Our Finely Tuned Universe
When you are camping and create a campfire to stay warm, you need to be in the perfect location. If you are too close, then you could literally catch on fire or even just get way too hot. If you are too far away, then you will not be able to feel the heat of the fire.
Did you know that the earth is kind of like us in that picture and the sun is like the fire? Earth is created by God and placed in what is called the “Goldilocks zone.” This means the earth is in perfect position for life; not too hot not too cold but juuuuussstttt right.
We are going to get a little “heady” here, or in other words, I am going to use some really big scientific words, but I want to use some examples to show you just how perfectly fine tuned our world is for intelligent life.
In this universe there is something called a “weak force.” Basically, weak force helps fuel the sun. There are many different types of forces in the world, but they are different than the force from Star Wars. This force operates inside the middle of an atom. If this force was altered by even a fraction of 1 divided by 10^100 power, then this would have prevented life within our universe! That is 10 with an additional 100 zeros behind it. That is absolutely incredible!
We live in world with things called laws. There are laws called the Laws of Thermodynamics. Well, within one of those laws is something called low entropy. The agnostic physicist, Roger Penrose stated that in order for this thing called low entropy to exist by chance alone, in other words in order for low entropy to exist by coming from absolutely nothing, is as likely as 1 chance out of 10^10^123 power. This number is so impossible to comprehend, to say it is astronomical would be a wild understatement.
Let us put this in perspective on how finely-tuned our universe is. One light year is about 5 trillion miles away. Keep that in mind. So, if we were to fire a bullet across the observable universe and you hit a one-inch target that is 20 billion light years away, that is how unlikely our universe would come into being without a Creator. It is as close to impossible someone can get without deeming it impossible.
So what? Who cares that our universe is finally tuned? Well, it shows that the most logical reason for the universe to be finally tuned is God. We saw the numbers on how insanely implausible it is to believe that our universe came from absolutely nothing and created such a perfect universe that could create intelligent life. It is much more logical to believe there is a God that is outside of time and space that placed the earth where it is, the sun where it is, and created human life as it is.
The facts below about fine tuning defines the terms that were used above and provides additional information on the fine tuning of our universe.
Fine Tuning
- The earth is in the “Goldilocks” zone, which means it is not too close to the sun where it would burn up, and it is not too far away where it would freeze. It is in the perfect location for sustainable intelligent life.
- The weak force, which is defined by LiveScience.com, “The weak force, or weak interaction, is stronger than gravity, but it is only effective at very short distances. It acts on the subatomic level and plays a crucial role in powering stars and creating elements.” If this weak force was altered by even a fraction of 1/10^100 power, then this would have prevented life within our universe! That is 10 with an additional 100 zeros behind it. This force had to be absolutely perfect in creation for life. How amazing that our God is perfect, so He would be perfect in His creation.
- There are laws within our universe. For example, there is a law called the Law of Thermodynamics. Within one of those laws, there is something called “low entropy.” According to Lumen Learning and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, this is how they describe entropy, “To better understand entropy, think of a student’s bedroom. If no energy or work were put into it, the room would quickly become messy. It would exist in a very disordered state, one of high entropy. Energy must be put into the system, in the form of the student doing work and putting everything away, in order to bring the room back to a state of cleanliness and order. This state is one of low entropy. Similarly, a car or house must be constantly maintained with work in order to keep it in an ordered state. Left alone, the entropy of the house or car gradually increases through rust and degradation.” Now, Roger Penrose, who is an agnostic (someone who is not sure if God exists) physicist (someone who studies physics, or someone of studies matter and energy in the world), says that for low entropy to exist by chance alone, for it to exist by a random chance like the Big Bang, and not to exist by a Creator, would be as likely of a chance as 1 chance out of 10^10^123 power. This number is so impossible to comprehend, to say it is astronomical would be a wild understatement!
- Our universe is so finely tuned for life that the chance that our universe exists without a Creator behind it would be as likely as if we were to fire a bullet across our observable universe and you were to hit a once inch target that is 20 BILLION lightyears away (to put that in perspective, one lightyear is about 5 trillion miles away).
- According to Dr. William Lane Craig, Christian Apologist, the chances of our universe to be created by chance alone is as likely as putting a single white ball mixed into a billion billion billion black balls, and a ball is then selected at random from the collection, that ball would be the white one.