Intelligent Design from a Catholic Perspective

     Some bold unsupported articulations by renowned atheists: "Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind. He was not planned" (atheist George Gaylord Simpson), "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference" (Richard Dawkins) and "Not just science but our own other reflections have told us that there is nothing remaining to be explained that could only be explained by the existence of a supreme being, creator or first cause" (Christopher Hitchens).

     Conversely, Romans 1:20 affirms that God's existence is "clearly perceived in the things that have been made", similarly to how a painting is proof that there must have been an artist who painted it. As the Bible explains, when we scientifically analyze "the things that have been made", we find God's fingerprints all over them. Atheists espouse exclusive believe in science. Notwithstanding science is an investigation of the natural world, they seem to refrain from applying such principals for investigating the existence of God. It's certainly not for lack of evidence, in as much as an unwillingness to proceed in the direction that science leads them. Unbelievers abandon the pursuit of genuine truth, in place of a manic quest of finding unattainable naturalist explanations. Atheists make audacious claims that there is no evidence to support a Supreme Being, as though these were universally accepted prognoses, but stop short of supporting their conclusions with any form of rational evidence. It is not difficult to scientifically establish planning, design and the existence of a Supreme Being, however some of these proofs can be complex. This is why Intelligent Design is typically met with immediate dismissal by nonbelievers, as it requires intellectual contemplation.

     Pope Benedict XVI articulated: "In the beginning the creative Word, this Word that created all things, that created this Intelligent Design which is the cosmos; is also love" (1). This Intelligent Design that our previous Pontiff described utilizes science as preeminent confirmation of a Supreme Creator via logical deduction. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, "When you eliminate the impossible, that which remains, however merely improbable, must be true." The pre-denominational Catholic Church has an unconstrained perspective on Intelligent Design, particularly compared to the copious novel Christian denominations. The Holy Roman Catholic Church has embraced contemporary science, learning from It's lengthy past experience; such as adopting the Flat Earth model during the Hellenistic period and approving the Celestial Sphere Orbs Theory (developed by Aristotle; in these celestial models, the stars and planets are carried around by being embedded in rotating crystal spheres moving around the Earth). Furthermore, the Catholic Church has not constrained itself to the 6,000 year old earth presumptions held by most Protestant denominations; a translation error of the word "yom" to denote "day", whereas "yom" in Hebrew more accurately represents an undefined time period. The Holy Roman Catholic Church considers science a tool that helps us learn more about our Creator.

     One method for establishing the existence of a Supreme Being can be effectively accomplished by comparing the infinitesimal timeframe for the existence of intelligent life on our planet, with the current distance of the Moon's orbit, as it receded from the Earth 1.5 inches per year for the past 4.5 billion years. Scientists typically define intelligent life as species capable of producing art, calendars, written language and technology. Demonstrating the existence of God is a two step process. To help explain the first step of this process, I combined a few segments of two documentaries; "Life Beyond Earth" by PBS and "Origins" by Nova.

                                        5 minute PBS & Nova Compilation

     For the first step of this explanatory process, the PBS documentary does an effective job of detailing the razor thin line of existence of intelligent life (requiring a large magnifying glass to view between two lines of human existence, as portrayed on miles of highway), compared to the 3.8 billion years of life on our planet. Dinosaurs ruled for over 150 million years, but none became intelligent. Insects existed for over 300 million years, but none became intelligent. What's most intriguing is how this "one time" occurrence of intelligence takes place; only after the earth effectively accumulated the fundamental essentials required for advanced technological civilization, such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, organic compounds, etc.. Considering the hundreds of millions of species throughout history (possibly billions), intelligence only occurred once, and in a relative instant. If intelligent life was introduced at any other point in Earth’s history, it would be a technological dead end, as humans would be trapped in a permanent stone age. Advanced civilization would not have been impossible because of the lack of the necessary natural resources for sophisticated development. We would not have fossil fuels, natural gas, or the organic materials crucial for plastics, rubber, etc. We would not have cars, computers, power plants, electricity, etc. Human civilization was only introduced when the natural resources permitted us to develop to our full potential. Humans were introduced at an exact point, when all the resources were in place to permit advanced civilization. In a naturalists world, one would expect multiple examples in the past of forms of intelligence on several different levels. There are none. For example, no one has ever found cave paintings, calendars or stone structures made by dinosaurs.

