If any one word describes the awe some universe in which we live, it is  probably  "design."  Since the dawn of history, man has marveled at the beauty, the order, and the systematic planning that seem to permeate all creation—from the smallest atom to the greatest galaxy. The specialized abilities and  characteristics of    living    things    are    especially dumbfounding. From the marvelous metamorphosis of a butterfly to the uncanny clock of the 17-year locust, our  earth   is  literally  teeming   with countless  millions  of  remarkable creatures—each with its own unique and intricately designed forms of behavior.   Actually,   the   more  science discovers, the more utterly amazing life becomes.

So wondrous are the works of nature that the evidence for a Master Designer  seems  overwhelming.   Indeed, of all the proofs of God's existence, the "argument from design" is perhaps the most cogent.

The "design proof" -of God simply states that there must be a Great Creator  because  the   likelihood   of chance and randomness producing the apparent order and design of the universe is infinitesimally small. The argument from design does not gain its cogency from the fact that the particular arrangement of the universe is unlikely per se, but rather from the fact that it is unlikely that it would appear planned and  designed  if it were solely the result of chance. Think of a deck of cards. If you examined a well-shuffled deck, you would expect the order of the cards to be quite random. You would not expect to find the cards in an order that   would   indicate   an   intelligent being had arranged them according to a special design or for a unique Durpose.  The  likelihood  that you would  ever see that  particular  ar-rangement again might be extremely remote; yet if you found the deck to-tally randomized, it would be obvious that thie cards were not specially arranged by an intelligent being.

But suppose someone gave you a deck of cards and asked whether you thought the order of the cards was the result of careful arrangement by an intelligent person or the result of a random shuffling. Suppose you find that all the aces are together, then all the 2s, then 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s. 7s. 8s, 9s, and 10s. You find all the jacks together, all the queens, and the kings. furthermore,  the four suits always appear in the same order—spades,hearts, diamonds, clubs. The deck is obviously arranged in a surprisingly remarkable way. If it were dealt in a bridge game, the first person would get all the spades in order from ace to king: the second person would get all  the  hearts,  again,  in  order:  the third person would get all the diamonds, and the fourth person all the clubs. The odds against such an arrangement occurring by chance are 80   million,   million,   million,   million. million, million, million, million,  million,  million,  million to one.  That's 80,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 against it showing up!.

This is exactly the same odds that any other arrangement would have, assuming   it   happened   by  chance.

But   there's   a   big   difference!   This 'special" arrangement shows every indication of intelligent design! Could you ever be convinced that chance alone had produced this incredibly ordered and  regular sequence of cards? Would you believe it if you were told that a thorough shuffling of the deck had allowed the cards to "evolve" into what only appeared to  be  a specially arranged deck? If so, you could probably believe that the universe, the earth, the myriad forms of life, and man himself also  "just  happened."   "Yes,"  you could argue, "the odds are so small I can't even begin to imagine the infinitely   remote   probability,   but   it could happen, couldn't it?"

The  fact  is  that  there are  uncounted trillions upon trillions of possibilities for random arrangements in a deck of cards, but there are only a relatively small number of sequences that would indicate intelligent planning throughout the whole arrangement.

And so it is with all creation. Of the imagination-defying possibilities that total    randomness   could    produce only a select few would ever suggest the  creative  genius  that  we  see throughout the universe.

"In the world around us we can behold the obvious manifestations of the divine plan of the Creator." observes famed space scientist Wernher von Braun. "We are humbled by the powerful forces that move the stars, and the purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny and un-gainly seed with the ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all that it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at God's creation."

Evolution?   The   deck   is   stacked against it.

Creation   and   design   demand   a Creator and a Designer.
The Plain Truth Magazine April 1977

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