MY DISCOVERIES

Lessons that I have learned by applying my teaching philosophy to my own life.

Needing to first identify my purpose in life and the source from which that purpose comes, I must answer the question about the existence of God. What would be sufficient objective evidence that God does exist? Let us consider a few known phenomena:

Concept + Design = Designer

Consider the E. coli bacterium. Its flagellum serves to push the cell through its environment. Consisting entirely of proteins, about 40 total, all the parts work together to serve as something of an outboard motor. Proteins in this mechanism work as a propeller, stator and rotor, universal joint, drive shaft, etc. They rotate over 100,000 times per minute; can stop in one ten-thousandth of a second, reverse, and return to full speed as fast as it stopped. This wondrous device is cooled with water just like an outboard motor, yet also serves as a sensory mechanism, informing the bacterium about its environment. Yet the entire device is so small, a microscope with extreme magnification is required to see it. This mechanism is "irreducibly complex," meaning that the entire system cannot exist if any one part is removed. Furthermore, each part can only function in its role as part of the greater whole in the flagellum. Such a design cannot be explained away by evolutionary forces, any more than an outboard motor can be explained as a chance assemblage of randomly created parts. I conclude, therefore, that the E. coli bacterium did not evolve. Having been able to conclude no other possibility, I must consider that it may have been designed.

Design detection methods are key to the fields of archeology and anthropology, forensics investigating, copyright and patent law, cryptanalysis, to name a few. A finding of intelligent design generally requires evidence of "specified complexity." That is, an order of things that is extremely complex yet specified, such that its existence cannot be explained by random chance. Consider a dictionary, an encyclopedia, or any other written work. Any random grouping of letters as long would be complex, but not specified. That is, it would be meaningless. A dictionary, on the other hand, has both complexity and specificity. It has a meaning that cannot be explained by a random occurrence of letters. A dictionary, therefore, must be intelligently written. The concluding thought is that an intelligent dictionary writer must exist. Finding, also, specified complexity with regard to the flagellum of the E. coli bacterium, I conclude that it was also designed and created, and therefore, a designer must exist. Because the design of this mechanism is beyond the capabilities of humanity, I must also conclude that its designer works well beyond the capabilities of humans and is therefore more than a mere human. I conclude, therefore, that God exists.

Abstract proof: Specified complexity in things that do not exist in a tangible sense must therefore lead me to conclude that their existence is not the result of a random arrangement of material entities such as atoms and molecules. That is, intelligent design is the most logical explanation for the systems of laws in areas such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, etc. I conclude, again, that God exists.

Something from Nothing: Consider that astronomers generally agree that their observations point to is the fact that the universe had a beginning. Physicists tell us that immediately prior to this, "Big Bang," there was nothing. There was no matter, no energy, nothing but an endless void of space. Suddenly, BOOM!! Everything began to exist. When I ask myself what made nothing explode and leave something, and that something included both the E. coli bacterium and myself (interesting irony here), then I can only conclude that E. coli was intelligently created. I conclude, again, that God exists.

Strong Anthropic Principle: If I found a quarter lying on the sidewalk, I would assume that someone had dropped it. Finding ten quarters would lead me to believe that someone had dropped a lot of quarters. Finding a million quarters, all in stacks of exactly 50 quarters each, all facing heads up, all stacks balancing on a single quarter on edge, would likely lead me to think that the quarters were put there on purpose. I would not be able to believe that random chance could have possibly been responsible for such a keen balancing act. This is the Strong Anthropic principle. Consider the following:

- Electromagnetism is 1,039 times stronger than gravity. Were it only 1,033 times stronger, stars would not burn. Rather, they would practically explode.
- Similarly, gravity is 1,028 times as weak as the nuclear weak force. If it were only slightly more, all hydrogen would have fused into helium, and water would not exist anywhere in the universe. Were this fine balance of forces tipped only 2% in the other direction, protons could not exist, so then neither could atoms.
- Atoms could also not exist except for the immeasurable precise opposition of electrical force between protons and electrons.
- Water is one of the extremely few materials that has a solid form that is lighter (less dense) than its liquid form. Ice, therefore, floats. Were it not so, the earth's water would continually freeze and sink to ocean floors, eventually resulting in a totally frozen world without life.
- The size of the earth is perfect. If it were just 1% smaller, the atmospheric gasses would escape. If it were a mere 1% larger, the atmosphere would contain mostly free hydrogen and life would be impossible.
- Similarly, our distance from the sun is keenly balanced. Were we a fraction closer or farther away, the earth would either burn up or freeze.
- Our moon is appropriately sized and situated to give us gentle tides that continually refresh the oceans without washing over entire continents.

Having personally observed this and much more objective evidence, I can only conclude that the balance found in nature cannot be artificial. The creation bears witness to its creator and the creator's extreme intelligence, capability, and wisdom. I conclude again and again, God exists.