     Petroleum and natural gas formed from the anaerobic decomposition of phytoplankton and zooplankton remains that settled at the bottom of proterozoic oceans. These tiny creatures first became abundant just prior to the Paleozoic era about 650 million years ago (2, 3, 4). Correspondingly, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists estimated that this complex process requires about the same figure; 650 million years of anaerobic decomposition to result in practical fossil fuels (5). If these scientific estimates are accurate, the first homo sapiens opportunely appeared shortly after the formation of these fossil fuels, indispensable for large scale industrialization. Other resources necessary for advanced civilization such as coal and methane were formed from terrestrial plants dating to the carboniferous era, about 360 million years ago. Coincidently, the first land plants appeared in abundance approximately 380 million years ago, making coal and methane available just prior to homo sapiens as well (6, 7). These strategic timelines reveal a logically intended sequence of events. Out of hundreds of million of species conquering every form of locomotion, intelligent creatures (capable of creating art, calendars, written language, and technology) occurred only once in all of earths history, and only after the resources for advanced civilization became available. Nearly all species conquered flight, even fish (flying fish), but not intelligence. It is easy to understand why intelligent creatures were only introduced once in all earth's history, because these resources are a one shot deal. Once all the crude oil, natural gas, coal, etc. is used up, it would require over half a billion years for replenishment.

     The second step of this process requires some explanation as to vital importance of our moon, without it the earth would be devoid of land based life. If the moon were to suddenly disappear, scientists claim that all life on earth larger than algae would die. This is because the moon holds the earth on its axis, like an outrigger on a canoe. The other planets in our solar system, such as Mercury, Venus and Mars (which have no single large moon to stabilize their orbits), tilt 90 degrees as they orbit the Sun. If our Moon is eliminated from the mathematical model, the tilt of the Earth's spin axis becomes unstable and varies from 0 to 90 degrees, making complex life on earth impossible (8, 9, 10). Models show the polar ice caps migrating to different parts of the equator every eleven years. Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Kenya, and Indonesia would take turns being under a mile of ice every eleven years. Planetary Scientists Bill Hartmann and Dr. Robin Canup (11), agree that without our Moon, the Earth would be devoid of complex life (12). The general consensus of astronomers, astrophysicists, cosmologists and planetary scientists is that planets cannot have a biosphere capable of supporting higher life forms on it's surface without a stable spin axis, and planetary computer simulations establish that a stable spin axis can only be realized with one large orbiting satellite. It is not enough for a planet to simply be in the "goldilocks belt" and have liquid water, it must be environmentally stable.

     The Moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago from a planetary collision (13). Since its creation, it has been moving away from the Earth 1.5 inches per year. 4.5 billion years ago it was 15 times the size in the sky and kept the Earth rigidly on its axis, but the gravitational effect on Earth was devastating. Planetary scientists claim it elevated Earth’s molten surface 2000 feet as it orbited above. Currently, our Moon is in what scientists describe as a perfect sweet spot, 400 times closer to the Earth than the Sun. The sun being exactly 400 times the diameter of the Moon, and the Moon being 25% the size of the Earth. A position of exact or perfect equilibrium. 4.5 billion years from now, we lose the moon completely. So in the 9 billion years of Lunar history, this rare point of perfect equilibrium precisely coincides with the fine line of human existence. Again, these inexplicable coincidences reveal a divine intelligence to creation.

     The moon appears in the sky the exact size as the sun. At the culminating point of total solar eclipse, the fit of sun and moon is so perfect that beads of sunlight can only penetrate through the rugged valleys on the lunar surface, creating the diamond ring effect. The sun is 400 times wider than the moon, but it is also 400 times further away. The two therefore appear the same size in the sky, a very unique situation among our solar system's nine planets (considering Pluto a planet) and 298 known moons. No other moon does this. Visualize holding a high quality camera with a telescopic zoom lens aimed at the moon.  If you zoom in on the moon until it appears 15 times its size, that was the proportion it was 4.5 billion years ago, whereas scientists have evidence that life existed on earth during this Hadean Eon of Earth's history 3.8 billion to 4.5 billion years ago (14).  If you could zoom out till it disappears, this represents what will happen 4.5 billion years into the future when we lose the moon into space.  At this tiny fraction of time of human existence, the moon is at the exact focal point where it appears the same size in the sky as the sun. These extraordinary events defy statistical analysis.

                                     9 minute compilation from Discovery "If We Had No Moon".

     The moon has been moving away from the earth 1.5 inches per year for 4.5 billion years. In the 9 billion years of Lunar history, this rare point of perfect equilibrium precisely coincides with the fine line of human existence.

     Another striking coincidence is the rarity of the moon forming impact, it took 1,098 simulations with a NASA super computer, carefully tweaking between each attempt to successfully produce one large stable moon (15). A collision less than 42° (0° representing a direct head on strike) yields one moon in which the orbit decays in several thousand years (with the moon crashing back into the earth).  Greater than 50° yields two moons that later collide back into the earth. 42° to 50° collision simulations have single moons with decaying or receding orbits up to several miles per year. Our moon is receding 1 1/2" per year, that's exactly what you would be aiming for, a one in a billion lucky shot, even greater that the odds of a whole in one in Golf or clearing the entire pool table on the first shot.

