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Evidence ID: PHIL-EV01
Evidence: Creative Intelligence was Transcendent and Pre-Existent
Summary: The requisite properties that govern the expansion of the universe were built into the universe precisely at the moment of creation. Because design intelligence is an integral and inseparable part of creation, its origins must have been transcendent and pre-existent.
Description: The expression "cart before the horse" is a figure of speech that refers to the improper order in which things are normally done. In this case, the cart precedes the horse because the cart depends on the horse for its power and direction. This figure of speech is often used to call attention to nonsensical ways of thinking.
In the same manner, a cause always precedes an effect because the effect depends on the cause for its efficacy. To think otherwise, would be contrary to reason.
The notions of order and dependency also apply to the design of the universe. If the universe exhibits design, then there must be a pre-existent creative intelligence and perhaps a designer.
Some scientists and philosophers have rejected this notion of a transcendent, pre-existent design and designer. Their main objections are summarized below.
Some scientists dismiss the assertion that the universe is designed. For example, Richard Dawkins writes,
"Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." [REF-DWK01]
Dawkins disagrees with William Pailey's analogy of the Watch Maker [REF-WPY02] and the teleological argument for purpose. According to Dawkins, the complexity and orderliness we observe in nature is not design but merely coincidence or illusion.
Dawkins' notion of coincidence is consistent with the Weak Anthropic Principle [REF-ANTH01]. He reasons that our ability to observe a fine-tuned universe is a probable anthropic coincidence without the presumption of theism.
We have already demonstrated through the use of Probability Theory [MATH-EV15] that the fine-tuning of the universe could not have been the product of coincidence or chance. The odds against chance are astronomical. These odds are further compounded by the immense complexities needed the enable life.
Unlike living organisms that possess complex, genetic intelligence, atomic elements are devoid of intelligence. Consequently, the cosmos could not have guided itself to a fine-tuned state of equilibrium following the Big Bang. The Darwinian notion of natural selection cannot apply to the expansion of the expansion of the universe because atomic elements do not possess the formative power of selection.
Since many of the cosmological constants and physical laws of the universe have been proven to be invariant and required during the initial, inflationary period of the Big Bang [REF-SCT01], they must have been fixed at the time of creation. This strongly suggests that the constants and laws that governed expansion were hard-coded into the universe at the moment of creation.
In other words, the cosmological constants and physical laws of the universe could not have evolved.
A self-existent design, as with a self-extent universe, violates the Law of Causality [PHY-IS01]. We know by empirical observation that everything which exists has a cause. No exceptions to the contrary have been observed.
The notion of a self-existent, eternal universe has been proven by the scientific community in the last century to be false. Science demonstrated that the universe has a temporal beginning and is not eternal.
A self-created design, as with a self-created universe, violates the Laws of Causality and Non-Contradiction [PHY-IS02].
From the Law of Causality, we know that something does not come from nothing. From the Law of Non-Contradiction, we know that the universe would have had to exist before it existed in order to create itself.
Collectively, these laws demonstrate the absurdity of a self-created design.
The requisite properties that govern the expansion of the universe were built into the universe precisely at the moment of creation. Because design intelligence is an integral and inseparable part of creation, its origins must have been transcendent [COS-DS01]. We know this to true based on the Law of Causality which states that design intelligence could not have come from nothing.
Therefore, the only reasonable explanation for the existence of a fine-tuned universe is that design pre-existed in the mind of a transcendent being.
God brought time, space, and matter into being by divine edict according to Genesis 1. This is evidenced by the repeated phrase "God said, let there be" in verses 3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, and 26.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ... 3 Then God said, "Let there be" ... 4 And God saw that it was good. ... 31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! 2 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. Genesis 1:1-2:1 NLT
From this passage, we learn that God was the formative power and initiative behind creation. The design of the universe was premeditated by God. This further reinforces that God was the transcendent first-cause for creation [COS-DS01].
We also learn from this passage that the outcome of creation satisfied God's original design intent. This is evidenced by the phases "good", "very good" and "completed".
Essentially, all things created find their origin in God.
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