Complex Structures Require Intelligence (November 10)
One summer, I was hiking in a forest out West and came into a clearing. I was surprised to find a log cabin with a stone fireplace there. The forest ranger had told me this area was uninhabited. “What is this?” I thought. I went inside to investigate. The walls were made of large logs without bark. “Oh,” I see, “a huge bolt of lightning hit the trees and stripped them of their bark.” I’d seen pictures of trees hit by lightning and bark strewn everywhere. Once the trees were debarked, a strong wind must have come down the mountain pass and blown the trees over causing them to come to rest on top of each other – forming the log cabin.
Next, I examined the stone fireplace. No mortar was needed as each stone fit nicely together. Thinking about this, I walked outside and noticed that the nearby river bed had the same rocks. “Oh,” I reasoned, “a big flood must have swept down the river and picked up the rocks.” And because moving water can sort stones, I figured that was how they fit together so nicely to form the stone fireplace. Satisfied with how the log cabin got there, I continued my hike.
What do you think of my story? Is it true that the log cabin made itself? We know that complex structures do not just come about by themselves. It takes an intelligent source. When we see a building, we know there must be a builder; a painting requires a painter; a design requires a designer. Life is too complex to come about by accident and chance. The more we study science, the more we see design – which means there must be a designer, and that Designer is God!
Psalm 4:2
Reference
Noebel, Dr. David & Chuck Edwards. 1999. Thinking Like a Christian (Leaders Guide). Summit Press. p. 52-53.
Related Video
Learn More
Life’s irreducible structure—Part 1: autopoiesis
Life’s irreducible structure—Part 2: naturalistic objections
Introduction and Responses to Criticism of Irreducible Complexity
Recommended
Book: Darwin’s Black Box, Michael J Behe