The Uncaused Cause
Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2010
by Jennifer Cuddy
Why can't there be an intelligent first cause? When speaking of the origin of life, scientists prefer to believe that life on earth began after a series of water carrying asteroids collided with our then preformed planet, or that life emerged from primordial "soup." Considering a designer in serious debate is akin to professional suicide. But why? Stephen Meyer's book Signature in the Cell gives a refreshingly optimistic argument concerning the enigma of DNA. According to Wiki, DNA is " a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses . The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information . DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code , since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells , such as proteins and RNA molecules. "
Meyers sums up my sentiments, exactly: " I regarded the debate about whether intelligent design qualifies as science as essentially a semantic dispute, one that detracts from the significant question regarding truth."
I do believe that Meyers is on to something here. The idea of an intelligent first cause need not be religious in nature, but it is the ultimate quest for truth to consider; i.e., where do we come from? Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases of which 99% are the same in all people. These "bases" create codes for building and maintaining a living organism. Imagine, if you can, the odds of these series of codes placing themselves in such a sequence to create a human being by mere chance. The odds are much higher that you will win the lottery than this "sequence" emerging in such a pattern. The sequence must be "just so" without flaw in order to create a human being, and that is just the beginning.
I recall hearing the most ardent atheist of our time, Richard Dawkins, admit to the possibility that life was created by some extraterrestrial being from a far advanced society in another planet. But isn't Dawkins contradicting himself here? He insists that life only appears designed, when in fact it is not "designed". To this, he proclaims his atheism. But then why is he open to life being created by an alien life force? Is that not "intelligent design?"
In the world, we regard many things with first cause to be of intelligent origin. We search for technologically advanced life forms in our galaxy by way of detecting possible patterned radio signals, particularly because such patterns are mathematical universals that we infer to be signatures of intelligent life. How could we think otherwise? Statistically, it does not hold to chance. Yet, here we have this intricate, complex road map we call DNA, and we simply ignore any and all opinions that hint towards the obvious: a creator.
I give two cheers to Stephen Meyer, for having the guts to consider the alternative to nothingness. There must be an uncaused, intelligent cause that we do not understand. Ex nihilo.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I agree with you, Jennifer, and it helps me to make more sense of life to believe it. I can't get my head around what it could be, though, obviously. I presume that at some point the cause will be clear to me.My hope is that the cause will be clear to everyone someday. Nevertheless, it should be something that we all consider very seriously. I believe in evolution, but evolution does not explain first cause.
Hi Jennifer, sounds like a good book you are reading. Great article with thought provoking questions. I truly think you would love to listen and read from Dr. Chuck Missler - very scientific minded, into physics and quite a theologian - check him out :-)Love you! TeresaOh, I will google him right now! Thanks Teresa!
BRAVO Jennifer. Thanks for posing some great questions and possible answers.You're welcome..and thank you!
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