Journal: Christian Apologetics Journal
Volume: CAJ 01:1 (Spring 1998)
Article: God: The Necessary Ingredient in the Edifice of Life
Author: Eric F. LaRock

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CAJ 1:1 (Spring 1998) p. 1

God: The Necessary Ingredient in the Edifice of Life

Eric F. LaRock

Introduction

Naturalistic evolution is predicated upon the assumption that organic matter arose from inorganic matter spontaneously. Accordingly, chance, matter, time, and natural processes are all that is needed for life in its present state. There is no room for God in the edifice of life; God has been deemed unnecessary. In the words of prominent atheist scientist, Richard Dawkins:

Natural Selection, the blind, unconscious automatic processes which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind’s eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all.1

What Dawkins considers to be a known explanation is highly disputed, even in his own backyard. Scientists are not in agreement regarding the naturalist’s thesis, and the assumptions therein. Scientifically and philosophically, it can be argued that naturalism is simply false. The present writer will endeavor to show the falsity of naturalism. Thus, the first part of this paper will examine the credibility of naturalistic evolutionary claims. Examining the claim that life arose through purely physical processes at (1) the prebiotic level, (2) the molecular level, and (3) the fossil level will attest to the credibility or incredibility of naturalistic evolutionary theory.

Delving into some of the critical problems of naturalism at the philosophical level will also place this issue in a much more circumspect light. In the second part of the paper these problems will be brought to light by answering the following questions: What is the nature of (1) science, (2) knowledge, (3) natural selection, and (4) chance in relation to scientific naturalism?

The third part of this paper will focus on countering the claim that God is unnecessary in the edifice of life. Both philosophically and scientifically it can be demonstrated that the cosmos cannot have an infinite past. It will be argued that the Kalam cosmological argument and Big Bang cosmology offer weighty evidence in favor of a beginning to the cosmos and, hence, the necessity of a Supernatural Being (i.e., God). Each part will be dealt with in turn. So, with that in mind, let us delve into the first part, the claims of naturalistic evolution.

Part 1: The Claims Of Naturalistic Evolution

A very crucial assumption of naturalistic evolutionary theory is that life spontaneously arose from inorganic matter. This is the prebiotic claim. It was not until the experimentation of Stanley Miller in the early 1950’s that this ...

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