Dr. Frank Turek on the Evidence for Christianity

William Lane Craig: The Evidence for God

This lecture was live-streamed on October 18th, 2011, from Imperial College in London. It was the second day of Bill Craig's UK Tour. The live-stream was captured and uploaded onto youtube (as one would expect) but here we have the official, high quality cut from The Reasonable Faith Tour. In particular, what you get is the audience Q&A, which was not live-streamed (with a little philosophical fumbling from yours truly, I might add)!

It was quite an experience to see Bill give his presentation, in the flesh, in an english lecture theatre! I was glad that he didn't hold back in presenting the Ontological Argument... that one really blew some minds out of their english chairs (I recall a small group sitting infront of me, half laughing, half bewildered: "he actually used that argument")!



And here we have some bonus footage for you, shot on my iphone! After the session had ended there was still time for discussion, in which Bill explained to a small group the ineffectiveness of "expand-contract" universe models for explaining away the fine tuning, appealed to in the teleological argument:

The Nature of Human Beings and the Question of their Ultimate Origin: Richard Dawkins vs. Rowan Williams

The Argument From Cosmic Fine Tuning

The concept of cosmic fine tuning relates to a unique property of our universe whereby the physical constants and laws are observed to be balanced on a ‘razor’s edge’ for permitting the emergence of complex life. The degree to which the constants of physics must match precise criteria is such that a number of agnostic scientists have concluded that indeed there is some sort of transcendent purpose behind the cosmic arena. British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle writes: “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect 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.”

Fundamental Constants

The ripples in the universe left over from the original ‘Big Bang’ singularity (often referred to as CMB, or cosmic background radiation) are detectable at one part in 10^5 (100,000). If this factor were even slightly smaller, the cosmos would exist exclusively as a collection of gas -- stars, planets and galaxies would not exist. Conversely, if this factor were increased slightly, the universe would consist only of large black holes. Either way, the universe would be uninhabitable.

Another finely tuned value is the strong nuclear force that holds atoms -- and therefore matter -- together. The sun derives its ‘fuel’ from fusing hydrogen atoms together. When two hydrogen atoms fuse, 0.7% of the mass of the hydrogen atoms is converted into energy. If the amount of matter converted were slightly smaller -- say, 0.6% instead of 0.7% -- a proton would not be able to bond to a neutron and the universe would consist only of hydrogen. Without the presence of heavy elements, planets would not form and hence no life would be possible. Conversely, if the amount of matter converted were increased to 0.8% instead of 0.7%, fusion would occur so rapidly that no hydrogen would remain. Again, the result would be no planets, no solar systems and hence no life.

The ratio of electrons to protons must be finely balanced to a degree of one part in 10^37. If this fundamental constant were to be any larger or smaller than this, the electromagnetism would dominate gravity -- preventing the formation of galaxies, stars and planets. Again, life would not be possible.

The ratio of the electromagnetic force to gravity must be finely balanced to a degree of one part in 10^40. If this value were to be increased slightly, all stars would be at least 40% more massive than our Sun. This would mean that stellar burning would be too brief and too uneven to support complex life. If this value were to be decreased slightly, all stars would be at least 20% less massive than the sun. This would render them incapable of producing heavy elements.

The rate at which the universe expands must be finely tuned to one part in 10^55. If the universe expanded too fast, matter would expand too quickly for the formation of stars, planets and galaxies. If the universe expanded too slowly, the universe would quickly collapse -- before the formation of stars.

The mass density of the universe is finely balanced to permit life to a degree of one part in 10^59. If the universe were slightly more massive, an overabundance of deuterium from the big bang would cause stars to burn too rapidly for the formation of complex life. If the universe were slightly less massive, an insufficiency of helium would result in a shortage of the heavy elements -- again, resulting in no life.