument pt.2)

 The Human Eye:

Darwin or Design?

v  Even Charles Darwin conceded that “to suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.”¹

v  The eye is essentially a living video camera of extraordinary sensitivity. Like any good manmade camera, the eye has a black interior to prevent light scattering, and an automatically focusing lens and adjustable diaphragm to control the light. And like the most sophisticated modern digital cameras, the eye has a light-sensitive layer (the retina) that can adjust to a wide range of brightness.

v  But unlike any camera made by man, the retina can automatically change its sensitivity to brightness over a range of ten billion to one! The retina’s light-sensitive cells (photoreceptors) can perceive a range of light, from bright sunlit snow to a single photon (the smallest unit of light). The eye also has the amazing ability to assemble and repair itself, unlike man made cameras.

v  How good is the lens of the human eye? Actually, the human eye has two excellent lenses—the cornea and the lens proper. During our development in the womb, embryonic skin over the developing eye turns into a clear window. To be so crystal clear, this special type of skin lacks the blood vessels, hair, and glands in most other skin, though it contains many nerves (and is highly sensitive to touch). Although we tend to think of the cornea as a protective window rather than a lens, it really functions as a lens. In fact, the cornea is about four times more powerful in bringing light to focus on our retina than the lens itself.

The lens proper, like the cornea, is also derived from embryonic skin and is marvelously transparent. Most cameras focus by physically moving their hard lenses, but the lens of the eye is flexible like rubber and can quickly focus by changing its shape.

v  There are also three pairs of muscles attached to the outside of the eye. These muscles rotate the eyeball so we can look in different directions without moving our heads. Just think of it. Everywhere we turn our gaze, twelve separate muscles (six on each eye) move in perfect coordination for us to see the object we’re looking at. If our eyes are even slightly misaligned, we see double. This remarkable coordination is like a marksman so accurate with a pair of pistols that he can make only one bullet hole every time he fires both guns!

>  We Even Have Window Wipers and Washers - each eye has a special reservoir of eye-washing fluid called the lachrymal glands. These glands secrete a watery tear fluid that has just the right acid level (pH) and osmotic (concentration) properties. The fluid also contains special enzymes that keep the eye clean of things that cause infection, and it has special oils to reduce evaporation. It also gives our cornea a smooth surface for optimum vision.

v  The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

v  The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.

v  The eye muscles are most active muscles in the whole body.

v  The external muscles that move ht eyes are the strongest muscles in the human body for the job that they have to do. They are 100 times powerful than they need to be.

v  Eyes are composed of more than 2 million working parts.

v  The eye can process 36,000 bits of information every hour.

v  The average persons blink their eyes about 11,500 times per day; over 10,000,000 times a year!

v  A normal lifespan will bring you almost 24 millions images of the world around you.

"To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree."
— Charles Darwin 

Article #12 - Series: Good Arguments for God's Existence

THE DESIGN ARGUMENT pt.1 - “BIOLOGICAL DESIGN”

      1.     “All design impies a designer”

a.     Common experience

2.     “The universe exhibits great design”

a.     Biological design

b.  Mathematical fine-tuning/design

3.     “Therefore, the universe has a Great Designer, GOD”

Are the In this first part of the investigation of the the Design Argument, we want to ask the question

"Do we discover factual examples, evidence,

proof of true biological design in the world?"  

As we consider some amazing examples of complex biological design, keep in mind the definition of a "machine as given by the atheist thinker and Nobel Laureate, Jacque Monod: 

“A machine is purposeful combination of matter, that uses energy from it’s environment to perform work.”

 

Why might this be important as we examine the issue of biological design?  Because machines do not arise by chance, as even atheists know and will admit.  Therefore, if we do happen to discover any life forms or living systems that exhibit the characteristics of a machine (as noted above) the design hypothesis will be proven to be true. 

Here is a fine and well known modern example of complex design in living systems, the cell.  For a detailed look into this area of microbiology, I would highly recommend Prof. Michael Behe's book entitle "Darwin's Black Box".

