Intelligent Design:
Fingerprints of a Designer

Let's review the new compelling evidence for intelligent design.

1. The one-time beginning of the universe
2. The fine-tuning of the universe for life
3. Irreducible complexity of life
4. The intelligence behind DNA
5. Lack of fossil evidence for undirected macroevolution
6. The uniqueness of man

So what do all these scientific discoveries mean? Are we just the lucky winners of a chance cosmic lottery, or are we the central actors in a grand cosmic scheme? And if there is some kind of plan and purpose to life, who is behind it all? Many scientists believe that a designer’s “fingerprints” are coming into focus. Let's hear from an agnostic scientist, Dr. Robert Jastrow.

Dr. Robert Jastrow is a theoretical physicist who joined NASA when it was formed in 1958. Jastrow helped establish the scientific goals for the exploration of the moon during the Apollo lunar landings. He set up and directed NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which conducts research in astronomy and planetary science. After pondering the evidence for a designer's fingerprints in the origin of the universe, Jastrow wrote these thoughts.

“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

So have scientists really discovered evidence for the existence of God? If so, what are they saying about our role in it? Mathematician Roger Penrose–who, with Stephen Hawking derived proof for the beginning of time–reason.

"There is a certain sense in which I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance. Some people take the view that the universe is simply there and it runs along–it's a bit as though it just sort of computes, and we happen by accident to find ourselves in this thing. I don't think that's a very fruitful or helpful way of looking at the universe, I think that there is something much deeper about it, about its existence, which we have very little inkling of at the moment." Roger Penrose

Here is where science reaches the limits of what it can tell us about our origins. Science can only provide clues to that point us to a superintelligence behind everything. Although an agnostic, Hawking asks, "what is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe." Recognizing that scientists cannot answer that question, he passes the baton on to philosophers and theologians.

However, many scientist as well as theologians speak of a compelling correlation between the Christian view of God and the new discoveries in our universe. And surprisingly many agnostic scientists are also make startling statements that are consistent with the Christian view of creation. (see Y-Origins article 8)

Even though he is an agnostic Michael Denton, senior research fellow in human molecular genetics at the University of Otago in New Zealand speaks of a universe that seems o have been designed especially for us.

No other theory or concept imagined by man can equal in boldness and audacity this great claim … that all the starry heavens, and every species of life, that every characteristic of reality exists for mankind.

"Today, four centuries after the scientific revolution, the doctrine is again reemerging. In the last decades of the twentieth century, its credibility is being enhanced by discoveries in several branches of fundamental science."  Michael Denton

But more hardened materials still hold firm to the belief that we are merely "cosmic accidents." Regardless of the compelling evidence for a superintelligence, they close their minds to anything that is outside of their materialistic world view.

In the last several decades an increasing number of scientists have recognized the fingerprints of a designer behind the fine-tuning in the universe, and the intelligence evident is the origin of DNA and irreducibly complex biological systems. They are willing to risk their reputations in the interest of fair handed academic debate, letting the evidence speak for itself. In fact, the motto of these open-minded scientists is “following the evidence, wherever it leads.” And that is what true science is all about---letting the evidence speak for itself.

In a universe of over 100 billion galaxies, Denton's remarks that we are important seem naive and out of touch with our 21st century world. Yet, this brilliant molecular biologist's words reflect what many other scientists from astronomy, cosmology, physics, and mathematics and paleontology have also discovered .

Man is indeed unique, and this universe seems to have been especially designed for us.

Theoretical physicist Paul Davies, an agnostics, sums up the evidence regarding our finely-tuned universe.

"The laws which enable the universe to come into being spontaneously seem themselves to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design. If physics is the product of design, the universe must have a purpose, and the evidence of modern physics suggest strongly to me that the purpose includes us."

Never has there been a more exciting time in the history of science. The mysteries of the cosmos and the secrets of life are being discovered, and scientists are fascinated. More stars than grains of sand on the Earth. A universe flooded with dark energy, sucked up in black holes and bubbling with quantum foam. The intriguing possibility of extra dimensions that open up new realities. Fine-tuning beyond any chance of coincidence. The incredible complexity behind DNA and the human brain.

What or who is behind all of this brilliance? And why is man at the center of this grand cosmic scheme? These are the questions scientists, as well as the rest of us who are interested in the results of their exploration, are drawn to ask.