{"id":263185,"date":"2026-07-14T14:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/how-do-we-know-god-exists-d-a-carson\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T14:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:25:03","slug":"how-do-we-know-god-exists-d-a-carson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/how-do-we-know-god-exists-d-a-carson\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do We Know God Exists – D A Carson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Although advocates of the so-called Intelligent Design movement have continued the tradition of focusing on examples of design in biological systems, the cutting edge of the contemporary discussion concerns the remarkable fine-tuning of the cosmos for life. Before we discuss this argument, it\u2019s important to understand that by fine-tuning one does not mean designed (otherwise the argument would be obviously circular).<\/p>\n

Rather during the last forty years or so, scientists have discovered that the existence of intelligent life depends upon a complex and delicate balance of initial conditions given in the Big Bang itself. This is known as the fine-tuning of the universe. This fine-tuning is of two sorts. First, when the laws of nature are expressed as mathematical equations, you find appearing in them certain constants, like the constant that represents the force of gravity.<\/p>\n

These constants are not determined by the laws of nature. The laws of nature are consistent with a wide range of values for these constants. Second, in addition to these constants, there are certain arbitrary quantities that are put in just as initial conditions on which the laws of nature operate, for example, the amount of entropy or the balance between matter and anti- matter in the universe.<\/p>\n

Now all of these constants and quantities fall into an extraordinarily narrow range of life-permitting values. Were these constants or quantities to be altered by less than a hair\u2019s breadth, the life-permitting balance would be destroyed, and no living organisms of any kind could exist.22 For example, a change in the strength of the atomic weak force by only one part in 10100 would have prevented a life-permitting universe.<\/p>\n

The cosmological constant which drives the inflation of the universe and is responsible for the recently discovered acceleration of the universe\u2019s expansion is inexplicably fine-tuned to around one part in 10120. Roger Penrose of Oxford University has calculated that the odds of the Big Bang\u2019s low entropy condition existing by chance are on the order of one out of 1010(123). Penrose comments, \u201cI cannot even recall seeing anything else in physics whose accuracy is known to approach, even remotely, a figure like one part in 1010(123).\u201d23 And it\u2019s not just each constant or quantity that must be exquisitely finely-tuned; their ratios to one another must be also finely- tuned.<\/p>\n

So improbability is multiplied by improbability by improbability until our minds are reeling in incomprehensible numbers.<\/p>\n

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How Do We Know God Exists? Questions for Restless Minds, edited by D. A. Carson Copyright 2022 Christ on Campus Initiative Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 LexhamPress.com You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com. Print ISBN 9781683595274 Digital ISBN 9781683595281 Library of Congress Control Number 2021937706 Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Abigail Stocker, Jessi Strong, Mandi Newell Cover Design: Brittany Schrock OceanofPDF.com Contents Series Preface 1.<\/p>\n

Introduction 2. The Cosmological Argument 3. The Kalam Cosmological Argument 4. The Moral Argument 5. The Teleological Argument 6. The Ontological Argument 7. Conclusion Acknowledgments Study Guide Questions For Further Reading OceanofPDF.com Series Preface D. A. CARSON, SERIES EDITOR The origin of this series of books lies with a group of faculty from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), under the leadership of Scott Manetsch.<\/p>\n

We wanted to address topics faced by today\u2019s undergraduates, especially those from Christian homes and churches. If you are one such student, you already know what we have in mind. You know that most churches, however encouraging they may be, are not equipped to prepare you for what you will face when you enroll at university. It\u2019s not as if you\u2019ve never known any winsome atheists before going to college; it\u2019s not as if you\u2019ve never thought about Islam, or the credibility of the New Testament documents, or the nature of friendship, or gender identity, or how the claims of Jesus sound too exclusive and rather narrow, or the nature of evil.<\/p>\n

But up until now you\u2019ve probably thought about such things within the shielding cocoon of a community of faith. Now you are at college, and the communities in which you are embedded often find Christian perspectives to be at best oddly quaint and old-fashioned, if not repulsive. To use the current jargon, it\u2019s easy to become socialized into a new community, a new world. How shall you respond?<\/p>\n

You could, of course, withdraw a little: just buckle down and study computer science or Roman history (or whatever your subject is) and refuse to engage with others.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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