Having now answered the question for myself as to the existence of God, I now turn to the question of my purpose in being here. As an entity of his creation, the logical starting point is to ask, "Why did he create his creation?" The only sufficient answer that I can deduce is that he felt like it. I do not exist because I, nor society, wanted me to. I exist because God wanted me to exist. For that matter,all of his creation exists because it gave him pleasure to create it. Furthermore, because God left evidence that he controls the very forces of nature itself, my question becomes, "Why do I STILL exist?" I reach the same conclusions. I am STILL here because it pleases God for me to remain.

Then came the hard question that took me a long time to answer. What is it about me that pleases God so much that he allows me to remain? This question is important, but cannot be answered directly. I am inferior to him in all things; wisdom, intellect, power, temporal existence, etc. Yes, I remain. Even when I do things that might seem disrespectful to God, I remain. What can I possibly be doing that pleases God? After much pondering on the matter, I can only conclude that I can do nothing at all in and of myself to please him. The only acts that I am capable of are inherently inferior to his. Then why did he create me if I cannot please him? This is where I was stuck for a very long time.

If I were to observe something that I have created, I might realize that its continued existence reflects on me, its creator. If it is flawed, it reflects on me poorly. If perfect, then it reflects on me in a very positive way. However, what about the creation of God? Wars, murders, slavery, rape, brutality, even disrespect pointed squarely at the creator himself all seem, at least at first, to suggest that the creation is flawed. Why then does the creator allow it to continue to exist? Having observed evidence that God himself knew the future and therefore must have known that we would work against him even before he created us, there must be something else. The only answer that makes any sense is that God planned to do something in order to find pleasure in his creation, after his creation's disobedience. That is, God knew before he created his creation that he would "fix it." This would mean, however, that it was broken or somehow flawed and needed to be repaired. I think that a better term would be that he would need to "finish it," and, this act of finishing it and the result that would remain would give him sufficient pleasure such that he would overlook his present displeasure in our failings.

So what is there to finish? I then considered what was not completed that would required finishing. I concluded that most of the problems on the planet are the direct result of humankind's moral failings. That is, we have issues that need "fixing" because we work against God and the general good of society. This must be the area, then, where God's work is yet to be completed. But how? Once we do a thing, we as humans cannot undo it. What is done is done. It would take God himself to be able to correct all of the moral shortcomings of humankind. He would personally have to do something to change the character of an individual in order for that individual's moral shortcomings to no longer be an issue. But what could that be? If he were the only morally perfect individual, then he would have to put a portion of himself inside of me in order for me to walk with any measure of perfection.

A conflict would then arise in which my character and his character would co-exist in me at the same time. A continual war would wage as my morally imperfect self seeks to do things that his morally perfect self, in me, seeks not to do. How would I ever be able to do either? I can only conclude that I must make a conscious choice to choose one of the two. To follow his way, I must put away the old me, a self-serving creature, and take on his character, that of God himself. This must be the only part of me that can ever please God or do anything not self-serving towards my person. That is, it would not be me, but God in me.

This by itself presents more issues. Key among these is how we struggle just to prevent our own misery. God simply has to speak and anything that displeases him can be just spoken away. How can he and I interact if he does not "feel my pain," so to say? For that matter, how can I understand him unless I am given a measure of his power and authority? The only answer that I can find is that God would need to experience life as a human in order to be touched by our human frailties. This also leaves me with the elimination of needing to know how I can understand God. I do not need to understand all there is to know about God. I only need to understand him as a human, for, it is in his human form that he would struggle with life's issues as I do. If I choose, then, to be like God, it would not be to simply speak and all of my problems would melt away forever. Rather, by observing all that I can about how he faces human life, I can learn how to face mine. He, as a human, therefore would have to face the same sorrows, the same joys, the same bodily limitations, etc., as I do, yet he would need to address these issues perfectly so that I could follow his example. Doing otherwise would likely lead me to commit further error, which is not in his character. Therefore, I conclude that in order to finish his creation, God must walk the earth as a man, face the issues of life as a man, and address them completely and without fault as an example for me to follow.

There remains the issue, however, of how my prior faults and continued inadequacies can be corrected such that I can fulfill the purpose to which I was created. Considering the matter logically, I do not think that my past deeds, or future ones for that matter, need to be "undone." Rather, since the issues regarding my deeds are in the area of morality, it needs be that some payment be made to God for the displeasure they caused him. That is, since my issues were against God and really took the form of disobedience, it is only necessary that a penalty be paid back to God. However, because my actions cannot please God due to their moral corruptness, how can I do this? I conclude that I cannot repay such a debt myself because even my repayment of a debt is tainted with moral corruption.