     Astrophysicist Dr. Jacques Laskar and NASA Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Lynn Rothschild established the importance of earth's 23° spin axis (16). Dr. Rothschild explained how a slight wobble less than 1° occurred about 4,000 years ago, possibly due to a shift in the earth's core or the close pass of a large asteroid. This slight wobble turned the North African Sahara from a lush rainforest into a desert (17).

     Previously we were aware of about 140 moons in our solar system, recent discoveries via the James Webb Space Telescope increased that number to 298 (18). Of all these moons, only three appear as white as our moon (Jupiter’s Europa, Ganymede and Saturn’s Rhea), primarily because their surface's are composed of water ice in the frigid outer solar system. Our moon is curiously white and reflective (particularly for a natural satellite not surface coated with water ice), bathing the earth at night with a pleasant white incandescent white light. A soothing night-light in the sky (exactly the same disk-size as the sun), for night travelers.  These cannot be extraordinary coincidences.

     NASA orbital computer simulations verified that our moon is not a captured rogue satellite.  No matter what angle, distance, speed or trajectory is considered, the Earth does not capture the moon, it passes by.  These simulations also show that our moon (25% of the Earth in size) is too large to have formed around the Earth.  It is the general consensus of planetary scientists that Orpheus, a Mars sized planet that orbited between Earth and Mars impacted the Earth 4.5 billion years ago forming our moon (19, 20). Impact Scientist Dr. Jay Melosh verified the mathematical model (21).  After the Orpheus impact the moon was only four thousand miles away and appeared fifteen times larger in the sky.  Likewise, the gravitational effect of the moon on the earth was four thousand times greater.  Every wave was a tsunami, an Earth day went from naught to four hours.  We are losing our moon by one and a half inches per year, the moon is now two hundred and thirty four thousand miles from earth.  These Scientific determinations are verifiable several ways, including laser Lunar Laser Ranging equipment aimed at retro-reflectors placed on the Moon's lunar surface during the Apollo mission (22).  Ancient eclipse records as early as two thousand years ago confirm that a day was shorter than it is today.  Had it been constant, the solar eclipse of April 15, 0136 BC would have followed a different path and not have been recorded in Babylon (23).

     It is an astonishing cosmic coincidence that at the fractional time humans inhabit the earth, the moon is in perfect equilibrium in stabilizing our Earth's axis and appears in the night sky exactly the same size as the sun, for the first time in 4.5 billion years. This can only be the result of impeccable planning, or an impossible coincidence. "In the case of contradictories, no middle ground is possible. The theistic affirmation God exists and the atheistic denial God does not exist stand in contradiction to one another; both cannot be true and both cannot be false; if one is true, the other must be false" (Mortimer Adler, Truth in Religion).

     At a Glance

1. Intelligence only occurred once, and instantly compared to the timeline of life on our planet.

2. Intelligence occurred precisely at the most opportune time; when availability of necessary natural resources matured.

3. Lunar alignment occurs at the same exact point in time, for the first time in 4.5 billion years.

4. Moon forming impact necessary for higher life forms was a one in a billion lucky shot.

5. This lucky shot left us with a 23° spin axis, which is the most environmentally stable for our planet.

The Catholic website: Magis Reason Faith, delineates many more examples of a Divine Creator. One of numerous examples is how renowned vocal atheist and Director of the Institute of Astronomy Sir Fredrick Hoyle converted to theism when uncovering the impossible odds of the formation of the carbon atom. He later wrote: "Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule. A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question."

                                                                      Footnotes:

 1: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20051109.html

 2: Expired Link

 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleozoic

 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geologic_Clock_with_events_and_periods.svg

 5: https://books.google.com/books?id=mrghwzjeU-AC&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false

 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous

 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel

 8: Expired Link

 9: Expired Link

10: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/wcmoon.html

11: https://www.discovermagazine.com/2003/feb/featmoon/article_view?b_start:int=1&page=3

12: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Dec98/OriginEarthMoon.html

13: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/scienceshot-moon-formed-from-hea.html?rss=1

14: Expired Link

15: https://www.boulder.swri.edu/~robin/c03finalrev.pdf

16: https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/confirming-the-moon-s-vital-role

17: http://www.mpimet.mpg.de/fileadmin/staff/claussenmartin/publications/claussen_al_sahara_grl_99.pdf

18: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/solar-system/a-guide-to-planetary-satellites/#:~:text=The%20following%20tables%20contain%20all,%2C%20Gonggong%201%2C%20Eris%201.

19: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Dec98/OriginEarthMoon.html

20: https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question38.html

21: https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/outreach/origin/

22: Expired Link

23: https://www.britannica.com/place/Babylonia