The “Simple” CELL - a marvel of nano-technological engineering: 

Complex Cellular Systems we’ve discovered inside the Cell:

·   Quality Control Production Systems

·  Chicken and Egg Systems (AàB;  BàA)

·  Assembly lines for production of micro-machines

·  Information Storage and Retrieval systems

·  Optimized systems of production for maximal overall efficiency

·  Molecular machines that copy information, build other machines and structures, disassemble machines, transport fuel where it needs to go, take in materials from the outside of the cell, excrete materials that are useless…..can even makes a full sized copy of the entire nano factory!!

"The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable, event. Such an occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle. To grasp the reality of life as it has been revealed by molecular biology, we must magnify a cell a thousand million times until it is twenty kilometers in diameter and resembles a giant airship large enough to cover a great city like London or New York. What we would then see would be an object of unparalleled complexity and adaptive design. On the surface of the cell we would see millions of openings, like the port holes of a vast space ship, opening and closing to allow a continual stream of materials to flow in and out. If we were to enter one of these openings we would find ourselves in a world of supreme technology and bewildering complexity.  Molecular biology has shown that even the simplest of all living systems on the earth today, bacterial cells, are exceedingly complex objects. Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 gms, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the nonliving world." 
— Michael Denton

"Evolution: A Theory In Crisis”

Since this is an extremely powerful and persuasive argument for God's existence, especially to a scientifically minded audience in the 21st century, we will be continuing to develop it further in our next few posts on Intelligent Faith 315 .  Comment on it and let me know if you find it persuasive......

- Pastor J.



Article #11 - "How can I use the information in these IF315 articles effectively?"

Well, here are some simple suggestions on how to maximize the use of the articles, videos, and links available at IF315:

• Forward the articles to a group of people in your digital address book.  This is called E-vangelism.  Enter your email address where it says "Follow by email", and everytime a new post is added, it will be sent to your email automatically.  You can then take this and forward it to your list of E-vangelistic contacts.
• Also, you can choose the "invite" option and send out an invitation to as many contacts as you want.
• You can print out articles that you find impacting and give/send them to friends at work, school, etc...
• Copy the "Question for Christians" and send it to your friends and see what they say.  This could be a great conversation starter that can lead to discussing the evidence for the Lord and our faith.
• Finally, just by word of mouth, share the fact that IF315 is a great place to learn great evidence for the Christian faith, post questions and comments, and is a good tool for helping you reach a lost and confused world.

God bless you as you seek to use these tools to their maximum potential!!

- Pastor J.

Article #10 - Series: Good Arguments for God's Existence

The Argument from Contingency

The basic form of this argument is simple.

1.       If something exists, there must exist what it takes for that thing to exist.

2.       The universe—the collection of beings in space and time—exists.

3.       Therefore, there must exist what it takes for the universe to exist.

4.       What it takes for the universe to exist cannot exist within the universe or be bounded by space and time.

5.       Therefore, what it takes for the universe to exist must transcend both space and time.

But why should we call this cause "God"? Maybe there is something unknown that grounds the universe of change we live in.

Reply: True. And this "unknown" is God. What we humans know directly is this sensible changing world. We also know that there must exist whatever it takes for something to exist. Therefore, we know that neither this changing universe as a whole nor any part of it can be itself what it takes for the universe to exist. But we have now such direct knowledge of the cause of changing things. We know that there must exist a cause; we know that this cause cannot be finite or material—that it must transcend such limitations. But what this ultimate cause is in itself remains, so far, a mystery.

There is more to be said by reason; and there is very much more God has made known about himself through revelation. But the proofs have given us some real knowledge as well: knowledge that the universe is created; knowledge that right now it is kept in being by a cause unbounded by any material limit, that transcends the kind of being we humans directly know. And that is surely knowledge worth having. We might figure out that someone's death was murder and no accident, without figuring out exactly who did it and why, and this might leave us frustrated and unsatisfied. But at least we would know what path of questioning to pursue; at least we would know that someone did it.