Further, I conclude that the only man that can pay a debt of moral corruptness is a perfect man. God himself, in the form of a perfect man, is therefore the only one who can pay that debt. But how? Because, it seems, the only penalty for marring the perfect creation of God with moral corruption is to be removed from it, that is to die, then God as a man would need to die for my transgressions and my general moral corruptness against him. Reaching this end, I conclude that the next logical question is one to determine the identity of God as a man, to create in myself the resolve to put away my own nature and to take on his, and to learn as much as possible about him so that I can live out the purpose he has destined for me.

I have sought, therefore, such a perfect man. Consider the qualities that this man must possess in order for me to know and follow him, for him to know of the challenges that I face in life, and to consciously choose to repay any debt I incur towards the person of God:

- He must be a common man. To be particularly rich, attractive, intelligent, or otherwise advantaged would prevent him from experiencing the inadequacies common to most men.
- He must live an absolutely perfect moral life, while feeling the same temptations that I feel yet never giving in to their continual pull towards moral corruption.
- He must not only die, he must experience, as my proxy, the penalty of pain and suffering that are due to me because of my own moral corruption.
- The details of his life and death must be sufficiently public and recorded as to guarantee that I have it to follow as an example.
- The shedding of his blood must have some form of cleansing power, removing from me my own inadequacies and shortcomings that prevent me from achieving my destined purpose.

Because the characteristics of such a man are self-evident, especially that of a public record of his life, I should be able locate him if my logic that he must exist is sound. I find many records of men that people have followed over the centuries; Muhammad, Abraham, the Caesars, the Khans, just to name a few. These all had followings in the millions, but they did not have the characteristics that were necessary in order to be the one man that I need to follow.

Then, I was reminded of Jesus. The best descriptions that I have been able to locate about him are in the Bible, although descriptions of him and his acts exist from other historians and works as well. The Jewish historian, Josephus, for example wrote that he worked miracles and raised people from the dead. Josephus was not a Christian at all, but a Hebrew scribe. Now, if the Bible is to be the record of his life that I am to live by, then it must be from God, perfect and complete, lacking nothing that I need to know about the life of Jesus. Indeed, simple research reveals that the Bible is better preserved than the writings of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, the leaders of any nation of his time or since, or of any other man who ever lived. Furthermore, if the Bible is to be the one record for me to follow, then earlier-written parts of it should tell of the details of his coming birth and later-written portions must tell of his earlier death. I find that, not only was his birth was predicted, but also the city and year of his birth, the ancestry of his parents, and the manner of his death. The information contained in Biblical prophecies is more accurate and precise than could have been accomplished by anyone except for God himself, given that humans typically cannot accurately predict coming events. In fact, I also find prophecies about many other events that came to pass years later, a total of about 668 events so far. I find the Bible to be a complex compilation of writings, each cross-referenced, written over a period of 1,500 years by a dispersed group of men many of whom were not skilled writers, preserved another 2,000 years or so, to be without error, flaw, or inadequacy. No Bible prophecy has ever been proven false. In fact, some descriptions of natural phenomena, once thought to be false, have been shown to be accurate over 3,000 years after they were written. As a guide to the life of Christ, my purpose, and to the general nature of God himself, I can find no more a complete and trustworthy book than the Bible.

These previously mentioned conclusions are summarized below:

- God exists and created the universe for his own pleasure.
- God is perfect and we are not, both morally and physically.
- We are not capable of saving ourselves from the destruction due us.
- God, in the form of man, came to the earth to pay our debts, experience our pains, and be our example.
- A record of his life, as Jesus Christ, was left for me in the form of the Bible.
- Pleasing God can only occur if I choose to follow his desires for my life and not my own.
- Having faith in him and trusting him for all things leads to my awareness of the removal of my sin debt, an anointing of my person, the delegation of a portion of his authority and power, and much, much, more.
- Not following him will result in my sin debt not being paid and my inability to fellowship with God. Being morally unclean, I would never be able to enter into his presence and would forever be condemned to his absence.

Knowing the riches that he has personally chosen to give me of his own free will, and, knowing the punishment that my actions have earned for myself, the only logical truth that I can find is to follow Jesus Christ with all that I am, to try to be like him in all ways, and to trust him in all things.

Know, therefore, that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

If you would like to come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ that will change your life, both now and eternally, let's talk. There is much to discuss, and it is all good. There is not a problem in the world that he cannot handle personally.

I call that, "Good News," others have called it the "Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Now, if I am right in that the Bible is the only rule of faith and order, left for us by God himself, then each point of my logic should be found in it. That is, it should confirm everything I have concluded. If you will watch these pages, you may find that I have posted the above again, except with verse references from the Bible. Any mistakes that I may have made should be self-evident.

-- Rodger Morrison --