Recent Scientific Discoveries Make the Case for a
Designer God All the More Compelling.
The evidence for design runs so deeply throughout
the universe, from physics to cosmology to DNA and biochemistry, that Professor
Antony Flew, the 20th century’s most influential atheist thinker, renounced his
atheism.
Flew, a leading proponent of atheism for over
fifty years, declared that the existence of a Creator is required to explain
the universe and the complex life in it. He recounted his conversion in a book
entitled, There is a
God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.
‘Follow the Evidence Wherever It Leads’ was his lifelong motto. By doing this, based on reasoned analysis of
the latest scientific findings, he came to the following conclusion:
I now believe that the universe was brought into
existence by an infinite Intelligence. I believe that this universe’s intricate
laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God. I believe that life
and reproduction originate in a divine Source.
Why do I believe this, given that I expounded and
defended atheism for more than a half century? The short answer is this: this
is the world picture, as I see it, that has emerged from modern science.
Science spotlights three dimensions of nature that point to God. The first is
the fact that nature obeys laws. The second is the dimension of life, of
intelligently organized and purpose-driven beings, which arose from matter
(non-life). The third is the very existence of nature.
These
three main arguments – namely: (1) that nature obeys laws, (2) that intelligent
life has emerged from nothing, and (3) that the universe is finely tuned to
support life – compelled Flew to admit the need for an Intelligent Creator.
“Biologists’
investigation of DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the
arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been
involved.” - Antony Flew.
“With
every passing year, the more that was discovered about the richness and
inherent intelligence of life, the less it seemed likely that a chemical soup
could magically generate the genetic code.” - Antony Flew.
“I
have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living
matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinarily
complicated creature.” - Antony Flew.