So it is with the proofs. They let us know that at every moment the being of the universe is the creative act of a Giver—A Giver transcending all material and spiritual limitations. Beyond that, they do not tell us much about what or who this Giver is—but they point in a very definite direction. We know that this Ultimate Reality—the Giver of being—cannot be material. And we know the gift which is given includes personal being: intelligence, will and spirit. The infinite transcendent cause of these things cannot be less than they are, but must be infinitely more. How and in what way we do not know.  But reason can at least let us know that "someone did it." And that is of great value.

- Dr. Peter Kreeft

Article #8 - Series: Good Arguments for God's Existence

The Kalam Cosmological Argument

This is one of the best Cosmological Arguments for God's Existence in use today.  As you know, a Cosmological argument seeks to prove God's existence from what we know about the beginning of the universe.  This argument is deceptively simple, and very easy to remember since it only has 3 steps.  It also has a huge range of scientific and philosophical evidence supporting it, which makes it very powerful in today's society.  This argument has enjoyed a long and wide appeal among both Christians and Muslim theologians. Its form is simple and straightforward.

1.       Whatever begins to exist has a cause for its coming into being.

• We know this from the Law of Causality
• We know this from our common experience

2.       The universe began to exist.

      >  Philosophical Evidence that the universe had a point of beginning

         - It is impossible to cross an Actual Infinite.
            - It is impossible for an Actual Infinite to exist.

3.       Therefore, the universe has a cause for its coming into being.

Grant the first premise. (Most people—outside of asylums and graduate schools would consider it not only true, but certainly and obviously true.)

Is the second premise true? Did the universe—the collection of all things bounded by space and time—begin to exist? This premise has recently received powerful support from natural science—from so—called Big Bang Cosmology.
> Scientific Evidence that the universe had a point of beginning: 
     - S econd Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy)
     - U niverse is expanding (Edwin Hubble - 1920's)
     - R adiation Heat (Cosmic Micorwave Background Radiation)
     - G alaxial Ripples + Matter (COBE satellite discovery)
    - E instein’s equation: E=mc2

But there are philosophical arguments in its favor as well. Can an infinite task ever be done or completed? If, in order to reach a certain end, infinitely many steps had to precede it, could the end ever be reached? Of course not—not even in an infinite time. For an infinite time would be unending, just as the steps would be. In other words, no end would ever be reached. The task would—could—never be completed.

But what about the step just before the end? Could that point ever be reached? Well, if the task is really infinite, then an infinity of steps must also have preceded it. And therefore the step just before the end could also never be reached. But then neither could the step just before that one. In fact, no step in the sequence could be reached, because an infinity of steps must always have preceded any step; must always have been gone through one by one before it. The problem comes from supposing that an infinite sequence could ever reach, by temporal succession, any point at all.

Now if the universe never began, then it always was. If it always was, then it is infinitely old. If it is infinitely old, then an infinite amount of time would have to have elapsed before (say) today. And so an infinite number of days must have been completed—one day succeeding another, one bit of time being added to what went before—in order for the present day to arrive. But this exactly parallels the problem of an infinite task. If the present day has been reached, then the actually infinite sequence of history has reached this present point: in fact, has been completed up to this point—for at any present point the whole past must already have happened. But an infinite sequence of steps could never have reached this present point—or any point before it.

So, either the present day has not been reached, or the process of reaching it was not infinite. But obviously the present day has been reached. So the process of reaching it was not infinite. In other words, the universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause for its coming into being, a Creator.

It is intersting to realize the qualities that this Creator woud have if He created physical universe that we know of:

1. The Creator would be a personal being with a MIND/PERSON, for it exercised a choice/decision in creating the universe.
2. The Creator would have to be TIMELESS, for it created all of time.
3. The Creator would have to be IMMATERIAL, for it created all of the material realm.
4. The Creator would have to basically be ALL-POWERFUL, for it created all energy and matte we know of out of nothingness.
5. The Creator would have to be basically be ALL-KNOWING, for it engineered the entire cosmos with all of it's precise fine-tuned laws for supporting complex life forms.
6. The Creator would have to be a NECESSARY Being, since all other things and beings in the universe came out of it and would be dependant/contingent upon it. 

Isn't it interesting that these are all qualities of the God of Scripture: A Person which is timeless, immaterial, all-powerful, all-knowing, and a metaphysically Necessary Being?  Fascinating.