The Growing Popularity of Intelligent Design
Published 7:00 pm Monday, April 8, 2019
By Norm Fields
If you follow me on social media (PreacherNorm), then you know I’ve been reading “Signature in the Cell” by Stephen Meyer. It presents amazing evidence for the purposeful creation of life. I highly recommend it!
Darwinian Evolutionists are realizing, more and more, that their theories have some very serious problems. The more that is known about DNA, the more scientists are being forced to admit it could not have “just happened.” Evolutionists use terms like “apparent design.” Meaning that it just appears to be purposely designed, but really isn’t.
Meyers does a great job of disproving these kinds of theories, and others, to show that the presence of design necessitates a Designer. That is, the presence of information – like that present in DNA – requires that an Intelligent Designer produced that information. Any time there is information, there is always an intelligent mind behind that information.
The “Intelligent Design” (ID) movement is growing rapidly in origin of life sciences. More and more are recognizing the weaknesses with Darwinian Evolution and turning to ID in their investigations. That is both good and bad.
It’s good because it recognizes that there is purposeful intent for the way things are made. I frequently wonder how much farther along we might be, scientifically, if the sciences approached their investigations from the perspective of discovering the intended purpose, instead of viewing everything as an accident of nature. I believe that the more science recognizes that there is purposeful intent in creation, the more correctly it will interpret the creation.
Another good thing about ID is that it could be taught in public schools, because it isn’t connected with religion at all. There have been attempts to get special creation taught in schools, but the courts have restricted it, saying it’s a religious view. ID strictly focuses on the scientific evidence of design in life and shows, scientifically, that design requires intelligence.
It’s bad because, without a biblical foundation, ID proponents have opted for a wide range of fanciful ideas for the “intelligence” behind the design. Because of the similarity between computer code and DNA code, one popular theory is that our universe is a computer simulation. Less popular, but still out there, is that we were designed by aliens. Theistic Evolution (TE) is probably the most popular view in the ID community. TE says that “God” started and guided the evolutionary process. So, the problem with ID is that it doesn’t really do anything to explain, or even try to explain, the nature of the intelligence behind the intelligent design. We need the Bible for that! (Rom. 1:20: Acts 17:26-29).
Just as clear as any scientific evidence for design is the case for Special Creation by a loving God! Both science and reason demand the purposeful creation of the universe and the life in it. So, why is it easier for some to believe that we’re in a computer simulation than it is to believe we were created by God?
Rationally speaking, if we were created, then wouldn’t it make sense that our Creator would want to communicate with us? Just as clear as the evidence for design is the evidence that man has an inborn desire for communication with his Creator! Only the Bible, with all of the internal evidences of its Divine origin adequately fulfills man’s desire for communion with God. The biblical origin story perfectly harmonizes with true scientific evidence. Biblical morality alone perfectly harmonizes with the Divine nature of our Creator!
As the ID movement grows, we need to make sure we’re doing our part to also show the God of the Bible as the Intelligence behind that design!