The “Fine-Tuning” of the Universe —

It was a scientific norm to presume the big bang was utter chaos. This normality is now conjecture. Physicists, cosmologists, astronomers, and scientists of all stripes can no longer overlook the data of the low entropy state of the early universe – it was complex, orderly, and fixed. The exquisite structure, function, organization and interconnectedness of the physical universe and the delicate calibration of the laws, characteristics, parameters, and values of each condition necessary for intelligent life to exist immediately implies a deliberate and directive mind was behind its apparent design[1]–[2]. To give you a glimpse, the fundamental constants of the universe – physical constants such as gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong and weak nuclear forces, expansion speed of the universe; initial conditions and “brute facts” such as velocity of light, ratio of masses for protons and electrons, mass excess of neutron over proton; local planetary conditions such as the right amount of water in crust, large moon with right planetary rotation period, steady plate tectonics with right kind of geological interior, proper concentration of sulfur, right planetary mass, near inner edge of circumstellar habitable zone (often called “goldilocks zone”) and also within the galactic habitable zone, to name just a few – are all balanced on such an inconceivably fine point, that to call it astronomical is to grossly misconstrue just how precise these measurements were set into motion. This has left the “anthropic question” at the forefront of this discovery—why are the laws of nature fine-tuned to permit life to exist?—and scientists are left God-smacked.

Think of it this way: It is not something you would expect to see if it had all been plunged out of a cosmic toilet bowl, with no plumber nor a plunger to boot. Physicist Paul Davies notably remarked that “Through my scientific work I have come to believe more and more strongly that the physical universe is put together with an ingenuity so astonishing that I cannot accept it merely as a brute fact.”[3] 

From physics to biology, the tuning appears so exact that it is impulsive to think a supernatural cause or agent had a purpose for it. God – as the immediate gut reaction goes – is what holds brazen opponents, such as proponents of New Atheism, culpable. Rather than let it be, or posit deism, they reject this inference as primitive jaw droppings of merely “natural” intuitions. It begs the question: Whose intuition should not be trusted here?

An all-powerful and personal God, as a fact or hypotheses, not only best explains our intuition but complements the elegance and fine-tuned clockwork needed to satisfy the interwoven complexity of our universe, especially to create and sustain everything we see, feel, and understand simply. It is this simplicity of everyday experience that likewise veils a rich depth and complexity that many take for granted, and many more expect to see from an elegant designer’s handiwork. The anthropic question, therefore, compounds even further when we, conscious entities who are able to quantify, predict, and comprehend these things, are thrown into the mix. In other words, it is not just a fine-tuned cosmos or cell that sparks reaction, it is how consciousness is fine-tuned with it.

Acclaimed physicists and Nobel Prize winner Roger Penrose, not to be mingled with the New Atheist regime, said the probability of the big bang occurring by chance is virtually incomprehensible, saying, “There’s got to be fine-tuning. This is fine-tuning. This is incredible precision in the organization of the initial universe.”[4] and that “This now tells us how precise the Creator’s aim must have been: namely to an accuracy of one part in 10^10^123.  This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in full, in the ordinary denary notation: it would be `1′ followed by 10^123 successive `0 ‘s! Even if we were to write a `0’ on each separate proton and on each separate neutron in the entire universe–and we could throw in all the other particles as well for good measure–we should fall far short of writing down the figure needed.”[5] If you didn’t catch that, there are less sub-atomic particles existing in the entire known universe than there are zeros required to calculate the precision of its calibration. To give you another idea of the big picture, Christian philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig points out that the number of seconds in the history of the universe (all the way back to the very beginning, and that means roughly 13.7 billion years by their calculations) falls short to reach the decimal places required to match the probability if its occurrence. It is, by all scientific standards, impossible. A divine foot is in the door.